Have you considered the possibility that the indexer missed something when creating the index? It might be that the only way to be certain the name is not in the record is to look page by page. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Don’t forget on 1840 census enumerations to look at both the left hand page and the right hand page. The left hand page includes slave numbers, information on individuals engaged in various types of employment (categories only, no names), and names of Revolutionary War pensioners. There might be a big clue hiding on the right hand page of that census–don’t forget to look, grandpa might be living with the family. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Remember that what “killed” your ancestor might not be what actually “killed” him. Look for the secondary cause of death–that might have been the lingering illness that really was the culprit. Kidney failure might have been the result of something else. Don’t ignore those other illnesses listed on the death certificate. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Does your ancestor have a series of deeds where he sells land over time? Have you looked closely at the place where the widow releases her dower? Is it the same wife every time? Might be a clue to multiple spouses. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Find your source for each fact on your ancestor, determine: do you have a source? is the fact an “assumption?” For each source: is it primary or secondary how reliable is it? For some questions there’s not a “right” or “wrong” answer, but thinking about where you obtained each piece of information may cause you to break that brick wall. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Remember that virtually every record can be searched manually, particularly census and other online records. Indexes aren’t perfect and sometimes manual page by page searches are faster than formulating seemingly endless search queries. And you may make a few accidental discoveries in the process. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
The 1900 census for a relative indicated his mother was born in Ohio. This was completely incorrect. What I learned later was that the mother’s parents were married in Ohio a year before the mother was born in Illinois. While the place of birth was wrong, it was a clue as to the migration trail of the parents. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Do you have the right place for the right time in your genealogy database? An online tree for a relative indicates one of their ancestors was born in Plymouth, Mass in 1600. Seems a little bit odd to me. Double check that your locations and dates are correct within the historical time frame. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
A patronym is a last name derived from the first name of the father. For instance, Anders Swanson has sons with the last name of Anderson. Anderson would be a patronym. If Gerd Hinrichs’ children use the last name of Gerdes, Gerdes would be a patronym. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
This has been discussed on the Fan Page on face book. An electronic copy of Evidence Explained is available here for $24.95. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
A married woman whose legal rights have been combined into those with her husband, with the husband assuming control of those rights. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
A marriage bann is an announcement of an upcoming marriage. Usually made for three consecutive weeks in church, banns may also be publicly published announcements of an upcoming marriage. Usually done so that anyone with knowledge of why the couple should not be married could come forth with the reason. The publication (or announcement) of the banns does not necessarily mean that the marriage actually took place. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
In some locations in some time periods, it was not unusual for couples to reuse names of deceased children. While today the practice would be frowned upon, many of my low-German ancestors had several children with the exact same name, the first ones all dying at a young age. And it wasn’t just this ethnic group that engaged in this practice. So consider that those church records indicating three children born with the same name could be correct and look for a death entry for the first ones. Don’t just assume they were different children who had the same christening name and took different names later. All of which makes the point that it is important to learn about cultural practices for your ancestor’s ethnic group. ———————————— Check […]
It’s possible that your ancestor did not even really know how old she was. A deposition in a Civil War pension file I’m using for an upcoming issue of Casefile Clues begins with the individual stating that they aren’t really certain how old they are. Did your ancestor know when they were born? Are you assuming that they did? A partial copy of the deposition can be seen on the Casefile Clues blog. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
While there are aspects of genealogical research that are the same across time periods, certain things are different. Different time periods and locations require different approaches despite what some “experts” may think. Researching a European immigrant ancestor to an urban area in the late 1800s is different from researching an immigrant to upstate New York in the early 1700s. If you are approaching both problems the same way, that might be adding to the confusion. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
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