The postcard is addressed to my great-grandfather Habben and is postmarked 15 August 1968 in Little America, Wyoming. It’s addressed as “Dear Dad” and is unsigned. There’s a picture of the Salt Lake City Temple on the reverse. I’m about 99% certain it was written by my grandmother (predominantly based on the handwriting and the fact that Grandma had the card in her possession upon her death). But once I’m gone the chance that someone living has the knowledge to determine that is slim. So the digital image I have made of that post card includes my reasoning for why I think my grandmother wrote it. The postcard is in an archival envelope that includes a piece of paper with the same information written on it. Do you […]
People are not always consistent in how they sign their names. The reverse sides of my Mother’s report cards contain the signatures of her parents–usually that of my grandmother. She was not consistent in how she signed her name, sometimes using Dot and sometimes using Dorothy. Occasionally she included her middle initial and an “Mrs.” in front of her name. My grandfather signed it–twice using his middle initial and twice not. Just something to think about.
My maternal grandmother liked to paint and I have several paintings she did before she died. Some were framed and a few others were mounted on thin pieces of wood. All of them were in a box. I thought the style of one looked different and the name, which I could not read, did not appear to be her name. After some google searching and further inspection and analysis of the name, the painting was by Monet and what I had was actually a print of some sort. There’s reminders here about jumping to conclusions, making certain you have the right person, and seeing if different pieces of information are consistent. What we think is our person or is about our person may not be. But I am […]
A relative immigrated to the US in the 1860s while married to her first husband. She’s named in her father’s will in the US (he immigrated as well) and was buried in Nebraska under the last name of that husband. She seemed to disappear sometime after the 1870 census only to reappear in the 1890s when she died in Nebraska. She really didn’t disappear at all. She was married for about ten years from 1870 (after the census) through at least the 1880 census. The relative and her second husband apparently separated as there’s no mention of him in a family history written several years later and she appears in the funeral records of her local church without a married last name at all–only a reference to her […]
When was the last time you reached out to a relative outside of your immediate family to see if they had family pictures, family information, or other information or items that could be helpful to your genealogy research? Sometimes we need to get outside of our own immediate circle and contact others who may be able to help. There’s no guarantee your inquiries will be successful, but you won’t know until you try.
Keep a list of all the spelling, transcription, and other variant renderings of your ancestral names in one place. Sort them alphabetically. Keep the list handy. It can be easy to overlook the occasional variant, particularly when querying a database. And if you think there are no variant spellings for a last name, think again. Lee has Leigh and Smith has Smythe.
Sometimes after records have been destroyed by fire, natural disaster, or other event, local records officials will ask for people to being their copies of actual records back in to be recorded. That’s especially true with land deeds, which people tend to keep. This book from Boone County, Indiana, indicated that the deeds in this book (and several others) had been “heretofore recorded.” Obviously not all deeds whose record copy had been destroyed could be re-recorded, but some where. So when you discover that there was actual records loss in a county or location, see if there was an attempt after that loss to recoup what was possible. Even if an attempt was made, remember that such attempts are imperfect. But if you are aware of subsequent property […]
Issue 5-3 of Casefile Clues is out. If you’re a subscriber to our bi-weekly genealogy newsletter (more in-depth than our Tip of the Day), you should have it in your inbox. I’m pleased with the positive feedback I’ve gotten to Casefile Clues since we brought it back. Learn more on our recent announcement page.
When a relative signs or witnesses a legal document, remember that it means they were supposed to be of legal as of the date the document was signed. In some cases, that can help distinguish between individuals with the same (or similar) names. In some cases, just that piece of knowledge can help to narrow down a year of birth as well–depending upon what else you know.
Many of a county courthouse’s records books (especially before the late 19th century) contain handwritten transcriptions of actual records. Clerks were charged with transcribing the text of the document as faithfully as they could, but errors happen. Humans get distracted. Humans make mistakes and clerks are human. That’s likely what happened with this 1841 document where four witnesses are named. The second witness is only styled as “Wm Mc.” It’s probable that there’s more to his last name than “Mc.” The location of the document where his name appears is the section where the witnesses have signed. It seems unlikely that William (the likely full name for “Wm.”) had a last name of “Mc” or signed part of his name. My transcription of the document includes a [sic] […]
Genealogists try to be specific when stating relationships between individuals. Your relative from Omaha might not be as specific when discussing family members. Grandma may have written “Cousin Myrtle” on the back of a photograph. If the person referring to their cousin is still alive, try and get them to be more specific about the relationship, if possible. Don’t suggest what the relationship is. Sometimes “cousins” were were actually cousins (just further down the line than you thought), were related by marriage, or were just neighbors with whom the family was close.
When one encounters the phrase “late of Tuckertown” in a legal document, it typically means that the person used to live in Tuckertown. The same thing is true of “formerly of Tuckertown.” Sometimes the phrase “late widow of John Jones” may be used to refer to a woman. Usually in those cases it means that the female to whom it is referring has married again after the death of John Jones. Deceased—that usually means dead.
Take care when removing photographs from albums. It can be easy to damage photographs when removing them from albums. Before any removal attempts are made take pictures of the entire album, page by page so that the original organization is preserved. Also scan or take the best digital photographs of each picture you can of each individual picture you place to remove–just in case the photo does not survive the removal process. This website has suggestions for removing photographs from photo albums. Read them before attempting any photograph removal.
A genealogist needs to act like they are three years old sometimes. That does not mean having a tantrum at the vital records clerk when you are denied access to your third cousin’s birth certificate. That means asking “why?” when you read something in a record, you learn that your ancestor did something, or you find a new spelling of an ancestral name? Why did they put that down as a wrong place of birth? Why did my ancestor move to Ohio in 1817? Why did the name get spelled that unusual way? Questioning gets you thinking and thinking usually is good for your research.
Years ago, I was using 19th century congregational records of a Lutheran church in Illinois. Most members of the church were natives of Germany as was the pastor who wrote the records I was using. I was having difficulty reading the records until I realized that he was writing in English script for most of the record, but that he was slipping in a Germanic script for names, places of birth, and the occasional random word. The records were in English, but the non-English script made transcription an occasional problem.
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