There are no guaranteed results with any genealogical research. No one can guarantee to find something unless they already know it is there. No one can guarantee to solve a genealogical problem unless they already know the answer to it. All a researcher can guarantee is that they will research the records to the best of their ability and accurately report their findings. Of course when one hires a researcher, they want to hire someone who has experience in searching the records; is familiar with how the records were created, organized, and maintained; and is skilled in their interpretation and analysis.
The extant records indicate my ancestor left his farm to his wife as a life estate with the property to be split among their children at her demise. She wrote a will giving her son all “her property.” That will was denied probate as she did not have actual title to the farm. It would be easy to create a little family drama based on the extant records. It’s wise to avoid that temptation and stick to what is in the records: his bequest to his wife prevented her from selling/transferring the property herself, it was to go to their children after her demise, and she wrote a will attempting to give the farm to one of her children. The ancestor wanted to make certain his wife got […]
Among the questions the 1880 US agricultural census asks are ones about farm tenure. This section of the census includes whether the farm is conducted by the owner or a renter (who either rents for a fixed amount of a share of produce). The 1880 US agriculture census and other Federal non-population census schedules are online at FamilySearch and other websites.
Many databases will be titled something like “Blah Blah Records of Blah Blah: 1800-1900.” Always try and determine just years are really included in the database. It could be that the “Blah Blah Records of Blah Blah: 1800-1900” actually only contains entries for: 1800-1820 1845 1860-1880 1890-1900 Read the “more about,” “FAQ,” or whatever they call it to determine just how complete the database is. If necessary, browse the records to determine the time periods that are actually included in the database. The Blah Blah database includes records between 1800 and 1900, but there are gaps. And of course, your person of interest lived in the area from 1830 until 1840…and his grandson lived there from 1892-1898.
Remember that even after counties are “formed” and fairly settled, county boundaries can change. A change between two Kentucky counties well after each was formed transferred several square miles from one to the other. Not a large part of either county. But just enough to make my ancestor’s farm go from being in one county to being in another. And causing land records to start being recorded in the “new” county.
The law matters in genealogical research. Many genealogical conclusions and research approaches are based upon what laws were in effect when our ancestors were living in a certain time and place. There are those occasional times when the law is ignored for one reason or another. But before you decide your ancestor (or your family) was ignoring or skirting the law, ask yourself, “how plausible is it that my ancestor could get away with this?” It’s one thing to get married a few years before being of legal age. It’s possible, but perhaps slightly more difficult, to marry when you’ve got a spouse and five children living in the same county where you are marrying again. It’s difficult to leave two siblings out of your parent’s estate when […]
State statute may have indicated that a divorced person wait a set amount of time before getting married again. That time frame can vary. A divorced person may have had to wait a year to marry again. The amount of time may have been different if the grounds of divorce were adultery and the divorced person was marrying the person with whom they committed the adultery mentioned in the divorce. Contemporary state statues will indicate what limitations there were on a person’s ability to marry again after a divorce.
Was there a name that family members refused to use for one reason or another? Was there a nickname that a parent was opposed to a child using? Have you tracked that information in your genealogy records and (if possible) the reason behind it? I’ve written elsewhere about why name which was originally supposed to be John Michael became Michael John and know that others have to have similar stories. Check out MyHeritage’s current offerings!
The “0th” birthday sign was a literally correct age for the human who had arrived a few days before. Technically, in most cultures, a person is considered by 0 years old at the moment of their birth. It’s also reflective of the age many records use to list individuals within the first 12 months of their birth. And it’s difficult to get mixed up on whether someone is 0 years old or 1 year old–even if there is no record of their birth. But as that person ages, it’s easier for a record to be a off or inconsistent with other records. It’s more difficult to be off by much when someone is under the age of 3. When that person with no birth record has aged to […]
In some locations and time periods, naming children for the baptismal sponsor was common. Other times it was not. When my grandmother and two of her siblings were christened as infants in 1915 at a Protestant church of German heritage in Illinois, all were named for their baptismal sponsors. In looking at other entries for the same church during the same time period, the practice was relatively common. That was not the case when looking at the christening records of a German immigrant church in Nebraska (again, Protestant). My great-grandmother and several of her siblings were christened there in the 1880s–none of them had the same name as their sponsor (all were named for grandparents in this case). In looking at several pages of entries for the same […]
It can be tempting to think that individuals with the same last name are related to each other when they end up settling in the same area. That’s not necessarily true. My maternal grandmother’s maiden name was Habben. My maternal grandfather’s grandfather’s sisters both married men with the last name of Habben. They were from the same general area of Germany and some of them lived in the same area of Illinois for a time in the late 1800s. They were not related to each other at all. It can be tempting when two individuals with a somewhat unusual last name live in proximity to each other to assume that they are related–that they have to be related. They do not have to be related. Sometimes names that […]
In the United States, when a person dies without a will state statute dictates who qualifies as an “heir-at-law” to the estate. Heirs-at-law are generally individuals who fall into certain classes of relatives based upon the family structure of the deceased. It’s difficult to summarize certain concepts in a short tip and readers are encouraged to become familiar with the laws regarding intestate succession in the area and time period in which their ancestor lived, but here are some generalities that are typically true–in the absence of a valid will and testament: if you know one heir-at-law is a descendant of the deceased, then other heirs-at-law (except for a potential spouse) are also descendants of the deceased; if you know that an heir-at-law is a cousin of the […]
It can be tempting to overwhelm that newly discovered relative with information or communication. In a word: don’t. A tip from several years ago has some reminders of things to do and not do when you’ve located that new-to-you cousin. Check out MyHeritage’s current offerings!
My paternal grandmother’s holiday cards from 1946 somehow got saved when other ones did not. The only reason I know this is because most of them are still in their original envelopes. Except for the card on which my grandma’s sister wrote her a fairly long letter. My digital image of the card includes the name of the sender and the recipient along with what I believe to be the year the card was sent and my reasoning why. The discussion of the year in the citation is brief and only focuses on information not in the card itself. The other time clues in the card are not mentioned in the citation because they are in the card: The reference my aunt’s birthday suggests the card was written […]
Towns come and go. Names of places change. Different people identify a place with a different name. Catalogers unfamiliar with an area sometimes have a mind of their own. I know exactly where the Immanuel Lutheran Church is south of Carthage in Hancock County, Illinois. I’ve been there many times. The church could be seen from where my grandparents and great-grandparents lived–in fact it’s in the background of the occasional picture. It is not located in any town. It’s been a country church since it’s founding in the late 1800s. It really is closer to Bentley or Basco, Illinois, than it is to Carthage. Bentley is what the pastor wrote for the location of one of the early church books in the 1880s. Others (myself included) refer to […]
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