For many genealogists, a legal dictionary is a great help. This is especially true when analyzing court and probate records where legal terms may be used profusely. I picked up on on Ebay several years ago. A current in print one is not necessary and may be beyond your genealogy budget. Mine dates from the 1980s and serves my purpose well. In fact, I may pick up a few more from earlier time periods if I happen to spot one at an auction. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Some records are organized geographically (census), some records are organized chronologically (vital records), and some are organized by name (indexes). Learn how a record series is organized before you use it. That will help you glean as much from it as you can. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Never take your only copy of a document with you on a research trip. You may use it. Never put the original copy of a document out for permanent display. Sunlight will permanently fade it. Use copies. Save yourself the pain of losing or destroying the only copy of something you have. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Remember that birthplaces in census and other records may have been written down as they were at the time the record was created, not the time the birth took place. At different times, my ancestor indicated she was born in Prussia, Hanover, or Germany. This was because of who was “ruling” the village where she was born at the time of the census or other record. It may just seem like great-great-grandma was confused when she really was not. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Miltary pensions, especially if the widow survived and claimed her pension, may provide information about more than just the veteran and his widow. Relatives might have had to testify to the marriage of the veteran and his wife, their residences, their children and other information in an attempt to document the pension. These documents are more detailed if the widow cannot find her marriage certificate or the courthouse burned. Relatives who were present at the marriage or who knew of the couple’s marriage might have testified. Wonderful records these are. My ancestor’s Civil War pension provided information about the wife’s family, including her siblings. She also indicated who was at her 1867 wedding and the sister-in-law who was present at the birth of one of her children. ———————————— […]
Are you on too many genealogy mailing lists? I was beginning to think I was. Reading the constant barrage of messages was taking time from my research. In my case, I set up email filters so the mailing list messages go into separate folders insted of my main inbox. Then I can read the messages when I want to and not have them coming in every hour or so. And there were a few lists I unsubscribed to. One only has so much time. It might be worth your while to be selective about what lists you are on. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Write down your own life story and ask those interview questions you have been putting off. The human mind is the most fragile repository we use. Don’t waste it and don’t miss an opportunity. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Just remember, even if it appears that the Family History Library has a great deal of information on your county or locality of interest, there probably are more records actually in the area that were not filmed. LDS films quite a bit, but they don’t always get every piece of paper in the courthouse. And some courthouses don’t let them film everything, either. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
I don’t check it daily, but every month or so, I visit the Family History Library’s website http://pilot.familysearch.org. They are periodically adding new information and many times there is something “new” that can help me in my research. If it has been a while since you looked at the content on this site, give it a go. All information on http://familysearch.org is free. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Is there something you think you know but for which you have no real proof other than you have always believed it? While it doesn’t have direct genealogical bearing, I have been reading “Pillars of the Republic” by Carl F. Kaestle. One thing I learned while reading the book is that there were many schools in the 1820s-1840s that enrolled children as young as 4. This trend changed in the mid-eighteenth century. I just always assumed that there was no schooling at all for children that young until the 20th century. I never read that anywhere, I just assumed it. Is there some “fact” in your genealogy research that you never read, never heard, but just assumed? And is it causing that brick wall in your research? ———————————— […]
Years ago in an article, I referred to a “birder house.” I was mentioning in passing the little shed where my Grandma Neill had kept her baby chickens. She always said it like “birder house.” And it seemed like a logical name for a building that kept little birds. What she actually meant was “brooder house.” Referring to a brood of chickens, not a “bird.” Is there a name, a word, or a placename that you heard “wrong” from a relative? Is that the reason you cannot find it? Perhaps Grandma was pronouncing it in her own way. If no one else used that pronunciation, you may have difficulty in finding the correct location. Grandma always said she was born in “Tiogee” but that’s another story for another […]
Remember that relationships in the census are given with respect to the head of household. They may or may not be the children of the spouse in the household. Don’t draw conclusions that are not supported by the enumeration. Of course in many households the husband and wife are the parents of all the “children” listed as the head of household’s children. But sometimes they are not. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
A 1907 era court case involves the children of my ancestor as defendants. They are all listed correctly with the right first names in virtually every court document. Except one. On the deed where the judge is selling the estate, William Rampley is listed as Wilbur Rampley. William’s middle name was not Wilbur and he never used that name as a nickname. What happened? Most likely a simple transcription error. When every other reference to him in the records is William and one out of thirty lists him as Wilbur, it’s easy to realize that sometimes an error is just that, an error. The problem is that when we have just one reference to an individual it can be difficult to know if a name is simply an […]
Before using any online database, determine whether or not it is complete. Many times, vendors will release “part” of a database, hoping to generate publicity and new sales. The problem is that many times users do not read the details of the database enough to find out. Before you spend hours searching that database, determine how complete it actually is. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Some families are a little bit complicated. And if one is not careful it can be easy to enter the incorrect relationships in our genealogical database. What I do in these situations is to map out the relationships on paper first in an attempt to get a broader view of the family and in an attempt to understand the relationships correctly. Once I think I have the relationships down, I begin my data entry. Wasting time “fixing” relationship mistakes is time I could spend doing actual research. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
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