When was the last time you checked the appropriate state or provincial website to see if they had compiled indexes or finding aids to records you could use? Many state or provincial level archives have created finding aids or partial indexes to records in their collection. Some of these are indexes to state or provincial records and some are indexes to local records that have been deposited with state or provincial authorities.
Do you give credit to others who have helped you with your research–perhaps someone shared information with you, gave you valuable research suggestions, or shared family ephemera with you? It’s the right thing to do and it makes these individuals more likely to help or share with you in the future
Is your ancestor’s obituary or writeup hiding in an ethnic (often in a foreign language), religious, trade, or other “non-typical” newspaper? Obituaries for immigrant ancestors may be more detailed in a local foreign language newspaper, and a notice in a religious or trade periodical may provide information not given in the local newspaper. Local libraries, historical or genealogical societies may be able to provide information about newspapers of this type.
Interpreting US Census enumerations is sometimes easier if one has a list of the questions that were asked during the enumeration. This page on the US Census Bureau website has a list of all questions asked in census records from 1790-2010.
If your immigrant ancestor has a “derivative” citizenship, then what likely happened is that they were a minor when their father naturalized or they became a citizen upon their marriage to a man who was already a citizen. Naturalization law is complex and slightly confusing, but if your immigrant ancestor indicates in a census or other record that he was naturalized and you cannot find a record of his or her naturalization, consider the possibility that they obtained citizenship status through the father’s naturalization or their marriage. And naturalization law and procedure has changed over time–make certain you know what the law and procedure was at the time your ancestor was alive and naturalized. Of course, like everything else…there are exceptions.
A stint in prison can explain why your ancestor is not enumerated with his family in the census. Court records or newspapers may contain additional details about why your ancestor landed in prison. State prisons (or the state archives) may have additional records. And, it is also possible your relative ended up divorced over his incarceration–resulting in more records.
Genealogists often require help (in large and small amounts) from other genealogists. Sometimes it is a quick lookup in a record and sometimes it is a more extensive “look” at a problem in order to get some advice. Remember that the sharing goes both ways. Offer to help someone with a research problem, to take a picture of a tombstone, or to make a copy from a book that you have. Getting away from your own research problems and looking at someone else’s often gives you insight into your own.
If you can’t find a deed of sale for your ancestor’s real property, consider the fact that he didn’t sell it. If your ancestors taxes became sufficiently delinquent, his property would be sold to pay those taxes. In the United States these sales are usually indexed under “Sheriff” and not the name of your ancestor. Unless your ancestor was the sheriff.
The United States has been in wars besides the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Civil War and the two World Wars. Is it possible that your ancestor served in one of the Indian wars, the Spanish-American War, or the Philippine-American War? Involvement in any of those actions would have generated service and possibly pension records.
If your genealogy “problem” is during a period when railroads were in operation, do you know where the nearest train station was for your ancestor? Do you know nearby stops along the way? People could hop a train to elope, look for work, or simply leave home and never come back.
If there is a period of time where you are not certain where your ancestor was living or what he was doing, then you have an opportunity. Short gaps where a person is “missing” could mean military service, an out-of-state job, a short-lived marriage, a trip in search of gold, etc. Or it could simply mean they never moved and simply didn’t leave any records for a three year time period. But if you never look one thing is certain–you’ll never know.
When analyzing a record or set of materials that does not make sense, get away from what you “want to prove” and try to think “what do these documents really say?” You may find that they do not say what you think they do. And not every record says what we want or expect it to say. Sometimes our preconceived notions are what is getting in the way
If you think you are stuck on all your lines, work on someone else’s family for a while. The different names and locations will be a good change of pace. Learning about research in a new area may give you insight into “old ones” where you’ve worked so long that assumptions that are incorrect may have taken deep root. It may be that when you return to your own families, you have a new perspective on them.
For your “brick wall” ancestor, do you know (or have any idea) how far they lived from: the county seat? the nearest church of their denomination? the nearest place they could get supplies or transact necessary business? their nearest neighbor? the cemetery? The list here is not exclusive. If you’ve got no idea of the answers to these questions, determining those answers may help you solve your problem.
The ideal time to write up your genealogical conclusions, enter your information into your database, or write up and transcribe documents is as you locate them. Or reasonably close after. The information is fresh in your mind and fewer details are apt to be forgotten. While it may be fun to keep gathering, you probably will notice more about what you’ve just found if you record and analyze it relatively close to when you located it.
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