We can’t really cover analyzing “old published genealogies” in one tip, but there are some suggested ways for using information printed in genealogies published in the early twentieth century and earlier. There’s more to the analysis than this, but keeping these points in mind is an excellent start. Genealogy Tip of the Day book is here. Learn more about it.
Make certain you have looked at every item in a relative’s census enumeration–not just the name, age, relationship, occupation, and place of birth. Many post-1850 US census enumerations provide varying additional details about your relative’s life, including property values, place of birth of parents, citizenship status, literacy details, married within the census year, and more. Don’t just ignore those other demographic details about your relative. Sometimes the biggest clues are in the smallest pieces of information.
Are there stories and memories of your family in your head that you have not preserved in some way? The human mind is the most fragile source there is. Do not forget to record and share information that only you know. It could be as simple as the identification of photographs or as involved as writing your autobiography. But writing down memories does not require a degree in English or journalism. It just requires a desire to get them written down. Most genealogists would love to have a few pages written by a long-deceased relative. Maybe we should leave behind some of our own.
It can be tempting to think that giving a child a shilling or other token amount of money in a will indicates that the testator and the recipient were “on the outs” at the time the will was written. That’s not necessarily so. It’s also very possible that the testator gave the child money well before the will was written–perhaps when they married or set out on their own. In this case, the token bequest shows that the testator remembered the child. Leaving them from the will totally opened the door to someone claiming that they were forgotten. The shilling recipient may very well have been on the outs with the testator at the time the will was written. Family squabbles certainly happen and parents leave children out […]
In many newspapers, opinion is not just on the editorial page. A 1906 newspaper reference to a relative refers to her as a “mysterious woman” who is rumored to have been an “adventuress.” The reality is that she was the first wife of a bigamist living in North Dakota who died there while married to his second wife. Her life in Omaha, from the records that have been located, do not suggest her lifestyle was one that could be referred to as “mysterious.” Newspapers have long used phrases in headlines to attract the attention of readers and some were inclined to be somewhat hasty in publishing information without gathering all the relevant facts. Always read newspaper items with the approach of looking for additional records suggested by statements […]
The best tree checker tool: your own common sense. Other things that significantly cut down on errors: Tree checkers can get the obvious errors, but they rarely catch it if you merged two first cousins of the same name into one person. Don’t expect the computer to do all the thinking for you.
“Late” can mean formerly. A person referred to as being “late” does not have to be dead. This reference to Antje J. Fecht (late Habben) simply means that she had previously used the last name of Habben although she was using the last name of Fecht at the time the document was written. It does not indicate how her name changed, but that it had changed.
A relative died in rural New Mexico in 1925 after a fall from a horse. A neighbor who had probably known him for a short time was the informant. Based on the information on the death certificate, the informant likely knew the relative’s approximate age, that he was divorced, and that he had lived in Oklahoma before moving to New Mexico. That was it. And it makes perfect sense if someone moves somewhere to “start over.” The relative was not hiding who he was, but his new neighbor had no need to know the names of my relative’s parents or the name of his ex-wife. The place of birth given for my relative was Oklahoma–where he had lived before coming to New Mexico. The age on the death […]
Always think about the family that was left behind when someone died? Were there children who would have needed looked after? Was there a spouse who would have needed some assistance? Was there an adult child who would have been unable to look after themselves? Who would have been nearby to help these individuals? Were there court records, guardianships, or other records resulting from issues when the person died?
Every document in the United States indicates that my third great-grandmother was born in 1808. I’ve seen the year so many times in United States records that I have it memorized. I “know” my third great-grandmother was born in 1808. It’s even in the church record of her death. The problem: it is wrong. Her christening record in Germany when she was a few weeks old indicates she was born and baptized in 1807. That’s a record that provides primary information about her date and place of birth. It was created close to the time of her birth with information likely provided by her parents. The difference is only a year off from what records in the United States indicated. All those records in the United States are […]
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