You are researching your ancestor in a new location. Unless your ancestor moved from the upstairs bedroom to the downstairs bedroom, there’s the chance she crossed a political boundary. Crossing that boundary means: Learning about these things in the new location will help your research. Don’t assume that the address was the only thing that changed when your ancestor moved.
A relative purchased a few lots in in the 1890s in a town near where they lived and ended up running a general store in a building they built on the property. The business only lasted a few years, but they did have a partner who helped them with the ill-fated concern. Later it was discovered that the partner had more of a connection with the relative than I knew–they were foster brothers. Business associates may have connections that are not immediately known or obvious.
“Genealogy without sources is mythology” is one of those cliched phrases that reminds us of the importance of having (and citing) sources in genealogical research. Like most quick, off-the-cuff remarks, the reality is slightly more nuanced. Just because you don’t have a source for a statement does not mean that the statement is untrue. To be certain, your case without a source is non-existent and if there’s no source it makes it significantly more likely that someone could easily prove you wrong. Having a source for a statement makes it less likely that the statement is incorrect. But…and it’s a big “but.” Just because you have a source does not mean that the statement is correct. Sources can contain errors. The genealogist needs to determine the perceived reliability […]
Two dimensional maps of ancestral residences are great, but knowing something about the actual terrain and topography of the area is helpful as well. One of the things that I always take note of when visiting an ancestral area is the local terrain and geographic features that can impact travel. Living in the mountains is different from living on the prairie. Sometimes things that appear close on a paper map are not as close as one thinks when boots are on the ground and the best path between two places is not always a straight line.
There are databases I use on Ancestry.com or FamilySearch on a regular basis. Sometimes it can be difficult to find the database again on their site. One easy way to find it is to perform a Google search using the title of the database in quotes along with ancestry.com or FamilySearch as an additional search term. I’ve done this with census indexes on FamilySearch, the probate indexes on Ancestry.com, United States passport applications on both sites, etc.–things that I already knew were on the site. One should still use the various search features on the sites that allow you to search their catalog to determine exactly what they have and all of what they have–Google searches do not find everything and are not perfect. It’s just that when […]
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