Are you in isolation in your research? If there are not relatives (close or distant) working on your same line, consider joining a mailing list at Rootsweb (http://lists.rootswebcom). Roots-l and Gen-Newbie are two good lists to join that are worldwide in their scope, but there are other regional lists devoted to countries, ethnic regions, counties, etc. Even if you don’t find a relative, someone working in the same location as you can be an excellent resource. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
We all know this, but forget that sometimes it impacts our genealogical research as well. Early in my research, I was surprised that when my uncle died in 1907, without any children that his wife did not automatically inherit his entire estate. She inherited a part of it as his wife, but the balance went to his heirs. In this case, his siblings and some nieces and nephews were also heirs to his estate besides his wife. It made for an interesting court case. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Back in the “old days” of research, page by page was often the only way to find someone in a census record. With the advent of every name indexes, “point and click” research is a real option. However, there are times when it just not the successful approach. And there are times, where if you know where your ancestor lived, that “traditional” approaches may be faster. And reading the census page by page for where your ancestor lived, may give you a broader understanding of his neighborhood. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
For every census listing you have for an ancestor, think of other sources and materials that it suggests. A value of real property in an 1860 census indicates land and property tax records, a personal property valuation in an 1850 census suggests personal property tax records. An occupation may suggest local county records or occupational records. And children with different last names in the household suggest multiple marriages or extended family who may have been living in the household at least temporarily. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Do you have your ancestor in every extant census in which she would be enumerated? Skipping one because “it won’t tell you anything” is never a good idea. One ever knows what surprising information may be lurking in a “routine” census enumeration. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
I’m not going to summarize Elizabeth Shown Mills’ “Evidence Explained” in one tip, but generally speaking a source citation should provide enough information to allow you or someone else to get back to the actual record you used to cite a date or an event. That citation should also information in regards to the provenance of the source, its perceived reliability, and whether it is an original or some type of derivation from the original. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
If you have gotten stuck in extending your family back to earlier generations, consider tracking the descendants of that earliest “unknown” ancestor. Perhaps one of his other descendants has information, sources, or family mementos that you are unaware of. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Don’t just research mindlessly. It is bad in more ways than one. Decide what you want to know, determine what you already know and learn about ways to get there. Research plans need to be more detailed than this obviously, but don’ t do your research in a haphazard fashion. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Learn about the geography of where your ancestor lived. It might explain where they later settled, how they travelled, or where they went to church, got married, etc. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
There are days when I’m out of town that I am in a library all day, largely because I don’t live near a large genealogical library and I have to make the best possible use of my time. Consequently I do not want to be running to another area to have phone conversations when not necessary. Instead of using the cellphone for the occasional “emergency” back home, we text instead. Texting allows us to communicate with each other as necessary without me disturbing others in the library. And if a phone call is needed while I’m in the library, I get a text indicating that. This allows me to communicate with home with as few phone disturbances as possible. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the […]
Remember that at the library there are other researchers. Be considerate of them. I’m fairly patient, but here are a few things that have given me cause for frustration lately: A gentleman having a cell phone conversation in the library about going fishing. He was yelling into his phone. It was all I could do to concentrate. Two researchers lamenting the destruction of tombstones in an Alabama town. While I understood his frustration, his twenty minute diatribe about the injustice of it all was highly distracting. I was at the library to actually do research. They could have easily taken their conversation to another area. Be considerate of your fellow researchers. You may one day be at the library trying to read illegible script when someone sitting next […]
If you do not know when civil registration starts in the jurisdictions in which you are researching, find out. And if you don’t know what civil registration is, then there’s even more work for you to do. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Keep in mind that paying property tax only indicates an individual owned property in a location. It does not mean that he necessarily lived there. Paying a personal property tax usually indicates residence in the area in which the tax was paid. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Before 1922, most women derived citizenship from their husband or their father. Before women had the right to vote, citizenship was not as critical as one may think. Women in many states could own property whether or not they were a citizen. Few women before 1922 bothered to naturalize. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Never assume a record set won’t hold the answer to any of your genealogical problems unless you have learned about those records, know what information they contain, and know what types of individuals are likely to be in those records. And then you still may want to search them anyway. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
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