Besides the “news” part of a newspaper, your ancestor could appear in the classified ads section. This ad from a Rock Island, Illinois, newspaper in 1905 mentions a bay mare owned by August Mortier. The ad provides evidence that he was alive on the 4th of July night and was living at 2609 4th Avenue in Rock Island on that date as well.
Our genealogy webinar closeout continues through 22 August. Don’t wait!
The problem with programs and websites that pre-fill in data is that it’s easy for the user to not really pay attention to what is going on. I’m working on sorting out individuals with the name of Anson Butler who lived in several counties in New York and Michigan. This includes Genesee County, New York and Genesee County, Michigan. If I’m not careful on data entry, I could easily get the locations incorrect. Take a second or a third look when entering in places, particularly if they have the same or very similar names. I’m just glad they also didn’t spend time in Geneseo, Illinois.
Always browse the end of a record series. The 1865 New York State census included some additional information at the end of the enumeration for a town or village. This information included (in some cases): couples married during the year deaths during the year men who had been in the military church information agriculture statistics effects of the Civil War on prices, etc.
Our genealogy webinar closeout continues through 22 August. Don’t wait!
A search of the yearbooks on Ancestry.com located a reference to an individual named “Newport Ufkes” in a University of Iowa yearbook in 1950. The name Ufkes is highly unusual and I was 99% certain the reference to my uncle who attended the University of Iowa Law School. Turns out the men in a picture were listed by last name only. My uncle stood next a man with the last name of Newport. Seeing “Ufkes, Newport” the automatic indexing assumed it was a person whose name was Newport Ufkes. Another reason to not always include first names in searches.
The old tips that did not get uploaded originally have all been posted to the blog. Thanks for your patience. This should end the “more than one” daily postings.
If your relative took a state examination to receive a teaching certificate, there’s a chance that it was mentioned in a local newspaper. Have you looked? This newspaper item from 1918 mentions my aunt, Luella Trautvetter. She would have been 17 at the time she took the test. Now I’ve got to look and see if she passed–this newspaper reference only indicated those who took the exam in March of 1918 in Adams County, Illinois.
Do you know the legal description of any real estate your ancestor owned in the United States? The legal description precisely states where your ancestor’s property is located, such as: Lot 5 in block 2 of section 8 of Wilson’s Addition to the City of Warsaw, Illinois The north half of section 2 in township 4 north of the 5th principal meridian. Some land indexes are organized geographically. Tax records are organized geographically and other records are organized in this fashion as well. In upcoming tips we’ll have ideas on finding that legal description.
Join us for a week of genealogical research in the world’s largest genealogical library in May of 2016–18 May through 25 May. We are in the library from open to close–with an optional hour long presentation at 8 am. every morning. More details are here.
I’m caught up on approving comments. Between being out of town and getting hit with spam, I was overwhelmed. The comments have all been approved. There are a few I need to respond to, but was not certain when that would happen….so I just went ahead and approved them. Thanks for your patience.
It has been fun…but… After nearly 5 years, on 22 August we’re going to close our genealogy webinar saleson our website so that I can direct my genealogical efforts elsewhere. I’m a one person enterprise and it’s time to devote my energies in other directions. We’re keeping the newsletters and the blogs, but webinar distribution will be ending on 22 Aug. Now’s a great time to add any overlooked presentations to your collection before it is too late. Remember: download is immediate presentation does expire can be viewed as many times as you want our prices are the best in the industry Our presentations are: down-to-earth practical easy to understand and follow based on in the field experience Topics include: Organizing Problem-Solving Search Strategies Census Records Court […]
For many individuals, records will not provide information that matches 100%. Census records on the same individual will provide slightly different ages or places of birth. Death certificates may provide details that do not agree with other records. Generally speaking, the genealogist has to be content with relative consistency of information–not that it matches completely. Two different census enumerations for the same person should provide enough consistent items that the researcher is fairly certain that the same person has been located, even if some details differ. There simply is not 100% consistency in genealogical research.
One of the presentations I gave while at the Allen County Public Library was on problem-solving and real examples from my research were used. In compiling the presentation, I summarized the problem and then as a group we listed: assumptions records that might be helpful what to try first The very process of writing my problem and thinking about the assumptions gave me at least one new idea on each problem. Try it for something you’ve been stuck on for a while.
Several websites offer researcher “hints,” “leaves,” or suggestions based upon details in their database or search boxes. Sometimes these hints find the people of interest and sometimes they don’t. Determine what individual databases the site has and search those manually for the person you think “really has to be in there.” Sometimes the global hints work and sometimes they don’t.
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