If you’ve found a mortgage for an ancestor, try and determine if there was a record made of the mortgage being paid off. In some locations these “pay-offs” are filed separately in the same office where the mortgages are recorded. They may be referred to as “releases” or some other word suggesting that the title to the real property is no longer subject to the mortgage payment. It may also be that the original record of the mortgage has a notation signed by an official or the original noteholder. If there’s no indication the mortgage was paid off, consider searching for court records where the property was foreclosed upon. If that fails, search through land records for the property in question.
A deed of trust is slightly different from a mortgage. Our discussion is from a laymen’s perspective as we are not lawyers. A mortgage generally has two parties: the borrower and the lender. The borrower puts up in their interest in a piece of property to secure the repayment of the debt that the borrower has borrowed from the lender. A deed of trust has three parties: the borrower, the lender, and a trustee. The borrower assigns their interest in the property to the trustee during the repayment term. The trustee can sell the property if the borrower defaults on the loan. The trustee’s interest in the property exists while the loan is being repaid. After repayment, the borrower again has title to the property.
If a relative has several mortgages over time on a piece of property, it can be tempting to gloss over them as not really being as genealogically relevant as other documents. That can be a mistake. Sometimes the lenders or the holders of the note are not a financial institution or an individual who makes their living loaning money. Sometimes they are relatives. Always give a little time to see from whom your ancestor borrowed money. This illustration is from an 1879 trust deed where the husband and wife borrowing money against their farm are borrowing it from the wife’s mother and step-father. Those relationships are not stated in the record and usually are not stated in the record. The legal agreement is about who owes money to […]
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A child being born in location A means the mother was in location A at the time of the birth. It does not necessarily mean that the father was in location A at that same time as well. One cannot assume that the father was present at the birth, nearby at the time, or even in the same town. One also cannot assume the father was even alive at the time of the birth. I recently wrote about a piece of information that was on my father’s birth certificate and almost stated that my grandparents (plural) were at the hospital when he was born. My grandmother was. While I’m reasonably certain my grandpa was there as well, I do not know that Grandpa was at the hospital because […]
There are times when documents are not standard from one area of the country to another. This 1941 birth certificate from Lee County, Iowa, asks how long the mother had been in the hospital and in the community before the child was born. In this case, the answer to both those questions were three hours and it’s suggestive of the mother going to the hospital for the explicit purpose of delivery. The residence of the mother 15 miles away would also be a a clue. While I’m not certain why the questions were asked, the hospital in question did draw a number of out of town residents. It’s likely someone in the vital records office was interested in knowing that information and the only to know that is […]
A correspondent indicated that a database on a certain website had multiple dates of marriage for several of his ancestors. My correspondent wanted to know what the different dates meant. It was difficult for me to say without knowing the time period, the location, and the type of record from which the dates were pulled. Like many events in life, marriage is a process that usually takes place over time. A couple meets, courts/dates, gets engaged, decides when to get married, decides where to get married, gets permission or license to get married, gets married. Those events may happen in very close proximity or they may be extended over a long period of time. Some of those events generate records with dates on them, particularly the permission to […]
Sometimes memories take a while to come back. One way to help jog a person’s memories is to show them pictures. But shuffling through a hundred family photos in a two hour interview is not possible. One option may be to create a picture book for the interviewee to write in at their leisure or for them to view before you actually interview them. Digitize photographs you want to use to help the interviewee remember family members or long-forgotten stories. Put them in some sort of book format, leaving plenty of room for the person to write on the page next to the picture. There are numerous websites that allow you to publish such books of photographs or you could even simply put them in your favorite word […]
When interviewing a family member, it’s important to think about how hard you will question a person on topics that you know they are sensitive about. How much you will press for details really depends on your relationship with the person being interviewed, the mental health of the person being interviewed, and the nature of the sensitive topic. There’s not one answer to how far a certain topic should be pressed for an answer and the interviewer should always keep in mind how likely it was that the interviewee was personally involved and impacted by the events in question. It’s also worth remembering that while there may be sensitive topics of which you are already aware, there may be others of which you have no previous inkling. Pay […]
When viewing digital scans of ledgers or books that contain left and right hand pages on the same image, make certain the pages are lined up. The register shown in the illustration has a right page that is a “line up” from the left page. It’s noticeable on the top of of the page. But this ledger contains the names of individuals on the far left hand side. The person of interest was in the middle of the image. Initially when I found the entry, I slide over to the right hand page to read the rest of the entry–without realizing that the images of the right and left hand side were not aligned. Always look at the whole image. It will make it easier to determine if […]
If your relative was in a state prison–as opposed to a local or county jail–see if there are records of his or her incarceration. Chances are, the prison’s earlier records have been transferred to a state archives or other statewide facility charged with maintaining the records. If they do not have the records, they may be able to point you in the direction of other agencies or facilities that may be able to help you. Prison registers may provide physical information or biographical information on your ancestor not located in court records. This page on the National Archives website contains a list of state archives throughout the United States. Genealogy Tip of the Day book is here. Learn more about it and get your own copy. If you’d like to get […]
From a while back… Every event in your ancestor’s life takes place in context. If your ancestor does something on a specific date, there may be other people doing that same thing on that same date: other couples marrying on the same date as your ancestor may be relatives or close friends other individuals naturalizing on the same day as your ancestor may be relatives, friends, or associates men who deserted the army on the same date as your ancestor may have had a connection to him people who died on the same date as your ancestor may have had the same contagious illness and so on. The commonality of the date may mean nothing. It may also be significant. Just don’t ignore it. Looking for “same day people” […]
It’s not a stray mark. It is an intentional dot and it is not the only one on the page. As of this writing, in Ancestry.com‘s interpretation of 6th name on this image is “Fred” sans dot. Before I looked at the actual record, I thought it odd that the pastor used the Anglicized diminutive Fred for my great-grandfather while using the low-German name of Trientje for my great-grandmother. The pastor didn’t use Fred as the name for my great-grandfather. It was an abbreviation. Looking at other names on the same page made it clear that abbreviating names was a common practice in the baptismal register. I have transcribed it as “Fred.”–with the period–in my records. Numerous other sources indicate that his actual name was Frederick/Frederich. The reminders: […]
My maternal grandfather was born 106 years ago today. I never called him anything other than Granddad, but that name is obviously not listed for him on any actual record. His baptismal record indicated his name was Johann Heinrich Frederick Ufkes and that he was born on 27 January 1917 to Fred.[sic] and Trientje (Janssen) Ufkes. His birth certificate gives his name as John Henry Ufkes and indicates the same date of birth. The only other item showing two middle names is his tombstone which only includes them as initials. Seemingly ironic that the two records providing both names (or references to them) are ones created at the beginning and ending of his life. Which name should I call Granddad by in my software and other records? I […]
It is not possible to preserve every piece of paper we have. Sometimes it not even possible to preserve or pass on every piece of paper we have from our parents or grandparents. The piles and files may be overwhelming and those that come after us may have no interest in documenting every receipt that Grandpa kept during his life time. Consider scanning the paper items and letting the originals go in some cases. Do you need to keep every physical check your Grandfather wrote? Do you need ever receipt Grandma kept for craft supplies or having the television repaired? It might not even be worth your time to scan or digitize these items. Or it might be. That’s really your decision. But consider whether those who come […]
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