If there was a court case after a relative died, make certain you have looked up every name of every heir in the court indexes. The estate being settled might be the estate of John Smith, but it could easily be that son-in-law Gideon Johnson is the lead plaintiff in the court case and grandson Barton Hanson is the lead defendant. Because of this Smith’s estate fight will probably be in the plaintiffs’ index under Gideon Johnson and in the defendants’ index under Barton Hanson. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Do not assume something that looks incorrect is. It may be right. The image that is a part of this post comes from a marriage record in Union County, Iowa, that indicates the bride Emma Pollard was getting married for the fifth time. The temptation might be that somehow this is incorrect–it does seem high. Turns out it was correct and this marriage from 1883 was her fifth. Don’t assume what looks wrong is. Sometimes it is correct. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Did your ancestor have a spouse to whom they were married for only a short time (perhaps because the spouse died young) and had no children? Have you completely researched the family of this spouse? Often the temptation is to perform little research on this “short-term” spouses, particularly when there was no issue of the marriage. There could still be clues in the choice of this marriage partner. They could have known each other overseas, “back East,” or had mutual acquaintances–all of which could be clues to tracing your actual ancestor. Just because no one descends from the “short-lived” spouse does not mean they should not be researched just as thoroughly as the spouse from which you descend. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day […]
We’ve just uploaded our 25th webinar to our site with recorded copies for download. Today use coupon code twenty5 and save 25% on your order. Code expires at midnight central time (10 PM Pacific) The list is here: http://www.casefileclues.com/webinars.htm ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Deeds in states that used metes and bounds description of property (generally the US colonies and those states that bordered them) often include the names of neighbors in the property lines. These descriptions describe the property lines using angles and measurements and frequently indicate whose property shares that line. While researchers may not necessarily want to plat out the properties, those names of neighbors can be helpful. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
While preparing for an upcoming conference, I fired off a response to an email–answering the question the way it “usually” was answered for most conferences. The problem was that this conference was difference and my mistake was in reliance upon my memory. Is there a piece of information an ancestor provided on a document that might have been solely from his memory, given “off the cuff?” And perhaps his or her error was a very honest one, not given to deceive or confuse, but merely done so quickly “off the top of his head.” And 100 years later, his descendant analyzes it do death when it was originally a very simple error. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
We’ve added one new webinar to our March 2012 series–and we’re really excited about it. Our new session is “Searching on Fold3.com.” This website (fee-based) offers a variety of military records from the United States. Fold3 has a large amount of material from the Revolutionary War and also includes digital images of National Archives microfilmed material from later United States conflicts as well. You can check out the information on Fold3 by browsing their website. Our Fold3 webinar is on 6 March 2012 at 1:30 PM central time. Visit our webinar registration page for more details and registration links. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
If your ancestor was an early settler in an area, do you know where the names of the county, township and nearby villages were obtained? Those names could be clues as to your ancestor’s origins. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Have you read through something more than once? Did you jump to any conclusions that were incorrect? Did you overlook anything? This is a tip that is worth occasionally repeating–for all of us. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Always consider the possibility that that child born when a female ancestor was 55 years of age might not have been the ancestor’s child. While some women did have children “late in life,” it may be that the last child was actually the first grandchild–the child of one of the “mother’s” older children. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Those handwritten copies of the deeds in big ledger books at the records office are not original copies. Chances are your ancestor got back his original. The copy at the courthouse is a derivative copy–meaning it was a copy made from the original. Courthouse copies are usually considered the legal equivalent of the original and are often called recorded copies, but they are not the original. Just something to keep in mind. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
For our new fans and as a reminder to ones who have been around a little bit longer, I have the following blogs–all are free. Posting frequency varies : Daily Genealogy Transcriber–can you read the handwriting? Casefile Clues–updates on research for my newsletter Genealogy Tip of the Day–one daily how-to tip or suggestion Search Tip of the Day-tips for internet sites and search ideas Rootdig-opinion, attitude, and anything else that crosses my path ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Is there a chance that one of the people you think are your ancestor’s parents is not actually their parent? Is it possible that the woman you think is your ancestor’s mother actually his step-mother? Or that the man you think is your ancestor’s father is actually her step-father? ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Our March 2012 Genealogy Webinar schedule has been posted. Topics are: Probate Process Proving Benjamin Genealogy Proof Standard (rescheduled) Researching Female Ancestors Details are on our webinar page at http://www.casefileclues.com/webinars_neill.htm ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
The US federal government did not begin keeping passenger lists of arrivals until 1820. Any surviving lists in the United States were either kept by state or other government agencies or have been created using other sorts of records. Other records may be located, but there are no comprehensive lists of immigrants in the United States before 1820. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
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