Military pensions can be a great source of information. Sometimes the clues are blunt and obvious. Sometimes they are a little more subtle. One set of clues that can be helpful is how long witnesses have known the person they are providing information on. In a high proportion of pension applications, the witnesses indicate how long they have known the veteran or the widow. Assuming that information is correct, it can be used to help track the veteran’s or widow’s movements. The start of the association could be because either the witness or the person they are talking about moved in proximity to the other one. Look at the time frame of the association and see if it precedes before the veteran was known to be in the […]
DNA analysis can be complicated when one doesn’t know too much about their tree. Those of us who have ancestors who for generations lived in a rural area or a small tight-knit community have at least two additional issues that can compound the analysis of our matches: the number of people to we are related in more than one way–with relationships close enough that it can impact autosomal DNA results; the number of people where I and Bob are both related to A–but in different ways. Bob, A, and I don’t share any common ancestors. When there are gaps in your tree, these issues can make people appear to be related in ways they are not when analyzing DNA matches. For a little more read my longer post […]
There’s several ways to organize your research process. Different ones work for different people. Some of us use a modified version of Polya’s 4-step problem-solving process: Understand Plan Execute Evaluate Problems need to be stated clearly and succinctly (usually involving one person and one key event in their life). Understanding involves knowing all relevant terms, how to access all records in all jurisdictions, etc. That’s not always an easy task, but it’s key to the entire process. Planning what to do comes next, Executing the plan (and tracking it) follows before the evaluation. And then you go back to understanding–because either you solved the problem or you have more problems to solve. Those with an interest in Polya (he was a mathematician) can read his book “How to […]
Some things to remember about DNA tests: have your tree as complete as you can–evaluate connections that were mere guesses or hunches; work on finding descendants of aunts/uncles as far down as you can while waiting for results–this helps with sorting out matches–it’s ok if you can’t figure them all out to the current generation; not every match will respond–people take DNA tests for different reasons and some may be surprised enough about their results that they don’t respond to inquiries.; remember that DNA won’t solve every genealogical problem; use any automatic sorting or predicted ancestor names by AncestryDNA as a potential clue–these predicted ancestors are based partially on trees submitted by other users which are not necessarily correct; you may find close relatives you did not know […]
Witnesses and informants frequently can’t remember specific dates of events. It’s possible that they: never knew them in the first place; are lying for one reason or another; honestly cannot remember. It can be difficult sometimes to tell which and it’s best to avoid rushing to judgement. Use any dates in the document itself to establish some broad time frame for when the event could have taken place. Be certain to cite the source and include the name of the known or probable informant. The information can’t be analyzed if you don’t know who gave the information and the circumstances under which it was given.
A biographical admixture is the estimate of ancestral geographical origin or ancestral ethnicity that is made when comparing the results of a DNA test kit with a reference group.The admixture’s accuracy is dependent upon the reference group and the algorithm used to determine the admixture.
The genealogical reality is that in some areas and time periods, exact dates of events will never be known. The records were never created or have long since been destroyed. In this situations, there may be other records that suggest an approximate date of death or a “dead by date.” It’s often not the precise date of death that matters but the relationships between individuals that one can establish and the other bits of identifying information about people that can be sifted out of other records.
Instructions to enumerators in the 1910 census reminded them to ascertain the exact age when possible. Enumerators were warned that ages ended in “5” or “0,” may have been a rounded age. If the exact age was unknown, enumerators were told to use the approximate age instead of returning the age as “unknown.”
Sometimes it is a wonder anything gets indexed correctly. Things are easier to read when you know what they are. When I “see” it the first name of the Civil War veteran listed on this coversheet to his pension file is easy to read. But if I were reading it cold. In this case, even the last name of Newman could be transcribed incorrectly. When you are using a “typed-up” index always keep in mind what the typer-upper might have been seeing. And if the typer-upper is a really “quicker typer upper,” the chance of an error is even greater. Check out the books on Michael’s genealogy shelf.
Ok, so it’s not just a genealogy tip. Our laptop is on the fritz and my daughter wanted to use the desktop. I was forced to read some homestead case files without the internet and email as a distraction. And guess what? I noticed three things I had not noticed the first time I read through the papers. The first time I had read them while I was “waiting” on webpages or search results to load. Is multitasking your problem? Would you notice more details in a record or a file if it had your complete attention?
Before making images of individual photographs within an album, create images of the entire page. Sometimes there’s an organizational structure to the pages. Other times there is not. But it’s something that should be preserved because, like a picture, when it is gone…it’s gone.
Definitions matter. When interpreting a word in any genealogical document, particularly one where the word conveys a relationship, a property right, or some occupation or status, make certain that you know the contemporary meaning of that work. The definitions of words can change over time due to common usage and practice. What’s meant by a certain job title can change over time. The definitions of some legal words remain relatively constant, but occasionally then can vary as state statute or contemporary law changes. Meaning isn’t always set in stone.
Geography matters. Language matters. The obituary of John Luft from the Warsaw, Hancock County, Illinois, newspaper of 24 June 1921 indicated that he was born in “Grossehertzgotum,” Hessen, Germany. It refers to the Grand Duchy of Hesse–not a specific village. James Beidler tells of a researcher who looked for this village for years in his Trace Your German Roots Online: A Complete Guide to German Genealogy Websites. All of which make the point: ask, learn, and don’t assume. It’s easy to be confused about locations in an area where you don’t know the language, where you don’t know the geography, and where you never lived.
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