No Monkeying Around! Our August 2026 version of this very popular webinar has been released and is now available for immediate download. ** FamilySearch Full-Text Webinar August 2026 Version Released We’re excited! We have finally released our updated webinar on using FamilySearch’s full-text search. If you pre-ordered this presentation and did not get your download link, please let me know. This updated presentation is an hour long, includes discussion on full-text search strategies and options and includes an extensive handout. Presentation style is clear, informal, and practical. We discuss keywords, formulating searches, filtering vs. searching, what to search for, how to change your searching paradigm to take advantage of full-text search and more. Learn how to get the most from full-text search and what search options are available. Full-text search is […]
Remember that pre-1880 US census records do not provide information about relationships within the household. Be careful inferring relationships only based upon placement with one census household. What you think is father, mother, and their children may be something else. It could be husband wife, his kids, her kids, and theirs. It could be husband, wife, his kids and theirs. It could be husband wife, her kids (with his last name because that’s what the census taker wrote down and then theirs. One of what you think is a child, could be a grandchild, nephew, younger sibling, etc. Use additional records to try and determine what the relationship actually is.
If your ancestor was a local businessman, an advertisement in a newspaper or other publication can confirm where the business was located, dates on which the business was operated, business partners, etc. Advertisements may even include biographical information on the business owners (check out the comments on this Rootdig post to see a reference to an advertisement in Kansas that generated quite a bit of information).
While analyzing a document to determine if I had the right person, the comparison of signatures became a crucial part of my analysis. I had several copies of the person’s signature from other documents I had located on him. As I worked on my analysis, I remembered that I had seen his signature somewhere else. Fortunately I also remembered where that signature was at: as a witness on an affidavit his cousin made in her 1880-era homestead application. Now to decide if it’s worth the time to include signature references in “file” on an ancestor so I can find them easily if needed. Signatures on their own records are easy to find. It’s when they appear in the records of others that they can be overlooked.
7ber, 8ber, 9ber, and Xber may be noted in dates in 17th and 18th century documents. These references refer to September, October, November, and December. In the modern calendar 7ber is not the 7th month, 8ber is not the 8th month, 9ber is not the 9th month, and Xber is not the 10th month. That’s a reference to their original positions. There’s more on the calendar on Wikipedia.
A 1906 newspaper reference to my uncle and his wife provides several tips or reminders in one quick note: “Joe Neal and daughter Jennie and Mrs. Harper and daughter Anna returned home last Friday after a two weeks visit with relatives in Polo, Mo.” I located the entry by manually searching for the alternate spelling of my last name. The site that hosted this image, at least at the time I used it, did not support soundex-based searches and wildcard searches required at least two letters to be used initially before a wildcard operator was used. The connection between the individuals named in the newspaper is not stated. Frustrating for the genealogist. It’s worth remembering that the individuals reading the newspaper at the time already knew those relationships. […]
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