From a while back…
- Write up every piece of information you know about your “lost” ancestor. Every piece.
- Include a source citation for every piece of information you know about your ancestor–if it came from an interview of a relative, so state. If it was on a piece of paper or a digital image of that paper, cite it. Make certain you have transcribed the information completely and accurately from that source.
- If you don’t have a source for a piece of information–indicate that. That doesn’t mean the information is wrong, just that you don’t have a source for it.
- Are there any relatives of the “lost person” who have not been fully researched? And if you think they are fully researched, have you really confirmed that?
- Are there any words or terms that you have encountered while searching that person that you are not completely certain you understand?
- Have you shared your write up of your “lost person” with a researcher, genealogy group, message board, etc. who might be able to give some insight?
There are other things one can do as well, including learning about the time period and location of the “lost person,” their religious affiliation, occupation, educational level, etc.
Genealogy Tip of the Day book is here. Learn more about it and get your own copy.
Your work may not be going as slowly as this turtle, but it may feel like it.
One response
My maternal third great grandmother is a mystery. I know her name was Margaret, as that appears on the baptism record for all her children. And that name appears in land records, along with her husband’s full name, Thomas Heard. I also have a date of death and I have found a grave record with the same name. Margaret heard. She died in Belleville, Ontario, in August 1857, and the online memorial says she was born in 1820. However, no last name, and no place of origin. A marriage certificate would be useful, but the angular can diocese says they have no record. And none of the online sites find a marriage record.
To research her further, it would be useful to have a surname and a place of birth. The death record of one of her sons, in 1935, however, has a surprise! His daughter said that her mother was a Dorothea Welsh, from Ireland.
I don’t know how to resolve this contradiction without additional information. If I assume that the last name is correct, when I look for a Margaret Welsh born in Ireland in 1820, I can find three different ones. No idea which would be correct. Now, I wonder if Dorothea might have been a middle name and and that she always went by Margaret instead. Or maybe it’s an error entirely?
GED match might be able to help me with this perhaps, but I would have to find DNA descendants from her parents, i.e. my fourth great grandparents. As I understand that the chances of finding a match is only about 15%.
Still, I can’t let this go if there’s any Hope of really learning who she was. In a way I owe it to her memory so she’s not completely forgotten.