When I was stuck on my Ira Sargent, there were two families I focused on. I was “certain” he fit into one of them. Both families had several members named Ira–there had to be one that was “missing.” They had the same general migration pattern, the age was consistent, etc. etc. Turns out my Ira didn’t belong to either one. And that his family really didn’t live where he settled at all. The “other” families may be related, but it is so distant as to not really be relevant. Sometimes similar names and places are coincidences. Just keep that in mind. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
If your ancestors moved several times, did they leave some children behind, either because the children married or because they died? One ancestor who moved from Michign to Iowa to Missouri left grown children in Michigan and Iowa, not to mention the children who were with him in Missouri. Remember that the entire family might not have moved with the ancestor. Children who were “of age” might very well have stayed behind. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Is it possible you’ve overlooked an alternate spelling of a last name? A relative’s mother’s name was listed in all documents as Morris. Her Social Security Application listed the last name as Morse. Just one that for some strange reason had not crossed my mind. It happens to all of us. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
My great-great-grandmother was Nancy Jane Newman. She was born in 1846 in Indiana to Baptist parents, so there’s no birth or christening record. Her life is well-documented (there’s no missing years, etc.) and every document shows her as Nancy or Nancy Jane. A lady told me that Nancy was ALWAYS the nickname for Ann and that her REAL name WAS Ann and not Nancy. There’s two tips today in this: (1) sometimes “nicknames” are not nicknames, and (2) don’t listen to anyone who insists that something ALWAYS means something. There are exceptions to everything. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Death certificates are a wonderful source, but usually the decedent does not provide the information. Is there another form or record where the deceased would have provided the information? One such source in the United States (for recent enough individuals) is the SS5 form–Application for a Social Security Number. The current charge is $27, but in some situations, knowing who the person actually listed as their parents may be helpful. A copy of an SS5 form from 1943 is here. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Sometimes another set of eyes will see something differently. Over at the Daily Genealogy Transcriber, we recently had a posting that some thought was “Hon Aaron Sargent” when in fact it was “Wm. Aaron Sargent.” That posting can be viewed here:http://genealogytranscriber.blogspot.com/2010/10/signing-my-genealogy.html If you are stuck on how to read or interpret something, consider having someone else look at it. Your interpretation just might not be correct. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
I’m not a big fan of rushing to the computer to enter everything into a database the minute I discover it. Without getting on that soapbox, consider sketching out family relationships on paper before entering them into your genealogical database. Think about the information before you just start mindlessly entering it into a database. Thinking and analyzing are always good. Your initial conclusion may not be the correct one. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
In any index, be it printed or online, determine how complete it actually is. Are there counties missing, either because the index or database is in progress or records have been destroyed? ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
If you’ve used an online index to take you directly to a record, don’t just look at the desired entry and immediately go back to do more searching. Look at the entries before and after the one for your ancestor. How are they the same? How are they different? This is very helpful for records you’ve never look at before. And for census records, look at the names of the neighbors and where they are from. There may be clues in those names and locations as well. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Is what you think your ancestor’s “first name” really his or her “middle name?” It could be that your ancestor is simply hiding under a first name that you do not know is his. My Ira Sargent was actually William Ira Sargent and it’s as William Sargent that he marries in 1870. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Remember that an abbreviation might not stand for what you think it does. There was a time when “Ia” stood for the state of Indiana, not the state of Iowa as it does today. So make certain you really know what something stands for. Readers of Casefile Clues will see this “in action” in issue 7. Attendees at the recent Germantown, TN workshop saw it as well. But there are other examples besides the “Ia” one. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Are you using just one index or finding aid to a set of records? Is there another index or another database or website that indexes the same records? If so, that other site or source might have read names differently or offer different search options. Do not limit yourself to just one site. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
I’ve been working on a relative who was married at least 6 times. To help keep myself organized, I made charts for: her marriages where she was in each census year what each census enumeration said about her what years she had what last names who was the father of what children Just organizing the information about her helped me keep everything straight in my own mind. The relative will be featured in an upcoming issue of Casefile Clues. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
As a reminder, facts cannot be copyrighted. The paragraph you write about how you proved a date of birth is something you can copyright and typically copyrighted the minute you write it. The fact that Johann was born on 18 June 1832 is not something you can copyright. Otherwise if facts could be copyrighted, I’d be taking claim to “2 plus 2 equals 4.” (Grin!). ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Is the spelling of your ancestor’s name in a census or other record a clue as to how your relatives said your ancestor’s name? Elecksander was probably Alexander, said so as to be spelled another way. Cathren in a census was probably Catherine, but probably pronounced “cath rin” as opposed to “Cath er in.” Spelling might hide more clues than you think. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
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