Due to my catching some “bug,” we’ve moved the ThruLines webinar to 17 March at 8 PM central. This delays the release of the recording until the 18th as well. Those who ordered should have received a notice (check your spam folder if you didn’t get it). You can still register for live attendance or pre-order a recording. I’m trying to respond to emails within twenty-four hours.
If your relative was a landowner and you cannot find a deed of acquisition for the property he owned, it is possible that: he inherited the land and there was no actual “deed;” the deed of acquisition was not recorded (possible, but not likely); the property was acquired through a grant that was not recorded with the local land records. Acquisitions through inheritance may be documented in the local will or estate records. Deeds that were unrecorded are often impossible to locate, but consider looking at local real property tax records to determine when the ancestor started paying taxes on the property. Grants may have been colonial, state, or federal records–determine where these records are kept for the location and time period in question. Always ask researchers familiar […]
Many DNA matches took their test because they received it as a gift or had a passing interest in their ethnicity. If you are lucky their tree has at least a few names in it. Remember that what’s in many of those short trees are based upon what the person knew from personal memory or perhaps what close relatives told them. As a result, maiden names may not be correct and may be last names of step-fathers or previous husbands. First names may be incorrect as well. If you are lucky these testers communicate with you and some information can be corrected and the known lineage extended. If they don’t, you are left with what’s in their tree. Be flexible in using the information they have in their […]
Depending upon the time period and the location, it can be difficult to know for certain all the children or siblings of an ancestor. In places where there was no civil or ecclesiastical recording of birth records, knowing “for certain” you’ve got all the siblings can be a challenge. Probate records often don’t mention pre-deceased children if they left no descendants of their own. Some children may have life spans that don’t include a census year. Some families may not mention children who died young–not because of shame, but because of emotional upset. Always look at birth dates of children and see if there’s a gap–there might have been children that simply migrated away and are accounted for, some might have died young, there might have been miscarriages, […]
Sometimes it is faster to take notes on paper with pencil. Using a map as a backdrop for your notes can be helpful when people move all over or live in more than one place. But preserve those notes. File them digitally with images of other records Your notes can be just as valuable as the records you have located–particularly if your analysis, interpretations, and ideas for further research are included on those notes
It’s best to be subtle when contacting DNA matches that are the result of an unexpected parentage. Lying is never advised, but it’s good to remember that the person you are contacting may have a different reaction than you to finding out that a near relative had a child that no one knew about. Even if you think you know the probable connection, it might be best to initially indicate that you are trying to determine the relationship more precisely than the results page indicates. And there is still no guarantee that you will ever get a response. If the individual’s tree is public, you might even want to take screen shots or save their information just in case they decide to make the tree private or take […]
There are numerous online “trees” that indicate my great-grandmother’s middle name was Ioan. It was not. It was Iona. Most of the trees list it as Ioan–one typographical error was multiplied over and over. One compiler apparently decided Ioan was a typographical error–only to “correct” it to Joan. Just because most trees have a “fact” does not mean that fact is right. See where they got it if possible. And if you differ with them…just make certain that you have records that are consistent with what you are stating to be true.
A “neighbor” filed a complaint about a relative’s homestead claim in Nebraska. While he was a geographic neighbor, he also was related by marriage to the person whose homestead he contested. A man wrote the US pension office in the early 20th century providing information that a widow wasn’t legally married to the soldier. While he was not directly related, his sister-in-law was a daughter of the veteran by a previous marriage. If someone is “complaining” about your relative in some way, shape, or form, find out what the connection is. Even if you can’t find the connection, your search will likely lead to more information. People don’t complain out of boredom–at least most of the time.
When using any record or database, ask yourself: how does someone get in this material? Do they have to live in a certain place? Do they have to own property? Do they have to have a job? Do they have to be dead? Do they have to be a member of a specific religion? Do they have to be a certain gender? Do they have to be a certain age? Do they have to have a certain marital status? Do they have to be a veteran? If you don’t know how someone gets into a record, database, or finding aid, it is difficult to use it effectively.
It never hurts to read over your conclusions more than once. Anyone can make typographical errors and those errors can run from ones that are irritating in a minor way (spelling “Burbon” when you mean “Bourbon”) to ones that restate facts (mixing up a father and a son). Even if the typographical errors have been removed and the facts are straight, have someone else look at your writing. They may catch errors you don’t–particularly conclusions that may not be clear or phrases that don’t convey quite the message you think they do.
Now available for immediate download! We’re excited to offer an hour-long presentation on the new ThruLines(TM) functionality at AncestryDNA. This functionality makes it easier to organize and sort some of your DNA matches at AncestryDNA. The session was held on 17 March 2018 and includes: understanding where the information in the tree comes from–what’s yours and what’s someone else’s; basics of evaluating the information in the tree; responsibly using ThruLines(TM) information; limitations of ThruLines(TM) basics of how much DNA you typically share with certain cousins and relationship prediction; do you really have the right genealogical connection with that DNA match; using ThruLines(TM) to sort your matches with linked trees; problem-solving and trouble shooting with ThruLines(TM). Our focus is on: being practical, hands-on, and easy-to-understand; not getting overly excited […]
For your ancestor’s residence, do you know all the political borders near their property? There may be borders at a variety of political levels and that impacts what records were created, where they are held, and even if they are extant. Were they members of a religious denomination that had ecclesiastical borders that impacted where they went to church and where those records are kept? Borders between cultures and languages are fluid, but those are good ones to know about as well–particularly how far did your ancestor have to travel before the common language(s) changed?
Military pension files may contain transcribed record copies of documents that you cannot find elsewhere–perhaps because the courthouse burned, the records are unindexed or you simply do not know were to look. Pension files for widows should contain proof of marriage. If the soldier was survived by minor children (usually for pension purposes under the age of 16), information about their birth may be in the file. And you just never know what may be in a pension file–you may even find an 1860 census record.
I recently obtained digital images of a Union Civil War pension file of a relative by marriage. It took over 200 images to digitize all the records. My interest in the file was to see if there was information on the claim of the widow and what information she had provided on herself. Having seen quite a few pension files, I knew where to look for the “good stuff.” There should be documents with “WIdow’s Declaration” or similar phrases at the top in large black letters. I zipped through the files and didn’t see any such statements. I nearly concluded there wasn’t anything on the widow in the file. A slower, page by page, reading located information on the widow and her claim in letters that at first […]
When you find records of your ancestor that indicate he or she “made out a statement” before an official, try and determine where your ancestor lived at the time and where that official was authorized to act and where the statement was witnessed or acknowledged. An 1868 statement signed by my ancestor who was living in Hancock County, Illinois, was acknowledged before a Justice of the Peace in Linn County, Iowa. In this case, it was not a huge clue but it did document his travel there to assist in the settling up his mother’s estate. Some times knowing that a person traveled from one place to another is a big clue. Other times it is not. But looking at details in document for all the little things […]
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