In 1762 in Baltimore County, Maryland, the debts of an estate were divided into two categories, sperate and desperate. I was aware of what desperate debts were–unlikely to be paid–and a little bit of critical thinking led me to conclude that sperate debts were the opposite of ones that were desperate. A look at Merriam-Webster confirmed my hypothesis as it referred to sperate as an adjective meaning “giving some hope of being paid.” There were several pages of debts listed due the estate. Fortunately my forebear John DeMoss was in the sperate category. Comments: it’s perfectly fine to not realize you remember what a word means. It’s not perfectly fine to fail to look it up. Google does not like archaic words that differ from a modern word […]
Thanks to everyone who took advantage of our 50% off sale on webinars. We’ve extended the sale for one day–through 11:00 pm central on 24 November. Details are on our announcement page. Thanks!
I’m not exactly certain what happened to this photograph, but it’s now stored in a better place. My digital image of this really does help to preserve the image as the damage only continue to get worse over time and hasten the aging process. The nice thing about making digital images is that they can get an image of a picture that can be frozen in time. My grandmother wrote on the back of this photograph and her “1957 50 yr” makes me think this was taken for their 50th wedding anniversary. Never neglect a clue and never neglect to make digital images of pictures, especially ones that are in danger deteriorating.
Never change the order of any names in a document. Children could (but not necessarily) be listed in order of age in a will. If an older child is listed last in a census enumeration it may mean that they weren’t really living there or had moved back home (or it could just be an “error” on the part of the census taker). Heirs may be listed in order of age on a quit claim deed (or they may not). The order may be a clue, but try and use other documentation to back up any conclusions you make about the order. And remember that order, sometimes like life, may be completely random and meaningless.
Now through 11:00 pm central time on 23 November, we’re offering 50% off any webinar order. Details are on our announcement page. You can also view our list of webinars https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/recent-webinars/ and https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/webinars2021/. Coupon code is Nov2024 or NOV20024.
If you are fortunate enough to have an identified photo, avoid being content with that. Include any additional information you have about the identification with the photograph. That’s what’s has been done with this 1930 picture of the Alfred Rampley family of Alabama. The handwriting is mine, but I had no idea who these people were. My grandmother told me when we went through some of her photographs in the 1980s. Grandma might not even have known the names of all the people in the photograph, just who they were as a group. Alfred Rampley was Grandpa’s first cousin and I doubt if Grandma ever met them. It’s also possible she surmised who they were when we saw the studio’s stamp on the back that indicated where the […]
We’ve released the recording and handout for this presentation. Additional details are on our announcement page. Those who have ordered their copy of “Where Did the Farm Go?” should have received their copy of this presentation. If you did and have not, please email me so I can take care of it.
Guardianship papers can be an excellent place to potentially get the age of a child on a specific date. They can especially helpful in those times and places when birth records are not available. Most guardianship statements of age are not as detailed as the one in the illustration which appears to give the date the child turned a specific age. Earlier records are not as detailed but they can help the researcher to narrow down a range of years of birth for the child. The example is from a guardianship in Adams County, Illinois, in the 1880s. Guardianship records are typically local court records in the United States. They may be kept in a separate series of records or may be recorded with the probate records.
James Shores had to sue the heirs of the estate he was administrator for in Coshocton County, Ohio, in the 1820s. There’s a few lessons we can take from this image of the record copy of his petition to the local court of common pleas. One is that any record can contain an error. There was no son Jeremiah, but there was a daughter Jemimah. Since Jemima was was an heir of the estate and known to have lived long past the time of this court action, it seems reasonable that this reference to Jeremiah is incorrect (it’s also the only record mentioning Jeremiah and leaving Jemimah out). James Shores is actually suing his wife. But he’s not suing her in his own right. He’s suing her in […]
We’ve released the recording and handout for this presentation. If you pre-ordered or registered for the live session and missed it, please let me know if your download link did not arrive by emailing me at the address on your receipt. More details are on our announcement page.
There’s an online anonymous list of four generations of descendants of an ancestor of mine who died in Kentucky in the 1840s. I’ve used it as a clue to names and relationships. It does have errors–there are death dates that I can’t validate, locations of events that are completely incorrect, incomplete lists of children, and marriages that were not discovered. The names of the beginning ancestor’s parents cannot be validated with any record whatsoever, but the relationships in the succeeding generations were pretty much on the mark-aside from a few children who apparently were overlooked. It was not perfect. But it gave me an outline to use as a starting point. It did not give me a tree to copy without questioning any of it.
Is it possible that relative you can’t find “returned home” in their old age? A relative of mine left Illinois in the 1870s with his young family when he was in his thirties, living in Colorado and New Mexico. Sometime after the 1910 census, he returned to Illinois where he had some relatives (mostly cousins) and eventually died. Why he returned I don’t know, but his children were scattered throughout New Mexico and the western United States at the time of his death. Another uncle of mine lived throughout the United States while in the military and fifteen years after his retirement from the service returned to the county where he grew up to spend the rest of his life, even though his children lived elsewhere.
Join me for one of these research trips in 2025: Library of Virginia FamilySearch Library Allen County Public Library
When searching any database, ask yourself: Having answers to these questions will help you to use the database more efficiently.
For the first time ever, we’re offering “Where Did the Farm Go?” as a self-hosted webinar. This presentation discusses ways real estate may have left your ancestor’s possession and how to find those records. Learning how your ancestor’s property passed from their hands has the potential to provide significant genealogical information not always easily obtainable elsewhere. It’s not always as simple as searching for a deed of sale. Not every record can be located easily online and not every transaction was an actual deed signed by your ancestor. Our focus is on United States records from the 17th century through recent times. Detailed handout that parallels the presentation included. Join us live or pre-order: Michael has over thirty years of research experience with land, court, and probate records and […]
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