The 1866 will of a relative is contained in the packet of loose probate papers along with receipts, original copies of orders, original inventories, etc. The packet of probate papers has been microfilmed and digitized. The will is difficult to read. But there’s another digital image of the will. That digital image is made from the record copy of the will recorded in the will record book. That record copy, given the time period, is also handwritten. The will record has been microfilmed and digitized as well. It is much easier to read than the digital image of the original will. The record copy of the will, contained in the probate court’s will record book, is admittedly a derivative copy of the will. Record copies are considered the […]
Remember that when dealing with some record agencies, government offices, churches and private businesses, helping you with your genealogy might not really be their job. County record offices maintain records, but if you don’t know what you are looking for it makes it difficult for them to help you. Some offices may maintain old records, but their “real job” focuses on current day-to-day activities. Churches and private business maintain their records “privately,” and really don’t have to share information with you, even if great-grandma was a lifetime member or great-grandpa spend a “huge” amount there on his funeral. Just a few thoughts. It doesn’t mean that clerks have to be rude or impolite though!
For your “brick wall” ancestor, do you know (or have any idea) how far they lived from: the county seat? the nearest church of their denomination? the nearest place they could get supplies or transact necessary business? their nearest neighbor? the cemetery? The list here is not exclusive. If you’ve got no idea of the answers to these questions, determining those answers may help you solve your problem.
When you say you “searched” a set of records, what does that mean? Did you search an index in a book created from abstracts of those records? Did you search a database created from those records at FamilySearch, Ancestry, or some other website? Did you manually search the images of those records page by page? Did you manually search the actual records themselves page by page. If you searched the book’s index, what name variants did you look for? How was the book structured? Was every name in the records included in the book and was every name in the book indexed? If you searched a the records by querying a database created from those records, how did you account for spelling variations or transcription issues while searching? […]
Schools, hospitals, churches, and similar organizations sometimes change the location of their facilities and operations. Buildings get outgrown, facilities become too expensive to maintain , or a changing population necessitate a move. You may think you are driving by the spot where grandma was born because that’s where the hospital of that name is today, but is it really in the same place or did it move? The precise location might not be crucial to our research, but occasionally it is. If your ancestor attended a church in 1850 and there’s still a denomination of that name in the location today, do they worship in the same place? Has that hospital moved since 1940? Your grandma and father may have attended the same high school, but was it […]
The above image is the left hand page of the World War I draft classification list entry for my great-grandfather, Frederick Johnson Ufkes. These classification records are held by the National Archives in Atlanta. To search the records, they need: There is a charge of $20 for a copy of the record. Requests can be sent to atlanta.archives@nara.gov. You will be billed if a record is located. Please follow the directions stated above. It’s helpful to find the World War I draft registration card first. That can be done on Ancestry or FamilySearch. The right hand page includes additional information. In my case, that page was blank, but the headings indicate what information is included. There is a Wikipedia page that has information on the registration classifications.
From a while back… Certain ethnic groups tend to follow certain naming patterns when choosing names for children. Keep in mind that these patterns are cultural norms. They are not set in statute. They are not part of an ecclesiastical edict. There can be exceptions, particularly when both grandfathers (or grandmothers) have the same first name or when there has been a significant argument with a certain relative. Use the naming patterns as a suggestive clues not as an established certainty.
I gave away my spare copy of Evidence Explained as a door prize at a recent conference where I lectured. Unknown to me at the time was the fact that I had grabbed the copy of the book that I had stuck a few pictures in for use in blog posts. Fortunately the winner of the book reached out to me and I got the pictures back. That does not always happen, especially with books that get donated to various charities or even tossed away. It’s not just your own books that may contain copies of pictures, obituaries, other clippings, and the like. Books in the home of a recently departed family member may also have similar items tucked away in them. Look in every book. You’ll be […]
If a child is born before a couple married, consider several possibilities: Your first conclusion about the scenario may be correct. Or it may not be. Research the family as completely as possible, then see if a conclusion can be reached.
We can’t really cover analyzing “old published genealogies” in one tip, but there are some suggested ways for using information printed in genealogies published in the early twentieth century and earlier. There’s more to the analysis than this, but keeping these points in mind is an excellent start. Genealogy Tip of the Day book is here. Learn more about it.
Make certain you have looked at every item in a relative’s census enumeration–not just the name, age, relationship, occupation, and place of birth. Many post-1850 US census enumerations provide varying additional details about your relative’s life, including property values, place of birth of parents, citizenship status, literacy details, married within the census year, and more. Don’t just ignore those other demographic details about your relative. Sometimes the biggest clues are in the smallest pieces of information.
Are there stories and memories of your family in your head that you have not preserved in some way? The human mind is the most fragile source there is. Do not forget to record and share information that only you know. It could be as simple as the identification of photographs or as involved as writing your autobiography. But writing down memories does not require a degree in English or journalism. It just requires a desire to get them written down. Most genealogists would love to have a few pages written by a long-deceased relative. Maybe we should leave behind some of our own.
From a while back… Variations in how your ancestor’s name was spelled can be endlessly frustrating. However, it’s worth remembering that a variation of how your ancestor’s name appears in an index can arise from a variety of situations: Keep in mind that one of more of these could explain why James Rampley ends up indexed as Jarvis Pample.
Generally speaking, genealogists who write and lecture extensively about genealogy research and methodology, put sources in one of three categories: This classification scheme is not perfect. No scheme is perfect. This classification scheme does not comment on the accuracy of the record. That’s the job of the researcher as some original sources are virtually worthless and some derivative sources are excellent. For more about record classification and analysis, consult Evidence Explained.
My uncle was married to his wife for ten days when he died of the flu in 1918. His widow never remarried and lived the rest of her life with her parents. In at least one federal census, she was enumerated with her maiden name. The listing is probably an error as later records list her with married name. Everyone else in the household had the same last name, except my aunt. It is very possible that the census taker simply got confused. Do you have a female relative who is inadvertently listed under their maiden name in a record created after their marriage?
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