Stopping because you have located one record is never a good idea. By keeping on going, I discovered that an ancestor was divorced from the same man not once, but twice. By keeping on going, I also discovered that another relative’s first marriage “didn’t happen” and they were actually married two years later. Combine these unusual circumstances with the occasional record that gets entered or indexed late and you have even more reason to look for entries or documents “after you think you should.”
Years ago, I was working on a family of Swiss immigrants to Davenport, Iowa. Most of the family were farmers and the vast majority stayed in the area. Except for one daughter who in the 1890s moved to New York City to become an actress. When she could not be located in Iowa records with her siblings, I assumed she’d either died young and, for one reason or another, left no local records. Well she had left no local records because she had moved–and quite a distance. I wasn’t expecting to find her in New York.
If you think you are at a brick wall on a certain ancestor or relative, ask yourself: is it possible this person had a short-term marriage that I don’t know about? That marriage could have ended with the death of a spouse shortly after the marriage or a divorce not long after the wedding ceremony. If the short marriage did not result in offspring and it’s ending was highly dramatic, it’s very possible that no one in the family later mentioned it. And it can make records confusing. Relatives don’t always tell you everything–sometimes because they don’t want you to know it and sometimes because they don’t know it.
When using a record series, do you think about how the originals were recorded and organized? It’s usually worth a thought: Vital records are usually recorded by file date, not necessarily the date of the event. Land records are organized by date the document was brought for recording, not the date the document was executed. Baptism records are organized by date of baptism, not birth date. Census records are organized geographically–with the amount of precision varying over time and from one place to another. Names may be organized in order of visit or roughly alphabetized. Loose probate papers are organized by probate case and those case files are generally organized by a case number–which may have been assigned based upon when the probate process was begun. And there […]
You make a discovery. A relative sends you a cache of record copies. You finally get a copy of that elusive relative’s pension file. And then it happens: life. When you return to your genealogy research, do you go back to those things you were working on when life interrupted? Or do you start on new projects? What un-utilized discoveries are sitting in your files? I received copies of the entire military pension file for an uncle who served in the Civil War from Missouri. It contained several good nuggets of information that I started to organize. Then life happened several times and apparently when I returned to my research, I had forgotten all about the pension file. I picked up my research with another family and only […]
We all have gaps in our knowledge of genealogical records. Those gaps are exposed when the records we typically use to “answer our questions” either are not available or don’t provide enough information upon which to make a reasonable conclusion. The United States Revolutionary War Pension Payment Ledgers, 1818-1872 (available on FamilySearch and on microfilm from the US National Archives) were one set of records that I initially did not use when researching individuals who received these pensions. That was a mistake. The ledger can provide additional details on the pensioner that may not be available elsewhere–particularly their date of death. What sources are out there that you might not have used? When was the last time you asked this yourself this question and really tried to find […]
Civil and parish boundaries are helpful to the genealogist because those lines determine where records are located. While those boundaries can and do change, there are often maps and other finding aids to assist in understanding where those boundaries generally were. It’s community in the sociological sense that’s important to the genealogist as well, but that community’s boundaries are often fluid, not clearly defined, and often cross political and ecclesiastical boundaries. My Ostfriesen ancestors settled in three geographic areas in Hancock and Adams Counties in Illinois in the 1860s and 1870s. But because they shared a language, a heritage, and a religious affiliation, they were essentially a community. They interacted with other immigrants from the nearby but separate areas, particularly when it came to choosing marriage partners and […]
Umpteenth great-grandma just disappears after her husband died and apparently just “can’t be found.” While it is true that women in general leave fewer records than do men and that the widow could simply be living where she always did, there are other possibilities. She could have remarried after her husband died (don’t assume that just because she was “older” that she didn’t marry again) or she could moved in with children who had already moved away from where she was living. She didn’t get abducted by aliens, although it may seem like it.
A guardian ad litem was appointed for some of the children of James Parker who died in Bedford County, Virginia, in 1833. This indicated that those children were under the age of majority at the time of the appointment. The guardianship appointment, since it was only as a guardian ad litem, was only to represent the children’s interest in a court case regarding the estate of James Parker. This guardian was not a guardian of the children’s estate or a guardian who took physical custody of them. In many locations, guardians of a child’s estate may have to make periodic reportings to the court and file other documents regarding the child’s financial interests. The guardian ad litem was only appointed for one specific purpose and usually there are […]
A relative made out an affidavit in Bedford County, Virginia, in the 1820s. In it he mentioned the older half-siblings of his wife. Those half-siblings were the result of his mother-in-law’s first relationship. While court documents are “supposed” to be correct, they sometimes are not. Based upon other contemporary records, it appears that the son-in-law knew the first names of his wife’s older half-siblings, but referred to all of them by their maiden names throughout the affidavit, even though they were married. It’s very possible that the family of someone’s second marriage did not have overly detailed knowledge of the family of the first marriage. That’s especially true if second family lived a distance from the first or if there was a falling out between the two families.
“The courthouse was burned” is one of those phrases that causes a significant amount of genealogical swearing. When you hear this phrase, remember to ask: Did the entire courthouse burn? Were all offices in the same location? Were any records salvaged? Were some documents “restored?” Were residents asked to bring any originals in to be recorded again? Would newspapers hold some of the missing information? Are there federal records that would provide the same information? Have I asked locals knowledgeable about the local records what materials might be available? etc.
A will refers to the wife of Thomas Smith as his “now wife.” It does not mean that Thomas had been married before. It does not mean that he was planning on divorcing his current wife and marrying someone else. It was an inheritance device. It was estate planning. It is done legally…just in case the situation changes before Thomas gets a chance to have his will rewritten.It was done to make the inheritance clear and to confuse genealogists who didn’t bother to learn what it really meant. Thomas and Mary Smith had several children together. Thomas wants to write his will to make his intentions clear. He wants his wife Mary to have use of the farm for the duration of her life and then to go […]
It is often necessary to approximate the date of a birth, marriage, or death. This is more likely to be the case in those areas that do not have vital records of these events. If you have to approximate the year something took place, have a reason. Include that reason in your database–preferably with some type of source or note included. That could be: The marriage date is estimated to be between 1820 and 1821 for Johann and Antje because their first child was born in 1822. The birth year for Thomas is estimated to be 1800 or before because he was married in 1821 and probably was at least twenty-one when he was married. The death year for Susannah is estimated to be between 1853 and 1860 […]
How much of your research methodology is based upon social constructs in your family and how your family of origin interacts with other family members? Have you considered that in families you are researching that family members may relationships entirely different from the ones with which you are personally familiar? Some families are very apt to separate geographically once the children are adults. In others, the geographic distance is never great. Just because it’s how your family always interacted with each other does not mean that it’s the way all the families you may be researching interact with each other.
Try and talk to as many family members as you can–even about the same people and the same events. Different family members will have different recollections of the same individuals and events. Relatives who lived through the same event will remember different details and may tell versions that are not entirely consistent. And for stories about long-dead ancestors, not all members of your family may have heard the same stories.
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