It’s easy to give orders to be carried out after your death. But there’s one fact that happens after you die: You are dead and things are really out of your control. Simple, but true. When you are dead, you are dead. You won’t be around to make certain your heirs, executors, etc. do things exactly as you want. I know you can leave a will, but there are some realities of wills, executors, heirs, judges, and how they can interact with a stack of papers that have no monetary value. Occasionally I hear people say “I’m going to have it in my will that my genealogy papers are to go to my local genealogical society (or some other group).” I took care of it. That was easy. […]
Sometimes life is just about getting things done, but there are many things that a person starts in life that they do not complete. Your ancestor may have done the exact same thing. Even if your ancestor did not complete something, it does not mean that there are not some records left behind. Those “uncompleted tasks” are often ones that do not get passed down as stories from one generation to the next. It’s possible that your relative: Started college and did not finish. There could still be records, yearbook pictures, etc. Started a homestead and did not complete the process. There should still be an incomplete homestead application (at least the initial filings) which could provide information. Declared their intention to become a citizen but never naturalized. […]
My speaking calendar is online for those who are interested in seeing me in person. Contact me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com for information on having me present to your group!
If the goal of the genealogist is to collect as many records and images as possible, then the genealogist needs to talk to the keepers in the family. And those keepers may not be genealogists. They may have an interest in their family’s history. They may not. But for one reason or another family photographs and other ephemera may have filtered through the generations into their hands. My great-aunt had the picture that illustrates this post-including her and my mother posing two family pets in 1949. Aunt Ruth wasn’t a genealogist, but she was the one who went through her mother’s effects when she (my great-grandmother) died in 1986. And so those items fell into her hands. Another great-grandmother lived with her daughter for several years until that […]
Susannah and James Smith are your ancestors. After James died, Susannah married Thomas Jones. Susannah then died and Thomas married Cassandra Smithton. After Thomas Jones died, Cassandra applied for a military pension based on Thomas’ military service. That pension may still be helpful to your research on Susannah. Cassandra would have had to mention all of Thomas’ marriages–including the one to your ancestor. There may be a detail in Cassandra’s application directly related to your ancestors or clues to help you in your research. Genealogy Tip of the Day book is here. Learn more about it.
There’s always the chance that an age in any record is incorrect. If I’m looking at a census enumeration for someone who is a little bit older and their age ends in a 0 or a 5, I look to see how common it is for others who are a little bit older to have ages that end in a 0 or a 5. If the ages for “those of a certain age” are entered accurately, one-fifth of them should end in a 0 or a 5. If it is significantly more than that there is the possibility that the ages have been approximated. Just a possibility. Really determining that the ages for “those of a certain” were approximated requires a little more analysis than looking at the […]
It can be frustrating to find yet another way to spell, translate, interpret, or render your relative’s surname. But it is an opportunity as well. A new alternate spelling is one more variant to use when searching for that ancestor. A new-to-you way to spell a name can be a clue as to how it was pronounced. That spelling may even be a clue as to your ancestor’s ethnic origins. And that new variant may turn out to be the most correct spelling you have. Genealogy Tip of the Day book is here. Learn more about it.
We are now able to accept mail-in orders for the Genealogy Tip of the Day book for those who do not wish to order online. More details on our announcement page. Orders are still accepted via Amazon.com for the paperback and Kindle versions.
It’s always great to get a new spelling variant. My great-great-grandmother’s maiden name was Franciska Bieger. When her daughter married in Hancock County, Illinois, in 1905, her name was written as Francis Kabücher. That was a variant I had not thought of: Kabücher. It also reminded me that Bücher could be a variant for Bieger as well. Was the end of your relative’s first name turned into part of their last name? Genealogy Tip of the Day book is here. Learn more about it.
Choose a year that several of your ancestors are living and where you have a reasonable ability to determine where they were living. Then determine two or more significant historical events that took place during that year. Try and find events that were both national and local in nature. Where were all your relatives living during this year. How do you? How sure are you of their residence? Genealogy Tip of the Day book is here. Learn more about it.
It’s always helpful to think of what the original purpose of a record was and what details mattered and what ones did not. A relative died in 1869 with no descendants. Several of his heirs were children of his deceased siblings. His sister had children with more than one husband and some of those children daughters who were married. Those daughters were listed by their married names–not their maiden name. From the estate settlement it could not be determined which husband was the father of the married daughters. The court was concerned about the names of the sister’s children–not the names of her husbands–as the sister’s children were all heirs of their deceased mother’s brother.
I will be presenting a webinar on 19 January 2020 using the new features of AncestryDNA. This presentation can be attended live or pre-ordered as a recorded copy. We’ve posted details in our announcement post.
There are a variety of times when a Google search can help your genealogical research. It can be in finding a definition of a term, transcribing a word in an old estate inventory, determining a name in a census record, etc. But keep a few things in mind: The website where you find a definition of a word may not be as knowledgeable as you think. Interpreting anything is about context–historical, social, etc. The first hit may not be close enough to your situation to be helpful. The name you find on another website could be a mistake as well. There may be specifics of your document or record that aren’t addressed in the website you found. Google can be very helpful. But, like anything else, it is […]
It’s 1860 in a small county seat somewhere in the United States. A lawyer has been in his office all day, meeting a few clients and taking care of some paperwork. At some point during the day, his daughter while doing a few errands, stops in to see him. She has her six-month son with her. Later that afternoon, the lawyer pens part of a legal document for an estate he’s helping settle. The document refers to the children of the deceased as “infant heirs.” Before he leaves for the day he writes a letter to his sister. In that letter he tells his sister “my daughter brought the baby to see me this afternoon. The infant and mother are doing fine–we are thankful for God’s Blessings and […]
Just because it’s “legal” does not mean that it is correct. I’ve seen legal notices where heirs have been left out, where a list of heirs to be notified included heirs who were deceased, addresses were incorrect, etc. Always get more than one source if possible. This is not meant to suggest that all legal records are wrong. They are not. Just a reminder that they can be wrong. And why you should never rely on just one record.
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