Think about the materials you would like to access to learn more about your family’s history. Don’t just prioritize based upon how much information something could potentially provide. Also consider the fragility of the source. Some sources, particularly the minds of relatives, photographs, and tombstones are more fragile than other records. Prioritize.
If you can’t “find” your ancestor for a few years, have you considered the possibility that they fell on hard times and spent a while in the local poor farm or almshouse? Records of the county poor farm may be at the local county courthouse, county seat library, a county historical society, or elsewhere.
When your ancestor died at what stage in life were his children? Were they toddlers, teenagers, or grown children with their own families? Was your recently deceased ancestor a farmer whose oldest son was in his early twenties and possibly able to manage the farm himself–perhaps arguing with his mother? And perhaps even old enough to start a partition suit if he so desired? Or were his children under the age of ten and, while able to help, were not really able to bring any type of legal action? Or did the death of one aged spouse mean that the surviving spouse was no longer really able to live by herself or himself? In most families what’s going on at the “family level” when something happens is just […]
When relatives have the same first and last name it is easy to get them confused. It is even worse when the name gets spelled or written in various ways. In a recent blog post, I referred to Anne and Annie Murphy–sisters-in-law. To make matters worse, Anne signed her name as “Ann” in a document and I transcribed the document exactly as it was written. To clarify in my discussion what I should have done was either used their maiden name Annie (Murphy) Neill and Anne (Brice) Neill or their husband’s name, Annie Neill (wife of Samuel) or Anne Neill (wife of Joseph) to distinguish them.
If you are having difficult thinking spelling variants for your last name, remove vowels or change each vowel with another one. Vowels are the letters most likely to be the cause of spelling variants. Neil easily gets spelled as Neal, Hull as Hall, etc. There’s other letters that can be a problem, but vowels are a good place to start.
If you had an aunt or an uncle get divorced, have you considered looking at their divorce records? There may be mention of where they married or where they lived when they were first married. Either of these items could be clues in researching your direct line ancestor. And there is always the chance that your ancestor provided testimony in the divorce of a sibling.
I’ve encountered instances in my research where children have provided maiden names of mothers that were inconsistent with information provided with the mother and that were completely wrong. I’ve also encountered instances where the children gave a last name for the mother that I thought was “wrong,” only later it turned out to be right. While information children provide about their mother’s maiden name is secondary, don’t assume the children are clueless. Sometimes they are…but sometimes they are not.
Don’t neglect to tell your own story in addition to those you discover on your ancestors. After all, most of us would love to have something our long-deceased relative had written about themselves. Be certain to include what you remember about relatives you knew growing up as well. And who knows, when writing your own stories down, you may get some insight into that ancestor who has you stuck
Are you looking at the “paper neighbors” of your relatives? The first declaration of intention shown here is for the person of interest. The one immediately after his was done on the very same day by another person with allegiance to the same country. There were no other declarations made on that day. Odd that the two men coincidentally arrived on the same day. Turns out they were both connected to another family of Irish immigrants to the same area–and that was discovered by researching both men. There may be clues in those “paper neighbors.”
If you have urban ancestors in the mid-19th century or later, have you located your ancestor’s home on fire insurance maps? The Sanborn Company published these maps for thousands of United States cities, towns, and villages. Details include number of stories for the building, relative size compared to neighboring homes, names of some nearby businesses and churches, and more.
Some documents have several dates on them. Vital records will contain the date of the event, Deeds will contain the date the deed was executed. Wills include the date the will was signed. Some documents contain the date the document was recorded. Wills should contain the date the will was admitted to probate. Deeds may include the date the deed was acknowledged. Each of these dates are a clue in the chronology of the document. Always determine the reason for any date listed on a document–all of them.
In the 19th century, some of the United States census enumeration included more than population schedules. There were also agricultural, industrial and other schedules. Have you looked at these non-population schedules for information about your ancestor?
If your Civil War veteran applied for a homestead under the United States Homestead Act, he would have to have proved his service. A copy of his discharge would in with the homestead application. If you’re having trouble locating his military or pension records, see what is in his homestead application first.
If there is not a “regular” civil record of your ancestor’s birth, determine if the office has a record of “delayed” births. These records were those created years after the actual event when it was realized the person had no birth record made at the time of their birth and they needed a copy of their birth record. Delayed birth records were usually made based upon the testimony of those alive at the time of the birth or documentation submitted from other records (ie. church records, government census records, etc.)
Applications for US military pensions often mention the act under which the veteran (or his widow) applied. The details of that act may explain why the veteran waited until then–and that reason could be a clue. Men or women who applied for federal property usually did so under a certain act. If you have records of your ancestor having “applied” for anything, look to see if the act under which the application was made is referenced. Learning about that act may tell you something about your ancestor that is not stated in the application.
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