If your male ancestor died before his wife and you can’t find her in death records, consider the possibility that she married after his death. There may be no family tradition of a subsequent marriage and records would be tied to the last name of the later husband. Maybe the reason she went “poof” after her husband died was because she remarried.
Researching women in the United States is compounded by the fact that researchers need the woman’s “maiden name,” the surname of her biological father. In some cases what the researcher thinks is the “maiden name” may actually be a step-father’s last name, the mother’s last name, an adopted father’s last name, or the last name of a previous husband. All things to consider.
We’ve finally completed the moving process for all my blogs. If you received Rootdig.com, Genealogy Tip of the Day, Genealogy Search Tip, or Genealogy Transcriber before 1 June in your email, you will need to resubscribe using the subscription links on the respective blogs: Rootdig.com—Michael’s thoughts, research problems, suggestions, and whatever else crosses his desk Genealogy Tip of the Day—one genealogy research tip every day Genealogy Search Tip—websites I’ve discovered and the occasional online research tip Genealogy Transcriber—can you read the handwriting? Thanks for your support as we transition to this new service.
Some ancestors are more “portable” than others. Their lifestyle, economic status, and occupation can make it easier for them to pick up and move. Stop and think about how easy or difficult it would have been for your relative to simply move. And if they did move, what records might they have left behind as a part of the moving process? Would there be records documenting the move? Land records may reference a new residence for an ancestor, especially if the sale of property was finalized after the move had taken place.
Please let your genealogy friends know about our new location and the fact that they can still get our tips in their email. Our site: https://genealogytipoftheday.com Subscription page: Get Genealogy Tip of the Day Every Day! Thanks! Michael
We are excited about the following events. Join us virtually and grow your genealogy skills this summer. Organizing Genealogy Information Class–3 sessions Back Issues of Casefile Clues June webinars. Topics are: War of 1812 pensions on Fold3.com Using online Virginia land patents at the Library of Virginia Online Newspapers at the Library of Congress Using Local Land Records on FamilySearch Join us!
One of the reasons for creating ancestral chronologies is so that gaps in time can be noticed more easily. Are there fifteen years in your ancestor’s life for which you cannot account? Are you certain the ancestor is where you think they are during that time? Or were they somewhere else?
One of the reasons for creating ancestral chronologies is so that gaps in time can be noticed more easily. Are there fifteen years in your ancestor’s life for which you cannot account? Are you certain the ancestor is where you think they are during that time? Or were they somewhere else?
As soon as I can, we’ll be reposting old tips here on the new site. Thanks for your patience. For now, you can view them on the old site.
If you’ve located an entry in local marriage records that a license was issued for your ancestor, have you determined if the license was returned? The issuance of a license means only that a license was issued and that a couple was intending to get married. Usually cancelled licenses are returned and “cancelled” is written somewhere on or near the entry in the record indicating the license was issued. But not always. Sometimes they are just not returned. Sometimes licenses that are used are not returned by the officiant, even if the marriage took place.
We’re moving to a WordPress blog on our own domain name. We’ll be in flux for a while–so the layout and other details may change as we find our way here. We’ve got some things to learn, but decided to just move instead of waiting until I knew everything about WordPress. We hope you like our new site, our new format, and the layout. Comments can be sent to me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com. The tips will keep coming every day, just like they always have. Make certain you get on our new list as the one we used on Blogger will be discontinued shortly.
The middle entry on this page of 1838 baptisms from Aurich, Germany contains the entry for my ancestor. The fourth column contains the names of the sponsors. When I was trying to analyze the entry for my relative I thought the symbol in the middle red circle on the image were a part of the entry. Then I looked at the other two entries on the image I made and realized that the items in the circle were partially used to number each entry and were not a part of the names of the sponsors. If I had only copied the entry for my ancestor and not other entries on the same page, I might have missed that. Don’t copy only the entry of interest on a page […]
It’s time for a move! Genealogy Tip of the Day is moving to https://genealogytipoftheday.com. We’ll be posting new tips here effective 31 May 2015. We’ll be transferring old tips here as soon as we can. Stay tuned! Subscribe to our tips here.
Before you leave for a remote courthouse or research facility, determine their hours, copy policies, digital camera policy, etc. Better to know before you leave than after you get there.
When was the last time you went back and took a look at documents and photographs you’ve not really analyzed in years? Are there clues sitting there? Clues that you never noticed because your research skills were not as developed? Clues that you didn’t realize were clues because you didn’t know much about the family? Clues that you didn’t notice because you simply overlooked them? The chicken is this picture wasn’t crucial to my research, but it reminded me that it never hurts to take another look.
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