I’m not exactly certain what name Grandma used to refer to her sister-in-law, but it always sounded to me like “See Dee Yuh” or something very close to that with the second syllable merged into the final one. There are some key concepts there: what Grandma actually said and what I actually heard. My interpretation of what she said may have been incorrect. The fact that Grandma only had a lower set of teeth might have made an impact as well. In hindsight I should have asked Grandma how to spell it. She would have known and she would have told me. I never did ask, but that would have answered the question then and there. In some families the answer might have been “I don’t know, I […]
Years ago, when I asked my great-aunt to identify some pictures for me, she indicated that she was surprised that two of the siblings were in the same picture with each other–let alone sitting next to each other. Documenting those things is a good idea. Even if you do not know the reason, the fact that there was a falling out between two individuals may be helpful to someone later. And if you are needing a reason to go through your old photographs, looking for pictures to see “who is in a picture together when I’m surprised they were in the same room” might get your genealogy gears turning. Genealogy Tip of the Day book is here and it’s not written to help you research your “famous ancestors.” It’s […]
When you have dates of birth for children of a couple, make certain they are listed in that order on all charts and reports where children are listed. That makes it easier to see gaps in the birth of children. Those gaps could be due generally to the fact that there was a time period where no pregnancies took place, children who died young, children who have been overlooked (because they lived with other families, moved away at a young age, etc.) or the mother having miscarriages. If you do not have dates of births or good estimates of the year of birth, determine if there are records that can allow you to determine anything about the order in which the children were born: year of first marriage, […]
Legally a last will and testament is to serve as a directive to transfer property (real and personal) that a person owns upon their death. Sometimes a testator may leave an item to a relative along with a mention of why. Sometimes a testator may indicate why a certain person was left no money or property in their will. The testator may mention a child and give them a token amount so that it is clear they were not left out. They may mention earlier amounts that were given or loaned to a specific heir and how those amounts are to be handled after the testator died. But a will is not a list of the heirs that the testator loved and the ones that the testator hated. […]
The title of the database is “YourFavoriteState Marriage Records 1820-1900.” Don’t assume the entire state or province is covered for the entire time period listed in the title. That range of years may start with the earliest record included and end with the last year of one record. There may be counties or areas whose records are extant and completely included in the database for the entire 1820-1900 time period. There may be counties whose records cover the entire 1820-1900 time period but where there are significant gaps. There may be counties whose records in the database only include 1830-1870. There may be counties that have no records included at all. It’s up to you to find out. That may be in the “more about” or Frequently Asked […]
We are offering a new section of our “US Land Records” class during April and May of 2020. Lectures are downloadable and can be viewed whenever. Discussions are online. Homework is optional. More details on our blog post.
When I’m stuck on a family, I ask myself: am I sure I have found all the easy ones? Sometimes I have and then the work is more difficult. But other times there are easier members of the family to find and sometimes finding those individuals can provide me with additional information to help find the others. These “easy pickings” include: These approaches won’t always work. No approach always works. But it’s always good to ask if there’s a close relative to your “problem person” who might have left better records. Genealogy Tip of the Day book is here and it’s not written to help you research your “famous ancestors.” It’s written to help with all of them. Learn more about it and get your own copy. Also check out […]
Not all homestead applications in the United States were successful. Part of the process of completing the homestead application was to post a public notice that the claim was nearing completion–and often that notice was published in the newspaper. Homestead claims that were completed generated a land patent which transferred title to the claimant. Those patents are indexed on the Bureau of Land Management website (https://glorecords.blm.gov/ ). Claims that were not completed did not generate a patent and consequently do not appear in that website. Incomplete claims are generally not indexed. The incomplete files are at the National Archives and can contain significant information on your ancestor. One needs the location of where the property was located to obtain the incomplete claim records. If the incomplete claim got […]
Be careful “sorting” photographs that a deceased relative already had in separate envelopes or boxes. It can be tempting to organize them when you are beginning to identify them, but remember that re-sorting them may cause you to lose forever clues that were contained in that original sorting. If the original envelopes and boxes are not preservable, store them in the same way you found them. This old mailing envelope contained a whole cache of photos that were only partially identified. Fortunately most of them are individuals that I know. The envelope was one of several in my parents’ things. Every photo in the envelope was a relative of my paternal grandfather.
There’s a lot more to church attendance for some individuals besides being baptized, getting married, and having a funeral. Details in those other church records may provide the additional clues about your ancestor for which you are looking. Some churches kept records of individuals who were confirmed, were able to receive their first communion, took communion in general (especially in those churches where frequent communion was not common), made donations, served in some church organization, etc. A church may have kept a family register that provided ecclesiastical information on members of the family, including where they were born or baptized, where they were confirmed, married, etc. Churches may have kept records of when individuals were received into membership. They may also have kept records of those who were […]
It is always advised to compare a record of your ancestor to others in the same series of records. How does the amount of detail compare? If the document is a death certificate, is it filed in the same time frame after the death as the others? If it is a handwritten baptismal entry is there something about it that is different from others? Whenever you are confused about a document, look at similar ones to get a reference point. You can’t know what’s unusual if you don’t know what other ones look like. Like this phone from my childhood. It sat on top of a box of toys in my Grandparents’ home for years. I thought they came with a red O. They don’t. Grandma painted it […]
My parents are buried in the same cemetery in adjacent plots. I know where they are buried because I was there the day it happened. I am a source for that information. Their death certificates are not. Their death certificates give a date of burial, but the place of burial is only as specific as the township. They do not provide the name of the cemetery. So if I’m creating a citation to a record or reason as to how I know they are buried in the cemetery where they are buried, I cannot use the death certificate. I can use my knowledge. I can use the tombstone (even though we all know that tombstones are not always 100% evidence someone is buried in a cemetery). I can […]
Sometimes the best pictures don’t always show the faces of the people in them. They tell a story without really letting us know what the individuals actually looked like. And sometimes the documents that provide the biggest piece of genealogical information don’t always make any blunt, in-your-face, direct statements. A man purchases property in his own name in 1821, suggesting he was born by at least 1800. A man sells property in Massachusetts in 1780 and buried in the metes and bounds legal description is a reference to his mother (without stating her relationship), along with her new married name. An estate inventory in Illinois references income from a mortgage in Kentucky and researching that mortgage leads to major discoveries on the family. Never overlook a reference because […]
Some things about your ancestor remain the same: where they were born, who their parents were, where they died, etc. It may be difficult or impossible to determine these things, but they are facts about your relative that don’t change–even if our knowledge about them does. Religion is one of those things that can change over time. While your own personal faith system or denomination may remain constant for your entire life, your ancestor may not have been the same. She may have been raised in one denomination, married and spent a good portion of her child rearing years in another, and died while a member of another faith. For this reason it is advised to search records of more than one denomination in your search for an […]
Change for the sake of change is just change. Change with a purpose is a separate matter entirely. What new skill have you learned to help you with your genealogical research? Is there a software program that might help you to organize your genealogical information? Do you know as much about legal terminology as you should? Are you familiar enough with land descriptions to interpret them reasonably well (particularly helpful if your ancestors were landowning farmers)? Do you know how to make charts and tables in your word processor well enough so that you can use them to organize pieces of information that are confusing? Don’t be afraid to learn something new. It may help you with more than just your research.
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