Sales of real property for failure to pay property taxes are usually from the “Sheriff of Youlivedhere County” to the individual who purchased the property. Your ancestor will not appear as the grantor on the deed. If you know (based on some solid evidence and not just conjecture) that your ancestor owned real property and cannot find a deed where they sold it, consider that it was sold for non-payment of taxes. Most counties list the Sheriff as the grantor on these transactions–your ancestor did not own it if the taxes were not paid–but find out for certain how the appropriate jurisdiction handles these matters. There may also be a lawsuit against your ancestor as well. Add Genealogy Tip of the Day–the book–to your bookshelf!
There’s Warren, Illinois, and it is not in Warren County, Illinois. There are numerous examples throughout the United States were a state has a county and a town with same name and the town is not located within that same-named county. Not to mention townships that may have the same name that could be in other counties only confusing the issue. When you have a place name, make certain as best you can to what type of place it is referring. Is it a town/city, township, county, etc.? If your research is areas that have hundreds, townlands, parishes, etc. make certain you know what that name refers to as sometimes people were not creative and reused names. Just to confuse us later.
When using local indexes to records (court, deed, probate, etc.), familiarize yourself with the index format and layout. Different locations may use slightly different systems. Sometimes the differences are obvious and other times they are not. This index from Coshocton County, Ohio, indexes land records by the first letter of both the person’s first and last names. Other locations use the last name only. Other locations use the position of the first name within a column as a sorting guide. Don’t just jump right away to the section of the index that includes the last name you want. Scan the entire index to make certain you are not overlooking portions of it.
It can be difficult to think of a “totally new” tip every day, so we’re reminding readers of the importance of looking at the original document. It may provide more details than the index or the index’s transcription may be incorrect. Remember that indexes are only a means to get you to the original. A look at the Ancestry.com “story” for my own ancestor is a good example of how using incomplete transcriptions and erroneous ones (apparently) can make for a story that’s just not quite what it should be.
Many events in our ancestors’ lives were governed by the laws of the time. A few quick things to remember: There is state law and there is federal law (in addition to local ordinances) that usually impact the “big things” (marriage, estate settlements, inheritance, adoptions, etc.). Things governed by state law can vary from one state to another. That’s true today (eg. “legal marijuana”) and was true in 1850 as well. Laws change over time. What was true in 1800 was not necessarily true in 1920. Many old state statute books are online (start at books.google.com to search). The takeaway? Don’t forget that laws vary based on location and time–even if you don’t cross an international border in the process.
Many “adoptions” in the United States, especially in the 19th century and before, were informal. There was no legal paperwork or documentation created. Family members (close or extended) or neighbors may have taken a child in to raise–perhaps because the parents were deceased or because they had too many children. Children may simply have lived with other family members long-term for one reason or another. My great-great-grandmother, born in the 1860s, lived with her maternal grandparents for most of her childhood–evidenced by census records. She also received a bequest in the will of her maternal grandfather where her other siblings did not. The reason? I’m not certain, but I do know that her own parents had quite a few children and, for a time, her grandparents had her […]
Your relative who served in the United States military may have enlisted in a state other than the one in which he lived. This was common for wars through the 19th century. Do not assume that your Ohio ancestor had to enlist in an Ohio unit. He may not have. I have several Illinois relatives who served in the US Civil War. Most of them enlisted in units from Illinois, but not all. One enlisted in an Iowa unit and another enlisted in a Missouri unit. And an Iowa relative enlisted in a unit from Wisconsin. This was sometimes done to help those state meet quotas in terms of volunteers. Genealogy Tip of the Day can help fill in those gaps in your genealogical skill set without being […]
If you have searched local land records (usually kept at the county or town level in the United States), have you determined where later surveys or plats are kept? These items may be filed in with the deed books or filed in a separate series of volumes, ledgers, or other format. After John Habben died in 1939, his sons had a survey conducted to clearly establish who had what pieces of property. The survey is filed in the recorder’s office in the same location as the land records, but in a separate series of documents. The survey simply establishes the boundaries, acreages, and ownership of each piece of property. It does not document how the men acquired the property. One would have to search land and other local […]
Whenever there is an index that I am uncertain how to use, I perform a backwards search. I manually search the records and pick a couple of records or items at random. I note where they are in the records, who they mention, etc. Then I go back to the index and see if I can find the index entry for that record. If I can, then I’m likely using the index correctly and I understand how it works. If I cannot, then there is something I need to figure out before I use the index further.
Fifty years after they came to America and decades after they died, Mr. and Mrs. John George Trautvetter were mentioned in the local newspaper in 1903 when their descendants gathered on their former arm. People can often be mentioned shortly after their death in their obituary, notices involving their probate, etc. The most likely mention of someone decades after their death is in the obituaries of their children. But as we can see there are other possibilities when someone can be mentioned well after their death. Don’t discount the possibility that great-grandma is mentioned in the newspaper fifty years after her death. Add Genealogy Tip of the Day–the book–to your bookshelf!
Genealogy theorists tout the value of an exhaustive search and there’s a reason–things can get overlooked. There’s also a reason why some of us just look for anything and everything. This 1900 deed contains more family clues that most deeds created during this time period. It has the former name and maiden name of the first seller and the “legal” and commonly used names of several other sellers listed. Not every document will provide such clues, but you do not know if you do not look. One needs to evaluate this information for perceived reliability, but in the case of this deed where the grantor is providing information about herself, it would likely be considered to be accurate as she likely provided it herself. Information on her death […]
There is no doubt that pregnant women got on ships that were headed to the United States. There is no doubt that some of them had their babies on the ship. I tend to doubt the story unless I can find some relatively contemporary evidence of it. The infant listed on the manifest as a newborn is a prime example. Stories of the baby being born on the ship make for nice dramatic stories and, when it actually happened, there is no doubt that it would have been a dramatic birth and the baby was fortunate to have survived. But try and find something that back up that story. Just like you would anything else.
Getting away from the families you have worked on for years can be change of pace that helps you to later take a fresh look at your own research. I’ve been working my grandson’s ancestry through his 4th great-grandparents. Half of his tree was pretty complete, but his paternal side is new to me. The families are in the same state as my own, rural like mine, and farmers like mine. But the family structure is different and some of the idiosyncrasies are not quite the same. Working on 20th century families is also not something I regularly do so that’s presenting some challenges as well. I’m making a short list of “revelations” for my own research while I’m working on these other families. The good thing is […]
Do you really know how someone actually pronounced the last name you are researching? One place to find out is from someone who actually has the last name. But there’s no guarantee that someone with the last name today is pronouncing it the way their ancestor did in 1800. If the name is not in English, find someone who speaks the language and ask them what it sounds like–online genealogy groups may be one place to find these people. For names that are in English are there online genealogy groups from the area where the person or family lived who may be familiar with how the name is pronounced? It is not always necessary to find someone with the last name in order to see how it was […]
All I need is one good plumber, not three mediocre ones. According to some in the land of genealogy, if I have three sources that say the same thing, then I have “proof.” No. You have three sources that say the same thing and there’s a little more to information analysis than reaching some magic number. One has to consider how “independent” the sources really are. Is the same person the informant on all three sources and providing the same information? If so that’s not three independent sources. It’s really one informant. The same thing applies if two published genealogies copy a statement from the same reference. That is a case of one source–not three. And also: how reliable are those sources? Did the informant know what they […]
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