Anna Apgar was born 8 March 1913 in Chicago, Illinois. Her Application for Social Security and Tax Account Number application (commonly called the SS-5) form was the first record on her that listed her father as William Apgar. It is one of the few documents where she provided her father’s name. That’s in contrast to her death certificate, obituary, and family information which was provided by others and which gave a different name for her father. There’s no guarantee what is on the application is 100% correct. It’s only as reliable as the informant and only as accurate as their knowledge. But the application form can be a great source of information. Make certain you obtain a duplicate of the actual card and not a computerized summary and […]
Have you made a list of genealogical goals? Have you thought about what genealogical tasks you can “put off” and which ones you should not? What compiled information do you want to leave behind (if any)? What items do you have that you want to preserve and share so that when you go those items don’t go with you? Do you have any unique items in your possession that have not been preserved? Are there any human memories that you’ve not recorded or preserved?
Always take a close look at the real estate inventory of your relative. Don’t just ignore the legal description as “legal mumbo jumbo.” While an estate is normally probated by just one county court, there may be real property mentioned in other counties as well. The specific records of how that real property was acquired will be located in the county where that property is physically located. There may not be a separate probate file in the other county if the property is in the same state. There should be separate land records in the county where the property is located. It may be that the person own real property in another state as well. All of those other locations could lead to additional information on your ancestor.
I have a DNA match (called “A”) with whom I share enough DNA that our relationship is probably between 4th and 6th cousins. A and I have several shared matches. The one with whom I share the most DNA (called “B”) is someone I know to be my 1st cousin once removed. This tells me nothing about how much DNA A and B share or what their relationship probably is. What I know is that: A and I are probably between 4th and 6th cousins. B and I are first cousins, once removed. A and B are DNA matches to each other as well. I do not know what A and B’s relationship is to each other or how potentially precise that relationship is. They could be related […]
Migrants often settle where they have associates–either through biology, marriage, shared social/cultural ties, etc. Determining the others in that group can be beneficial to your research–no matter where your ancestor or family fits into the chronology of migration over time. But who arrived first? What brought that person there? Others followed them because of ties they had to that person, but what precipitated the first move? Don’t assume you know what that was. Actually try and find out. It might have been area newly opened for settlement. It might have been political or financial unrest at home. It could have been religion. It could have been escaping the law. Genealogy Tip of the Day book is here and it’s not written to help you research your “famous ancestors.” It’s […]
Whenever a document is located, you should quickly ask: Why was this document recorded where it was? Why is it in the location where it is? Many times the question is quickly answered and the answer is obvious. James died where he lived and the death certificate was recorded in that county. But if you find an obituary for an ancestor in a newspaper that you do not expect it to be in, try and determine the reason. If you find your ancestor enumerated in one census in a location that’s unexpected, try and determine why she was there (first make certain it’s really the same person). Usually the “why” is easy. It’s those few times when it is not that could lead to more genealogical discoveries. Genealogy […]
A new DNA match appeared to be descended from one of my Irish immigrants, based on their surname and the handful of shared matches we had that were known to descend from that immigrant. Their tree had two names: their name and that of a maternal great-grandmother. There was no other data. A quick search for the great-grandmother’s name was inconclusive with no location to aid in the search and it turned out the name was more common than I originally thought. So I reached out to the match with a very short, cordial email. Fortunately, I received a response that, while brief, gave me the name of their paternal grandfather and great-grandfather. That was enough for me to flesh out the connection. Then I realized that their […]
It can be tempting to ignore subpoenas in court records as “necessary details” that don’t warrant reading. That’s a mistake. Those slips of paper can provide significant details. In the United States, they should provide the jurisdiction where the individual was living (usually the county) which may not be the county in which the case was being heard. In the case of the example, the subpoena contained an easier reading of the names of the witnesses to the will that was being admitted to probate.
This tip ran nearly five years ago on the day of my Mom’s funeral. It’s still pretty good advice–or a reminder if you’ve been at this for a while. We all have relatives of whom we neglected to ask questions or otherwise probe for family genealogical information. If you have relatives who have pictures you’ve not identified, try and identify them now.If you have relatives who have pictures or other ephemera you’ve not digitized, do that now. If you have relatives to whom you’ve not talked about the past, do that now. If you have relatives who would consent to DNA testing, do that now. If you have stories of your own that you have not written down, do that now.
One ancestral family lived in Ohio for several years in the early 19th century before moving to Adams County, Illinois, and settling near the village of Lima. Records in Ohio do not suggest that they ever lived near Lima, Ohio, and spent their time there in a different portion of the state. When one child in the family died in Iowa in the very early 20th century, her obituary indicated she was born in Lima, Ohio. The document was transcribed as written, but it was noted parenthetically that the reference to Lima, Ohio, was probably due to some confusion with Lima, Illinois. Probably.
I gave an interview on a local radio station about genealogy and the Genealogy Tip of the Day book. It’s a wide-ranging discussion on a variety of general genealogy topics. Audio of the discussion is available on the WGIL-Galesburgwebsite.
Obituaries and estate notices usually appear in newspapers shortly after someone dies. There are other times a person may be mentioned years or decades after their death or departure from the area. Some small-town newspapers published snippets of items from the past as a way to engage readers and generate subscriptions. These items from ten, twenty, twenty-five, or fifty years ago were usually abbreviated versions of the original article. Given that earlier newspapers are sometimes harder for computerized algorithms to read, a digital search may find the more recent reference easier. Don’t always set your years of search to the person’s lifespan. The most interesting references may have been published some time after they were dead. And always go back and read the original reference for additional information.
If a relative reached any birthday milestone–75, 80, 90, or 100 years–there’s a chance something about it was mentioned in a local newspaper. The same goes for wedding anniversaries. These items may be located with searches of newspapers that have been digitized. For those newspapers that have not, consider searching for these items. Digital searches of newspapers are not perfect either and these are items that one may wish to search for manually as well. The names of the guests in attendance may be helpful. In this illustration out-of-town guests are named, but their relationships are not. Keep in mind locals during the time period knew how the guests were related so those details may not be included.
There are times where seeing things on your screen or being able to search quickly to “figure out who someone is” isn’t quite enough–at least for me. I’ve been working on my Ostfriesen families and the similarity of the names can lead to confusion. There are times where the names Antje Jurgens Ehmen Antje Tonjes Ehmen, Tonjes Jurgens Ehmen, Jurgen Ehmen, Willm Jurgens Ehmen, and Willm Tonjes Ehmen start to run together to the point where I’m about ready to start looking for Tonjes Antje Ehmen (there was no such person). These individuals are all children or grandchildren of the same ancestral couple (and there are more similar names that are not included here). To keep me organized and to where I don’t have to search for them […]
I’m not a big fan of genealogy “games” as I think some of them are time wasters and that’s simply not my thing. But have you thought about how your ancestral couples met? For some there may be family stories about how grandpa and grandma met. There are others where the best you can do is surmise that they simply lived within shouting distance of each other. But have you given it any thought how those couples met? My maternal grandparents met at Luther League in the 1930s. My paternal grandparents met likely because they lived relatively close to each other. My great-grandparents? Neill-husband was the hired man for his bride-to-be’s mother. Trautvetter-no real idea other than geographic proximity of living in the same general area of Tioga, […]
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