Familiarity with records is crucial to genealogical research. One can’t just take what they’ve found online and leave it at that. Researchers should always be asking if there is “more” to the record than what they have found or if the record they have found means that other separate records may have been created. This is the General Index Card to compiled military service records for Leander Butler who served in Companies I and B of the 10th Kansas Infantry in the Civil War. I’ve already got a copy of his pension (that’s a separate record), but his compiled military service record (which this card is just a part of an index to) may tell me more about his military career and may provide clues about his enlistment. And […]
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My uncle was married to his wife for ten days when he died of the flu in 1918. His widow never remarried and lived the rest of her life with her parents. In at least one federal census, she was enumerated with her maiden name. The listing is probably an error as later record use her married name. Everyone else in the household had the same name, except my aunt. It is very possible that the census taker simply got confused. Do you have a female relative who is inadvertently listed under their maiden name in a record created after their marriage?
Recently I was reviewing information in a pension application. There were two records in the application that felt like they were extra and not really needed. I read them over and kept trying to “figure them out” as if there was some arbitrary deadline for me to figure it out. There was not a deadline. I put the file away and worked on something totally unrelated. When I went back to the file a few days later, the reason became clear. Sometimes one simply needs to put it away and come back to it later.
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Civil War service and other contemporary military records may not document your ancestor’s injuries as completely as you would like. After all, war time is focused on war. The military pension file may contain more documentation of your ancestor’s battle injuries. This 1905 medical report indicates where the veteran’s battle scars were. Military pension files for Union veterans of the Civil War are housed at the National Archives.
If you are having difficulty jumpstarting your relative’s memory, try using the names of neighbors from a census or city directory. The 1940 census is recent enough that names of neighbors may be familiar to someone even if they were not alive in 1940. Memories about a neighbor may help fill in a few blanks or it may even cause your relative to remember more about their relative.
A reader on our Facebook page had an excellent idea for helping to jog the memories of older family members. She made a scrapbook of old pictures with room for the person to write down what they remembered about the people in the picture, the location, etc. Generally the pictures were used as memory prompts. The relative could then write in the book at their leisure as things came to mind. Sometimes an interview simply isn’t long enough or memories come flooding back after it’s over.
Google won’t read sloppy cursive script (at least not yet), but searching for other key words near the mystery word can assist in transcribing that word. Use Google to give you suggestions, but don’t forget to use your common sense and contextual clues.
Every event in your ancestor’s life takes place in context. If your ancestor does something on a specific date, there may be other people doing that same thing on that same date: other couples marrying on the same date as your ancestor may be relatives or close friends other individuals naturalizing on the same day as your ancestor may be relatives, friends, or associates men who deserted the army on the same date as your ancestor may have had a connection to him people who died on the same date as your ancestor may have had the same contagious illness and so on. The commonality of the date may mean nothing. It may also be significant. Just don’t ignore it. Looking for “same day people” is an excellent way to […]
Statements and affidavits are not in a military pension for arbitrary reasons. Typically the veteran may have to show or document: his service his injury received or illness contracted during the war how he qualifies for a pension under a specific act need that he was the same guy who enlisted Widows need to provide additional documentation. There may be papers that appear extraneous, but there usually was a reason. A big thanks to GenealogyBank for being our sponsor! Please check out their August offer for Tip of the Day readers, fans, and followers.
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A colleague asked me about something that happened at work nearly twenty-five years ago. It was something that at the time would have personally impacted me. My answer to him: I can’t remember. Take the time to write your own personal stories before you forget.
One never knows what a file will contain until one looks at it. The Civil War pension file for William Lake of Chariton County, Missouri, contains the names and dates of birth for all his children. Many files either don’t contain this list or the pensioner said “don’t know” or “records burned.” Lake’s file also contains the names of his parents and siblings–and a transcription of their 1860 census enumeration. Those items are not typical You never know until you look. The reason behind this paperwork is discussed in a recent Rootdig post.
Variant spellings where one letter has been changed or added are easy to understand, recognize, and locate. Other variants are a little more difficult to see immediately. One way to discover more creative variants is to say the name or location to someone unfamiliar with the area and the family. Try saying in with an accent as well. That’s probably how in one record Mercer County, Kentucky, became Marshall County, Kentucky.
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