Death records, probates, and obituaries are not the only place where your relative’s name could appear after their death. There are a variety of records and materials that could contain a reference to your ancestor–even if that ancestor was deceased. Barbara Haase had been dead for several years and her name was still appearing on tax rolls because her estate had not been settled. Newspapers may mention your relative’s name after their death for a variety of reasons, perhaps because their farm was finally sold, their former residence is mentioned as being their “old place.” In more modern times, your deceased relative may be mentioned as having pre-deceased a family member. They may be mentioned as the “late John Smith” in the newspaper for some reason or other. […]
Pre-orders over–regular price is $30–download immediate-handout included as well as research forms. If you ordered and did not get your link to download, please email me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com and include your receipt number. 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. 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 […]
When making copies of pages of books in libraries, always make certain you get the context for what was on the page. The index may indicate that there is a reference to John Schnuderman on page 101 and so you copy that page. Make certain that you don’t need page 100 (or 99) to understand the reference on page 101. There may be valuable clues in the pages leading up to page 100 that will help to fully explain the reference. It might even be a good idea to copy the table of contents page as well. One page with no context may leave you wanting more later.
A 1907 era court case involves the children of my ancestor as defendants. They are all listed correctly with the right first names in virtually every court document. Except one. On the deed where the judge is selling the estate, William Rampley is listed as Wilbur Rampley. William’s middle name was not Wilbur and he never used that name as a nickname. What happened? Most likely a simple transcription error. When every other reference to him in the records is William and one out of thirty lists him as Wilbur, it’s easy to realize that sometimes an error is just that, an error. The problem is that when we have just one reference to an individual it can be difficult to know if a name is simply an […]
An obituary indicated that a pallbearer for a relative was Earl Trautvetter. The other pallbearers were individuals whose names I recognized as being nephews or nephews-in-law of the deceased. Then it dawned on me–the obituary was likely referring to my uncle that I always knew as “Babe.” His real name, which I knew but occasionally put in the back of my mind, was actually Carl. Earl was likely the result of someone misreading the initial “C” in his first name as an “E” or some other sort of typographical error. An additional difficulty with this error was that the incorrect name was one that I heard differently. It didn’t sound like Carl and so it took me a little bit longer to realize what had likely happened. Sometimes […]
If you use the full-text search at FamilySearch, have you considered searching for street addresses? There are many records in urban areas, particularly those the late 19th century and later, that may mention addresses. Naturalizations and passenger lists are other records that may contain an address. Read more about our full-text search webinar updated for 2026 here.
Years ago, I used a series of records. I didn’t find my relatives in them and made some incorrect conclusions about how the records were organized and what time period they covered. Twenty years later, on a whim I searched them again. Knowing more about records and research, I found some of my relatives in the records. Did you make assumptions about records early in your research…and would it be worth your while to revisit those records and assumptions?
If you don’t care what happens to your genealogy stuff after you die, please ignore this post. If you do, consider devoting a certain percentage of your “genealogy time” to planning for after you leave this Earthly existence. It can be digitizing and identifying photographs, organizing materials, culling (yes…culling) your collection, photographing items that can’t easily be preserved, writing your own stories, writing up ancestral problems, etc. The list is personal to you. Not to be morbid, but we never know when our time is up. So think about devoting some of your genealogy time to not getting more information and details, but to doing what you can to preserve things past your existence on this planet. Unless that doesn’t interest you and it’s fine if it doesn’t. […]
If you are working on a more recent relative and you’ve got a copy of their “funeral book,” look and see if the names of those who came to pay their respects are in the book. Relatives may have copies of these books in with any personal family papers that they have. It is a good way to get ideas of who might have been your ancestor’s associates and who was alive when your ancestor died. They may have even written in their city of residence. And there’s always their signatures…hopefully they are readable.
It stands to reason that your direct-line relative will be married a justice of the peace or another warm body able to certify marriages in close proximity to the bridal couple at the time of the event. In these cases the genealogical clues that can be ascertained from the officiant are minimal. Determine who married all the ancestral siblings. If the family was remotely religious (and potentially listed in church records), there’s a good chance at least one of the family members took the time to have a religious ceremony. In terms of it being a clue it doesn’t matter much if it your ancestor of interest or their sibling. Unless the church member was the in-law. But then you’ll have to research to know that. Which is […]
Sometimes it appears that we are being overly persnickety when we talk about the specific definition of a word–like the difference between diminutives and nicknames or referring to sources as original or derivative and information as primary or secondary. The reason is that understanding terminology helps us to understand materials when we find them, to draw appropriate and reasonable conclusions, and to communicate clearly when we write. For the record, diminutives are names that are based on a shortened or affectionate form of a name where nicknames are ones based on something else–a physical characteristic, residence, occupation, or the like. Sources are generally original when they are in their first form–otherwise they are said to be secondary. Information is primary when it is provided within a reasonable amount […]
If you can’t find a deed of sale for your ancestor’s real property that he owned at one time but apparently did not own later, consider the fact that he didn’t acctually sell it. If your ancestor’s taxes became sufficiently delinquent, his property would be sold to pay those taxes. In the United States these sales are usually indexed under “Sheriff” as the grantor on the deed and not the name of your ancestor.
Names are one thing about an ancestor that sometimes can be more fluid than we would like them to be. Research would be easier if a person just stuck with one name–even if it was not their birth name. I have a great aunt whose birth name was Adolphena Katherine Trautvetter. As a child she went by “Kate” and as an adult she went by “Pheenie.” It’s possible that her diminutive of “Kate” was chosen for her by someone else and that “Pheenie” was the one she chose to use as an adult. I was fortunate that the origin of the diminutives was fairly clear. That’s not always the case.
When transcribing a document or an item from a document, use brackets to indicate when you are “guessing” at a word or phrase or adding a word or phrase of your own. Personally I add words or phrases rarely, preferring to comment later if something warrants it. The word sic (Latin for “as is”) should be bracketed as well when it is used to indicate that you copied something exactly as it was in the document–even though it looked wrong. For example, “…to my son[sic] Elizabeth I leave my farm…”
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