‘ 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.
The US censuses of 1790, 1800, 1810, and 1820 were written on forms that were handwritten by the census takers themselves. It was not until the 1830 census that pre-printed forms were used. That is why census records in the US for 1820 and before vary in layout. There is more about the history of US census questionnaires on the census.gov website.
When using a search option at an online database, do you know how that site implements wildcard searches (using the *, ?, _, or % in place of letters), Soundex searches, and other search options? Getting creative with search terms is often necessary, but if you don’t know how they are really working, you are not being effective. Experiment and look at your results and see if you are getting what you think you should. A Soundex search for the last name Smut on a site with English language last names should result in a large number of hits. And if you don’t know why, then review what Soundex really is. Most sites have a frequently asked questions page, search hints or suggestions, page, etc.
Veterans returning home from the war (particularly World War II and after) were encouraged to take their discharge papers to the local recorder’s office to have a record copy made. That record copy (sometimes filed in “Records of Soldier’s Discharge” or something similarly titled) was the legal equivalent and could serve as a replacement if the soldier lost the original. These records can be a great way to get military information on that relative whose complete military record is difficult to get.
A relative was great about sending me stuff while she was actively researching in county courthouse records and I really appreciated it. She always indicated the volume number of the courthouse book and the page number of the information. The problem is that she sometimes made up book titles when the book did not have one. The titles are the only thing she made up–which is fortunate, helpful to me, and to her credit. Occasionally the titles aren’t accurate. She extracted accurately and I have found (after some digging) the exact book where the originals were maintained in every case. If you are using Family History microfilm of original records, look at the “title sheet” that starts each record and use that for your title if you don’t […]
There is no “magic book” in genealogy research that will always answer your family history research questions. A source, published or not, that provides the answer for one person will not necessarily provide answers for someone else. That said, finding out what sources others have used is helpful, because sometimes they do work or they at least lead to clues or additional sources that can help you progress on your research journey. Reaching out to others working in the same areas during the same time periods (related to you or not) can be a great way to become familiar with sources and techniques that may be helpful to your research. Local genealogy groups (both online and offline), local genealogical/historical societies, local libraries, etc. can all be ways to […]
Often when genealogists analyze records they look at information from the viewpoint of the person who provided it or from the viewpoint of someone trying to analyze that information for perceived reliability. But there is another perspective: that of the record creator or the clerk. Maybe they could not understand your ancestor. Maybe they did not care if the information was correct or not. Maybe they were trying to be as precise and particular as they could be. Maybe they were writing as neatly as they could. Maybe they had a stack of forms to complete, organize, etc. by the end of the day. Maybe they only got the job because of who they knew and not their ability. Or maybe your ancestor did not want to provide […]
I first read and transcribed the 1812 will of James Rampley in Harford County, Maryland, when I was sixteen years old. I don’t think I have looked at the entire will in over twenty-five years. Today I read the entire document. And there were at least five good clues that I missed in that early reading of the document because there were many things I didn’t know about research, the law, inheritance, and the family at that point in time. Do you have something that you’ve not read in ages? Could there be unused clues in that document?
Before you overly analyze that incorrect marital status in a census, before you get all “fussed up” over an incorrect place of birth, consider the possibility that what is wrong is simply an error. Sometimes our ancestors lie.But sometimes people just make mistakes. We were not there when they gave the information and when it got written down. Sometimes a mistake is just a mistake. Something to think about before we go making up some grand reason behind the discrepancy. And then again, we could be the one who is wrong and our relative may actually have been correct. Get your Genealogy Tip of the Daybook.
Those of us looking for rural ancestors sometimes ignore the census information regarding addresses that’s contained in the far left hand side of more recent census records (1930 and 1940 for example). That would be a mistake. I located an uncle in the 1940 census for Lima Township in Adams County, Illinois. The “address” indicates he was living on the Adams-Hancock County line road. That was a good clue which told me that he lived along the extreme northern edge of Lima Township.
Effective interpretation and analysis of records requires the genealogist to know the limitations of the record being used. These limitations generally concentrate on who does not get listed in the record, how the information is given for inclusion in the records, how the records are organized (which impacts how they are searched), etc. For land records some limitations would be that only land owners are mentioned, some deeds were not recorded promptly, some land ownership happened without a deed being drawn up (eg. inheritance), etc. For obituaries some limitations would be cost of publishing in newspaper (if applicable as not all newspaper required payment), desire of family for others to know, ethnic and social class of deceased, need to search manually if papers are not digitally available, etc. […]
Keep in mind that some documents may have several dates, each of which serve a separate purpose. A land record may have a date of execution, when it was signed; a date of acknowledgement, where it was “acknowledged in front of an official;” and a date of recording, when it was filed for record. Those dates may all be the same–or they may be stretched out over several years. It just depends. But there is a difference between the dates.
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