I’m not a big fan of rushing to the computer to enter everything into a database the minute I discover it. Without getting on that soapbox, consider sketching out family relationships on paper before entering them into your genealogical database. Think about the information before you just start mindlessly entering it into a database. Thinking and analyzing are always good. Your initial conclusion may not be the correct one. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
In any index, be it printed or online, determine how complete it actually is. Are there counties missing, either because the index or database is in progress or records have been destroyed? ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
If you’ve used an online index to take you directly to a record, don’t just look at the desired entry and immediately go back to do more searching. Look at the entries before and after the one for your ancestor. How are they the same? How are they different? This is very helpful for records you’ve never look at before. And for census records, look at the names of the neighbors and where they are from. There may be clues in those names and locations as well. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Is what you think your ancestor’s “first name” really his or her “middle name?” It could be that your ancestor is simply hiding under a first name that you do not know is his. My Ira Sargent was actually William Ira Sargent and it’s as William Sargent that he marries in 1870. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Remember that an abbreviation might not stand for what you think it does. There was a time when “Ia” stood for the state of Indiana, not the state of Iowa as it does today. So make certain you really know what something stands for. Readers of Casefile Clues will see this “in action” in issue 7. Attendees at the recent Germantown, TN workshop saw it as well. But there are other examples besides the “Ia” one. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Are you using just one index or finding aid to a set of records? Is there another index or another database or website that indexes the same records? If so, that other site or source might have read names differently or offer different search options. Do not limit yourself to just one site. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
I’ve been working on a relative who was married at least 6 times. To help keep myself organized, I made charts for: her marriages where she was in each census year what each census enumeration said about her what years she had what last names who was the father of what children Just organizing the information about her helped me keep everything straight in my own mind. The relative will be featured in an upcoming issue of Casefile Clues. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
As a reminder, facts cannot be copyrighted. The paragraph you write about how you proved a date of birth is something you can copyright and typically copyrighted the minute you write it. The fact that Johann was born on 18 June 1832 is not something you can copyright. Otherwise if facts could be copyrighted, I’d be taking claim to “2 plus 2 equals 4.” (Grin!). ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Is the spelling of your ancestor’s name in a census or other record a clue as to how your relatives said your ancestor’s name? Elecksander was probably Alexander, said so as to be spelled another way. Cathren in a census was probably Catherine, but probably pronounced “cath rin” as opposed to “Cath er in.” Spelling might hide more clues than you think. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
If your ancestor has half siblings, don’t forget to search for them as well. In some families half-siblings barely speak and never interact. In others, they are as close as full siblings. Just because in one family those relationships were strained doesn’t mean they were in others. And your ancestor may have half-siblings and you may not even know it. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
For our new fans/followers: Genealogy Tip of the Day is one genealogy tip published every day to our blog (http://genealogytipoftheday.blogspot.com/ and the Genealogy Tip of the Day Fan Page on Facebook. You can also follow us by clicking on the links on the blog page at http://genealogytipoftheday.blogspot.com/. Tip of the Day is free–but is sponsored by my weekly newsletter Casefile Clues (http://blog.casefileclues.com/). Tips usually come from my own research and writing. Content and topics are pretty random–just whatever comes across my desk in the process of doing my own research and writing. You don’t have to subscribe to the newsletter to get the tips. The tips are, by the nature of tips, short and to the point. Once in a while I may mention a website, but we […]
Need to know what questions were asked in what census? Here’s a page that has links to all census questions asked in every census from1850 and onwards. http://usa.ipums.org/usa/voliii/tEnumForm.shtml ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Don’t forget that the 1910 Census asks for the length of the current marriage. This can be helpful in estimating a marriage date. And in some cases, there will be a notation as to how many times the person has been married. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
I’ve been working on Aunt Emma for the next issue of Casefile Clues. In searching for her in various census records, I have become convinced she pronounced her first name as “Emmer.” At least that’s how almost every census taker spelled it, Emmar, Emmer, Emer, etc. Think about how the first name was said. Sometime English language names were said in ways that resulted in a wide variety of spellings. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Remember that if your ancestor was married more than once, records on those “other” spouses may be helpful to your direct line research. A second spouse may provide clues about the ancestor’s other spouses, the ancestor’s family, etc. And if the “other” spouse got a military pension, those records may be helpful as well. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
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