Associations between individuals other than those of biology and marriage can sometimes be difficult to determine. Biological connections may be documented in a variety of records, vital records, court records, probate records, etc. Relationships by marriage may be documented by the record of the marriage in addition to records that can document a biological connection. It can be more difficult to determine other connections between two individuals. Determining that connection frequently involves researching everything extant that mentions one of the two individuals to see what overlap there is. That overlap can be difficult to determine, but admittedly sometimes the connection is more of a curiosity than a research necessity. Scanning through my hometown newspaper for obituaries, I ran across a name I recognized. The names of other individuals […]
In a Facebook post I referred to my daughter’s father-in-law as my relative. Someone seeing the post and not knowing who Jim was might actually have thought he was a biological relative of mine and wondered what the connection was. Remember when interviewing family members that they may refer to individuals as “relatives” when they are not related in any biological way. They could have been related by marriage or could have been considered family for one reason or another. Instead of trying force the “relative” to have a biological connection to your family, research them and see what the records indicate.
If you have the one of the few paper copies of a family item–funeral folders, mass cards, wedding announcements, photographs, etc., have you digitized it? That way the paper copy you have is not the only copy of it in existence. Be certain to share the copies with others who are interested in the family. Copies can be more easily shared than originals. Always consider using a camera instead of a scanner on fragile items. Check out Genealogy Tip of the Day book version for other tips and questions you should ask yourself about your research.
Researching for information on your ancestors and distant relatives can be a lifelong passion. It’s a great way to learn about your personal connection to history and perhaps to discover something about yourself as well. But do you have any genealogy goals other than continuing to search? Is it proving or disproving a family story? Is it identifying who is in that old picture? Is it tracking as many ancestors as you can? Is it locating as many descendants as you can of a specific set of ancestors? Think about what your genealogy goal is and how you are working to achieve it. And it’s ok to just want to locate more information–there’s fun in that too. But sometimes a little direction is helpful. What are your genealogy […]
Do you map out or record somewhere those names you have for places that you, and maybe only a few other people, know? Growing up we had names for various parcels of property that our grandparents or parents had slowly acquired over the years. Usually those names were for former owners. One name may have been for a former tenant on the property–I’m not exactly certain. And one name was a severe mangling of the name of a previous owner. It took me a while to figure that one out. But record those names. It may even be helpful to map them out as well.
When records on an ancestor fail to provide information as to his origin, look closely at those records in which he appears shortly after his arrival in the area. Who else is mentioned in those records? When an ancestor is still “new to the area,” he’s the most likely to interact with people he might have known before he moved or with whom he had a connection before he settled in that new area. Research those people he interacted with during his early years in the location. The longer an ancestor lives in an area the more likely he is to know and interact with people he did not know “back home.” It’s those people from back home who could help you find your ancestor’s origins.
Records contain many statements and each of those statements can either be true or false. Analyze each statement separately, thinking about who likely gave the information, how likely they were to actually know the information, and the circumstances under which they were giving the information. It’s also helpful to think about whether the person might have any motivation to give incorrect information and whether there would have been any penalties for giving false information. It’s also worth considering if more than one person could have been involved in giving the information and how publicly that information was given. An old blog post on Rootdig discusses some of these concepts in regards to a 1907 court case.
From a while back It is not possible to preserve every piece of paper we have. Sometimes it is not even possible to preserve or pass on every piece of paper we have from our parents or grandparents. The piles and files may be overwhelming and those that come after us may have no interest in documenting every receipt that Grandpa kept during his life time. Consider scanning the paper items and letting the originals go in some cases. Do you need to keep every physical check your Grandfather wrote? Do you need ever receipt Grandma kept for craft supplies or having the television repaired? It might not even be worth your time to scan or digitize these items. Or it might be. That’s really your decision. But […]
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