From a while back Have you thought about who took care of your ancestor’s children? If the mother died young, what happened (since typically the mother had childcare responsibilities)? If the mother worked outside the home, who took care of the children? If the father died young, was the mother able to support them herself? Were there relatives close enough to watch them without them having to leave the home? Were there older children who could help out? What if all the children were too young for one of them to help care for the others? This is something to consider no matter the time period or location of your research. Families with more financial means usually had more options and potentially less disruption for the remaining family […]
Years ago, I had a quick translation done of a 1913 postcard an ancestor sent to his father-in-law while travelling Germany. Over the years the translation became separated from the card. I should have appended the translation to the image, put them both in one PDF file, or stored them in a separate folder as two separate documents-the image and the translation. Make certain that documents that really need to be filed together are filed together in a way that they won’t get separated.
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A newspaper may contain the only reference to a court case that was dismissed. This packet of divorce papers cannot be found, likely because the case with withdrawn. Initial newspaper references to the divorce provide additional details, including year place of marriage. Newspapers can easily supplement what is in an actual court records–but what’s in the newspaper may be incorrect, so take care using this information.
Sometimes the fight between two family members lasts for the rest of their lives. It can impact how much children or grandchildren know about certain family members. It can impact how family ephemera gets passed down from one generation to another. It can impact how individuals do not know they have first cousins living fifteen miles away. It can be difficult to say how an estrangement can impact those left behind, but the genealogical impact can last for generations. Family may need to be found to settle up an estate but their only communication could be through their lawyers.
Do you think about how pictures came into your possession? I’m not much worried about the tedium of where grandma kept them in her home, but how they may have passed from their original owner to you. Got to thinking about this with the many pictures I have that belonged to my great-grandparents, their son (my grandfather) and their daughter. I have virtually all the photographs they had. What is really interesting is the fact that these photographs are of my great-grandmother’s maternal family, my great-grandfather’s family, and my great-grandparents an their children. There were no pictures from great-grandma’s paternal family at all—and she had aunts and uncles on that side of the family. There was one picture of my great-grandma and her siblings as children, one picture […]
There’s a restaurant about 15 miles from where I grew up that is closing after having been open for decades. I’ve lost track of how many photographs I have that were taken there–both inside of and outside of the restaurant. Not because I was posting pictures of food or the exterior of the establishment. It was where we would eat out when there was a birthday, anniversary, special event, or when relatives came from out of town. There are pictures of my cousins and me when our grandmother turned 80. There are pictures there when cousins on the other side of the family came to visit from California…and many others. Have you written down the names of places where your family gathered on special occasions? Do you have […]
While it was not supposed to happen, people did occasionally get enumerated twice in the same census. Confusion about which household an individual was to be listed as living in was sometimes the issue. Families who moved around the time of the census could have inadvertantly been listed more than once, particularly if one enumerator was late getting the census taken and was not paying attention to detail the precise census date. People who lived away from home during the week may have been counted more than once. Individuals who were estranged from their spouse may have been enumerated with the spouse and also in the rental property in which they were living.
A high school classmate and I were baptized on the same day. I happened to mention it and shared with her a copy of the church bulletin that mentioned our baptism. She didn’t have it. Remember that others besides your family may have copies of materials related to your family history. County genealogy groups, both in the real world and online can be one way to with these people. But your family aren’t the only people who may have personal papers that could help your research.
Can’t part with some things? I understand that. Put that artwork, schoolwork and the like of your kids in a box and put this note like this (or make your own) on the top of it or taped to the very top of the box. Your kids may think you’re a sentimental whatever. No worries—-you know things about them that you are probably taking to your grave. Still good to sort and get rid of what you don’t need, but I get that some things can be hard to part with. Digitize as you feel the need. Or do nothing. It’s your choice. It’s your stuff. It’s your life.
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.
This is part of a record copy of an 1886 deed from Hancock County, Illinois–this is not the original deed, but the courthouse’s official copy of it. February was spelled wrong on the deed. The clerk, whose job was to copy EXACTLY what was on the original deed, spelled it as “Febuary” and then underlined it to acknowledge the error. The clerk was not to fix anything when copying the deed to make the official copy of record. Download our Charts Webinar or our Full-Text Searching at FamilySearch Webinar.
I was asked recently if I track everything I do in a research log. Everything. The answer to that is “no.” There’s no need to lie about it. When I find something I don’t track what I did as I have the document to indicate what I found and the citation to explain where and how I obtained it. But when I do not find something, I need to track what I have done–because I don’t have that document or record as evidence of my search. So I track the database I use and how I searched to find a certain person (name, search options, and the like). If I perform manual searches of records, I include that as well. I may even include why I tried the […]
I prefer to put my identification and provenance on the bottom or side of my images. One can also put it in the metadata associated with the photo as well. This is about as much as I put. The intent is not to write a novel. Grandpa raised registered Angus cattle and he and his sons showed cattle at several locations in western Illinois–but there’s not room on the photo to include all of that. But it is something to document. I could create a word processing file with various photographs I have, newspaper clippings my Grandma had, things I found in newspapers related to showing the cattle, and the like. Join me for three days of research at the MidWest Genealogy Center. Download our Charts Webinar or our Full-Text Searching […]
If your relative has property values in the 1850 and 1860 census, analyze them in context–not in isolation. The only thing the value tells you by itself is that the relative owned property. Context matters. How does their property value compare to that of their neighbors in both these enumerations? By what percentage does their property value change from one enumeration to the next? Does this same change seem to be taking place with their neighbors as well? An increase in property value could mean more property was acquired, property values in that area went up in general, or improvements were made on the property. A decrease may mean property values declined or property was sold. No matter the value of real property listed in the census, locate […]
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