One of the challenges researchers encounter with images of records is knowing just what they are looking at. “Mega” genealogy sites include many images of records that can be sometimes easy to locate or stumble upon–but researchers may fail to review source information that accompanies the image. Sometimes that source information is not clear and sometimes the researcher may not be familiar with just really what the records are. Google searches often locate images with nary a clue as to what was used to make the image. Questions to ask yourself about any image (or record) you locate: what was the purpose of this record? who created this record? was it a part of another record? what is this record? There are other questions about a document that need […]
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The Union Civil War widow’s pension application indicated the soldier died in Memphis, Tennessee. Another document in the pension application indicated the soldier died in Springfield, Illinois. The soldier’s compiled military service record also indicated he died in Springfield. The document in the service record was created close to the time of his death–within a few weeks. That’s more contemporary to the event than the documents in the pension file. Generally speaking, for there are always exceptions, one wants to get a document that is as contemporary as possible.
If it’s included, don’t crop the photographer information from digital images you make of photographs. That information at the very least can help you to date and place the picture. Removing it could remove key information about the picture. Check out our webinars: genealogy sources genealogy DNA
Most of us wish our ancestors had left behind more stories, but few of us have letters, diaries, or other personal records of daily events in our ancestors’ lives. Don’t forget to record your own stories as well as working to document the lives of those who came before you. Those who come after you will be glad you did. The stories do not need to be profound or life-changing. Sometimes mundane events can be just as interesting–like this one I wrote on a china set my daughter obtained for a wedding present.
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A newspaper reference to a relative’s 1911 marriage in a local newspaper stated that she was the daughter of “Mrs. Susan Smith.” No father was listed. One might assume that Susan’s husband was dead or divorced because she was listed with her first name and without her husband being mentioned at all. Not in this case: Susan and her husband were separated (they ever divorced) and he was very much alive. Whether a woman was “named” with her own first name or was listed as Mrs. HusbandFirstName HusbandLastName varies over time and sometimes there are regional differences as well. The best bet is to copy the item as it is written and only infer what it says–that the mother had a certain name and was alive at the […]
Obituaries often mention survivors of the deceased person. In some cases a distinction may be made between full, half, and step-siblings. In others, no such distinction may be made. If the obituary is the only source for sibling information and you have reason to believe one or both of the deceased person’s parents were married more than once, it is possible that “siblings” in listed in the obituary may not have had the exact same set of parents. Genealogy Tip of the Day book is here. Learn more about it. If you’d like to get our genealogy tip daily in your email for free, add your address here.
While DNA passes from parent to child, each child only gets half of each of their individual parent’s DNA. Consequently, as a lineage is worked back in time, there will be ancestors in your genealogical tree with whom you might not share any DNA. It doesn’t mean that the ancestor is not your ancestor. It simply means that their DNA did not makes it’s way all the way down to you. While DNA is microscopically small, there’s only so much your body needs. Some suggest (for example, Blaine Bettinger in his The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy) that once a lineage is traced back to the 4th great-grandparents that there are paper genealogy tree ancestors with whom you do not share DNA. That’s why you […]
Names can easily be spelled more than one way–even on the same document. When viewing other names on that census page for possible relatives, consider that names that are “kinda close” may be relatives with the same last name. The last name of Behrens in this 1860 census enumeration from Adams County, Illinois, was spelled four ways on the same census page. None of them were Behrens. The variants were due to handwriting irregularities and how the census taker likely heard the last name.
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Some newspapers are notoriously bad about spreading obituaries and other items out. Make certain if you are cropping an item from a digital image of a newspaper that you get the entire item. Reading it before you crop it will go a long way to ensuring that happens. Time saved will be lost when you go to read the item and realize that you got a little “crop happy.”
There were several migration trails across the United States beginning with the earliest days of settlement. Those trails are important and researchers need to be aware of them. However some people don’t exactly follow the trails. And some people are part of group of migrants connected by ethnicity, religion, or other shared social bonds who move together over decades. These longer, smaller, and more personal migrations are often referred to as migration chains. There are a variety of records that can provide clues as to such migration chains, including: county histories, academic studies of migration, pension affidavits, church histories, and others Such records have given me evidence of migration chains, including: Dunkards who moved from Maryland to Kentucky to Indiana to Illinois and Iowa starting in the late […]
My Grandma always told me they went four counties away (staying within the same state) to get married because “your Grandpa just decided to.” They weren’t hiding the marriage from their relatives and were well over the legal age to marry. From what I heard about my Grandpa, he never did anything on a whim. Chances are your ancestor did not pack up and move for no reason either. It might have been because local soils were getting depleted, former neighbors wrote home with news of “prosperous times further west,” a new political allegiance increased the chance of sons being drafted into military service, Pa got a military bounty warrant, or one of several other reasons. Have you tried to find out what might have motivated your ancestors […]
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