It is tempting to just type a name in a search box and hope. Research rests more on expectations. When using any database, particularly one you have never used before, try and answer the following questions: What records were used to complete the index? Is the index an every name index, an index to “main names,” an index of names that readers have submitted to be indexed, etc.? This matters–a lot. Are the records for your specific location and time period of interest included? Is every record included or just some? Some sites with images of newspapers are spotty in their coverage. Some sites do not include records from all smaller jurisdictions that make up the entire area (eg. a database that says “New York State marriages” may […]
Have you reviewed the census enumerations of your ancestral aunts and uncles? Are there boarders living with them? Is it possible that person is a relative even if the census does not mention that relationship. This 1860 enumeration for my uncle Henry Trautvetter contains two other household members who could be clues. Or they could be relatives of his wife. Or they could be totally unrelated. I’ll never know if I don’t research them as well.
I’m excited to be heading back to Burbank, California, this June to present at the annual “Genealogy Jamboree” hosted by the Southern California Genealogical Society on Friday – Sunday, June 9-11, 2017. I’ll be giving the following lectures: Generating Genealogy Blog Content–on Friday Image Creation and Citation–on Saturday Using the Bureau of Land Management Tract Books–on Sunday Jamboree is always great fun and a wonderful learning experience for those able to attend. If you’re a reader and in attendance, feel free to come up after a lecture and introduce yourself! Email me if you are interested in having me give a workshop or seminar for your society.
Never assume that your ancestors lived for generations in the same place “in the old country.” Your forebears might have been like one of my families from Thuringen, Germany that moved several times in the generation before they immigrated to the United States, living in at least six villages within a fifteen mile radius of each other during a twenty-year time span. Another relative moved from village to village in Sweden and worked as a domestic before finally coming to the United States in the 1880s. And other families stayed put in the same small hamlet for generations. The key? Being open to the possibility that your relative moved around in the old country, especially when they disappear from the records.
If your relative disappears, one possible reason for the disappearance is a change of name. Sometimes these name changes will appear in local court records. In the early days of a state or territory, these changes may have been recorded at the state level. Ancestors who immigrated may have changed their name when they naturalized. Others may never have legally changed their name even if they did in practice. Land records may mention multiple spellings of a name, particularly if a deed of purchase has a different spelling than a deed of sale. Probate records may mention alternate names for a person if receipts and documents have names that don’t match. Pension records may also document a name change. And…if the person changed their name because they were […]
If your ancestor moved from point A to point B, do you know the contemporary events that might have caused people to leave point A and settle in point B? It is always possible those events did not impact your ancestor directly, but an understanding of contemporary causes of migration “push” and “pull” never hurts.
Years ago, I had a quick translation done of this postcard. Over the years the translation became separated from the card. I should have appended the translation to the image, put them both in one PDF file, or stored them in a separate folder as two separate documents-the image and the translation. Make certain that documents that really need to be filed together are filed together in a way that they won’t get separated.
Sometimes one needs a chart showing the relationships between several key people—not all the descendants of one person, not all the ancestors of one person, or not all the relatives of one person. Genealogical software usually doesn’t allow for charts to be created showing a select number of individuals. It may be faster (depending upon your purpose) to sketch out a chart on paper to keep the relationships clear while working on those individuals. Later a more polished chart can always be made using the hand drawn one as a starting point. The genealogy world will not end if you use pencil and paper.
If a veteran or his widow received a land warrant for service in the War of 1812, they had one of two choices: haul their happy self to territory that had unclaimed federal land sell the warrant and assign it to someone who did want to haul their happy self to territory that had unclaimed federal land Then whoever had the warrant would claim the appropriate amount of acreage in the federal domain and surrender the warrant in exchange for title to the property. The warrant was what was used for payment or consideration. After the paperwork was completed, the individual who surrendered the warrant would receive a “first deed” (patent) giving them title to the real estate they had claimed. The application to get the warrant (filed by […]
I just finished my “Basics of Citation” webinar–I went over the allotted time and had good questions from attendees. We looked at several examples during the hour-long presentation and discussed the philosophy of citations in a down-to-earth, practical fashion. Our focus was on typical documents and sources researchers use. We did not focus on the arcane or unusual. One of my goals was to make citations less intimidating. I want people to cite their sources. It is not the end of the world if your citations are not in the technically proper format. My goal is to make researchers less concerned about minute details and more concerned about the importance of citations and what information is crucial for later research and analysis. I don’t want to people to forgo […]
When you find it, save it. Save the image or the text in a way you can view it later. Save it to your own computer, flash drive, jump drive, digital media, or other storage medium. Backing up to the cloud is fine, but make certain that your cloud storage is backed up to other media. That should be physical media over which you have actual control, media you know exactly where it is, and media you can actually put your hands on if necessary. You cannot put your hands on the cloud. If your files are stored one someone else’s server or site, there is the possibility you may lose access. The company may go out of business or you may be unable to afford to maintain […]
Many veterans of the War of 1812 received federal land as a benefit of their service. The patents (first deeds) that were issued based on their military service are online and indexed at the Bureau of Land Management website. We’ll have more details in a future tip post.
Sometimes we think our ancestors arrived from overseas knowing exactly where they were going to settle. That’s not always true–either for ancestors who were urban dwellers or farmers. They may have easily temporarily stayed with former neighbors, friends, or relatives who lived in a different city. And then, when they got their bearings, maybe saved a little more money, and found their bearings, they moved on to that place where they ended up staying for the rest of their life.
People disappear without a trace for a variety of reasons. That’s a different kind of “missing” that is more than simply being unable to find them in records. If your relative disappeared–either intentionally or as the victim of some type of crime–newspaper accounts or court records may provide additional detail. If the relative just up and left, there may be divorce records as well. It’s also possible that some reference to the disappearance may be mentioned in probate records for an estate in which the missing person was an heir.
When Michael Trautvetter came to Campbell County, Kentucky, he was in his mid-forties and married to a woman named Margaret. A woman with that name and consistent ages is the oldest female in his 1850 and 1860 census enumerations and appears with him on several land records. It turned out something happened to Michael’s first Margaret and he married another woman with that name between the 1850 and 1860 census enumerations.
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