We’re having a sale on More Genealogy Tip of the Day until 11:50 pm PST on 28 September 2024–$25 (US addresses only). This is $10 off our regular price and includes shipping. This is the best sale on the book we have and is less than the Amazon price! There’s more detail about the book on our announcement page, but come back here to make the purchase.
It may seem obvious, but sometimes it can get overlooked. “Under 10” on a census category for someone’s age means that they are between 0 and 9 years of age. “Of 10 and under 16” means that they are between 10 and 15 years of age. The difference is not great, and census ages are inaccurate more than we’d care to admit, but there is a distinction. Sometimes it makes a significant difference in our research. Other times it just means we’re off by one year on a range of possible years of birth. Check out my new webinar on “Math for Genealogists.”
We’re excited to announce the release of “Math for Genealogists.” This presentation is approximately an hour long. Purchase includes recording of presentation and handout–download is immediate and no streaming is involved. Learn more about the numbers surrounding your ancestors–details on our announcement page.
It’s easy to just surf from one genealogy website to another seeing what you can easily find. But have you really researched an ancestor in depth? Have you located every record on that 19th century ancestor? Or have you only looked at what you can find easily–and usually just online? Have you been through all the local land, court, and estate records? Have you looked at sites outside of FamilySearch and Ancestry.com? Have you looked to see if there are newspapers applicable to your specific ancestor that were not published near where she lived (perhaps religious or ethnic newspapers) or that are not available digitally? And are you organizing the information you do locate and summarizing it so that you know what you have found and what conclusions […]
On 13 March 1906, my relative was deeded 400 acres of land in Arkansas County, Arkansas. The deed was subject to a mortgage totaling $7000. The mortgagor was a man named Michael Pfeifer. When one discovers a relative owing money to someone else, it’s a good idea to do some investigating into that person to see if there was a relationship. Before banks were as prevalent as they are today, the lender might have been a relative, a private individual with money to lend as a personal investment (these transactions were often facilitated by lawyers or loan brokers), or loan company. I need to find out. In this case, I don’t think Pfeifer is a relative, but there is only one way to find that out: research. The […]
A few things to help make certain you’ve got the same family in those pre-1850 US census records where only heads of household are listed and household members are only enumerated in age categories: •See if oldest male and female age appropriately •Are locations consistent with what else known about family? •Do children age appropriately? A few additional things to keep in mind when analyzing these records: •Household membership may be fluid •People die •Heads of household remarry •People lie
It can be tempting to conclude that the reason behind things was always that there was family drama going on behind the scenes. That’s not always the case. Three daughters inherited a small amount of real estate in the 1850s in Ohio after their father died. Two daughters sold theirs to their brother immediately. The third daughter was deceased and her family sold her share ten or so years later–to the same brother. It may be tempting to interpret the delay as the result of family drama, but the more likely scenario was that they waited until the last child of the deceased daughter reached the age of majority so that the child could legally sign a deed. Another family waited to sell the farm of their late […]
Don’t the numbers fool or confuse you. Join us for this informative webinar or order a recording to view at your convenience. Date and time: 25 September 2024 at 8:00 pm central time. Why did great-great-grandma get 34/99 of her late husband’s estate—when there was no will? We will answer this question and others during this presentation. Attendance live will be via Zoom. Topics included: Calculating probate fractions, dates and ages, Wolframalpha for genealogists, land measurements, money, and more. The math will be low-key, but ignoring the numbers can cause you to miss ancestral clues. Michael was a community college math instructor (teaching from basic arithmetic to calculus) in another life and brings that experience to the presentation. There is no math prerequisite for this class, but you […]
If you’ve got photos that have not been digitized, identified (where known), organized, preserved, and shared, this is your reminder to work on those tasks. Photos only you have can easily be lost forever if life events strike you in a certain way. Don’t wait.
An aliquot part is, in the area of the United States where townships and sections are used for surveying and describing property, a fractional portion of a section of land, such as: Given that a section is normally 640 acres, the acreage can be determined from the description of the aliquot part. Measurements and distances need not be given in the description of an aliquot part–it’s relationship to the whole section is sufficient. Learn more about Michael’s “Math for Genealogists” webinar.
Issue 5-5 of Casefile Clues is out–it analyzes an 1860 census entry. If you’re a subscriber to our bi-weekly genealogy newsletter (significantly more in-depth than our Tip of the Day), you should have it in your inbox. I’m pleased with the positive feedback I’ve gotten to Casefile Clues since we brought it back. Learn more on our website, get a sample copy, or subscribe. We’ll send you the first 5 issues from volume 5 to start off your subscription.
The fact that US census records before 1850 only lists heads of household is a source of frustration to genealogists with US ancestors. It’s also why people who “should be” enumerated can’t be found. It’s not that they aren’t counted in the census, it’s that they are hiding under a tick mark in someone else’s entry. Are they enumerated in a household headed by their father (or perhaps their mother)? Are they living with an older brother or brother-in-law? Are they living in a household headed by their step-parent? Make certain you have looked at enumerations for all members of the extended family of the person of interest. Are their adults in the household besides the head of household? Could one of those adults be your missing ancestor?
Deeds are not the only record that can be recorded in an area after your ancestor left. An estate was opened for a relative in Harford County, Maryland, ten years after he died in Ohio, and fifteen years after he left Maryland. He received a settlement in a court case that had taken years to settle–long after his immediate family in Ohio had closed his estate there. Your relative may have had financial ties to an area long after he left it.
From a while back: In census records where relationships to head of household are stated, “boarders” may be boarders, but they could be related as well. This 1880 enumeration includes a boarder with the household who is actually the wife’s nephew.
One way to get past that brick wall is to analyze a document as if you know nothing about the family other than is what on the document and what you know about the document itself (why it was created, what types of information it typically contained, legal requirements to perform acts listed in document [it applicable], and the like). Forget what you know about the relationships of people listed in the document. Forget what you know about the people in the document. What does the document tell you? Then…after you done that, compare that information to what you know (or think you know) about the people involved? Is the information consistent? Are there new details?
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