Remember that witnesses to a will usually cannot benefit from the will or from the estate. The same is true of appraisers. A brother usually could witness a will–if the testator had a wife and children, the brother wouldn’t have an interest in the estate. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Remember that transcribers of records are supposed to copy a record or a source the way it is written–not what the record “should” say. If grandma’s name is Susannah and her marriage record lists her as “Susan,” transcribe it as “Susan.” If grandma gave the wrong place of birth on her marriage record don’t “fix it” when you make the transcription, copy it as it is on the record. You can (and should) make a notation somewhere that the information is incorrect, and state how you know it is wrong. But don’t edit and correct what was on an original record. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
It may be difficult, but remember when reading or analyzing any document that unless it was created during your lifetime, there might be some cultural, historical, economic, or legal events impacting that document or causing it to be created. Don’t interpret a 19th century document with a 21st century mind. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Remember that everyone was a beginning genealogist at one point or another. You may have to be patient with someone who is just learning. An extra dose of patience may be necessary if you are both researching a family where people married more than once, had spouses with similar names, etc. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
A land warrant usually means that someone is entitled to a certain acreage of property, without giving any real specifics about where that property is. Warrants are issued for several reasons, with the most common reason being a reward for previous military service. A land patent transfers title to a specific piece of property to an individual. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
10 is the lucky number. The first ten responders to this offer can get a year of Casefile Clues for $12. After 10 have been sold, we’ll stop taking orders. Follow this link to process your order and see if there is still time.There is more information on my weekly newsletter at http://www.casefileclues.com.Good Luck! ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Sometimes it can be difficult to get the wrong name out of your head–especially when you have only one spelling or rendering of the name to go on. I was stuck on Emma Olenbaugh. She was only found in one census record. Turns out Olenbaugh was not her last name–Osenbaugh was. Could a change in one letter make all the difference? ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
I’m not talking about a chisel. Think about how great-grandpa’s information got on his tombstone. Someone thought they knew when he was born and so they told the guy who made the stone. Probably that same person provided the death information. If the stone was put up years after great-grandpa died, it is possible the stone has the wrong date of death. And the date of birth could be wrong as well. Tombstones are usually primary sources for the date of death, unless you can clearly tell it was erected years after the person died. The main thing is to transcribe it exactly as it is written. Your discussion of why you think it is wrong, right, etc. should be done in your notes. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s […]
Ancestry.com, WorldConnect, FamilySearch, and a variety of other sites have submitted family trees. Virtually all of them contain errors. Some of them contain many errors. But don’t ignore them completely. Sometimes even a very careless researcher stumbles upon something that we have overlooked. Don’t take anything in the online trees without documenting it elsewhere, but consider the fact that one of them may have the clue that you need. And some of them may raise your blood pressure when you see the errors. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Looking for an ancestor’s signature? Is there an estate they would have been an heir to? Perhaps there is a signed receipt in the packet of estate papers. Receipts won’t be in the order books and journals, but some locations have the actual packets of papers. That’s one place to get a signature. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Are there any pre-1900 tombstones you have not transcribed, photographed, etc.? Look through your records, your database, etc. Put getting the transcription from the stone on your priority list. Old stones do not last forever and the information may literally fade away before you get to it. And be careful relying totally on published transcriptions. Sometimes in an attempt to be helpful, people added information to the “transcription” that really was not on the stone. But those stones may not be as legible in five years as they are today. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Years ago I remember reading Family History Library Card Catalog description of the Bethany Church records for Tioga, Illinois. The film notes that the earliest records start in 1805. This confused me as I believed the church was founded in the 1850s. It turns out that one of the death entries in the register referred to someone who was born in 1805 and that’s why the records gave that year as the earliest year. Catalogers have a difficult job, especially with handwritten records in basically what appear to be notebooks. I always look through the material, especially if the time period is relatively close to what I need. Sometimes things get overlooked when being cataloged. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
This hasn’t been posted to the blog in a while (if ever), so for those who haven’t requested it–you can request a free copy of my article “Brick Walls from A to Z” at no charge in PDF format by sending an email to brickwallsa2z@gmail.com. Thanks. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
When you cross a poltiical line, county, state, province, territory, nation, etc. the laws and recordkeeping system may chance, in some cases significantly. Even when crossing states/provincial lines, the laws regarding what is recorded and how it is recorded may change. Learn about the new area’s records before you assume that Virginia in 1760 is just like Nebraska in 1860. That’s something of an extreme example, but it hopefully makes the point. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
On one of my wife’s families, I didn’t bother to get the will of the ancestor. In fact, I never looked for it. The records weren’t microfilmed and I already knew “everything” about the family from other records. If there was a will, it wasn’t going to tell me anything I didn’t already know anyway. Wrong. The will was short–“everything to my wife.” The order probating the will mentioned all the heirs, including a child in a mental institution, complete with the institution’s name and address. If possible, don’t leave records ignored because you “know everything.” There still may be clues in those materials. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
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