The three Ds of the day are: devise–gift of real property, usually by the last will and testament of the giver devisee–the person receiving real property, usually by a last will and testament devisor–the person giving real property, usually by a last will and testament Devise is the gift of real property given to the devisee by the devisor.
After a hiatus, Casefile Clues is back! We’ve put out four issues since resuming publication. Casefile Clues focuses on being readable, understandable, and practical. Articles exhibit sound research methods and analysis–but are not tedious or difficult to follow. Sample issues can be downloaded on our website. Learn more about Casefile Clues. If you’ve not been getting your issues and you are a subscriber, email me at mjnroodig@gmail.com. And if you’re not a subscriber, consider subscribing today! Casefile Clues content is separate from our blog content.
No matter what item you have from your past, write down the item’s story. Before you forget. Items don’t have to be family Bibles, letters, fancy jewelry, or similar items. They can be milk cans, hay hooks, irons, skillets, or even plants. But their story should be recorded. The writing of the story may even generate additional memories or questions. This tiger lily’s predecessor was owned by my great-grandmother at least as early as the 1940s and likely sooner. Its history briefly: at home of Mimka and Tjode (Goldenstein) Habben west of Carthage, Hancock County, Illinois–at least in the 1940s and 1950s home of John and Dorothy (Habben) Ufkes, north of Ferris, Hancock County, Illinois–probably from the 1940s through 1960 home of John and Dorothy (Habben) Ufkes, east […]
When I was a kid, my dad and I would count the cattle as they crossed the road from one pasture to another. It was important to arrive at the same correct number. The only problem was that my father tended to count out loud and his counting always got me off. Is part of the reason for your research difficulty that you are listening to what someone else has already concluded? Are you letting their interpretations influence yours–perhaps a little too much? Sometimes it’s helpful to put away the conclusions of others and start your analysis from scratch. Then, when you’re done counting your cows separately, you can compare your conclusions with others.
Always look at the year a family Bible was printed. Entries written for events before that date must have been written from memory or copied from somewhere else. It does not necessarily mean that they are incorrect, but that they were not written as they took place.
If the amount of “consideration,” or what was given for the real estate (often cash), is a token amount, determine if there was a relationship among the people involved. Transfers of significant pieces of real estate for token amounts are often done to clear up title among relatives. Not always, but frequently. Check out the relationships among those who transfer land for little to no cash.
It can be tempting when viewing your autosomal DNA matches to immediately start on the one family you “really” want to know about or that match that really confuses you and ignore the families you aren’t immediately interested in. Don’t. Work out the other ones that may be a little easier to figure out–especially when getting started. There’s three main reasons for doing that: it will improve your DNA analytical skills later you may need to use what you’ve figured out to see where you still have gaps you may make discoveries on families you “thought you had figured out” And you may build your confidence by having some luck with the easier ones first. You’re not going to figure them all out in one day and your […]
Certain genealogical publications, when a date of an event is not supported by any direct or indirect evidence, will use the word “say” when giving the date James Rampley was born say 1750 and went on to reproduce so many times that his descendants number in the millions. The part about reproducing all those times isn’t usually included, but many times there is something missing after the “say.” What makes you say it? It is allowable to not have a document that gives the date, but if some record causes you to arrive at that “say date,” then say so. Perhaps it was because: the person married in 1771 the person bought land in 1771 the person’s age was estimated using census records his tombstone indicated he died […]
Spellings in the census should not be taken too seriously–don’t change how you spell your own name because of how your paternal great-great-grandfather’s name was spelled in the census. If it “sounds like” his name, consider the person possibly yours (look at location, age, place of birth, other household members, occupation, etc.) and go from there.
One of my ancestral families and all their children and their children’s spouses are buried in the same rural cemetery. The only exception is their daughter who died in her teens and is buried in a separate cemetery. The parents died in the 1880s and the other children died between 1895 and 1920. The daughter died in the 1860s before the cemetery where the others are buried was established. Never assume just because it looks like all of a family is buried in one cemetery that that they all are buried in one cemetery. There could be another child or sibling permanently lurking nearby.
The civil record of your ancestor’s death will be filed where he died, not necessarily where he lived or where he is buried. If your ancestor was travelling at the time of his death, had moved in her later years to live near a child, or was simply getting groceries in the nearest store across the county or state line, that is where the event will be recorded. If you can’t find a death record where they lived, are you certain that is the location where they died as well?
On 10 July, I gave an evening presentation for the Tazewell County Genealogical Society in Pekin, Illinois. There were some links that were discussed in the presentation that were not in the handout. Those links are: Family History Card Catalog https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/search Family History Library Records Databases https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/list Genealogy Tip of the Day on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/genealogytipoftheday/ Genealogy Translations on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/genealogytranslation/ Archive.org www.archive.org Hathitrust.org www.hathitrust.org BYU digital books https://books.familysearch.org/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=FHD_PUBLIC Google Books — http://books.google.com American Memory at Library of Congress https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ Wikipedia has a large list of free and paid digital newspaper sites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_online_ne They may seem random here, but they had a purpose in the presentation. And one can spend lots of time on them. Thanks to the group in Pekin, Illinois, for asking me to speak tonight.
Hathitrust.org allows researchers to perform full-text searches of millions of pages of scanned texts. Users can view full images of out-of-copyright books and perform searches of some books still within copyright. There are a variety of ways to interact with and save the images. Some of this material is on other sites, but it is possible that a key word or phrase has been read differently or that a book was available for digitization here that is not on other sites. From their website–they currently have digitized: 16,431,171 total volumes 8,003,093 book titles 441,256 serial titles 5,750,909,850 pages 736 terabytes 194 miles 13,350 tons
We’ve mentioned it before, but one of the best ways to catch errors, notice things that were overlooked, and see errors in your logic is to write up your research. It’s not the end of the world if your grammar is not perfect–just make certain that what you write is understandable and clear. It’s not the end of the world if your citations are not quite perfect–just make certain that you clearly indicated what source you used and how you accessed it. Michael writes up one document or problem in every issue of Casefile Clues-–check it out.
Our AncestryDNA–5 week class starts today. If you registered and have not received your log in information, please forward your receipt. If you’d like to join us, visit our registration page.
Recent Comments