Posts in Michael John Neill

Many genealogists are not familiar with the word, but they should be familiar with the concept. Endogamy is the practice of marrying within the social group. Greek immigrants to Chicago tend to marry other Greek immigrants (or children of Greek immigrants). Missouri settlers from Tennessee tend to have children who marry into other nearby families of settlers from Tennessee. While individuals can easily marry “outside” the group, a shared heritage (be it from across the “big pond” or across the creek) can be big factor in the eventual choice of a marriage partner. It explains why half my own ancestors are Ostfriesen even though my families had all lived in the United States for nearly 100 years before I was born. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip […]

Different records for the same event may provide different information. While it is not always possible to “doublecheck” everything try and obtain multiple sources for events and “proofs” whenever you can. One record can easily be incorrect. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!

If you do not know a maiden name or a first name of an individual, leave it blank. In your notes and or sources, indicate how you know the individual exists and any relevant explanations. When in doubt, leave it out. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!

Purists would tell you that you should use whatever is on a birth certificate as an individuals “given name” in your genealogy database. Sometimes I think some discretion should be used. My great-grandmother’s birth certificate lists her as Francis Rampley. However, every document she signed from her marriage document through records settling her husband’s estate lists her as Fannie Neill (her married name). Her tombstone even has Fannie Neill listed. Consequently in my database her name is listed as Fannie as apparently that is what she wanted to be called. In my notes there is information about her birth certificate and the name it actually lists. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!

If you find an ancestor’s deed in a land record book, check the pages before and after. It was not uncommon for individuals to record documents in “groups” and more than one record may have been filed at the same time. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!

I’ve been working on my wife’s English lines lately. Some have been fairly easy to research and I have been accumulating quite a bit of information, digital copies, etc. There comes a time when one has to stop and really put together and organize what one has. I have many copies and notes, but I have not put the information into my database where I can see what families I have information on, etc. Not to mention it is all starting to run together. The research is fun, but every so often you need to stop gathering and start organizing. If for no other reason than to not completely confuse yourself. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!

Do you really know how your ancestors pronounced their last name? Taliaferro and variants are often pronounced to sound like “toliver” Beauchamp may have been pronounced to sound like “beecham” Have you considered pronunciation variants on your last name? ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!

If you can’t find your ancestor in the 1840 census and you think he really should be there, look for his 1830 neighbors in 1840 or try looking for his 1850 neighbors in 1840. No guarantees, but worth a shot. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!

It is relatively easy to find the names of those who were godparents for your ancestor’s children. Those names are big clues. However, when the records are unindexed, finding the names of children for whom your ancestor was a godparent is not as easy. It requires manual searching of each entry. But it may be worth it, because the parents of that child could be relatives of your ancestor and provide significant clues to your research. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!

Ok, so this is a little bit of trivia, but I found it interesting.According to David Rencher of the Family History Library, the online version of the Family History Library Card Catalog is updated every half hour. I’m not suggesting you search the catalog constantly…….and I’m not really certain I should refer to it as a card catalog either. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!

Are you checking the same sites almost too regularly, hoping for an update? Are you posting queries to message boards and other sites, hoping to find something or get a helpful reply? Consider changing your approach or spending less time on the Internet or more time on different sites. My Ancestry.com subscription lapsed and eventually I will renew it. But now that I don’t have 24/7 access to it, I am getting back into records I had ignored for too long and even reviewing my files. And when I do have access to Ancestry.com I make better use of it and am more efficient because I know I don’t have it constantly. And frankly some days I spent too much time “randomly” searching on Ancestry and not enough […]

Remember that we do not live in the same times as our ancestors. If you are working on families from two hundred years ago, consider reading contempory material from that era. Transcribed diaries, newspapers and other materials are a great way to get a better “feel” for the times, in addition to reading non-fiction history covering the same time period. Reading someone else’s diary from the time, even if a complete non-relative, may give you a fresh perspective on your ancestor life and times. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!