If you are stuck, you should decide what the problem is, what the sources are, how those sources are organized, and how those sources are searched. Search those records, track your search, and evaluate the results. A broad overview, but this will get you started. Don’t forget to learn about your ancestor’s social group and about the history of the area where he lived as well. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Is it possible that the town name is right, but the name of the state is incorrect? Is it possible that part of the name is right, but the remaining portion has been spelled or pronounced incorrectly? Did your ancestor give the name of the closest “big town” instead of saying where he was actually from? ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
I am working on adding tips to the site and am currently just about done with June. Updates will be posted as they are completed. Genealogy Tip of the Day will continue as it has in the past. Readers are encouraged to subscribe to my weekly newsletter “Casefile Clues” which is available via subscription at $15 per year. That turns out to approximately 29 cents a week. Genealogy Tip of the Day will continue to be free and hosted at http://genealogytipoftheday.blogspot.com. Suggestions for tips can be sent to me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com. Thanks for all the encouragement. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Because the law did not require it. In 1907 there was reform of immigration and the naturalization process, which resulted in more paperwork and more detail. Consequently the records after that reform are more detailed. If your ancestors naturalized shortly before 1907, determine if there were relatives who might have naturalized after the reform that might have left more detailed records. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Sooner or later you will encounter conflicting information in your research. Record the information as it is provided on each source and put any analysis in your notes. Do not change, correct, or modify the information from an actual record. Your job is not to edit. If there are obvious errors, indicate that in a comment, but do not “fix” the record. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
It is not a tip of the day, but this partially explains why the tips have been on the short side for the past month. I invite regular tip readers to subscribe to Casefile Clues on my other website. Tips will continue to be posted here as well. For over ten years, I have written regular columns about my research experience, first for Ancestry and most recently for Dick Eastman. Starting this week, my weekly “how-to” column “Casefile Clues” will be available exclusively through subscription through my website http://www.casefileclues.com/. I am very excited about the move. Subscribers can expect the same quality and content they have come to expect over the 400 how-to columns I have written. Content focuses on families from many areas and time periods in […]
Have you checked for potential records at the town or village, township, county, state and federal level? Focusing on just one level of records may cause you to miss vital sources. This is true for the United States and Europe as well. The names of the jurisdictions may be different, but remember that any one physical location may be a part of several levels of government. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
When was the last time you reviewed records and conclusions made early in your research? Is it possible that mistakes made early in your research are giving you problems today? ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Are you reviewing and re-reading what you transcribe or what you put into your genealogy database? Is there the chance you might have made a mistake? It might happen rarely (grin) but sooner or later, we all make a mistake. And if I had a dollar for every time I posted a blog entry without a title….. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Family traditions can run the gamut from comical to depressing, from reasonable to completely outrageous. Wherever they fit on the scale, they likely are not entirely correct. After all, nothing is. What I like to do with family traditions is to sort the facts they contain into facts that might have generated records and facts that probably did not generate records.And then get to the research. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
If your ancestors were a member of a denomination over any significant length of time, learn something of their history. A broad understanding of the history of your ancestor’s denomination may provide you with insight into their life, what might have motivated and why the church kept the type of records that it did. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
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!
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