Two dimensional maps of ancestral residences are great, but knowing something about the actual terrain and topography of the area is helpful as well. One of the things that I always take note of when visiting an ancestral area is the local terrain and geographic features that can impact travel. Living in the mountains is different from living on the prairie. Sometimes things that appear close on a paper map are not as close as one thinks when boots are on the ground and the best path between two places is not always a straight line.
There are databases I use on Ancestry.com or FamilySearch on a regular basis. Sometimes it can be difficult to find the database again on their site. One easy way to find it is to perform a Google search using the title of the database in quotes along with ancestry.com or FamilySearch as an additional search term. I’ve done this with census indexes on FamilySearch, the probate indexes on Ancestry.com, United States passport applications on both sites, etc.–things that I already knew were on the site. One should still use the various search features on the sites that allow you to search their catalog to determine exactly what they have and all of what they have–Google searches do not find everything and are not perfect. It’s just that when […]
A good reminder… It never hurts to ask someone else “what is this?” I ran across an online posting indicating a former US president had written a decree in a divorce case. While I remembered the president having been an attorney, I did not remember him being a judge. Knowing that memories are sometimes ephemeral things (mine included), I recognized the fact that I could be wrong. Instead of scanning biographies of the former president, I decided to look at the original copy of the document to which the posting referred. A quick read of it made it clear what it was: a bill of complaint in a divorce case. It was not any sort of verdict or order issued by a judge. The former president had written […]
At some point, every record you locate about a given relative should be analyzed and compared with other documents about that same relative. It’s the only way to determine if records are relatively consistent and to get a good overall picture of the ancestor. There’s a bit of a “but.” When I first locate a document, I try and only think about what that document says and try to forget other things I know about the person. That helps me to see all the clues in the document and also helps to doublecheck if I do in fact have a document on the same person. So after you’ve discovered that new-to-you record, think about it and see what it really says. Then compare it to what you think […]
Extended for one more day–now through 29 September! This will not be extended again. We’re having a sale on More Genealogy Tip of the Day until 11:50 pm PST today (webpage still says 28th but links work)–$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.
There are a variety of records created during the 1890 time frame that can help fill in the gap of the missing 1890 census. Newspapers and city directories are two great sources for this time period–depending upon the area where one’s ancestors lived. Keep in mind that there may be other records as well. It all depends on where your family lived, the amount of money they had, their religion, etc. In the case of one of my families, they were members of a denomination that practiced the rite of confirmation and, fortunately for me, some of their ten children were of an age (early teens or so) to have been confirmed during the 1890s. It took some searching, but locating the confirmation records lead me to discover […]
Any bit of family history ephemera can contain a genealogical clue. Baby books are no exception, but there could be more than the obvious details about the birth of the child. Lists of attendees at showers and gifts given could be clues as well. Those who attended a shower or gave a gift were obviously alive around the time the child was born. It’s possible a city of residence or an address was listed. Who “went together” for a gift could also be a clue depending on the family structure and dynamics of the time. Given that spouses are sometimes included in the list of gift-givers a reference in a baby book could name the elusive spouse for that aunt or uncle. Baby books can contain information about […]
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 […]
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