Some of our ancestors migrated along paths that thousands of Americans took, but they didn’t settle along these national roads. They went where they knew people, or had a “connection” to a job, a farm, etc. The fact that your ancestor might have travelled part of the way on a common pathway might help solve some problems, but the larger problems will be solved by determining who else travelled with him from point A to point B. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
For any document, ask yourself “why was this document created?” Some will be fairly obvious: death certificate because someone died birth certificate because someone was born Others not so much, particularly some records in court and other cases. Asking why a document was created will help you to know why some things were included in the document and some things were not. Records we use were created for purposes other than genealogy–keep that in mind. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
If you are going to use a digital camera to take pictures of tombstones, documents, etc. on a research trip, practice using the camera at home. Try different kinds of books, different lighting, different times of day, etc. and see what works for you and what doesn’t. The place to learn is at home when you have time, not a thousand miles away when rain is threatening, it’s late in the evening, and the last day of your trip. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Do you try the same approach on every family? Are you always using the records that are “easiest” to research or the ones with which you are most familiar? Are you always using county records and never state records? Have you never used church records? Get outside of that same approach. Your ancestors all didn’t approach life the same way, you shouldn’t approach them the same way either. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Even if you can’t read the entire thing, at least read the history of the town or township where your ancestor settled. Don’t just look in the index or do a text search for the names of interest. Actually read part of it. You may actually learn something that helps your research. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Most of us had a life before genealogy that required specific skills and attributes. Is it possible to use those skills and approaches to problems to your own genealogy? Adapt your “other life” skills to genealogy–it might save you time and break down that brick wall. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
I’ve been analyzing some census records for an upcoming Casefile Clues column. Doing the analysis on paper and pencil was necessary because I was travelling. What I needed was colored pencils. Then I could use the colors to mark each person and help me to keep them straight in my head. I’m going to have to get a set of colored pencils. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
In rural areas, if you can’t find someone in the index, a manual search of the census may be necessary. If that doesn’t help you locate your person, try looking only the places of birth. Then when you find someone with the “right” place of birth, look very closely at their name. That’s how years ago I found Ulfert Behrens in Adams County, Illinois listed as Woolpert Barcus. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
A quit claim deed is one where someone (the grantor) gives up whatever claim they have to a piece of property. They aren’t guaranteeing they have title–they are just giving up their claim. A quit claim deed may have been drawn up quickly, but there’s not such thing as a quick claim deed. It is just a mispronunciation of “quit claim.” ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Since my recent breakthrough at the Family History Library, I discovered an online posting about my newfound ancestor that lists dozens of his ancestor, including one on the Mayflower. It is important not to get too excited about these huge discoveries and take the to prove every link in the chain. Online materials, especially those that are unsourced or that only have filenames like “jones.tftw” as sources, should be used as guides, not gospel. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
This has been a tip of the day before, but I believe it is important enough to occasionally be repeated. Writing up your genealogy research is important. It will make you look more closely at what you have, your assumptions and your conclusions. Remember to write for someone who does not know anything about your family. You might be surprised at the things you learn. And consider submitting your finished product to a local genealogical or historical society quarterly in the area where your ancestor lived. It is a great way to preserve your research. And don’t forget to cite your sources. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Genealogy software programs are great at helping us to manage data. But don’t rush to enter information when you are uncertain about the relationships. I’m working on a “new” family. The only information I have on them is one 1870 census enumeration. The household is headed by a man, but based upon the ages, the oldest female can’t be the mother of all those who appear to be children. Before I start putting any relationship information on this family in my genealogy software program, I need to work on obtaining more details about their relationships. Haste in data entry leads to mistakes. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Genealogists with experience tell newer researchers to always read the preface of a book to determine what records were used, etc. This is an excellent idea. Remember though that the preface itself can contain errors. I spent hours trying to locate the original record used to compile a print book based upon incorrect information in the preface. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Were the records you are using recorded based upon when an event took place, where a person was living, whether they owned property, etc.? Think about how the original was organized and it may help you to search when indexes are not helpful. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Always go back and take a look at something you first saw when you “didn’t know too much.” When putting together the footnotes for an upcoming Casefile Clues article, I reviewed a website that listed items in a special collection that I had used for the article. When reviewing the item I used, I saw an item listed below it that meant nothing originally. After having read the item I had been sent, the second item ended up being relevant to my family. If I hadn’t gone back, I might have missed it. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
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