The will of Peter Rucker from the Orange County, Virginia, record book appears to contain his mark–an apparent “R” instead of an “X.” The “R” serves to remind us that all marks are not the letter “x” and that what is in a record copy is usually the clerk’s transcription and not the actual record or signature. Rucker’s will is dated January 1742/3. This was during that time when the start of the new year was somewhat in flux and generally still considered to be in March. January of 1742 would have been the old style and January of 1743 would have been the new style–which we use today. Under the old style, December of 1742 would have been followed by January of 1742, February of 1742 and […]
It’s always helpful to think of what the original purpose of a record was and what details mattered and what ones did not. A relative died in 1869 with no descendants. Several of his heirs were children of his deceased siblings. His sister had children with more than one husband and some of those children daughters who were married. Those daughters were listed by their married names–not their maiden name. From the estate settlement it could not be determined which husband was the father of the married daughters. The court was concerned about the names of the sister’s children–not the names of her husbands–as the sister’s children were all heirs of their deceased mother’s brother.
My aunt had a baby several years before she was married in the early 1870s. Family members had always assumed that the baby was the child of the aunt’s eventual husband. Court records indicated that the “early” child was not the child of the eventual husband, but was instead the child of another man who left shortly after he learned my aunt was pregnant.
A death certificate indicates that a relative was born in Rush County, Indiana, on 23 December 1846. The tombstone indicates that the relative was born on 25 December 1846. The 1850 census indicates that the same relative was a native of Indiana and was three years of old at the time of the enumeration. That means that the person was born in either sometime in 1846 or 1847. It’s not additional evidence that the person was born specifically on 23 December 1846. It is consistent with that date of birth (which is good), but the census does not indicate that precise date of birth. Use the death certificate as the source for the 23 December 1846 birth in Indiana. Use the tombstone as the source for the 25 […]
Old deeds or surveys taken in metes and bounds states may have individuals listed besides the grantors, grantees, and witnesses. There may be individuals listed with “cc” or “cb” listed after their name. Chain carriers or chain bearers helped the surveyor by carrying the measuring chain. These individuals generally had to swear an oath, had to be of legal age, and some times were relatives of the surveyor. “CC” on an old deed does not mean “Carbon Copy.” [That was an attempt at humor.]
A good reminder from a while back Some families are a little bit complicated. And if one is not careful it can be easy to enter the incorrect relationships in our genealogical database. What I do in these situations is to map out the relationships on paper first in an attempt to get a broader view of the family and in an attempt to understand the relationships correctly. Once I think I have the relationships down, I begin my data entry. Wasting time “fixing” relationship mistakes is time I could spend doing actual research. Another option is to put the individuals in your database, but not include any relationship data until you have it determined. Sometimes if we don’t enter information in when we find it, we are […]
A Totally New Webinar! Delivery date of 11 January 2026 Pre-order at $20.00. Normal price is $28.00 Confused about what is on FamilySearch? Having difficulty knowing what is online there and how to access it? This presentation will lead you out of the confusion. Contents will include: Various ways the catalog can be searched–the six verbal ways (location, title, keyword, surname, author, subject) and the two more numeric ways (call number and film/image group number). We will see how to: Preorder today and save $8.
One person’s “useless” is another person’s “useful.” Recently I heard someone say that naturalization records in the United States in the 19th century are “useless.” It’s true that they generally don’t provide as much information as later records do. Naturalization records in the United States in the 19th century generally only provide the name of the individual, the date/place of the naturalization, the person to whom allegiance was owed, and the names of the witnesses. Occasionally there may be a declaration of intention and those can provide more information. But even those little bits of information can be helpful. The document puts your relative in a place on a specific date. If the law was being followed, he had to have been in the United States for a […]
We’re excited to offer this revised presentation on the full-text searching at FamilySearch–reflecting changes made to the site since this was recorded in August 2025. We’ve redesigned our presentation as this functionality continues to change. And…we have an extensive handout complete with forms to help you find more people. Available for download by 5 January 2026. Order now for $25. If you have purchased an earlier version of this presentation–email me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com for the code to order this revision for $10. Fully Utilizing Full-Text Search: Revised for January 2026 Your purchase includes: We’ll be including and discussing: Determining what is in Full-Text Search—what you can access at home and what you will have to be in a FamilySearch facility or affiliate to access. Seeing How AI Transcriptions are […]
Don’t take “the courthouse burned” to mean that every record before that point in time was destroyed. It might be that in reality, records from some offices survived, some offices’ records were not completely destroyed, etc. In some cases, records might have been “re-recorded” after the fire. There may also be state or federal records that provide similar information. Ask around.Local library may know. State archives or historical library may know. Locals from the area may know. Local historical or genealogical society may know. Also remember that there may be state or federal records that could answer your question as well. Newspapers are also helpful in cases of burned counties as well.
One of the best things you can do to work through brick walls and the like is to organize the information you have on your problem person or family. Pretend someone other than you is reading it–preferably someone who knows nothing about the family. Organizing this information about your brick wall person is more than just dumping images into a word file and making a PDF. All that does is give you a virtual form of an unorganized pile of papers. Organization starts by putting things at least in chronological order, making certain things are legible, indicating where things were obtained, including your reasoning for knowing a record is for the right person (particularly for records with few details or situations where the connection may not be obvious). […]
Researching the entire family is advised, but we don’t always do it. I was trying to pin down information on an aunt, Wilhelmina (Trautvetter) Senf Kraft–particularly when she managed to settle in Illinois. It was not until I obtained the christening record of each of her grandchildren that I was able to do that. There as one of the sponsors for one of her grandchildren was Wilhelmina. It helped me to pinpoint when she had arrived in Illinois.
Because NotebookLM was out of commission for several days and because I then got sick, I’ve moved this to 6 January 2026–at 8 pm. central time. Details are in our original post, only modified to reflect date change.
Have you made a list of your genealogy goals–those things you want to accomplish with your genealogy while you are still rambling around on planet Earth? It’s fine if you don’t have a list or don’t want to have a list. But if there are things you’d like to have “done” with your genealogy, there’s no time like the present to make a list. You do not have to wait until the first of the year. Every day technically is the start of a new set of 365 days. Getting some of your genealogy tasks done is certainly better than getting none of them done. And it’s worth remembering that every project does not have to be done perfectly.
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