Yesterday’s tip was about determining what record may answer a specific problem. Remember that there may be more than one way to access the same item. County and state offices may have copies of the same record, copies may be on microfilm, digital images may be available, etc. For certain time period, certified copies of some records (marriages and deaths in particular) may be contained in military pension applications .
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Yesterday’s tip was about clearly stating your genealogical research problem. Today’s tip is that once you’ve stated that problem determine all the sources that might answer that question, either directly or indirectly. Brainstorm. At this stage don’t think about how the records would be accessed, which ones are more reliable, etc. That comes later. Just make a list of what records could answer your question–including ones you don’t normally use. Be creative with the types of materials that could help.
Can you state your genealogical problem in one sentence? “I need to find Grandma” does not count. Your “problem” generally should involve one or perhaps two people, an event or a relationship you are trying to uncover, and perhaps a location where that event took place. You may need more verbiage to explain your problem, but what you are trying to uncover should fit in one sentence. If nothing else, focusing your problem succinctly may give you some insight into solving it.
Don’t assume that the oldest male in a pre-1850 household is the person named as the head of household. In some cases the named head of household may be a younger male or in some cases the oldest female. Don’t assume.
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It can happen to any of us–forgetting the page number. When looking at the copy of a 1919 legal document, I realized that while I wrote down the book number, I neglected to make certain the page number copied as well. I got the entire document, but the page number is hidden in the shadow on the corner of the page.
Sometimes the only way to genealogical success is to get beyond your ancestor and to research her siblings. That may be enough to answer your question. Once in a while going further is necessary. I’ve been working on a family where the biggest leads to my ancestor were contained in the War of 1812 of his brother’s father-in-law. It’s not always necessary to completely research people that far afield.
Sometimes the only way to genealogical success is to get beyond your ancestor and to research her siblings. That may be enough to answer your question. Once in a while going further is necessary. I’ve been working on a family where the biggest leads to my ancestor were contained in the War of 1812 of his brother’s father-in-law. It’s not always necessary to completely research people that far afield.
We are offering the following genealogical webinars in July: Missing 1840 Census Enumeration Genealogical Terms and More Preserving Past You Charts, Charts, and More Charts More details are here.
If a cemetery’s transcriptions have been published more than once don’t ignore the older one. An earlier transcription may have been done when stones were more legible and by the time the later transcription was made some stones may have been totally faded.
The year of birth for a relative could not be read in her baptismal entry. The last digit could easily have been an 8 or a 9. In reviewing additional church records, there was an entry for her confirmation in her early teens and that entry also gave her date of birth which was much easier to read. Fortunately the day and the month were a match with the baptismal entry also.
Those potential ancestral associates that could hold the clue to your research include godparents’ of children born to your ancestral sibling. There is a chance that if the godmother of my aunt’s child was a relative of my aunt and her sister. It’s a name I never would have had to research if I had not located all the christening records of my aunt’s children.
In some cultural traditions, the “first” name on a baptismal record is not necessarily the name that a person actually used or was commonly known by. Several of my German ancestors from the Thuringen area of Germany were named John George, John Michael, John Adam, etc. only to use respectively use George, Michael, and Adam in the United States.
Some older records kept in ledger type format may have no page numbers that can be used to create a citation or provide a detailed reference. There are probably other guides you can use so that you or someone else can later get to the same page in the work. Is the entry a baptismal entry from 1850? Is it a funeral entry from 1812? Are the entries numbered individually? Is the record organized alphabetically by farm name (as sometimes happens in Sweden)? There’s probably a way you can create a trail to get back to that page–just don’t forget to do it.
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