Sunday we’re offering a year of my weekly newsletter Casefile Clues for $12. Samples can be downloaded as PDF files here: sample 1 sample 2 Feel free to let others know about the offer–this blog post will be pulled late Sunday night–don’t wait. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Remember that one document, a death certificate for example, may contain many statements. Those statements (about the birth, the parents, the date of death, the place of death, burial, cause of death, etc.) are not necessarily made by the same people. Each statement must be evaluated separately as the informant might not have been equally “informed” about every statement which they gave. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
There is more to “proving” a date of birth, a place of marriage, or a maiden name than finding it written on one piece of paper. At the risk of oversimplifying, the researcher should be at the very least be considering: how accurate that “piece of paper” probably is the likely informant of that “piece of paper” what other “pieces of paper” have to say how reasonable the information on that “piece of paper” is There’s more to making a case than this, but these are elements of analysis that should be considered on a regular basis. And if at all possible, try and find other “pieces of paper” that mention the same date, location, or relationship. Ideally those pieces of paper will have different informants-preferably ones who […]
If the members of a household were not all the children of the same father, keep in mind that the census taker might have simply assumed everyone in the household had the same last name, whether they did or not. Step-children might be listed with the step-father’s last name, even though he never adopted them at all and they never used his last name themselves. Grandchildren enumerated with grandparents might be listed with the grandparent’s last name, even though they never actually used that name. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Consider getting a separate email address for your genealogy research and correspondence. There are several places to get free email addresses, Yahoo, Hotmail, Google, to name a few. You shouldn’t have to change it if your service provider changes, space is usually fairly generous, and web-based interfaces make it easy to check anywhere. And for some of us, it helps to keep genealogy emails separate from those in our “other life.” ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
As you use family sources, interviews with Grandma, and stories that were passed down in your family to begin your research, keep in mind that there might be key details that relatives either forgot or intentionally neglected to tell you. They can be as innocent as forgetting that great-grandpa lived in Idado for ten years and “came back home.” Or they can be intentional, as in forgetting that Grandpa had a wife before he married Grandma and that he had five children with the previous wife. Omissions can be inconsequential or serious roadblocks to your research. They can also be things Aunt Myrtle simply forgot or something cousin Harold never wanted you to find out. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
I was using a burial register from England in my research. I had to constantly remind myself that the dates listed in the register were dates of burial, not dates of death. In most cases, the individuals probably had not been deceased long, but I need to make certain I record the information correctly. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Depending on the time period, the location, the number of nearby relatives and your ancestor’s financial status, your ancestor might never have had a tombstone. Don’t assume that every person buried in a cemetery had a stone, even at one point in time. It’s possible there never was one. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
In the 1900 census, Tom is listed as Bob’s stepchild and Bob is married to Mary. Don’t assume that Tom is Mary’s child and that she had a previous relationship. Bob could have had a wife previous to Mary who was Tom’s mother and that’s how Tom became Bob’s stepchild. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Regular readers may remember that I’m working on a couple who likely got married in Canada–somewhere. The difficulty is that I do not know where. I do know that the couple had children born in Canada and that the husband’s brother probably lived nearby for at least a time. To increase the chance I find the name of that town, I’m looking at all the ancestor’s Canadian born children, his brother’s Canadian born children, and children of all those children in case some record mentions that village. And the child from whom I descend wasn’t even born in Canada. But the hope is that one of these people may mention where they (or their parent) was born–and that’s what I need! ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip […]
Remember that spouses aren’t necessarily buried in the same cemetery–or even in the same state. One ancestor died in Indiana in 1861 where he is buried and another is buried in Iowa where she died in the 1870s. And one aunt is buried at the veteran’s home in Iowa where she died and her husband was buried at the veteran’s home in Kansas where he died. So they might have been together in life, but not in burial! ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
This phrase typically refers to a married woman and one whose legal rights are controlled by her husband. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Get yourself out of your research rut and perhaps make a discovery in the process. I decided to spend a little time researching the man who fathered a child with my aunt in Iowa in the 1870s. They never married according to her Civil War pension. Searching him caused me to discover an error on FamilySearch and realize that this father received a pension for his own military service. Now I’m wondering if his pension mentions his daughter, which could help me find her. All from searching for a collateral. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Peter Bieger immigrated to the States about 1847, probably settling in Cincinnati, Ohio. He married there in 1849 and by late 1850, he was in Illinois, where he purchased a small home/tavern. The best place to search for his Germanic origins: Illinois. Peter left only two records in Ohio, none of which name any witnesses or associates. His 1856 estate settlement and guardianship for his children has the names of several witnesses and associates, most of which appear to be Germanic in origin. Searching these associates may provide some clue to his origins–and should be done before continued work in the larger Cincinnati area where the number of Germans is much larger. Sometimes the best approach to immigrants is to completely research them in the area of settlement. […]
Before you spend time looking for someone in a census record, make certain they were living at the time. I realize that occasionally someone who has been dead gets enumerated in a census, but someone who died in 1875 should not be listed in the 1880 or 1881 census. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
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