I’ve seen the picture numerous times. The print is blurry and faded and the image I made from the negative using my scanner is blurry as well, but the colors are better than in the print. I never really looked closely at what I was holding. I was more concerned about trying to figure out who the woman on the right is (spoiler alert: I still am not certain). But upon closer inspection, I realized that I am holding my Dad’s brownie camera with the big flash. Don’t forget to take one more look at a record, an image, or a file to see if there is something you have failed to notice. Sometimes we get so focused on one aspect of something that we miss other clues. […]
The genealogist should always think about what other records could be generated by a process or set of records they have located. A probate case generates its own set of items, but there also may be: Newspaper legal notices of the impending probate. Newspaper mentions of various court actions to settle the estate. Newspaper advertisements for an estate auction. Land deeds to settle title to real estate. Guardianship records for minor heirs (which may be filed separately from the probate records). Always ask yourself: what additional records or references could this set of records generate? Genealogy Tip of the Day book is here. Learn more about it and get your own copy. If you’d like to get our genealogy tip daily in your email for free, add your address here.
Remember–no site has every record, every file, and every index. Don’t do all your research via one website, one repository, or one library. You wouldn’t just use the census only for your research would you?Expand your research horizons and your family tree–use a resource or a facility today that you’ve not used in a while. You may be pleasantly surprised at what you find. Fee-based websites may tell you they have everything–they don’t. Even some non-profit websites may suggest they have everything–they don’t. And remember when you are done with the websites…look offline. Everything is not on the internet. Genealogy Tip of the Day book is here. Learn more about it and get your own copy. If you’d like to get our genealogy tip daily in your email for free, add […]
If accessing a court case is a part of your genealogical research, make certain you have accessed any records of summons or “appearance in court” requests that were issued. These items, typically addressed to a local sheriff, may help indicate when and where someone was living in a specific location. In the case of the illustration, the summons indicated that several of the defendants were not living in the state of Virginia in early 1830 when the summons was issued. Genealogy Tip of the Day book is here. Learn more about it and get your own copy. If you’d like to get our genealogy tip daily in your email for free, add your address here.
I’ve been searching a database of deaths in Illinois in the mid-20th century. While searching this database, I have to constantly remind myself of where people in “my county” were likely to die if they did not die in “my county.” The two most likely places were nearby hospitals and state institutions. In my case, most out of county hospital deaths took place in one of three nearby cities. Those cities were located in different counties. A significant number of deaths took place in a state institution eighty miles a way which was located in a county that was not adjacent to the county of interest. In addition to institutions it is always possible that your relative died in the hospital, nursing home, or institution that was near […]
Places change over time. While I am not necessarily an advocate of saving every landscape picture a genealogist has, there are times where saving the picture preserves an image of buildings and other improvements that may not be around in fifty or one hundred years. But when images of places are preserved, record information about precisely where the item was taken–at least with as much detail as you have. Include at least: date of photo–or approximation address of location at time photograph was taken if known and if there was even an address GPS coordinates if known direction facing when photograph was taken Also include how that information was obtained, who provided it, and when. This image is one I discovered while using my new slide and negative […]
Local tax lists, both of personal and real property, could provide some information to assist in your genealogical search. Local tax records in the United States are most often county or town records, although there are exceptions. Many tax records, particularly those in the United States before the Civil War have been microfilmed and eventually digitized. Tax records are generally organized geographically, but there can be variation from one location to another and from one time period to another. It is important to understand who was subject to taxes during the time period and what property was taxed during that time period. One advantage to tax records is that they are available in non-census years and fewer people tend to be overlooked. The disadvantage is that they only […]
There is a picture of my Dad in his early 70s with a hog in the back of his livestock trailer. My Dad farmed his entire life so pictures with livestock are not uncommon. One might be tempted to think, based upon the picture, that my Dad raised hogs on his farm at that point in his life. The picture would seem to potentially suggest that. That was not the case. My Dad had not raised hogs in over twenty-five years when the photo was taken of him with a hog in his livestock trailer. He had won the hog by guessing its weight in a contest sponsored by a local business and was picking the pig up after the contest was over. When analyzing a piece of […]
Did the census taker reverse the first and last names? It can happen with anyone, but the possibility increases if the individual’s name is in a foreign language and they are a recently arrived immigrant. This man’s name was Focke Meyer, but he was listed as last name Focke and first name Myer.
Join me on one or two research trips this summer. More details are on our announcement pages: Salt Lake City’s FamilySearch Library The Allen County Public Library’s Genealogy Collection in Ft. Wayne, Indiana
From a few years back… Children were not always named immediately. While modern practice is to name children at birth (if not before), this was not always the case for one reason or another. It is not uncommon to see “unnamed” or “baby” as the first name on a birth certificate. A couple may have waited until they could arrange for a christening to name the baby, because they could not decide, or other reasons. This post on our sister site looks at possible unnamed children in the 1880 United States census.
Because of naming patterns and patronymics, four generations of one of my family contains numerous male family members whose first names are either Lubbe, Habbe, or Pabe and whose last names are either Lubben, Habben, or Paben. It can be extremely confusing and they are easy to either mix up or merge into one wrong compilation. Church records for the area of Germany where this family is from are fairly extant. For this reason, I have avoided using online trees and compilations unless I have personal knowledge of the researcher’s ability to be thorough and meticulous. Even then anyone can make a mistake. Using the church records myself is an excellent way to go although it is tedious and time consuming. I’ve made a chart listing the family […]
How many pictures do you need to pass to the next generation? Will your children, grandchildren, and so on really want two hundred vacation pictures of beaches and other scenery that contain no image of a human? Will they really need fifty snapshots taken of a birthday party for a one-year old opening every gift? Saving that one picture you have of your great-grandmother is one thing. Saving the three hundred negatives of pictures taken at a family barbeque may be something else. Saving the digital scans of those family barbeque pictures may be more manageable. When you have a handful of images for a person, the decision to save is not difficult. When you have one photo of a great-great-grandparent, there is no decision: save. But when […]
When using foreign language records, make certain you know the gender of names with which you are unfamiliar. Ask someone who knows. Don’t just guess.
The envelope from the drug store where my Mom had her photographs developed listed her with her maiden name. This was twenty-seven years after she was married and her last name was no longer Neill. The drug store clerk apparently realized the error and corrected the name, but did not change the initial under which the order was filed. I already know that Mom’s maiden name is Ufkes from other records and the lifelong interaction I had with members of her family of origin. This drug store photograph receipt really does not prove anything and I certainly have a large quantity of items providing her maiden name that are of much higher evidentiary quality. The item does not purport to give her maiden name. It was intended to […]
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