Including the website where you obtained a digital image of a record is a key part of the citation process. Usually including the title of the database and the “main name” of the website (www.familysearch.com, www.ancestry.com, www.fold3.com, etc.) is sufficient. Web addresses that are 24,000 characters long as a part of a citation are not practical and they often change anyway. Different websites may have images of varying quality and using more than one site may be advised. Not including the site you used may end up confusing you later if you need to go back and look at more images. You want to know where you got the best image. Join me on one of my two research trips in the summer of 2019: Allen […]
I never really did much work on the siblings of great-great-grandma Nancy Jane (Newman) Rampley (1846-1923) and recently decided to focus on her sister, Sarah. Sarah was born in about 1851 in Rush County, Indiana. Obituaries for several of her siblings in the early 20th century indicated she lived in Macon County, Missouri, and was Sarah Graves. Online compilations contained little detail and, without any sources, was somewhat suspect. While it is suggested to research from the present to the past, I opted to research from the past to the present–starting with Sarah in the 1860 census with her parents and moving forward. The short version is that this approach was the successful one. Marriage and census records quickly painted a tentative picture of Sarah’s life: Married in […]
Join me on one of my two research trips in the summer of 2019: Allen County, Indiana, Public Library in Ft. Wayne, Indiana Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. Our price is reasonable, our approach laid-back and hands-on.
When you find a relative in a census, do at least the following: make certain you are looking at the actual enumeration and not a transcription or an index; make certain you know what all the headings stand for; make certain you have the entire entry–some are split over multiple pages; know whether the census was taken on one or multiple pages for each entry–some are both on the left and right hand page; look at adjacent households for a few pages before and afterwards; compare the handwriting of other entries to make certain you transcribe as accurately as possible; make certain you know the census year, state, county, and other political/address information contained in the enumeration; make certain you have the page number and indicate where the […]
When a child gives information on their parent, it comes from second hand knowledge. It also could be given decades after the event took place. This information can be incorrect, but keep in mind the child did not witness parental birth information first hand. Even erroneous places should not be ignored however as there may be a reason for the wrong place of birth. Children of one ancestor always said she was born in Illinois, which was correct. Except for one record which said she was born in Ohio. Years later, I learned the parents met in Ohio, married there and immediately moved. Ohio was wrong, but it was a clue.
Records of military draft registrations are not the same as military service records. Draft registration requirements have varied over time and usually required males of a certain age to register. There may also have been citizenship requirements (or not) and the upper end of the registration age may not be what a person expects. Draft registrations serve as a quasi-census of those who were required to register. The appearance of a name on a registration does not imply that the person actually saw military service. They should be searched whenever a “person of interest” fit the registration qualifications.
Always keep open to the possibility that your relative and a contemporary may have had more than one relationship. Just because you’ve figured out a connection does not mean that there were not others. Second cousins could have been in-laws. Step-siblings could have been cousins. Individuals who were related because their mothers were sisters could have had fathers who were also first cousins. Never assume that because you have one relationship figured out that there could not be another one. It may be that the second relationship is the one that yields more genealogical information or helps to explain things about your relative that don’t quite make sense.
The early 1900s will of an ancestor named a granddaughter Katherine to whom a significant amount of money was left. The will was determined to be valid and was admitted to probate. The family had been extensively researched and no granddaughter with this name had been located. The executor of the will (a son of the will’s writer) in his initial report indicated he knew of no granddaughter Katherine. In the final report the executor stated that there was a granddaughter whose middle name was Katherine and, since she was not named in the will by her first name and her siblings were all named, it was concluded that this was the individual to whom the will writer was referring. Civil birth and church baptismal records of this […]
Eventually your genealogy research will cross a border–a geographical one, a political one, or a chronological one. When it does, ask yourself: How is research different here than where I searched before? What different sources are there in this location/period? Are there any ways the research methods are different? Are there cultural differences I need to be aware of? Is there any other way that the research is “different?” Not realizing that research in a new location or time period could be different may lead to additional research roadblocks.
It’s easy to make an assumption about the relative you are researching. Some assumptions cause us to look in the wrong place. Some assumptions can cause us to connect people who are not really connected. And some assumptions can make think information is inconsistent when it really is not. Generally, assumptions are any statements that cannot be backed up with some sort of documentation. Incorrect assumptions can hinder our research. And sometimes they don’t really “hinder” our research, but keep us thinking things that are not necessarily true. My Irish immigrant ancestor was a farmer after he settled in Illinois in the 1870s. I assumed that all his family back in Ireland were farmers as well. They were not and held other non-farm occupations. It was an assumption […]
The death certificate for Granville Lake (died 1946 Marcelline, Linn County, Missouri) contains an omission: the year of birth. Part of Granville’s death certificate is shown along with this post entry. This certificate was located on the Missouri State Archives Death Certificate website. The year of birth is a detail I would like to have. On the Lake certificate, like others from this era, there is a supplemental certificate to correct the omission. It always pays to read the entire document or see if an additional document is filed after the first one has been located. Of course, they had to stamp “supplementary” OVER the year of birth, but it is still legible (1863).
One of the first steps to working with your genealogy DNA test matches is to realize that their genealogy interest won’t be the same as yours. In fact their interest probably won’t be. They might not be as obsessed with genealogical detail as you. They might not be interested in tracing ancestors “across the pond.” They might not be interested in “digging up all the dirt” they can. They might not want to shared 3.2 million images of genealogical records with you. Take it slow. Your first real goal is to determine how the person is related–that helps you analyze other matches. Your second goal is to see if they have any pictures of other family documents–that helps you get more information. Then go from there.
US Census enumerators were told to estimate ages if they were unable to obtain them directly. Is it possible that your relative’s age was approximated in one enumeration when for some reason he was unwilling or unable to answer questions? Between 1850 and 1880 a relative is enumerated in four censuses. Three of them indicate a year of birth of 1803/1804–except for the 1870 which suggests he was born in 1800. That’s the only census where his age ends in a 0 and where I’m suspecting his age was approximated by someone. I don’t know this, but it seems plausible. We don’t always know who provided information and we don’t always know when it was estimated.
Transcribe a document as it is written. Do not make corrections no matter how “wrong” it looks. The letters sic in buckets[sic] can be used for any error that is obvious (such as the use of “buckets” instead of “brackets”). Separate from the transcribe annotations can be made if necessary. Make it clear where the transcription ends and where the annotation begins. Then analyze. I prefer to use [begin transcription] document transcription here [end transcription] to make it clear what is what. Join Michael in Salt Lake or Ft. Wayne during the summer of 2019
Sound genealogy methodology suggests that two independent sources are used to reach a conclusion about an event or relationship. The difficulty is in determining whether sources are truly independent or not–after all, knowing who was the “original” informant was can sometimes be difficult. I was the informant on my great-aunt’s death certificate and I provided the names of her parents and her date and place of birth. Where did I get that information? I was not alive when she was born. But I got to thinking about what I really knew–without looking in a book and without remembering something I had been told–things I knew first hand based upon my own experience. I was alive when my aunt’s mother was and I saw them interact as mother and […]
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