Classified ads can contain all sorts of ancestral clues. This 1887 era ad from Illinois suggests that there were problems in the marriage of George Ann Cline and her husband, Robert. The ad states that he has no authority to act for George Ann in any manner regarding any of her property, be it personal or mixed. The reference to property makes one wonder if George Ann had property from before marriage earnings, a previous marriage, or an inheritance. The newspaper reference suggests that court records be accessed for a divorce between the couple as well as probate and land records in the area. Ads of this type were not uncommon in the late 18th and 19th centuries and even into the 20th.
I have numerous obituaries for my ancestor Heipka (Mueller) Dirks who died in Coatsburg, Adams County, Illinois, in 1924. For the most part they contain the same set of details about her life. When one has an obituary for a person from three or more newspapers it would seem that all the bases are covered. That’s not necessarily true. I recently located another obituary for her in a Camp Point, Illinois, newspaper. It is the only obituary for her which indicates where the family attended church before one of the “correct” denomination was built in the town where they actually lived. I had already located the records the discovery was not earth-shattering. But it makes the point that another “copy of the same thing” may not be the […]
Two excellent ways to strengthen your research is to write it up and to cite what you write. It is especially true on a person or family that is giving you difficulties. Write for an imaginary reader that does not know anything about the family. Explain what you know, how you know it, and where you got it. Give reasons for your conclusions. Have a source or reference for every statement of fact that you make. Re-evaluate those statements you can’t document. Writing for someone else to read and understand often helps us to get at errors or omissions in our research. Citing our sources frequently does the same thing. You don’t have to be as dogged as Riley in citing your sources, but some attention to them […]
We’re offering 50% off on three recorded webinars for the next 24 hours after this message is sent. Offer is on problem-solving, pond-crossing, and researching the entire family. View the offer on our announcement page.
Most of us have asked someone a question or said something to someone only to have their response to us make it clear that they did not understand what we said. Is that why your relative gave “off-the-wall” answers to the census taker, records clerk, etc.? A person’s difficulty in understanding the question can be compounded by age, hearing difficulties, cognitive abilities, native language, etc. Do not assume that your relative really understood what they were being asked.
Sound genealogy methodology indicates that witnesses on documents should always be researched for a potential connection to the person for whom they are witnessing a document. That’s good advice. Just remember that not every witness had a connection to the person who actually was signing the document. Samuel Neill became a citizen in Hancock County, Illinois, in 1880. A quick search of the 1880 census indicated that the witness on his naturalization was the county collector who apparently had no connection to Neill other than he was in the courthouse on the day Neill naturalized. Sometimes witnesses are simply other adults of legal age who were in the vicinity of your ancestor.
Some city directories contained two sets of abbreviations: a general set that applied to entries across the United States and a second set that applied to the specific geographic region the directory covered. The second set, if there is one, may appear right before the alphabetical list of names. The general set likely is on its own page. The specific abbreviations typically contain abbreviations for employers common in the area.
Ira Sargent is enumerated in the 1850 and 1860 US Census under the last name of his step-father, Asa Landon. Ira was born in the 1840s and his father, Clark Sargent, died around 1848. By 1850 his mother had married Asa Landon. Ira’s 1870 marriage record is probably the first document where he actually provided his name to the records clerk. Chances are someone else gave his name to the 1850 and 1860 census enumerator. Your relative might have known his “name,” but might never have had a chance to give it to the clerk, enumerator, etc. until after he was “of age.” Is that why you can’t find your person in any record until they get married?
The 1895 will of Tamme Tammen in Pike County, Illinois, refers to his wife as “Elka B. Franklen Tammen.” Franklen (actually most likely Franken given where the Tammens were from) could have been Elka’s maiden name, middle name, or married name with a previous husband. I should include in my notes on Elka that she is referred to as “Elka B. Franklen Tammen” in her husband’s 1895 will. I should not enter that as her maiden name. Using it for a clue to other relatives when searching is advised. But there’s not really good evidence in this will that it’s her maiden name. There are other possibilities.
After the person of interest apparently died in Illinois in the 1870s, his wife, Susan, was married two more times and ended up surviving all three of her husbands. The last husband was a Union Civil War veteran and Susan qualified for a pension based upon his service. There is a good chance that her widow’s pension application contains at least some brief details about her first marriage and how that marriage ended–including when and where that husband, the actual person of interest, died. Even though the third husband had no connection to the person of interest (other than marrying the same person), his military service could have resulted in a great way for me to location information on the actual person of interest.
Whenever using an index to local record, become familiar with the way in which the index is organized, what all the column headings mean, and who from the records actually appears in the index. Some indexes are alphabetical only by first letter of last name. Some index by first letter of last name and partially by the first letter of the first name. Some group names by the first few letters of the last name. Indexes to local records, since they are created at the local level can vary greatly from one location to another even within the same state. That difference can be even greater when indexes are created within different states.
If your relative lived in an area before the current county in which it is located was formed, do you know the names of the parent counties? Is it possible that early records of your ancestor are in the county seats of those counties, which may be some distance from the county where your ancestor lived and several counties “over” from the current county’s location. Most counties in the United States have a genealogy–they just don’t have two parents and four grandparents–grin!
It’s great to ask a relative questions about your family history. Having a list of questions to ask can also make the interview process easier. But it is worth remembering that the details of an event may be remembered over a period of time and not necessarily during a one-hour interview. The interviewee may remember significant pieces of information long after the question and answer session is over. And no matter how complete or comprehensive the list of questions seems to be, there can always be aspects of a specific family’s history that is not included. There will be questions the interviewee does not think to ask. One way to ascertain this information is to maintain a relationship with the individual if at all possible–it can be via […]
We’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating: DNA tests for genealogical research have been heavily marketed. There are times when they will solve problems–or at least help to solve a problem. But DNA needs to be used in concert with other forms of documentation that researchers have been using for years. And DNA will not necessarily make your genealogical research easy. It will give you one more tool in your research toolbox. But it is not the only tool.
One of my wife’s ancestral surnames is Schollmeyer. Not the most common last name in Davenport, Iowa. In the village in Germany where they were from, the parish register of births contained numerous entries for that last name. In fact, in some years 1/3 of the entries had the father with the last name of Schollmeyer or the mother with that maiden name.
Recent Comments