I’m updating my genealogy speaking schedule for late 2017 and beyond. If your group sponsors a seminar or workshop and you need an engaging, entertaining, and informative speaker, look no further–there are details on my speaking page. I’ve taken something of a speaking hiatus for the past several years for personal reasons, but am back to booking dates on my calendar. I am looking forward to returning to Genealogy Jamboree in Burbank, California, to give 3 speeches in June–look for me if you’ll be there!
The context in which a document was created and the purpose for which it created matter. A widow in 1901 lists people who attended her wedding. She lists three of her husband’s siblings and one in-law–clearly leaving people out of the list. That’s because the statement she was making was part of her Civil War pension claim and the court was interested in additional people who were living nearby and could confirm her story. She was not providing a comprehensive list of attendees. Dead people cannot testify and those who may have attended but lived a distance away could not easily have given testimony. Genealogy Tip of the Day is proudly sponsored by GenealogyBank. Try their “GenealogyBank Search” and see what discoveries you make.
In most United States courthouses, land records are usually indexed twice. Once index entry is for the first seller. The other is for the first buyer. If there are multiple sellers listed on the deed the others probably will not appear in the index. The same applies to the individuals acquiring the property. Always look for names of relatives and associates in land records for this reason. Genealogy Tip of the Day is proudly sponsored by GenealogyBank. Try their “GenealogyBank Search” and see what discoveries you make.
Don’t just look for a relative’s name in the alphabetical directory if you know they operated a business of some sort. It is possible they had an advertisement in the directory as well. Advertisements in city directories can give clues about your ancestor’s occupation, business location, and more. This 1880 advertisement in a Denver, Colorado, directory indicated that the relative’s business also operated out of a Kansas City, Missouri, office as well. Genealogy Tip of the Day is proudly sponsored by GenealogyBank. Try their “GenealogyBank Search” and see what discoveries you make.
The place of birth from this World War II draft registration card was difficult to read, so the indexer left it out of the transcription in Ancestry.com‘s “U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947”. Because of that if one searches for births in Iroquois County, this record will not come up. When searching any database, consider the possibility that some of the data was not transcribed and if you use it as a search term (on an “exact” search), you won’t find it.
Someone told me that forty years ago, so it must be true. It could have been Grandma, your beloved high school history teacher, or someone standing next to you in line at the grocery store. I remember it correctly, even though I was told years ago and never wrote it down. Do you remember with exact, precise recollection what you were told by someone a month ago? Check out those assumptions. Double check what you think you remember and look into those beliefs you have about your ancestor and history–you might be wrong. Don’t just do a quick Google search on the internet to see if your knowledge is correct. Anyone can post anything online. Find sources that are reputable. You might also be right. And, if you […]
24 hour sale on our recent webinars (after this post runs live)–save 30% on any order over $10! Recent Presentations: 2017 Brick Wall Strategies Avoiding “Fake” Ancestors Basics of Citation Do I Cite it All? Using Indexes at FamilySearch Download is immediate. Handout included. More details and order page.
It’s important to preserve the papers you have in addition to locating copies of records on your long deceased ancestors. It is just as important to preserve what no one else has as it is to locate new information already in an archives. Here are some resources with suggestions and reminders for preserving your own materials: Library of Congress Personal Archiving Page National Archives Page– “How to Preserve Family Papers and Photographs“ There are a variety of sites that offer archival quality–acid free–storage materials. Below are links to a few: Archival Boxes on Amazon.com Acid Free Sheet Protector on Amazon.com Genealogy Tip of the Day is proudly sponsored by GenealogyBank. Try their “GenealogyBank Search” and see what discoveries you make.
If your ancestor apparently picked up and moved to where he knew no one, is it possible he was responding to an advertisement? Speculators, land agents, promoted their projects and developments in a variety of ways–including newspapers. It might have been an advertisement that caused your ancestor to pick up and move to where he knew no one.
Do not rely only on keyword searches to find items in digital images of newspapers. Some digital images can be difficult for the optical character recognition software to interpret correctly. The 1888 obituary in this death notice was located by a manual search based upon the known death date. Take a manual look at the newspapers being searched by your keyword searches. The original images may make it easier to see why some things cannot be found with the index.
Try and determine where your relatives got the names for their children. Sometimes this can be difficult to determine (or even guess at) and there is no way to know for certain. However, looking for repeated names or using children’s names as clues may possibly jump start your research. Names are hints as to relationships. Usually they are not evidence. In this family names that cannot be assigned to the mother’s family or politicians may have something to do with the father’s family. Maybe.
A listing of your ancestor’s personal property, if included in his estate inventory, may suggest what his occupation was. In certain areas of the United States local records will state occupations as a way of further identifying the individual. In other areas such occupations are not often stated as part of the name. In these places, items in an estate inventory may provide indirect evidence as to what an ancestral occupation was. Records that state the occupation provide direct evidence of the occupation. Estate inventories that list items owned provide indirect evidence–because the mention of such items suggests an occupation instead of stating it directly. Indirect evidence isn’t wrong, it’s just categorizing what type of statement it is. Genealogy Tip of the Day is proudly sponsored by GenealogyBank. Try […]
A child having a guardian does not mean that both of the child’s parents are deceased. For much of American history a guardian had to be appointed even if the father was dead and the mother was alive. A guardian could also be appointed if someone giving the child an inheritance did not want a parent (usually the father) having control over the property. An immigrant wanting to get married under the legal age would need a guardian to sign off on the marriage even if both parents were living overseas. Do not assume everyone with a guardian had no parents living. Genealogy Tip of the Day is proudly sponsored by GenealogyBank. Try their “GenealogyBank Search” and see what discoveries you make.
Do you notice who is not listed in records where other family members are? In going through a series of “gossip columns” for a family in the early 20th century, I noticed that one individual’s husband rarely attended anything. I’ve made a notation about his frequent absence in my compilation of the columns. There are other records where sometimes people who “should be listed” are not. This happens in more than the gossip columns of local newspapers. Are you making a notation of this in your analysis of the record? Some absences mean more than others. Missing family functions may just mean there’s been some sort of disagreement, that someone is a loner, or needs time away from their spouse. Failing to appear in a city directory may […]
Genealogy Tip of the Day is written by Michael John Neill. Michael has been actively involved in genealogy research since the mid-1980s and writes and lectures on a variety of genealogy topics at a variety of levels. Tip of the Day is meant to make readers aware of topics they didn’t know about, remind others of topi cs about which they’ve forgotten, or suggest slightly different ways of approaching research problems. We just want you to keep thinking and analyzing as you research. Genealogy Tip of the Day is sponsored by GenealogyBank. They exercise no editorial control whatsoever and we thank them for their support.
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