Looking for an ancestor’s signature? Is there an estate they would have been an heir to? Perhaps there is a signed receipt in the packet of estate papers. Receipts won’t be in the order books and journals, but some locations have the actual packets of papers. That’s one place to get a signature. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Are there any pre-1900 tombstones you have not transcribed, photographed, etc.? Look through your records, your database, etc. Put getting the transcription from the stone on your priority list. Old stones do not last forever and the information may literally fade away before you get to it. And be careful relying totally on published transcriptions. Sometimes in an attempt to be helpful, people added information to the “transcription” that really was not on the stone. But those stones may not be as legible in five years as they are today. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Years ago I remember reading Family History Library Card Catalog description of the Bethany Church records for Tioga, Illinois. The film notes that the earliest records start in 1805. This confused me as I believed the church was founded in the 1850s. It turns out that one of the death entries in the register referred to someone who was born in 1805 and that’s why the records gave that year as the earliest year. Catalogers have a difficult job, especially with handwritten records in basically what appear to be notebooks. I always look through the material, especially if the time period is relatively close to what I need. Sometimes things get overlooked when being cataloged. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
This hasn’t been posted to the blog in a while (if ever), so for those who haven’t requested it–you can request a free copy of my article “Brick Walls from A to Z” at no charge in PDF format by sending an email to brickwallsa2z@gmail.com. Thanks. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
When you cross a poltiical line, county, state, province, territory, nation, etc. the laws and recordkeeping system may chance, in some cases significantly. Even when crossing states/provincial lines, the laws regarding what is recorded and how it is recorded may change. Learn about the new area’s records before you assume that Virginia in 1760 is just like Nebraska in 1860. That’s something of an extreme example, but it hopefully makes the point. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
On one of my wife’s families, I didn’t bother to get the will of the ancestor. In fact, I never looked for it. The records weren’t microfilmed and I already knew “everything” about the family from other records. If there was a will, it wasn’t going to tell me anything I didn’t already know anyway. Wrong. The will was short–“everything to my wife.” The order probating the will mentioned all the heirs, including a child in a mental institution, complete with the institution’s name and address. If possible, don’t leave records ignored because you “know everything.” There still may be clues in those materials. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
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When viewing anyone’s military pension, regardless of the war, look at the act under which he was applying. Look at what types of service qualified under the act, length of service, etc. If a widow is applying look at the act and see if it mentions length of time married, whether she could have married him after the war, etc. There may be clues about your ancestor hiding in the act under which the application was made. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Ever wonder how fast the mail was one hundred years ago? There was a slight clue in an old pension file: Letter dated 3 May 1907, Washington, DC–sent to West Point, Illinois. Response to letter is dated 7 May 1907, West Point, Illinois. Response received 9 May 1907, Washington DC. The letter was a request for information in a pension file. There’s no guarantee of when anything was mailed and a date could easily be off, but the timeline was tighter than I thought it might be for 1907. Just something to think about. Are there clues about the speed of mail in an old record you have? ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Descendants of James Rampley (1803-1884) insisted he was the only member of his family who came west to Illinois from Ohio. “No other family members came here” was what I was told. James bought his first Illinois farm from a first cousin. His sons served in a Civil War unit with a near neighbor whose grandmother was a Rampley and another set of cousins lived about ten miles away. While the cousins ten miles away might not have been on James’ radar, he clearly knew about the others. The “no other family members” was not correct. What the teller of the story might have meant was that no one in James’ immediate family of siblings settled near him. That was true. Always look for relatives in the new […]
Having trouble finding that 100 year old cemetery? If it is in a town/city that published city directories, see if the directory had a list of cemeteries. Might be that a directory has an “old name” for a cemetery that’s not in modern materials, a location that’s not showing up in current directories, etc. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Witnesses on a document do not have to be related to the person signing the document. It a “genealogy legend” that they are. For wills, witnesses usually cannot be heirs or beneficiaries of the will. A witness just has to be of the age of majority and know the person signing the document. That’s it. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
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If a deed of transfer for a piece of property or other item indicates that the only consideration is “love and affection,” there is a likely relationship between the seller and buyer on the property. In fact, it might not even be technically correct to refer to the grantee as as buyer. On these deeds the relationship among the parties is not always stated. Similarly, if the amount of the consideration on a deed is a token amount, say a “dollar,” that also might be a clue as to a potential relationship between the individuals involved. Deeds that say a “dollar and other valuable consideration” may be referring to a mortgage or other document also recorded on the property. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the […]
If your immigrant ancestor was a member of a denomination that practiced infant baptism and you have not determined who the sponsors were for all of his or her children, you could be missing out. There’s a good chance that sponsors were somehow related to the parents and if the parents cannot be traced across the pond, perhaps the sponsors can. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
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