Sooner or later it is necessary to estimate a date of a genealogical event. Often this is to help us sort out individuals with the same name, determining when a person is too old to be having children, determining that a person is likely too young to be a certain person’s parent, etc. But when you estimate a date of an event–say “born about 1870,” have a source or a reason for that estimated date. Margaret Smith was born by 1850 because it is assumed she was twenty-one when she married in 1871–then use the marriage record as the source of the age. Thomas Jones was dead by 1880 because his wife is listed as a widow in the 1880 census–then use that census enumeration as the source […]
This obviously is a World War II era photograph of my grandmother’s brother and his wife. The clothes and the apparent age of the image make that clear. But there are some things about this photograph that are not quite so clear. I’m not certain if they were married yet when this photograph was taken. I’m thinking they weren’t because of how the names are written on the back of the photograph–Aunt Alice is listed with her maiden name of “Alice Cherrill” while my uncle is only listed as “Ed.” It would seem more likely if they had been married when the photograph was taken they would have been styled “Ed and Alice” or something similar. “Calif motel” is a very specific location. I’m assuming it was near […]
Do you have family ephemera that you also have old pictures of? The image accompanying this post contains a picture of my grandfather’s high school sports letter and a picture of him and two of his schoolmates wearing their high school letters. Fortunately everyone is identified and I recognized the handwriting on the back of the photograph as that of my grandfather (the John H. Ufkes in the picture). I should have included the approximate year the photo was taken along with the probable location of the picture as well. I do think it is important to indicate how the identification of any individuals in the photograph was made as well as commenting about the identity of the handwriting (if known). I’ll need to go through my photographs […]
The illustration for this post is the last page of the 1933 “Class Will” from the BHS Junior Class in Basco, Hancock County, Illinois. My grandfather was the one who apparently wrote it. It serves to remind of several genealogical concepts and ideas. I do not have the original will. What I have is an apparent photocopy that was in my grandparents’ personal items that I acquired from my grandmother after her passing. Technically that makes what I have a derivative copy since it is not the original. My digital image is a derivative copy of my derivative copy–still making it a derivative copy. There’s not a special word for a derivative of a derivative. Copies and digital images usually represent the original accurately, but there’s always the […]
If you use the hints at various online genealogy sites, remember that they are hints. You should confirm that the person in the hint is actually your person of interest. Make certain you’ve read the original image to confirm the transcription made by the website. If the name is not the same, is the difference a reasonable one (perhaps due to a variant spelling, variant interpretation of the handwriting, translation of the name, or a diminutive)? Is the person in a place where you would expect them to be or where they could reasonably be given the time period and what you know about your person of interest? Is it possible there were two distinct people with similar names living in the same place and time period? Remember […]
Normally when we cite a printed book in our genealogy research, it’s not necessary to indicate in our citation the specific library where we utilized a print copy of the book. If there’s five hundred copies of the book, others can use a different copy of it in a different library. There are two main exceptions to this. If the book was known to have been printed in a small run and there are an extremely limited number of copies in existence and locating one was particularly difficult including a parenthetical comment about where the book is at in a citation can be helpful, but is not necessary given that most library’s card catalogs are easily accessible online. Similarly, if the book wasn’t actually published, but was rather […]
Genealogy holiday writing prompt…your favorite holiday song. You don’t have to share it here in the comments–share it with your relatives, put it in your genealogy files, or something similar. Posting to a website is not the same thing as preserving it for your family. And if the holidays aren’t your thing…put that in your family history files as well. The key is…put something of you in there. Genealogy isn’t just about the dead. It’s about the living, although one day they will pass, so maybe it is about the dead. I’m going back to my corner to contemplate that. But seriously…record the memory or why you don’t have one.
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A reminder: In current genealogy parlance sources (record books, vital records, marriage records, etc.) are said to be original or derivative. Original records are ones that are in their “first form.” Derivative records are ones that are created from original records–transcriptions, abstracts, summaries, compilations, and the like. Technically, according to some, scans and photographic reproductions are derivative copies as well but they certainly are more reliable than hand written copies. Information is considered to be primary or secondary. Generally speaking, a piece of information reported or stated by someone who had first hand knowledge of the event is considered primary. The statement needs also to have been made when the person’s memory was fresh and reliable. Other statements are usually said to be secondary. A source can contain […]
Make certain you note the publisher of each city directory you use, not just the year. In some time periods in some cities, multiple directories were published in one year by different publishers. And different directories may provide slightly different information.
Years ago, I submitted a set of corrections published in a genealogy newsletter to the transcription of the tombstones of several ancestors. The year was 1988. The stones today are not legible. My notes, if I still have them, are probably buried in a filing cabinet in my storage unit. I had totally forgotten submitting the correction until I found my own letter to the editor while using the full-text search functionality of the FamilySearch website. These transcriptions are not online anywhere else. Genealogy periodicals contain a wide variety and wealth of information. The problem is that for years finding it was difficult and tedious. Searching old genealogical periodicals is not as difficult as it was years ago as more things are available digitally and there are more […]
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Records of funeral homes and churches are private records and these businesses and institutions do not have to allow you to access their records. If they do, it is only as a courtesy and access is not something you should expect nor demand. Genealogists should always be polite and respectful when requesting records, but that’s even more the case with these records as the genealogist does not have any legal right of access on their side as they do with public records. Purchase my Funeral Home Records webinar for $16–download immediate. More about this webinar: “Unburying Funeral Home Records” is a discussion of the records typically kept by funeral homes, determining if the home is still in existence, and locating where the records of the home may be […]
If you are using information that you transcribed or manually copied, always double check it for accuracy before completing your analysis or constructing online searches. It can be very easy to transcribe something incorrectly or transpose digits in an age or year of birth. Doublechecking may save you time and frustration.
There are times when reading a document that it is clear someone made a mistake. A place name is spelled incorrectly, a year of birth has the last two digits transposed, a maiden name for a mother is the last name of her third husband, etc. Despite the error (real or perceived), a document should be transcribed exactly as written. It may be helpful to put a “[sic]” (without the parenthesis) after such an error to indicate that the word was written that way on the actual record. Never correct when transcribing a document. Transcriptions are always true to the original, at least as much as possible. We want to know what something actually said. Our correction may not be so correct after all. If there are statements […]
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