Deeds can have several dates on them. The date the document was signed, the date it was acknowledged, and the date the record was recorded. If there is a significant gap in the dates, try and determine why if possible. Acknowledgements were usually made before a notary or in open court–was it difficult for the signer of the deed to do this? If court was only held a few times a year, it might have taken a while before the signer was able to attend court. If the date of recording is significantly after the other dates, did someone forget to record it? Did they wait until someone died to record the deed? It is possible that the grantor and grantee were deceased at the time the deed […]
A messuage generally refers to a dwelling house or residence and the outbuildings and enclosed space surrounding those buildings.
When searching for an obituary, read the rest of the paper for the time period that ancestor died. Is there mention of any illness going around the local area? Some epidemics are regional or nationwide, but others are more localized. The newspaper may give some addition clues about the death, particularly if the relative died of something contagious.
We’ve set the dates for my annual trip to the Allen County Public Library in Ft. Wayne, Indiana: 3-6 August 2020. There is more information on our announcement page.
While analyzing a document to determine if I had the right person, the comparison of signatures became a crucial part of my analysis. I had several copies of the person’s signature from other documents I had located on him. As I worked on my analysis, I remembered that I had seen his signature somewhere else. Fortunately I also remembered where that signature was at: as a witness on an affidavit his cousin made in her 1880-era homestead application. Now to decide if it’s worth the time to include signature references in “file” on an ancestor so I can find them easily if needed. Signatures on their own records are easy to find. It’s when they appear in the records of others that they can be overlooked.
Your ancestor’s residence may not be stated on an affidavit, but if the document is notarized there may be a residential clue there. Notaries usually had jurisdictions in which they were authorized to operate. This one from 1886 was authorized to work in Dawson County, Nebraska. This does not mean that the affiant (Goldenstein in the illustration) lived in Dawson County–only that he was there on that date. But it is still a clue.
If your ancestor was a landowner, do you know exactly where their property was located? Do you know the acreage and the dimensions? Do you know what geographic features were nearby? Part of the difficulty I had with this property was that I had not looked to see where it was. The property was oddly shaped and that was partly due to the Platte River and the railroad. The local land records office may be able to help you locate the property’s precise location. Local libraries, historical societies, or genealogical societies may have copies of county-wide plat books that show the landowners for specific pieces of property. There may be survey maps in the local recorder’s office that show how parcels were drawn out as well. For individuals […]
We all have ancestral mysteries that we want to figure out. Sometimes the best way to get insight into our “confusing people” is to go back and work on the ones that are already done or that we think are already done. That review may cause us to learn about new approaches or sources or remind us of things that we’ve forgotten. Many of my maternal families are well-documented in the United States. Double checking that information in vital records, land records, probate records, court records, etc. has confirmed most of what I was told. I learned a few new facts about them and corrected some errors. That’s good. But it did more than that. Those searches taught me more about all those records. It helped me to […]
If your ancestor naturalized in his own right (as opposed to becoming a citizen when his parent naturalized), have you thought about how old he was at the time and how long he had lived in the new country when he naturalized? I recently remembered that an ancestor of mine was twenty-one when he naturalized in 1879, but I never gave much thought to how old the others were when they naturalized. Of course to naturalize in their own right an alien had to be of the age of majority at the time of naturalization. This might be something for me to think about.
We’ve announced the details of my annual trip to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City–27 May through 3 June 2020. Details are on our announcement page.
The middle entry on this page of 1838 baptisms from Aurich, Germany contains the entry for my ancestor. The fourth column contains the names of the sponsors. When I was trying to analyze the entry for my relative I thought the symbol in the middle red circle on the image were a part of the entry. Then I looked at the other two entries on the image I made and realized that the items in the circle were partially used to number each entry and were not a part of the names of the sponsors. If I had only copied the entry for my ancestor and not other entries on the same page, I might have missed that. Don’t copy only the entry of interest on a page […]
Children were not always named immediately. While modern practice is to name children at birth (if not before), this was not always the case for one reason or another. It is not uncommon to see “unnamed” or “baby” as the first name on a birth certificate. A couple may have waited until they could arrange for a christening to name the baby, because they could not decide, or other reasons. This post on our sister site looks at possible unnamed children in the 1880 United States census.
Sometimes you simply won’t find the record you want. Clark Sargent died in the late 1840s, probably in Winnebago County, Illinois. A genealogy of his family written approximately fifty years later gives a year of death, but it is unsourced. I have no reason to doubt what that book says as it is consistent with county records, census records, etc. But just because it fits doesn’t necessarily mean it is correct either. It is too early for a death record in Illinois. There is no probate (I looked). He owned real estate, but there is no guardianship for his children (I looked). The land records for his real estate mention nothing of his death–but that’s typical. There is no apparent tombstone, but one could be buried somewhere. It […]
Congressional townships were used in Federal land states for surveying purposes. Civil townships are used for governmental purposes. In some places their borders will be the same. Congressional townships are numbered using base lines and meridians within each state that was a Federal land state. Civil townships have names depending on the whims of early settlers.
This session will provide an overview of the records to expect at the typical United States county courthouse–focusing on local vital, court, probate, and property records. It includes: a general overview of the general types of records to expect, use of indexes and finding aids; how to organize your searches and set a search strategy, preparing for an onsite visit. Geared towards advanced beginner and beginning intermediate researchers. Michael has been researching his own genealogy in American courthouses since the 1980s (since he was thirteen) and is an experienced courthouse researcher. The presentation and handout can be ordered for immediate download via the following link: order at the intro rate of $19.99 through 11:59 pm on 27 September
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