Just about anything can appear on a tombstone–not just the dates of birth and death. Some immigrants had their place of birth inscribed on their tombstone and others may have included military service information. Any information on a stone should be compared to other sources, but never assume that the “stone won’t tell me anything I don’t already know.” Learn more about research, methods, and sources in Casefile Clues.
Sometimes the connection the adminstrator of an estate has to the deceased is obvious or easy to determine. Sometimes it’s not. It’s always worth finding out if there is a connection. For years, I assumed incorrectly that the administrator of the estate of Michael Trautvetter who died in Hancock County, Illinois, was a neighbor, friend, or interested creditor. I knew little about Trautvetter’s family and, after a while, gave up on determining what the relationship was. Years later, after learning more about the family it was discovered that the administrator of the estate was the husband of a daughter of Trautvetter’s sister. The sister had a marriage in Germany I was unaware of and that was the maiden name of the administrator’s wife–which meant nothing to me at the time. […]
Always pay close attention to the person who was appointed to be the administrator of the estate of a man who died with a wife and young children. If the person is not clearly a relative of the deceased individual, it very likely is a biological relative of the wife–or perhaps her second husband. And if there is a will and the wife is appointed executor, look carefully at who signed her bond. Those bondsmen were often relatives of the widow.
It can be tempting to think that if one keeps looking and tries hard enough, that there’s “got to be” a document somewhere that answers all your questions. Sometimes. But most of the time there’s not. To be certain, I’ve found a page of court testimony that outlined the family relationships and military pension affidavits that answered many of my questions. But in most situations, determining the relationships required looking over all the snippets of information I had from a variety of records, analyzing those snippets, and trying to determine what they said in the aggregate. No clue is too small. There might be that one piece of paper in a courthouse that will answer all your questions, but likely there’s not. Chances are it’s quite a few […]
Based on many requests, we’ve added this class to our schedule for September-October: AncestryDNA–5 weeks Activities/Content: Understanding what can and cannot be learned from the AncestryDNA test Strategies for “figuring out” people who do not return communication Probability of relationship based on shared DNA and relationship scenarios not presented Downloading AncestryDNA matches into an Excel spreadsheet and working with those matches and that spreadsheet Determining what matches you want to try and figure out Tracking results and findings Problem-solving Looking at the results when the grandfather was an adoptee who wasn’t the birth father of one of his children Analyzing tree for ethnic/geographic pools Sorting matches that can’t be determined specifically Keeping your list of matches up to date More details are on our announcement page.
Those whose families have lived in the United States for centuries sometimes think that their relatives will not appear on a passenger manifest.That is not necessarily true. It is possible that your ancestor traveled overseas for his work, for pleasure, or as a part of military service. My great-grandmother’s families had lived in the United States since at least the 1780s and her sister’s Red Cross service during the first World War caused her to be on a passenger manifest.
For those who find the daily updates too much, a weekly blog update is available. An electronic copy is available here–along with subscription instructions. The weekly update is only $5 a year.
The church’s funeral register indicated the first funeral at the church was in 1880. For a brief moment, I assumed that would be the first burial in the church’s cemetery as well. Not so. A physical search of the cemetery’s tombstones indicated a burial there in the mid-1870s. It could be that the cemetery was not originally associated with the church, that the church’s earlier records are missing, that the burials were conducted by a pastor from another church before the church in question was formed, or something else. But my assumption that I had the first records of the church and that there could be nothing before that was wrong. Check your assumptions before your own research gets buried by them. Learn more about research methods and […]
When using published sources and materials, copy (or take a picture of) the index in the back of the book. It is a great way to make certain you didn’t overlook any names. A paper copy is a good place to keep track of which pages you copied. That reduces the chance a page gets overlooked. Sometimes I will take a few notes on that “index page” and make a digital image of that page to put with any digital images I actually made from the book. That way I have digital images of the pages I want and a digital image of my notes–all in the same place.
Genealogy Tip of the Day by it’s intent is short and to the point. The brief nature of our tips means that we don’t cover everything in great depth. The intent of the tip is to make you aware of something or to remind you of something you forgot. For some tips following up elsewhere is necessary. My how-to newsletter Casefile Clues is different–it’s more detailed, more in-depth, and covers topics or records more fully. Casefile Clues brings you one or more of the following: Sources–Some weeks Casefile Clues focuses on a specific source or type of record, discussing how that source can be accessed, researched, and interpreted. Methodology–Some weeks Casefile Clues works on one of Michael’s problems. Many times these problems are “in progress,” and Casefile Clues reflects that by explaining what was researched, why it was […]
Always look at all sides of a tombstone–there may be additional details on the “back,” the “side,” or the “top” of the stone. Most stones won’t contain a reminder the way this one does. There usually isn’t anything on the bottom of a stone and digging them up to look is frowned on and occasionally dangerous. And the back of the stone does give more information about Franzen: The Franzens are buried in what’s known locally as the “South Cemetery.” It’s actually the Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery southeast of Golden, Adams County, Illinois. Learn more about research methods and analysis in Michael’s newsletter Casefile Clues.
Under a US Congressional act of 1796 (the Act For The Relief and Protection of American Seamen (1 Stat. 477) signed into law on May 28, 1796), American seamen were periodically issued certificates to hopefully prevent them from being illegally impressed by ships from other nations. . These documents can appear in one of three formats: registers–listing certificates that were issued–not all are extant, some are held by the National Archives and others by local historical societies applications–proof and evidence–generally held by the National Archives, available on microfilm or digitally and usually arranged by port certificates–usually kept by the sailor himself The Mystic Seaport Museum has a database of entries from the Custom Houses of Fall River, Gloucester, New Haven, New London, Newport, Marblehead, and Salem. FamilySearch includes these databases: […]
What genealogy clues are waiting for you in the advertisements? This one from Maryland in 1907 gives a college graduation date.
In locations that have birth certificates and birth registers, it is necessary to look at both. Determine what the “chain of creation” was. Usually the certificates were the “original document” and information in the register contains a transcription of what was on the original certificate. There’s always the possibility that the register contains a transcription error. But there’s also the possibility that the register’s entry is easier to read than the certificate or contains an additional comment made by the clerk and is not on the certificate. It’s important to read both and to know how they were created.
Witnesses to a will cannot be beneficiaries named in that will and are generally not heirs. Witnesses should be disinterested individuals. And, as a reminder, beneficiaries and heirs are not necessarily the same group of people. Heirs have legal rights of inheritance under statute. Beneficiaries are named as the recipient of real or personal estate, usually upon the death of the owner of that property.
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