It stands to reason that your direct-line relative will be married a justice of the peace or another warm body able to certify marriages in close proximity to the bridal couple at the time of the event. In these cases the genealogical clues that can be ascertained from the officiant are minimal. Determine who married all the ancestral siblings. If the family was remotely religious (and potentially listed in church records), there’s a good chance at least one of the family members took the time to have a religious ceremony. In terms of it being a clue it doesn’t matter much if it your ancestor of interest or their sibling. Unless the church member was the in-law. But then you’ll have to research to know that. Which is […]
Melinda Newman’s 1860-era estate inventory in Linn County, Iowa, indicated that she owned a galvanic battery at the time of her death. These batteries were used as a “cure” for various medical ailments. It wasn’t an old battery that she used to run her buckboard wagon when the horse wasn’t feeling up to it. And, just based on her owning the battery, it’s difficult to say exactly what ailment she suffered from–particularly because various advertisements indicated that these batteries could be used to cure a variety of ailments. I can’t use her ownership of the battery to state she had any particular illness. It’s always worth taking care to not reach conclusions that are not supported by the evidence. What I know is that she owned a galvanic […]
This is not a tip about Oklahoma or phrases that rhyme. Do you track favorite sayings of your relatives–particularly those who were a part of your immediate family? Some of them might not be quite as short as “okie-dokie” which my Mother often used. There might have been ones like: Wait til you start paying the bills. Life ain’t a bed of roses. I’m still the boss around here…I’m not dead yet. and so on. These phrases can provide some insight into the person for those who never knew them. And for those of us who did know them, occasionally seeing the phrases or being reminded of them can bring back fond memories. It’s not always about preserving memories for those who will come after us. Sometimes it’s […]
One wants to encourage relatives who have taken a new interest in their family history. One way that many people come to genealogical research now is through DNA testing. The companies that market autosomal tests lead many to conclude that the test is all you need and that the rest is automatic. Because after all those trees tied to DNA tests are correct. Autosomal DNA tests confirm relationships, but the more distant those relationships are beyond parent/child and sibling relationships, the more potential that the relationship isn’t exactly what the site predicts. Most sites indicate that the predictions are predictions, but that doesn’t stop people from believing that they are 100% correct. The “match” confirms that two test submitters are related, but other, traditional sources, will have to […]
Write it down while it’s fresh in your head. Doesn’t matter what it is, you will forget. And preserve that writing: Take a picture of it and file it. Email it to yourself. Put it in your genealogy software. Type up a word processing document. Don’t just leave it in your head…for some of us that’s asking for it to get lost–permanently.
We still have openings or pre-order your copy for download. We’ve revised our webinar on GedMatch and DNAPainter and will be offering it again on 30 June. Attend live or pre-order a copy of the presentation on our announcement page.
Family historians sometimes ask relatives questions at holiday get togethers. Here are some you might want to think twice before asking. Which cousin you cannot stand and why? What was the most disasterous family get together? Which in-law do you never want to see again? What’s the real reason Uncle Bob and Aunt Norma are never in the same room? Why did Aunt Gert spend a year in Topeka? What food do you absolutely hate at Thanksgiving? What saying of your parents can you absolutely cannot stand? What is the one thing your spouse does that drives you nuts. There has to be one more thing your spouse does that drives you nuts. Name it too. How come we always have to eat dinner at Aunt Wandas? Why […]
It can be tempting to assume that “my people won’t be in the newspaper” as they never did anything worthy of note and they “weren’t in the right class of people” to be in the paper. That can be a mistake. This rural Virginia family lost their farm to the state because their father’s will was never recorded and he was never married to their mother. They eventually had to petition the state to get the title cleared up. It’s always worth a look. Assuming they are not in the paper can be a mistake.
Ideally before you go on a genealogy research trip, you’ve made a list of the records you want to search, where they are located, etc. The reality is that many people don’t do that. One thing you don’t want to neglect to do: check the hours of the facilities you will visit, determine their access policies, see what cameras and scanners are allowed, etc. It can be a waste of time if the facility is not open when you “guessed” it would be, if records are off-site for one reason or another, or if you can only take a pencil and paper into the records area. These are things you need to know before you ever think about heading to perform on-site research a distance from your home.
I’ve been looking at a few sample images from the new book, Family Tree Historical Atlas of Germany by James Beidler and I was reminded of a few things about maps–other than their general importance in genealogical research which goes without saying: Space is limited on many printed maps and abbreviations not be standard–Helmershausen got abbreviated as Helmersh’n in this map. Not every town is listed–a few very small hamlets near Helmershausen aren’t listed Can you easily find locations “you already are aware of” on a map? It’s good to have a general idea of locations in your head to help avoid making mistakes. Don’t guess where someplace is located–look it up if you can’t remember. People always live near borders–at least mine do. Consider that some records […]
Record the provenance of any family items in your possession? Do you know who the original owner was? Do you know anything about how or when the item was made? How did it come into your possession? Who else owned it? Scratching the information into the back of the piece isn’t necessary–although if it’s already been done for you, it’s too late. And…it does add to the character of the piece and your connection to it.
Online indexes can lead you to an image of a record with a quick search–if you are lucky enough that names are spelled and indexed correctly. Make certain the “next image” isn’t part of the item you located. Census records may be split over two pages, draft cards are often images of the front and back of the card, death certificates sometimes contain “supplements” directly after the original document. Always look at the next image or two in any online set of images to make certain you’ve got it all–and look forward too as well. You’ll never know until you look.
It can be tempting to see one “juicy” clue in a document and want to run with it and begin researching it as soon as possible. It can be tempting to see a relative’s name in a document and conclude that the record has to be on him. It can be easy to misinterpret a word, get that incorrect meaning stuck in your head, and create a brick wall where none existed. Read the entire document that you’ve located. Think about what it says. Think about what it does not say. What does that document really imply? What does it not imply? Is there something you are hoping to see in that document that is not there? It may seem like needless advice, but you might be surprised […]
Throughout much of American history (and in other countries as well), adoption was an informal process where court or legal action was not required. Your relative may have been adopted without any legal record of that adoption taking place. The child may have been apprenticed out to a neighbor to learn a trade (sometimes generating a legal record–but not always). If the child’s parents were deceased, but had some property, there may have been a guardian appointed to oversee the property while the child was underage. In many other cases the child was simply “taken in” or perhaps spent time with a variety of families–not all of whom may have been related. As time moves forward, formal adoptions become more common, but those records are often sealed by […]
Accurate spelling of place names is one way I quickly determine if the compiler of genealogical information (online tree, book, etc.) pays attention to details. Of course, the occasional typo is one thing (which can easily be avoided in most programs by the way), but if the database I find has some of these spellings: Hartford County, Maryland–it is Harford. Amhurst County, Virginia–it is Amherst Schuler County, Illinois–it is Schuyler then I am a little worried about the rest of the data. Call me persnickity, but genealogy is about details. If place names that are established and standard (as these are) are not spelled correctly, how certain can I be that names, dates, and relationships are entered in the way they should be? We should always double check […]
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