In most areas of the United States, a section is 640 acres, a quartersection is 160 acres, and a Congressional Township is 6 miles on a side. There are exceptions–especially in Ohio. If you are doing research in a state that uses sections and townships and your ancestors were property owners you should either know or find out. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Remember that just because your ancestor signs their “mark” on a document it doesn’t mean they were illiterate. In some cases, a person might have been told to “make their mark” which was unique to them, and as long as it was witnessed, legally binding. Remember also that if your ancestor was ill and on their death bed when they signed their will, making their mark might have been all they could do. I have several ancestors who signed numerous documents, but made their “mark” on their will, generally because they were advanced in years. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
As a short reminder, I’m leading a group research trip to the Family History Library in Salt Lake this May. Going with a group can be a great way to have your first (or second) library research experience. There’s more details on our trip on my website at: http://rootdig.blogspot.com/2010/06/reserve-spot-in-my-2011-family-history.html Michael ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
For those times when locating information seems easy, stop and take time to analyze what you have already located. This is particularly good advice if you’re searching on a collateral family in hopes of learning more about the direct line. Get off the websites, get off the internet, email, stop gathering more information, etc. and look at what you have. Sketch out relationships, make chronologies, make timelines, etc. You may see errors you didn’t see before or opportunities you have overlooked. Either way, you’re better off! Sometimes it pays to stop collecting for a while and do some analyzing. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Here the clue is pretty obvious. The first household has a father-in-law named Henry J. Fecht and the adjacent house has someone with the exact name aged 18.Seems highly coincidental. Look at the first names of members of adjacent households, not just the last names. Are there clues in those names? In this case, it turns out the older Henry J. Fecht is the grandfather of the younger one. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Do you have all place names spelled correctly in your genealogical database? I’m not talking about the German village that you can barely read on great-grandma’s death certificate. I’m talking about places you know where they are and can easily verify the spelling. It never hurts to check and you may find that you have overlooked some records in the process. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Remember that in many cases, the indexer indexing the record you are using was not familiar with the names in the area where the records were created. In most cases, they are reading the names “cold.” Keep that in mind when formulating searches and contemplating alternate spellings. You may know what it says. Someone else may not. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Are there occupational clues hidden in the inventory of your ancestor’s estate? Sometimes it can be difficult determining what your pre-1850 ancestor’s occupation was. The inventory of the personal items in his estate may hold a clue. Be careful about drawing conclusions though and compare to other inventories to see what makes your ancestor’s different–every one had kitchen utensils and a chamberpot. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
The vast majority of records genealogists use were not created for genealogists. Probate records were created to settle estates, land records were used to document land transfers, census record were used to collect statistical information about citizens (and in the US to apprortion representatives), church records were kept to document that certain sacraments had been performed, etc. If you don’t know why a record was created–find out. Learning why may help you understand and interpret the item you have found. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
If you arrived at a person’s date of birth from a date of death and an age at date of death then the resulting date of birth should be indicated as one that was calculated, not one the record actually stated. There are two reasons for this–1) never indicate a record says something it didn’t (the birth date was not actually written on the record) and 2) who ever calculated the age might have done so incorrectly before it was written on the record or put on the stone. Genealogists often use “Cal” for such calculated dates and your source for that calculated date should indicate the document that provided the specific age and the date the person was that age. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip […]
Is there a book on a collateral branch of your family that may provide information on your direct lineage? My great-grandfather’s sister married a Henerhoff. A genealogy of the Henerhoff family contained significant information on my great-great-grandparents whose only connection to the Henerhoffs was that their daughter married one. It pays to look. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
If you can’t find your ancestor in a census, consider that he or she might have been listed without their last name. My ancestor in 1870 is listed as Henry Jacobs. His actual name: Henry Jacobs Fecht. The census taker dropped the last name and Henry’s middle name became his last. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
If there is a relative who “disappeared” after a certain point in time, determine if there were any estates they might have inherited from after they disappeard. Was there a parent who died after the “disappearance?” Would the disappearing person have inherited part of an estate after they went “poof?” If so, the settlement of that estate would have required that they be found or at least their absence be explained. A cousin died in the 1940s with no children, and court records go into details about the searches made for his brother who went “poof” in the 1920s. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
In current genealogy practice, the adjectives primary and secondary refer to information. Primary information is given by someone who had first hand knowledge of something. Information provided by others is considered to be secondary. Any source can have primary and secondary information, depending upon who provided it and how they came to know it. If I am with my grandmother when she dies, I may be the informant on her death certificate. The information I provide on her death would be primary information–I have first hand knowledge. The information I provide on her parents would be secondary as I do not have first hand knowledge of her birth—I wasn’t there. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
In any record, make certain you take note of all column headings. This is particularly true when taking screen shots of record images or taking digital pictures. One does not want to interpret information incorrectly and that can easily happen if column headings are not recorded or transcribed when you originally view the record. Also saves the time of having to go back! ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
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