Before entering information into a genealogical database, consider writing the information down and charting the relationships on paper to make certain you understand them and can visualize them. In families where individuals were married more than once or had children with more than one person, it can be easy to enter relationships incorrectly.
Searching female ancestors in many countries is complicated by the female adopting the last name of her husband at her marriage. Think about those things that do not change when trying to search for that female relative after her marriage: her first and, if she has one, middle names her date and place of birth her parents–she may have lived near them after her marriage. They may have lived with her in their old age. the names of her brothers–she may have lived near them after her marriage the names of her unmarried sisters–they may have lived with her at some point in their lives. All of these can be ways to search finding aids to some records in your attempts to find the missing married female ancestor.
From a few years ago… A reader on our Facebook page had an excellent idea for helping to jog the memories of older family members. She made a scrapbook of old pictures with room for the person to write down what they remembered about the people in the picture, the location, etc. Generally the pictures were used as memory prompts. The relative could then write in the book at their leisure as things came to mind. Sometimes an interview simply isn’t long enough or memories come flooding back after it’s over.
If your relative was part of a “breaking local news story,” an account of the incident may have made the local newspaper. One account of an event can easily contain incorrect details, particularly if the event took place close to press time or witnesses were originally difficult to find. Obtain multiple newspaper references to the event and compare/contrast the details provided. a reference a few days later may contain more accurate information-or it may not. if the incident resulted in court action, more details may be mentioned in newspaper articles during the trial if the incident was sufficiently noteworthy, there may be retrospective articles on anniversary dates of the incident the incident may be mentioned when a key player dies years later check other nearby newspapers for mention […]
Your ancestor named Bernard Dirks immigrated to Adams County, Illinois, in the 1850s where he lived until he died in the 1910s. He’s in 1860-1910 census in that county, buys land there, etc. Ancestry serves up a naturalization for a Bernard Dirks in Tazewell County, Illinois, in the 1860s–suggesting it’s your guy. Do you assume it’s your guy? Here are some things you should do–in no particular order. Geography: Determine how far apart Adams and Tazewell Counties are. Locally did it: Is there a naturalization for Bernard Dirks in Adams County, Illinois? Said so on census: Did the Adams County, Illinois, Bernard Dirks indicate he was naturalized in any extant census record? Is the year relatively consistent with the Tazewell date? Contemporary dude search: Look at census and […]
Do you know where the nearest post office was to where your ancestor lived? That post office name or town name (which may not have been where your ancestor lived) may be listed as their residence on various official documents. It may seem liked they moved or lived in different places when they in fact did not. Try a Genealogy Search on GenealogyBank.
If you are going to have someone analyze a document or record, indicate where the document or record was obtained. It is very difficult to analyze something without an idea of when, where, or how it was created.
A reminder from a few years back… Always look at the front and back of every document. This document from a military service file was folded into thirds and the “cover” contained a comment made by the clerk–that wasn’t really supposed to be there. That’s why it’s always advised to make certain you see both sides of a document.
Always think about the family that was left behind when someone died? Were there children who would have needed looked after? Was there a spouse who would have needed some assistance? Was there an adult child who would have been unable to look after themselves? Who would have been nearby to help these individuals? Were there court records, guardianships, or other records resulting from issues when the person died? Try a Genealogy Search on GenealogyBank.
A genealogist cropped all the pictures in a family photograph from the late 1800s and posted them as “individual portraits” in an online tree. The zoomed images are somewhat distorted, making three of the brothers who looked alike look even more alike. I assumed that one of the brothers had been misidentified when looking at the image quickly. It was only upon looking at the image a second and a third time that I realized the identification was correct (based on the minimal background in the picture). Take a second or two to pause and reflect before posting a comment. It could be you who are wrong. And make certain that “enhanced” image really is enhanced.
I have two relatively close direct line ancestors for whom distant cousins have assumed “nicknames” that were not true at all. When I see an online tree with that “nickname,” it tells me that the compiler did not really do any work at all because the “nickname” does not appear in any actual record (official or otherwise) for the ancestor in question and the “compiler” simply copied the information from someone else. Repeating other known errors is usually a sign of little original work as well. Try a Genealogy Search on GenealogyBank.
Sometimes one needs a chart showing the relationships between several key people—not all the descendants of one person, not all the ancestors of one person, or not all the relatives of one person. Genealogical software usually doesn’t allow for charts to be created showing a select number of individuals. It may be faster (depending upon your purpose) to sketch out a chart on paper to keep the relationships clear while working on those individuals. Later a more polished chart can always be made using the hand drawn one as a starting point. The genealogy world will not end if you use pencil and paper. Try a Genealogy Search on GenealogyBank.
Not every property owner who moves sells all their land before heading to supposedly greener pastures. Land transactions cannot be recorded until they take place. Consequently locating record copies of deeds executed after a person has left the area requires searching during that time period when they did not live there. Searching during the time they didn’t live there is also how deeds recorded late are found as well as deeds involve inheritance. Never assume that because a person has left the area that they will not be located in the records of that area. Try a Genealogy Search on GenealogyBank.
Digital images of newspapers make searching for ancestral references easier. The computer reads the text (typically using what is styled as “OCR”) and returns the results. But remember that OCR is not perfect with most difficulty stemming around characters that are difficult to read, parts of the newspaper that are smeared (or town, folded on, cut out, etc.), or other challenges. When viewing a list of search results, make certain you are finding items you expect to find like death announcements, obituaries, anniversaries, or other items. If those references do not appear in your search results, manually searching for those items may be necessary. Try a Genealogy Search on GenealogyBank.
Many pre-1900 probate records in the United States do not contain the date of death for the person whose estate is being settled. That’s because usually the precise date of death does not matter. It is the fact that the person is deceased that is important. If someone is petitioning at the May 1850 term of court that an estate be opened for John Smith, the court wants to make certain John Smith is deceased. Whether he died on 1 April 1850 or 29 April 1850 does not matter. That his estate has not already been probated and that he has an estate to probate do matter. The probate record may not mention the date of his death at all, or if it does it may simply state […]
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