Season’s Greetings from Genealogy Tip of the Day. Enjoy your time with the living relatives this holiday season. Your ancestors will still be waiting….(grin!). ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
If your ancestor’s last name has a “t” in it, did the “cross” on the “t” over another letter and “change” the name? My Butlers became Butters for that very reason. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Offer expired! Thanks. You can subscribe at our regular annual rate of $17.00 at http://www.casefileclues.com/subscribe.html ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Always make certain you know what you are searching. I recently wasted nearly fifteen minutes searching for someone in the 1900 census before I realized the database I was actually querying was the 1930 census. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Most of us use chronologies in our ancestral research–consider making a resume for your ancestor. List what years he worked what jobs. Census and city directories are great ways to start getting this information, but death certifiates, obituaries, estate inventories, etc. all may give occupational clues. Don’t pad your ancestral resume like you might your own. Stick to documentable facts (grin!). ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Don’t forget today is the last day to vote for “Genealogy Tip of the Day” as one of the top 40 genealogy blogs. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ft40-2011voting They are encouraging multiple voting–I think someone on staff is a Chicago native. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Some database search interfaces allow users to search on other fields besides names. If the site you are using allows this, consider searching on ages, places of birth, father’s place of birth, etc. I’ve made some interesting discoveries without entering in any nanes on a set of search boxes. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Before you spend hours searching an online database, determine how complete the database is. Some sets of data include all records in a specific series. Others may be in progress, only including part of the time span the title covers. The webpage title may say the materials are from 1850 to 1950, with 1850-1855, 1870-1880, and 1940-1950 being included. Always read the details. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Take a look at a perpetual calendar and see what day of the week your ancestor was married, died, etc. People might have avoided getting married on a certain day of the week or having a funeral on a certain day, but being born and dying are different. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
While state statute usually defines these terms, it is generally true that an heir of a deceased person is someone who inherits from the deceased based upon their biological relationship to the deceased. A legatee is typically someone whom the deceased has mentioned in their will. Heirs are related. Legatees may be related. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Don’t forget if you have found that will in the packet of probate papers for your ancestor that there might be a “will record” contained with the probate records as well. Not all jurisdictions kept these records, but many did. Perhaps if the will has a difficult to read portion, is partially missing, or open to interpretation, the transcription in the “will record,” done at the time the will was proved, will answer your questions. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Repeated names can be clues to names of earlier family members. Repeated names are not guaranteed to mean that any given ancestor had a particular name, but names used over and over may mean something. I was looking over a list of heirs of Barbara Haase who died in 1903 and realized that out of her twentysome grandchildren, two were named Kate. I had never noticed that before. Does it mean anything? At this point, I’m not certain. However, if I eventually get “candidates” parents of Barbara, I’ll work first on any couple where the wife is named Katherine or the name Katherine appears frequently. Don’t just look in your direct line of descent for name clues. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Genealogy Tip of the Day has been nominated for one of the Family Tree Top 40 blogs. Remember that Tip of the Day is not about being long-winded, selling stuff, or dreaming up things we’ve never done or used. Just quick tips. Give us a vote–and pretend you’re from Chicago–vote often. That’s it for the plug–now back to the tips! Thanks for the nomination. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
It does not matter how “odd” the name is, even if one detail fits. A very distant relative of mine claimed online that my aunt died in Chicago in 1935, because he found someone with her same name dying there. Problem is that the Chicago person isn’t the relative he thinks it is. If he had done research in the local records where the family actually lived (a distance from Chicago), he would have located the person’s probate file which indicated she died in the 1950s. The same’s the same doesn’t mean the person is. When in doubt, check it out. And if you aren’t in doubt, get that way. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
While tracking a relative through census records, it appears that she left Missouri shortly before her first marriage. Forty years later, after a divorce, she appears in that county in one census record. If I had not known where her family was from, her residence there would have seemed pretty random. Now I’m reminded that occasionally when a residence seems “random” that there might just be something I don’t know. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Recent Comments