Don’t assume that dead people can’t be listed in city directories. Widowed women are often listed in directories along with their deceased husband’s name. And don’t forget that widows were not always widows either–sometimes they were actually divorced. That’s not the case with Julia VanHoorebeke–she was an actual widow.
While it’s always advised to research extended family, the reality is that there simply is only so much time one can devote to certain problems. That said, why would one look at the US passport of an ancestral sister-in-law in the 1920s? Because during that time period some women still derived their citizenship through their husband and knowing something about the passports issued during that time as well, I know that there’s a good chance the ancestral sister-in-law’s passport mentioned her husband. And he’s the brother of the ancestor. And that may help me on my actual problem. Sometimes records on the in-laws are more likely to be of immediate assistance than others. And while an exhaustive search is always good…we all have limitations.
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I had a relative who was married several times in the middle part of the 20th century. The way I tracked her was through city directories. Her last name changed, but she lived in the same home despite having several husbands. If your ancestor is changing some things about themselves, think about what remains the same. That may be how you’ll find them.
I have a relative who was married three times, having survived all three husbands. She was married to her third husband some twenty years before she died and she survived him by several years. For reasons unknown to me when she died in 2012 she is listed in the statewide death index under her second husband’s name. She was married to him for five years and they had no children. She continued to use her third husband’s last name after his death. Took me forever to find her.
Many US states took their own census in non-federal census years. If you’ve not determined when state censuses exist for your research areas, it might be worth your while.
The reason you can’t find your ancestor in the census index may be because the original is difficult to read or the “entry of interest” is hiding in a faded corner. A manual search may be helpful, but only if your interpretation and reading skills are better that those of the person making the image.
Many journals, registers, and ledgers maintained in local records offices have an index to the main individuals mentioned in those records. Is it possible that the handwriting for the name in the index is easier to read than the handwriting for the name in the record?
Census enumerations were sometimes reviewed and corrected after the enumerator had submitted their clean copy. This 1900 census enumeration contains a corrected age–the “2” in “29” does not look like other “2”s on the same page. Apparently in this case the census taker didn’t take the census date and the month of birth into account as there are numerous corrections on his enumerations.
Some abbreviations still make sense 200 years later. Others do not. If there’s an abbreviation that makes no sense to you, Google it, ask someone what it could mean, look for it in genealogical references, etc. But make certain you find out what it meant at the time the document was written. And avoid using abbreviations yourself.
The problem with websites that take us “right to the name we want” is that we miss things. To create a citation, I needed view the front of a marriage book from Coshocton County, Ohio. In the inside front cover was a note that there was a list of ministers further on in the book. The first few pages of a record book can contain unexpected surprises.
When was the last time you backed up your digital images and files? I realized today that I have a variety of photos taken around the time my mother passed away nearly five months ago that I have not saved anywhere other than my phone. When I charged my phone today it acted a little strange and I became concerned that something was wrong with it. Before I did anything else, I made certain I had moved those pictures to at least two other locations so that my pictures were safe. Don’t wait.
No matter how “odd” you think a name is, remember that there may be others with a very similar name. I have an uncle born in Germany in the 1850s whose name was Tamme Focken Tammen. He has first and second cousins named Tamme C. Tammen, Tamme Focken Tammen, Focke Tammen Tammen, etc. They were born at approximately the same time and in some cases settled in close proximity to each other and can be very easy to confuse. What you think is rare may not be.
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Whenever you find a minister associated with your family–be it on a marriage record or a funeral notice–determine with what church he was affiliated. Googling his name may be helpful in this regard, but don’t rely on it 100%. The church may have additional records on your ancestor, particularly if they were married in the church or buried from the church.
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