I realize that “GoogleBook” is not a verb and really is not a word, but this will be your periodic reminder to search Google Books http://books.google.com for those terms you find in old estate inventories, court records, etc. A guide to “horse medicine” from the 1840s explained everything I was not understanding about a dead horse mentioned in a 1805 lawsuit from Virginia. It also helped me to transcribe a few words that were difficult to read. I also learned more about animal care in the 19th century than I knew. It was an interesting read for someone who grew up with livestock nearly 200 years after the court record was written. Some things have changed. Others have not. GoogleBook has not changed into a verb, but it’s […]
It can be tedious to wade through depositions and other materials that are available in some court records–particularly ones that do not involve inheritances or family squabbles. The testimony can seem repetitive, tedious, and dull. Often it relates the issue at hand–a financial problem, the unwillingness to pay a debt, the dissolution of a partnership, etc. But sometimes there will be a word or a phrase in a deposition that can be genealogically significant. Someone will refer to someone else as “my brother,” “my sister,” etc. There are times when those two words make it worth wading through all the other verbiage and legal minutia.
Fee-based genealogical database websites are great about telling you what they have. They are not so great about telling you what they do not have–because that will not encourage a person to subscribe to the service. The sites are not obligated to tell you what else could be “out there” that they do not have. Never assume any site has “everything.” That’s true whether it is a fee-based genealogy site or a free one.
You have a fairly close DNA match who has a short tree attached to their results. Let’s assume that your tree through the more recent generations is pretty accurate and you match all your “known” close relatives who have tested at DNA levels consistent with the perceived relationships. And yet this close match makes no sense at all. It could be that the DNA match’s tree has an unintentional mistake, perhaps a parent that was believed to be a parent was not. Perhaps a grandparent they thought was a grandparent was not. Keep yourself open to this possibility–again this is assuming that your own tree is correct. Also tread lightly when suggesting that the submitter has an error in their tree–especially when the potentially incorrect parentage is recent. […]
I may (emphasis on “may”) use an online tree to get a clue when I am really (emphasis on “really”) stuck. But I do not use the online tree as a source for a parent-child relationship, date of birth, date of death, etc. There are entirely too many times when online trees are too full of errors to do otherwise. I completely understand that: Online trees are not always wrong. Published books also can be wrong. Other records (for example–courthouse records) can be wrong. If the fact has never been seen elsewhere and is “reasonable,” I will reach out to the compiler. Generally there is not an answer. There are times where it is really difficult to determine the “source” of the information in the tree. Other professionals […]
We are excited to offer these four webinars over a two-day period of 15/16 August 2020. Make use of your time and be with us virtually or via a recording after the fact. Join us for one or all four of these presentations–either live or via a recording. Topics are: UFO Ancestors Female Ancestors US Land Records What it Does Not Say Registration information is on our announcement page that includes specific dates and times.
What does it mean that people are “paper neighbors” (appear on the same document or on the previous/next one in the series)? Came into office on same day–together and intentionally for a joint purpose?–bringing a witness for a document they were signing is one reason. Died about same time?–did they die of whatever was “going around?” Lived near each other?–are they on the same census page for instance Coincidence pure and simple?
Sometimes a genealogist needs to think like a historical fiction writer. That’s not because genealogy is fiction, but because a good historical fiction writer is aware of what was going on at the time their story is taking place. They also theoretically should create a plot line that makes sense. Those are two good things for the genealogist to remember. They should know what was going on historically. They should know what their character’s lives were probably like–typical items in their home, typical home, typical occupations. To write dialog they need to know what words were appropriate for the time period and the person. They would not mention a zipper in a story where the plot was taking place in 1803. A character would not have written a […]
I heard the song on a “retro” show of hits from the 1980s and when it was over the announcer gave the name of it. I had heard the song many times and knew the lyrics by heart. That’s not the name. The announcer was wrong. My memory was correct. Apparently it was not because a Google search for the song and the band indicated the show’s announcer had the title correct. I had heard it wrong. There are a lot of genealogy lessons in the misheard song title that have nothing to do with the music. There are errors clerks make in records because they don’t understand what the person is saying. That wrong title reminded me to look at how others have transcribed records because my […]
Even with the name of your ancestor’s employer, it can be difficult to locate additional information. Many businesses were not large enough to even keep records long-term, some have long since gone out of business, or others destroyed old records long ago. Some options are to search newspapers for information about the employer, city directories, county histories, etc. These items are often available digitally making such searches much easier than in the past. These references probably won’t mention your relative by name, but they may provide some additional background helpful to your research.
I spent some time looking for William Neill in the 1910 census. I suspected his mother had married again after her first husband (the Neill man who was William’s father) died. The problem was that I did not have his name. I had hoped to find the child in the census as William Neill, but it was not meant to be. He was not located until I eventually found the name of his mother’s second husband. There was William. He was enumerated as Willie Richardson. Complicating the issue was the fact that the family had lived in Oklahoma for a short time between their time in Illinois and Montana. The lack of a complete geographic chronology compounded the issue.
A friend shared a FindAGrave memorial that included a picture of a stone that was erected in honor of his ancestor in the cemetery where the ancestor was buried. It’s not a tombstone. It’s a cenotaph. A tombstone is at the actual known burial site. A cenotaph is a stone erected in honor of someone other than the burial location or at an empty grave.
Your relatives may have gotten divorced and listed themselves as widowed on every record after that. Other than the divorce record (if you know where it took place and can find), there may be no mention of how the marriage actually ended. Census records may give their marital status as widowed, obituaries may mention just the marriage, death certificates may not indicate their marital status as divorced either. Obituaries and death certificates may contain information provided by a relative who did not want others to know of the divorce or may not have actually known about it themselves. Mention of the court action regarding the divorce in a local newspaper may be one way to potentially find the record.
Real property tax records can be one place to obtain information to estimate someone’s approximate year of death. Tax records may list an individual as “deceased” or refer to them using the word “estate.” Both references suggest that the death has occurred relatively recently and that the heirs or the court have not gone through the process of settling up the affairs of the deceased individual.
Searching digital county histories, newspapers, and other items for ancestral names is usually on a genealogist’s to-do list. Another item to search for in these items are place names from your family’s past–before they lived in the area on which the publications focus. One of my Hancock County, Illinois, families originated in Coshocton County, Ohio. Searching for “coshocton” was a way to learn of other individuals who had that word mentioned in their biography, obituary, etc. A similar approach was done to locate references to Rush County, Indiana, for digital publications that focused on Macon County, Missouri. Searches of this type can also be a way to find references to your ancestor (that also mention the location) when the digital rendering of the name is one that cannot […]
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