The way a clerk or scribe makes his letters can change even within a document–sometimes. This clerk who wrote this 1880-era affidavit from Nebraska made his lower case “e” differently in different places in the document. It’s still an “e” no matter how he made it.
In our attempts to locate living relatives, we sometimes ignore those ancestral siblings and cousins who left no children of their own. After all they have no descendants with whom we can make contact. That is true, but records on the childless relative may provide more details on earlier family members and how the estate of the childless relative was disbursed may mention previously unknown relatives. And completely researching the relative without children is always advised in order to obtain a complete picture of the family.
In many record sets an ancestor’s name should appear only once, but there are exceptions. People get “double counted” in census records regularly–sometimes because they moved and other times because they had two residences. In some cases amended birth or death certificates may be filed. This is sometimes done with birth certificates for adoptions and with death certificates if the cause of death needs to be changed. People can easily be listed on property tax rolls in more than one location if they own property in more than one location. And individuals (or even couples) can appear as a bride or groom on more than one marriage record.
When records are microfilmed or digitized, sometimes the occasional item is missed or filmed out of order. Find someone who is familiar with the original records in their original form. They may be able to tell you if there were issues with the filming or digitization of the records.
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A 1980s song from the group “Men at Work” mentions a Vegemite sandwich. Having no personal connections to Australia, from which the band hailed, I concluded the words were “bit of my” sandwich. It sounded correct to me and was the most logical interpretation I could come up with at the time. There’s several quick reminders or lessons here: don’t assume our initial conclusions may be incorrect our ancestors might not have heard a clerk’s questions correctly the clerk may not have heard our ancestor’s answers correctly being unfamiliar with a culture or dialect may be what is causing our “problem”
If Grandma had an “oops” baby, try and determine if it was really her “oops” baby or whether it was the baby of one of her older daughters. Sometimes the “oops” wasn’t Grandma and Grandpa’s fault. While it’s possible your great-grandma had her tenth child when she was in her very late forties, it’s also possible that it was actually her grandchild. But don’t conclude it was actually one of her daughter’s babies until you have some evidence. A suspicion alone does not count.
Most deeds do not provide former names of ancestors, but there are exceptions. This 1880-era deed from Illinois includes a previous last name of one of the grantors. It’s somewhat unusual for a deed to do this, but in this case the property was purchased by the wife before her marriage to the other grantor.
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Have you tracked down as many of the descendants of your great-great-grandparents as possible? It may be that your cousins have family papers, mementos, letters, etc. that could assist you in your research. These items may have passed down to other branches of the family besides yours. Even individuals who are not interested every minute detail of the family tree may have information that could help you in your search. Your great-great-grandparents could have over 1,000 living descendants as one set of mine do. Your great-great-grandparents could have fewer than thirty descendants as another set of mine do. But you will never know if you do not look.
When requesting vital documents, be clear about what is being offered, what you actually want, and what you end up requesting. The county clerk and recorder in the Illinois county where I was born have a copy of my birth certificate. It was created by some photographic process from the original certificate on file in the state vital records office in Springfield, Illinois. If I request a certification of birth from the county clerk, I will get a document certifying that they have a copy of my birth certificate. That document will state what the original says–including my name, date of birth, place of birth, and names of my parents. That certification of birth will not include a “reproduction” of the actual certificate. Genealogists usually want an actual copy of […]
Some genealogists avoid deeds unless they know an inheritance is being settled. This 1875 deed was drawn up after the sellers had moved to their new residence. The acknowledgement indicated the county in which they were living at the time, thus documenting the move and the new residence. If I had not located the deed, I might have never known they spent few years in Mendota, Illinois. By 1880, they had moved to another location.
Think about all the locations where a record could be created or recorded. Death certificates are recorded where the individual died, but in more recent times a certified copy may be recorded in the jurisdiction overseeing the probate of the estate. Land records are usually recorded in the jurisdiction where the real property is located. Birth records are usually recorded in the jurisdiction where the person was born, although delayed records may be filed where the person was living at the time the delayed record was created.
One of the most legible photographs of a tombstone was one that I took approximately twenty-five feet from the stone. The other shots, taken from a variety of stances closer to the stone, were not as legible. Digital film is cheap. Take pictures.
It helps to be familiar with the families involved when transcribing paper records, tombstones, etc. The probable grave of Herman Sartorius in Adams County, Illinois’ South Prairie Cemetery was easier to identify given that it was next to Sartorius’ in-laws Ulfert and Fredericka (Lichtsinn) Behrens. Had I been merely been transcribing stones out of context, I probably would not have realized the stone was probably that of Sartorius.
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