A female ancestor married her husband in Kentucky probably in the 1810s. By 1820, they are enumerated apparently as husband and wife, with some small children. They can be traced for the rest of their lives until they died in Shelby County, Indiana, in the later part of the 19th century. It’s her that I cannot find–as if she was dropped off by a UFO at the county courthouse where she saw Enoch and they decided to get married right there, right then as the UFO was leaving Earth’s atmosphere. Of course that’s really not what happened. One possibility is that her family (property renters and not owners) moved into the county from somewhere when my female ancestor Nancy is in her late teens. Within short order she […]
It can be easy to gather images of ancestral records from the internet. But research is more than simply seeing who has the biggest genealogy files of record images. When was the last time you actually transcribed a deed, will, estate record, death certificate or other document that you obtained? Transcribing a document one word at a time does take time, but it forces you to look at each part of the record. That can be a great way to notice details that can be overlooked in a quick, silent reading. Transcribing can help you think about the document and that can cause you to have larger genealogical epiphanies–and genealogists are all about having genealogical revelations. And lastly, transcribing a document makes it easier for you later to […]
Families tend to move in groups. That’s true whether the journey is one of several thousand miles across an ocean or a few hundred miles across a small mountain. When they move in groups, they tend to move over time–not all at once on one day. Who was the first one to arrive in the area? Who came later? The first migrants tend to be single men–but not always. They send word back to the “home folks” and more decide to make the journey once the earlier immigrant or immigrants have settled. Don’t assume your ancestral couple was the “first set” to arrive. There may have been an earlier immigrant, perhaps a brother, cousin, or neighbor. Even if they were the “first, they possibly encouraged others to follow […]
Married couples have had difficulty getting along since the first marriage. It’s the nature of human relationships that some don’t work as smoothly as hoped. For whatever reason, couples may choose not to actually divorce or file any court action regarding the dissolution of their marriage. They may however record some sort of land record to “separate” their property as a couple did in Kentucky did in 1862 (Michael and Margaret Trautvetter in Campbell County). The deed specified that the couple was not getting divorced at that point in time, but decided to partition their real and personal property into “his” and “hers.” Is there a land record documenting your relative’s separation? Not all marital squabbles ended in court–particularly if the couple separated without divorcing. Of course, if […]
Legal records were created for those living at the time. Not as a genealogical record for the future. Be careful reading too much into children who are “left out” of a will and testament. The reasons may not stem around family drama, hard feelings, or ill-will. It could be that the child had simply received an inheritance earlier in their life. That child may be given a token amount in the will (such as a dollar or a few shillings) not as a slight, but rather to indicate they had not been forgotten. Sometimes a will may specifically state that the parent had already given the child money. Of course, children are left out of wills due to “family drama.” Sometimes there is evidence of that drama in […]
My webinar on “Problem-Solving with DNAPainter and GedMatch” has been moved to 10 December 2018. We’ll discuss using these two sites together to analyze, interpret, and make discoveries from their DNA matches. Join us. There’s more details in our announcement. If you registered and did not receive attendance links, please let me know. Recording will be sent to pre-orders the day after the session is held.
This 1945 marriage record from Fountain County, Indiana, asked for quite a few details–including names and occupations of parents. Made this record for my uncle’s son more interesting. You never know until you look–more reasons to research the extended family.
Any source can be accurate. Any source can be inaccurate. The reality is that most sources are somewhere in between and the researcher has to determine where to give the most credence. That’s particularly true with newspapers who have to balance deadlines and bottom lines with getting the complete and accurate story. It can be a difficult balancing act. That newspaper account of your relative’s scandalous behavior, appearance in court, etc. may have relied on information from extremely reliable sources, second hand sources, biased sources, etc. And if the newspaper has a political bent and your relative was of the “other party,” they may not always be mentioned in the most favorable light. And the newspaper may also drop in a little opinion about your ancestor’s behavior as […]
A search for a relative on a “big” genealogy website may search records from a wide variety of sources and instantly pull up an image with the name of interest. Before you assume you’ve hit the genealogy jackpot there are some warnings: The image may not refer to your relative. The image may come up because the name is “close,” the location is “close,” or someone else thought the record was about your ancestor. The name may not really be the same, the location may be too far off, or that other person may be incorrect. If the search parameters were set too loosely, the “match” may make absolutely no sense. Search results are not divinely inspired. The transcription may not be correct. The original may be difficult […]
Whether a question is sent in an email, posted on a message board, submitted as a comment to a blog post, fired off to a Facebook post, or spoken out loud, try and be as clear as possible. Avoid: pronouns (he, she, they, etc.) if the reference is not clear; nameless titles or relationships (doctor, Grandma, Uncle, etc.); abbreviations and other shorthand that someone else may not know; do not self-create abbreviations; Your goal of asking a question is to get an answer. If someone cannot understand your question, they may choose to ask for clarification. Or they may simply bypass your question entirely. Remember that it is the internet and people often move onto the next shiny thing.
Towns get renamed. Street names change. Some roads are moved. Some roads are closed entirely. Occasionally even rivers change their course. County lines get moved. Some geographic or physical political features that we think have always been a certain way have not. Use contemporary maps where possible. Determine if features or “landmarks” were always where they are now. Some location names may fade away over time–particularly if a location was known for a family that has moved from the area. My Grandma was born on what was known locally as the “Habben Corner” in 1924. I’ve even seen an occasional newspaper reference to the area by that name. Today that name has faded from use.
At first the location on this military discharge stymied me. Then I looked at the date and it made perfect sense. A US military discharge in 1847 could easily have been done in Mexico. A little geographic searching determined the town was Comargo. Always transcribe a document in context–it helps.
Don’t just grab the first record that seems to match the names of the individuals for whom you are looking and assume that it’s the “right people.” It may or may not be them. There can be husband and wife couples with the same or similar names living in the same country, state, county, parish, etc.–particularly if the names are relatively common. Those couples can be unrelated to each other, particularly if the geographic distance is significant. They couple be cousins of the couple of interest–which still means that you’ve got the “wrong people” just wrong people who are related. Records in the United States all indicate that my Irish immigrant forebears were in Canada by the mid-1860s and that they started having children by the late 1860s. […]
Determining exactly where a property is located in a state land state in the United States can be difficult–metes and bounds descriptions may not give adequate landmarks or they ones they give are no longer in existence. This 1878 farm sale add names properties owned by my actual ancestor in 1805. The mention of the creek and the road (in particular) will assist in determining where the property is approximately located today. 7
No matter where you have the DNA test performed (AncestryDNA ,FamilyTreeDNA, etc.) remember that the tests will not immediately answer all your genealogy questions. Fast answers rarely happen despite what the advertisements say. The ethnicity results are best viewed as entertainment or something you can use to irritate living relatives if absolutely necessary. Not all submitters will have trees. Not all submitters will respond to communication. Some submitters will be impossible to “figure out” because they have no trees and do not respond. Some submitters have mistakes in their tree that they are unaware of. Some submitters will refuse to admit when their trees are wrong. You may tear a little of your hair out during the process. Speaking of hair… Don’t spend the money to find out […]
Recent Comments