This 1951 writeup is a great one to remind of two important things when making any transcription. Transcribe as written and do not add details to the transcription itself. The last sentence contains a major genealogical error. “Sisters” should be replaced with “daughters.” My transcription should indicate “sisters [sic],” indicating the error was in the item originally. The second reminder is that any clarification attempts should be made outside the transcription of the document. In this case the actual names of the women mentioned might be helpful. My transcriptions usually begin with <begin transcription> and end with <end transcription>. What is between those items is the transcription only, anything after the transcription was not a part of the document–my notes, clarifying details, analysis, etc. There are other notations […]
Get ready for research in 2021 with our “Brick Walls from A to Z” webinar on 15 December at 1:00 pm central time. More details are on our announcement page.
A person of interest was found in an 1850 census enumeration. The difficulty is that the enumeration for the county contains no geographic subdivisions other than county. To somewhat narrow down the part of the county in which the person of interest lived, I’ve chosen a few heads of household on the same (and previous and subsequent pages) who have real property values listed in an attempt to find what part of the county they lived in. If they’re in the same portion of the county, then that’s probably where the person of interest lived at the time of the enumeration since the census taker likely listed the names in the order in which they were actually visited. My analysis of why I think he lived where he […]
Our ancestors are no better than us. Have you ever given incorrect information on a record or document–either intentionally or unintentionally? Did great-grandma treat that application for a Social Security number in 1940 the same way you treated that first job application you filled out? We don’t always get things right. We make mistakes. We provide details that are not correct. It shouldn’t be a big leap to see that our ancestors might have done the same thing. Get Genealogy Tip of the Day–the book today!
If a legal document for a married woman refers to property as her “separate property,” it could have been property she had before the marriage or something she obtained during the marriage. Often this separate property was obtained from an inheritance, but not always. When seeing this reference, determine how the property was obtained–starting with land and estate/probate records. Indicating that a property was a married woman’s separate property was usually done to prevent the property from being sold to pay the husband’s debts or otherwise being “wasted” by him. It’s possible that a married couple may set aside property as separate property for the wife during their marriage in order to try and prevent it from being used to pay for the husband’s debts or in a […]
Is it possible that your relative appears in a city directory for a town in which he does not live? The 1950s era city directory for Rock Island, Illinois, includes a number of references for individuals who worked in the city but did not live there. Not all directories include references such as these, but don’t assume your relative would not be listed in a directory for a town where she never lived.
Many of our forebears had a side hustle in addition to their main job or occupation. Sometimes it can be difficult to document these activities. Two generations of my Ufkes ancestors sold Pioneer seed corn to supplement their farm income. My knowledge of my grandfather’s having done it was simple: I was aware of it. There were also pictures of seed plots and other visual evidence documenting the connection–including a few pencils with their names on it that were used for advertising. They also occasionally advertised in the local newspaper. My grandmother Neill, who sold “farm-fresh” eggs for years, occasionally advertised her chickens in the classified ads section of the local weekly newspaper. Newspapers are a great way to document some of these activities–particularly sections devoted to advertising. […]
If you are seeing this tip anywhere but your email, you can add yourself to our daily tip distribution list on our site. That may seem silly to post here, but these tips float around the internet in other ways besides emails. If you see them on Facebook, Twitter, etc. and have tired of that medium, the email will come to you daily and you won’t have to log onto those sites to see the tip. Signing up can be done on our site. Genealogy Tip of the Day has no sponsor. No public relations office or media handler approves our tips before they go out. I’m also the only proofreader which some days is more obvious than others. Tips are meant to be short, but some days […]
The couple had the last of their dozen children in Massachusetts around the turn of the 19th century. That was approximately the same time their oldest child got married and shortly before the husband sold property he had owned for over twenty years. A genealogy of the husband’s family fails to mention anything about the couple after the real estate is transferred. Marriage and death information is included for some of their children and there is some information on what happened to the husband’s siblings. While it’s tempting to say that the couple went in the witness protection program or were abducted by aliens, the reality is likely somewhat different. My approach is to look for them in the areas where their children settled and lived. I need […]
Your relatives may have never gotten divorced, but may have agreed to live separately. That separate maintenance agreement may have been the result of a court action between two spouses who were not getting along, but did not want to get divorced either. These cases may provide just as much genealogical information as an actual divorce case–the date and place of marriage, areas where the family lived, etc. If a case for separate maintenance is filed, it would a local court record. Those records would be public records. Separate maintenance cases are like divorces in that families do not often pass those stories down to the present generation. Do not assume a couple was not divorced or filed a case for separate maintenance just because you have never […]
Get ready for research in 2021 with our “Brick Walls from A to Z” webinar on 15 December at 1:00 pm central time. More details are on our announcement page.
Reading a document or record more than once is crucial to actually getting the full value of what it contains. That’s true for reading genealogical reference materials as well. Court, probate, pension and other materials often contain phrases whose meanings may not be completely clear on the first read through. A thorough understanding may require using other reference materials, legal dictionaries, and similar items. I find it helpful to have a copy of the document that I use for making annotations and comments–including marking phrases or items that I do not understand. I also use pencil to mark up my own personal reference books with annotations as well. These reference books are to help me with my research and to help me learn. I’m not curating an archives […]
Many genealogists have ancestors who farmed. Some of us have only ancestors who were farmers. One of the difficulty in researching farming ancestors is learning more about their details of their life and their farm. For those in the United States, these are some ways to discover more about your agricultural ancestors: Fully look at all information provided on any US census record. Census records 1850 and after do sometimes provide information about the value of the real property owned (1850 and 1860). Do not neglect any census column and read the instructions for that question if you do not understand it. Census questions and enumerator instructions are on the Census.gov site. Determine if any agricultural censuses were taking during your ancestors lifetime. There were several US agricultural […]
My DNA analysis would be easier if: My grandfather’s first cousin was not also his second cousin and his third cousin. It can happen. When I was related to A and B and A and B are related to each other, it meant that A, B, and I shared a common ancestor. It does not. I had no duplicate ancestors closer than 5th great-grandparents. Multiple relationships can complicate DNA match analysis. Always ask yourself “are there additional biological relationships that I could be missing?” and ” is there another reasonable scenario that fits this information?” Those whose ancestors lived in urban settings are less likely to have this problem that those who lived in rural areas. Individuals whose ancestors married within their community–whether that was cultural, religious, economic, […]
John died in Illinois in 1869 with no descendants. When his estate was finally settled up a few years later, his brother Robert’s family split Robert’s share of John’s estate. Robert’s three heirs split Robert’s share equally. One might assume that those three heirs were Robert’s children. They were not. One of those heirs was Robert’s wife and the other two were Robert’s children. Robert was alive when John died, but died before John’s estate was finally settled. Had Robert been dead when John died, Robert’s two children would have split Robert’s share between just the two of them–even if Robert’s wife were alive at the time. All based on how intestate inheritance worked in Illinois in the 1870s.
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