The notice regarding the returning home of the 78th Illinois indicated that they were leaving on the 10th “instant.” That means “this month” and is sometimes abbreviated “inst.”
For twenty years, it seemed as if my ancestor Ira Sargent was dropped off by a UFO in Hancock County, Illinois, in 1880. Turns out he wasn’t. He was in the 1850 and 1860 United States Census listed under the last name of his step-father–whom his mother had married in 1849. Until I discovered the last name of the step-father, I was unable to find Ira. Is it possible that your UFO ancestor wasn’t dropped off by aliens but was instead listed in records as a child under his (or her) stepfather’s last name? And that the first time they used their “birth name” in a record was when they married?
Among the items that newspapers may include are accounts of accidents or injuries. An accident could have been significant for your family. If the breadwinner of the household was seriously or permanently injured, it could have put the family’s life in disarray and could have been the cause of unavoidable family separation.
Make a chart with all your variant spellings for a surname and their corresponding Soundex codes. You don’t need the Soundex code to search, but the chart can be sorted by Soundex when preforming Soundex based searches so that you will know which searches locate what names so that you don’t needlessly perform the same search. After all, Trantvetter and Trontvetter have the same Soundex code. A Soundex search for Trantvetter will find Trontvetter.
If a relative appears to have gotten married for the first time at a slightly older than normal age, look again. That first marriage might not have been the actual first marriage.
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.
Recent Comments