Did your ancestor die with minor children? If so, there might be guardianship records for his children, particularly if he left real estate behind or a significant amount of personal property. For much of American history, women had no property rights and a widow by herself might not be able to receive money for her children or to manage real estate they inherited from a deceased father or grandparent. Records of the guardianship might provide more information on the children and perhaps clues as to the mother’s remarriage. Researchers should always research the guardians fully to determine if they had any biological relationship to the children. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Christmas is a good day to take a break from your research and focus on the living relatives. It also brings to mind another tip. Take a break from that family or problem that really has you stonewalled. Work on another family for a while, putting the brick wall group aside for a week or a month. It may be that when you come back to your problem, you notice something you did not notice before. Perhaps when working on another problem, something will dawn on you regarding the original problem. In the back of your mind the original problem is there and something totally unrelated to your research problem may cause you to have the breakthrough idea you need. Sometimes what we need most is a little […]
Just because a record is “official” does not mean that every detail it contains is correct. A death certificate probably has the date of death and burial correct, but the date and place of birth could easily be incorrect. And there is always the chance that a death record has the wrong date of death or place of burial. An official record does not guarantee the information is accurate. Remember that in most records, the information is only as accurate as the informant and that in most records information submitted came from someone’s mind and was not verified with another source or official record. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Do not mindlessly type names in database searches without first learn what you are actually searching. Is it a website that contains voluntary submissions of data other researchers have compiled? If so, it may be incomplete. Is it an official archives site? Even those may have omissions because some records were not extant. Most sites will indicate where they obtained their information. Find out and find if all records were extracted. Gaps or omissions seem to always be for the time period one needs. Not knowing what you are searching may explain why you are not finding the information you seek. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
This is my newest blog, where every day a new genealogy tip will be posted. Tips will start appearing tomorrow. Feel free to share our site with others. Readers can contact me at michael.john.neill@gmail.com Stay Tuned! ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
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