The best way to get better at your DNA matches is to work on ALL of them–even the ones you are not interested in on the families you “already know everything about.” If you are having difficulty reading a document from 1720 (and it is in a language you are literate in), transcribe documents from 1850, 1800, 1750, etc. and work your way back. It may be that the document from 1720 is difficult to read, but sometimes a little extra practice with ones that are easier is what we really need. Occasionally people start to swim in the really deep end of the pool when a little more time in the shallow end might be a good idea. We all need help sometimes with one thing or […]
If you are having difficulty with your DNA results, keeping relationships straight in a family where everyone is related twice, etc. have you really allowed yourself to fully concentrate? Or are you checking the email and social media every few minutes? Are you distracted by household chores that need to be done? Are you going to search what’s “new” on your favorite genealogical website? Some genealogical tasks can be done when you are distracted, others will go better if you are not. DNA analysis, document transcription, relationship determination, etc. are best done when you have a block of uninterrupted time. Five minutes here and five minutes there does not allow you time to really process information and try to understand it.
Generalizing is necessary at times in creating a research plan. Thinking about what records were usually created and what most of them usually contained is a way to determine where to next focus research energies. But I cannot use the belief that “most of the time x usually happened at y time or at y place to enter dates or locations in my database as if they were documented facts. Peter and Barbara Bieger had their first child in Warsaw, Illinois, in January of 1851. One might assume that they were married in or near Warsaw a few years before the birth. Nope. They were married in 1849 (a few years before the birth, but…) in Cincinnati, Ohio, where they lived for a very short time before moving.
An ancestor died in 1877 and is buried in the Bethany Church Cemetery in Tioga, Illinois. There is a funeral entry for her in the records of the church which gives the same date of death as her tombstone but does not mention where she died. There is no civil record of her death as not all deaths were recorded in Illinois in 1877–this was still in the early days of recording civil records of deaths and births in Illinois). There is no obituary for her and no family Bible recording her vital events exists. My entry for her in my database should not indicate she died in Tioga. She likely died near Tioga, given that she is buried there. Tioga is close to both a township line […]
Abstracts pick and choose key elements of a document, without transcribing anything word for word. Extracts pick out short sections of a document, transcribing those sections verbatim. Transcriptions of a document include the entire document copied verbatim. Abstracts, extracts, and transcriptions serve different purposes. Make certain you know which one you are using.
Some older records kept in ledger-type format may have no page numbers that can be used in the creation of a citation or a detailed reference. There are probably other guides or reference points within the records you can use as a means to later find the same reference. Is the entry a baptismal entry from 1850 in a series of baptisms entered chronologically? Is it a funeral entry from a chronological list of entries from 1812? Are the entries within a series of items numbered individually? Is the record organized alphabetically by farm name (as sometimes happens in Sweden)? Are their image numbers on the microfilm? There’s probably a way you can create a trail to get back to that page–just don’t forget to do it.
It can happen to any of us–forgetting the page number. When looking at the copy of a 1919 legal document, I realized that while I wrote down the book number, I neglected to make certain the page number copied as well. I got the entire document, but the page number is hidden in the shadow on the corner of the page.
The Bureau of Land Management website contains digital images of land patents issued for property in the Federal domain. The bulk of these were issued in the 19th century and many were issued based upon the submission of a military land warrant based on military service. Search for any relatives who lived during the time period where they could have served in the American Revolution through Mexican War to see if a patent was issued based upon a warrant that was issued in their name. The warrant application at the National Archives will document their military service and potentially provide more details about their life.
Way back in 2003, I thought I had “figured out” an 1860 census enumeration with a few irregular entries. I even had a list of reasons why my conclusion was correct. Flash forward to 2011. In attempting to “redo” the research, I reached a different conclusion about the 1860 census entry–one that meant I had more work to do. Genealogical conclusions are always subject to new information, new procedures, and the potential that a misinterpretation was made along the way. Don’t be afraid to revise.
The Union Civil War widow’s pension application indicated the soldier died in Memphis, Tennessee. Another document in the pension application indicated the soldier died in Springfield, Illinois. The soldier’s compiled military service record also indicated he died in Springfield. The document in the service record was created close to the time of his death–within a few weeks. That’s more contemporary to the event than the documents in the pension file. Generally speaking, for there are always exceptions, one wants to get a document that was created as closely as possible to the event that document references. That’s true from a time standpoint and a geographic standpoint. Of course, people can always make a mistake in any record for a variety of reasons. That’s true for documents recorded moments […]
I was working in some 19th century death records. After some review of the entries from the death register, I was reminded of something that sometimes gets overlooked: What are we actually looking at? In this case, I knew that the entries in the death register were made from the actual death certificates. The certificate number was one pretty obvious clue to that import. Another clue was the consistent nature of the handwriting among several pages of entries. Even if they entries were not made on the same day, they were clearly written by the same person. It is always advised to know what record one is using and if that record fits into a larger record creation process. Knowing what you are using is key to analyzing […]
‘ There is a limit to how far back Autosomal DNA testing can be used to determine genealogical relationships simply because a person gets half their DNA from each parent and the further back you go the smaller the potential share you get from each ancestor. That’s why it’s advised that people have parents and grandparents or other relatives of that generation tested. But are there some cousins who are not quite as distant from your ancestors as you are? My great-grandmother Ufkes has several descendants. Two of them are in their late twenties. One of those twenty-somethings is also her great-granddaughter. The other twenty-something is her great-great-granddaughter. Which would be preferable for testing if you could only afford one test? The great-granddaughter would be preferred as she’s […]
Most deaths are recorded “reasonably close” to when the death took place. Laws regarding the recording of death certificates usually include a time frame in which the death must be reported. Because of this, genealogists usually look for deaths with a close time frame to when the death actually took place. This death from Illinois in 1889 is somewhat atypical. It was recorded over two years later. The August 1889 death was recorded in September of 1891. The date of death is correct as the deceased individual’s probate references the same date. The time lag, as of this writing, is a mystery but serves as a reminder to look beyond when we think an event took place to find its recording.
When starting with an analysis of DNA matches, it can be tempting to work on solving that “brick wall” problem right away. That might be a mistake. Two good approaches are to sort out the low-hanging genealogical fruit–those matches that are easy to figure out. This should be done even if the family some of these matches are related on are not the “brick wall” family. The other approach is to sort out matches on those families where you already “know everything.” This can be a good way to improve your DNA analysis skills in order to help you work on your true brick wall. Check out Ancestry.com’s St. Patrick’s Day DNA sales.
If your relative is selling a fractional interest in a piece of real estate, ask yourself: “How did my relative obtain partial ownership in this property?” The usual answer is that there was some type of inheritance. While it is possible there are other reasons, in the majority of cases fractional ownership results from an inheritance. Property tax records and land records may help you determine who the previous owner was. They may also help you determine who the other fractional owners of the property are besides your ancestor. Check out the Genealogy Tip of the Day book.
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