If you are fortunate enough to find a biography of an ancestor, consider creating a chronology from the events and dates it contains. This can be an excellent organizational tool as biographies do not always list events in chronological order and thinking about how every event in the biography fits into a larger timeline can be helpful. Be certain to include all events–ones stated directly and ones stated indirectly The same approach can be used with obituaries.
Land records generally record the acquisition and disposition of land. Property tax records may indicate that the owner is deceased or that the widow or someone else is paying the taxes on the property. There may not be a deed transferring the ownership from the estate of the deceased to the heirs until years after their death. If you need to estimate a date of death for a land owner and death records are not extant, consider looking for a death clue in the property tax records.
When collecting family stories, try and get memories from as many family members as possible, not just one. Different family members may remember different details or different stories. And even when they do remember the same event, their perspectives on that event may differ. One is never enough if you can get more.
A friend and I were joking around on Facebook about using tire tracks in the snow as permanent evidence of something and it got me to thinking. Have I converted all my “evidence” into a more permanent format? While I obviously don’t have my information in the snow, some of it is stored in just as fragile of a way. Memories that are only in my head, photographs I have the only copy of, research conclusions that I’ve not written up. They could all easily be gone in a moment. When the snow melts, those tire tracks are gone–and so is the evidence that a vehicle passed through. Are there things you need to preserve before the sun comes out?
Goals about solving specific problems are not really good ones to set for a variety of reasons. Instead of making “solving” a specific problem your goal, set this one instead: organize and re-analyze everything that I’ve already collected on that family and ask (or hire) someone to help me with that problem. That’s probably more work than solving a specific problem anyway and may lead in directions you never expected.
Is that really your ancestor’s signature? This early 20th century court document may look like it contains the signatures of Nancy, William, and Amanda Rampley, but that writing actually looks like that of the attorney, Charles J. Scofield. It’s always advised to compare any writing you think is your relative’s to that of others on the same page. What you think is theirs may not be.
Many databases will be titled something like “Blah Blah Records of Blah Blah: 1800-1900.” Always try and determine just years are really included in the database. It could be that the “Blah Blah Records of Blah Blah: 1800-1900” actually only contains entries for: 1800-1820 1845 1860-1880 1890-1900 Read the “more about,” “FAQ,” or whatever they call it to determine just how complete the database is. It does include records between 1800 and 1900, but there are gaps. And of course, your person of interest lived in the area from 1830 until 1840…and his grandson lived there from 1892-1898.
Do you have pictures or other ephemera that you’ve not tried to save in some way? Don’t wait until it is too late. For pictures, make certain to include identification if you have it, who made the digital image, where they got it, and who made identification. Those pieces of information are good ones to have for someone who may come across your image years later. Note: Christena Ufkes Habben is a sister to my great-great-grandfather, Johann Ufkes (1838-1924).
Are the only records you use from a local church the records of pastoral acts? If your ancestor was a member of an immigrant church do you know where most of those immigrants came from? If your ancestor was a member of a “frontier” church, what do you know about the other members and what they had in common besides their religious affiliation? Often times church or synagogue attendees have more in common than a denomination.
If you are needing something to provide you with some framework for writing a biography of your ancestor, consider using her chronology of personal life events. It may not be the most “literary” approach, but it will get you started. And sometimes getting started is half the battle. And writing a biography of an ancestor (with citations included) may be a more manageable task than a complete five generation genealogy.
An excellent problem-solving technique is to write up your “problem” as if you were explaining it to someone totally unfamiliar with the time period, the family, and the location. Organizing your thoughts and your current research for someone else to read and to follow may be give you additional insight into where you appear to be stumbling. Gaps are easier to notice when we try and clearly explain our problem completely to someone else. You may be able to “write over” your brick wall!
Documenting your research is also about including in your notes why a record caused you to reach the conclusion that you did. Some records state things pretty clearly and explicitly–we say those are “direct” statements. Other times the researcher needs to take statements from several documents, combine them with other known facts to reach a conclusion not specifically stated in any one document. We say those statements are “indirect.” That reasoning needs to be included in your notes. Just in case anyone else wonders how you got a “piece of information” that’s not explicitly stated in any one record. Or in case you forget. But that would never happen, right?
We’ve mentioned it before, but.. Never delay asking that relative questions about your family history. That person may not be able to answer questions tomorrow. And go back and ask them more questions once you’ve done some research–they may be able to provide more information than was in the records you located and the information you’ve discovered may help them remember things they could not remember before.
When you find a person of interest in a census, do you look at all the contexts in which that person appears? There are not as many details in pre-1850 census records, but for enumerations after that date, do you look at how many of your ancestors neighbors are from the same state or country as he? Do you look and see how many homes in the neighborhood are rented, owned or mortgaged? How common is his occupation? How common is it for the wife to have an occupation outside of the home? Not all census enumerations provide these details, but there are multiple layers of context that can be easy to overlook.
When was the last time you checked the appropriate state or provincial website to see if they had compiled indexes or finding aids to records you could use? Many state or provincial level archives have created finding aids or partial indexes to records in their collection. Some of these are indexes to state or provincial records and some are indexes to local records that have been deposited with state or provincial authorities.
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