Casefile Clues 5-24 looks at a declaration of intention and naturalization for a man in Illinois in the 1850s. Unfortunately during this time period, the amount of detail given is minimal and sometimes it can be difficult to make certain you have the same person or the right person. Learn more about Casefile Clues on our website and become a subscriber today.
Remember: the transcription on Ancestry, FamilySearch, or any other site is not the “official transcription” of any record and the one that you have to use. Read it for yourself. The transcription is a finding aid. Period. Full Stop.
Your relative who served in the United States military may have enlisted in a state other than the one in which he lived. This was common for wars through the 19th century. Do not assume that your Ohio ancestor had to enlist in an Ohio unit. He may not have. I have several Illinois relatives who served in the US Civil War. Most of them enlisted in units from Illinois, but not all. One enlisted in an Iowa unit and another enlisted in a Missouri unit. And an Iowa relative enlisted in a unit from Wisconsin. This was sometimes done to help those state meet quotas in terms of volunteers.
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 […]
If you are a subscriber to Casefile Clues, issue 5-23 is out. It analyzes an 1880 US census mortality schedule entry for a mother and son. Learn more about Casefile Clues on our website.
Did you know that in the 1880 US mortality census that the doctor of the deceased was supposed to confirm or correct the cause of death for everyone listed on the census? That form was on the back of the actual mortality schedule page. Just make certain to go to the next image to see it when viewing in online as most sites have put the back of the page on the next image.
Pre-1880 US census records do not indicate the relationship among and between various members of a household. Pre-1850 US census records do not even name everyone living in a household. It can be tempting to think that a household is husband/father and wife/mother with their children, but the reality is often different from that. The head of household may be a an unmarried person–widowed, never married, or occasionally divorced. They may have younger individuals who are in their household that are not their children, but perhaps step-children, nephews, nieces, grandchildren, a foster/adopted child, another relative, or even hired help. Adult siblings, parents, in-laws, aunts/uncles, or grandparents may also be in the household. A household is a group of people who are living in the same house. Life circumstances, […]
This session will build on the concepts we saw in the initial Perplexity for Genealogy presentation. Topics include: · Automatically creating GedCom files from uploaded content including biographies, short family histories, and other records · More working with your own uploaded content in Spaces—this makes Perplexity use specific files or websites · Questions from attendees of our initial session Options: · Order immediate download for $21. · Order a download of the initial Preplexity for Genealogy presentation
If you’ve never read the instructions for the US federal census, they can be quite informative and helpful in interpreting answers your ancestor may have given. Census instructions can be viewd on the census.gov website:
This issue focused on an 1870 census enumeration. We took a look at the likely family structure, what it meant to be a farmer, and personal property. Learn more about the newsletter on our website.
If your ancestor owned real estate, make certain you have a record for how each piece of property left his ownership. Was it deeded in her will, sold for back taxes, sold before his death, quitclaimed by the heirs after her death? Each of these transactions has the potential to reveal significant information–particularly if the property was still owned by the ancestor at their demise.
All dogs bark. Things that bark grow on trees. Therefore, dogs grow on trees. Always read over your logic and reasoning used to reach a conclusion. Also make certain you understand definitions of words and the context in which they are used. Genealogical records are full of legal and esoteric words more nuanced than “bark” and it can be easy to confuse them. Avoid barking up the wrong genealogical tree–check your reasoning and your definitions.
For years, I struggled to find where a set of third great-grandparents ended up in Missouri after they left Illinois in the 1870s. The couple was in their early fifties, so it seemed to make sense to focus on locating their grown children. Tracking down their children who went to Missouri did not help as the parents could not be found in any of those locations. It ended up that they did follow relatives into a Missouri county where they had relatives. They ended up not living near one of their children, but near one my third great-grandmother’s sisters.
There are records that in addition to asking specific geographic or vital even details about a person inquire how long they have known someone or lived in a specific area. Always think about what this length of time means? For how long two individuals have been acquainted (which appear in pension applications and some court affidavits), think about where they were living when that acquaintainship started? How old were they when that acquaintainship started? The same thing goes for records that ask how long someone has lived in a specific area? Does that mean they lived there most of their life? Does that mean they lived there when they got married or when their children were born? “How long” can sometimes be a big clue.
An informant may provide several different bits of information on a death certificate. Keep in mind that their knowledge of the information provided may have varying levels of reliability. The informant may provide information about the deceased’s date and place of birth, parents, birth places of parents, and the deceased’s date and place of death. Their knowledge of some of those details may be more reliable than others. They may have actually met the parents of the deceased and knew them well or only heard about them once. What they thought was the place of birth of the parents of the deceased may have been where that person’s family was from or where the informant thought their family was from. And any informant can make a mistake.
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