Find out the security policy of the courthouse before you make a trip there. I am in the habit of sometimes making notes about what to research in the notepad feature of my phone. Some courthouses will not let you bring your cell phone into the building. Find out any security issues before you leave. It is also a good idea to find out what kinds of electronic equipment generally are allowed. Best not to find out restrictions at the last minute. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Make certain you really research from the most recent and work your way to earlier events. For years, I assumed (incorrectly) that an uncle by marriage was only married one time–to my ancestor’s sister. Turns out she died young and he remarried shortly after her death and had the children with her instead of my aunt. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that the first marriage took place after the 1880 census and no vital records were kept and both wives were dead by the 1900 census. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Virtually any pre-1920 deed or will written in a book at the courthouse is not the original. The grantee got the original deed and the courthouse made a handwritten copy. As technology developed, microfilm copies, photostatic and other kinds of copies were made. But that deed from 1850 that you found in a book with all the others, it was a handwritten copy and could contain an error or two. Wills recorded in a will record book are the same way. Of course, the original will may be in the packet of estate papers, but anything “recorded” before photocopies and the like was a handwritten transcription. Just a little something to keep in mind the next time you make a copy of a will from 1820. ———————————— Check […]
It has been about ten years, but there used to be a local band named “DOS GUYS.” There were three ways one could take this: DOS Guys meaning 2 guys from “dos,” Spanish for two. DOS Guys as a way of saying “those” guys, “dos” as a slang way of saying “those.” DOS Guys, meaning guys who were still using the DOS operating system on their computer. Is there something that could be interpreted more than one way? Have you “jumped” on one interpretation that may be the wrong one? It may be that you are creating your own brick wall by doing so. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Sometimes I am behind the times. I will admit it. I finally set up google alerts for some of my more unusual surnames and for some names of ancestors. These can easily be done using your account at google (or signing up for one if you do not have one). This way instead of you searching for things, google lets you know when it has found them. To be certain, Google is not the only search engine out there, but this is a nice tool to add to your list. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Think for just a minute before making that post to a mailing list or asking that question to a friend. Is there a chance you are overlooking something obvious? It is also good to give yourself sometime to let a conclusion “sit” in your mind before publishing it or posting it. Sometimes our first, “off the cuff” reactions are correct and sometimes they aren’t. Haste may cause you to create a brick wall where none existed. I almost assumed a relative had military service based upon his WW2 era classification record. Turns out that the classification he received meant something different during war time than during peace time and the chart of classifications I was using were peace time classifications. When I looked at the appropriate set of […]
Sometimes a researcher is tempted to “ignore” the “in-laws” or “step” relatives because they are not “really relatives.” However, this can be a big mistake. Your relatives interacted quite a bit with these individuals and there is a chance a record on them could provide information on your ancestor. It is always possible that these indivduals have known your ancestor long before they became related by marriage. Your ancestors did not live in complete isolation. Researching their close acquaintances may provide information on your direct line ancestors. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Official or unofficial copies of documents may be located in places where you might not think to look. My ancestor’s declaration of intention from Illinois is contained in his Nebraska homestead application. Another ancestor’s naturalization is contained in his homestead file as well. Chicago voter’s registrations give years and places of naturalization for those who were not native born citizens. Widow’s applications for pension may contain certified copies of their marriage records. A cousin who got married in Illinois and divorced in Florida filed a copy of his Florida divorce decree in the Illinois county where he was married. And the list goes on. Where might your ancestor have had to record a copy of a document? It might not be in a place where you think. ———————————— […]
A few things worth remembering: Indexes to courthouse records are not always strictly alphabetical. Sometimes they are indexed only the first letter of the last name. Some indexes are partially by last name and then by first name. The Mc and Mac names can be at the front or the end of the “M” section. Not every party in a lawsuit appears in the defendant or plaintiff index. Indexes can be incorrect or missing. Courthouses may have indexes to records that were not filmed by the Family History Library. A good idea is to ask a local person from the area who is familiar with the records. These people can be an excellent resource. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Before I say this, let me say that copying someone else’s data into your database is not advised at all. But at least make certain it makes sense before entering it into your database. I saw an online family tree where the mother and father died before their children were born and another couple who had their children before they (the parents) were born. Woah! And if your database indicates someone died in 1742 and served in the American Revolution something is decidedly amiss. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Are there time periods in your ancestor’s life that are not accounted for? What was he or she doing during those periods? Where was he or she living? The first five years of my ancestor’s life in the United States were a complete mystery to me. John Ufkes came to the United States in the spring of 1869, settling in Illinois. He cannot be found in the 1870 census and there is no record of him until his marriage in 1874. His life is well documented after then until his death in 1924. There are a variety of land, court, census, church and other records fairly clearly documenting his life in Adams and Hancock County, Illinois. I realize five years is not a long time in the life […]
We don’t normally feature websites, but I have been locating so much information on Google Books that I thought it worth mentioning. Google Books has digitized thousands of books and allows users to search them using OCR (optical character recognition) technology. I’ve found many pieces of information I was unaware of, including the fact that a great-great-grandfather’s brother-in-law was a chronic alcholic and that his son was mentally incompetent, but I digress. I have been searching http://books.google.com for either some of my more unusual last names or just typing in ancestral names. Not all books are completely online, but there will be links with citation information so you can try and get a copy of the book yourself, either by purchasing it or obtaining it on interlibrary loan. […]
Many county USGenWeb pages have search boxes that allow you to search the entire site. Keep in mind that sometimes they don’t work. As an example, a search for “ufkes” on the Franklin County, Nebraska, USGenWeb page http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nefrankl/ resulted in no hits. And yet there are two pages with that word: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nefrankl/fcltr/frank_1Page87.html http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nefrankl/fcltr/U_1.html The last page was located doing a search for “John Ufkes” at Rootsweb.com (http://www.rootsweb.com). The first page I located using a long trial and error process I won’t go into here. I think there is a problem with the linking, but it is just something to keep in mind. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Never make the assumption that “our family” never had any divorces. Married couples have had difficulty getting along since marriage began. Divorce is not one of those stories that always gets passed down in families. It is easier to “not pass” the story down if the marriage does not result in children or the divorced parties do not remarry. My third great-grandmother was divorced twice. My great-uncle was divorced from his wife and no one ever told anyone about it. I never would have thought to look for a divorce record except his death certificate indicated that he was divorced. Divorce records are usually kept with the county records. Give them a look. You never know what you will find out. And remember, even a divorce record on […]
Have you posted to the message boards at Ancestry/Rootsweb or other genealogy sites and not looked at your message in a while? Have you gotten a response? Remember that even if the site allows you to be notified of a response, that response might have gotten stuck in your spam filter. Also some users don’t view the “old” posts because they are concerned that the emails are out of date, etc. Consider re-posting messages to boards with updates in your information, etc. New people are getting into genealogy every day and there may be new relatives just waiting to be found on the message boards. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
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