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 […]
If that relative first heard a story fifty years before they told it to you, what is the chance they remember a detail (or two) incorrectly? Try a Genealogy Search on GenealogyBank.
Sometimes we can be tempted to ignore family reunion announcements in newspapers because the information they contains is often repetitive or we think we know “everything” about the family. Reunions announcements that appear annually may be repetitive but they may be clues in those lists of relatives. A 1938 family reunion announcement indicated that a relative and his wife attended a family reunion, styling them as “Mr. and Mrs. John Smith and Susan.” The reference (when compared to the rest of the writeup) seems to suggest that Susan is their child. The couple had been married for a slightly over a year at the time. Mr. John Smith is my relative. I know little of Mrs. Smith. I’ve never heard of Susan. Is she a relative of Mrs. […]
There may be more than one repository that has the exact same record. Some vital records were recorded at the local and state level. Some records may have been microfilmed or digitized and available in repositories other than the one that holds the original record. Those duplicated items may occasionally omit a record or have a blurry image. That’s a time to go back and view the original if possible, but many times the duplicate images are completely readable and usable. Those duplicates may be cheaper or easier to access than the original. Your source citation should always indicate if you used an image copy or the original–that way you don’t “go back to find the ‘original’ when that was what you used in the first place. We […]
We’ve released the digital recording of my “US Land Records on FamilySearch” webinar. More details on our announcement page.
A recent tip mentioned a picture where a chicken in the background went unnoticed for some time. The chicken was not the point. The reminder was to go back and make certain that all details or pieces of information in a record (or picture) have been noticed and analyzed. I cannot decide whether or not to research the chicken if I never see it in the first place. Of course, the chicken probably does not matter. But sometimes those seemingly innocent clues are relevant and significant discoveries are often made when one is looking at innocuous details. We just have to remember not to get too “eggcited” about seeing the chicken.
Widow’s military pension applications have the potential to shed light on many aspects of that widow’s life. It’s not just direct-line ancestors for whom these pensions may be helpful. Applications for aunts and cousins may give us a broader picture of the family and, upon occasion, provide new information on direct line ancestors as well. If she qualified for a military pension, the widow would have to have proved her husband’s service, her marriage to the husband, and her marital status after that husband’s death. Documentation of her marriage and marital status may have hinged on testimony from relatives–potentially her siblings and maybe even your direct ancestor. Those affidavits may include references to where the widow was married, where she had lived, and other pieces of information about […]
Recent Comments