I saw the item in my storage unit and could not remember whose it originally was. It was in my parents’ home. It was in the room my Mom used as an office. But when I first looked at it, I could not remember whose it was. A few hours later, I remembered that it belonged to my Grandma Neill’s sister–Lillian (Trautvetter) Short. We moved items from my parents’ home quickly after my father passed. I thought I would never forget who items originally belonged to. It became apparent that I easily could forget and that the risk of that was only getting higher as time marched on. What I should have done is quickly identified the pieces as they were either packed up from my parents’ home […]
If relative A and relative B didn’t speak for the last half of their lives, it can be difficult determining how much of that estrangement to include in your family history. One approach is not to mention it at all. The other extreme is to record every personal detail you know. Failing to mention it (when it is known) results in a story that is not complete. Including every detail (especially if you lived through it) may be overkill. Grandpa H. never really forgave James for leaving the farm and not following in his footsteps. They never spoke after James moved to town. Uncle N. accused his brother of stealing gas from his farm tank and they never spoke after that. The brother never set foot on the […]
I was working on a German immigrant to Davenport, Iowa, who arrived in the 1850s as a single woman. She married a few years later and an older man was enumerated with her family in every federal census through 1880. His last name was her maiden name. It turned out he was her father. That was my assumption and research later indicated it was a correct one. What I assumed was that her father immigrated by himself because there’s never a wife with him in a US census. That was a wrong assumption as I discovered him with his wife (whose name was already known from other records) in the 1856 Iowa state census. She must have died by the 1860 census enumeration. I assumed also that the […]
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I first looked at this plat book years ago when I thought I “knew everything” and that the plat book showing properties and landowners would teach me nothing new. I was wrong. The 1890s map showed the eighty-parcel in section 10 of Hancock County, Illinois; Bear Creek Township owned my my forebear John Johnson. An adjacent landowner was Henry Sartorius. Sartorius was John’s father-in-law and a man who I had originally thought spent his entire life in Adams County, Illinois, after arriving in the United States. He did not. Sartorius only owned in Hancock County and lived there for a few years–he is not enumerated in any census records there. This plat book was the first document I found showing he lived in Hancock County–a document I thought […]
People are not usually mentioned in the newspaper before they are born, but they very well can be mentioned after their death. Limiting newspaper searches for a person’s life time can result in missing references to them in: An estate notice; A “days of the past” reference; An obituary where they are listed as a pre-deceased relative; A reference to their home or farm as the former residence of your deceased relative; and so on. Most newspaper references to a person are during that person’s life time. But there are times when the dead are mentioned in a newspaper. It’s not just the living who make the news.
A reminder… When transcribing a document or an item from a document, use brackets to indicate when you are “guessing” at a word or phrase or adding a word or phrase of your own. Personally I add words or phrases rarely, preferring to comment later if something warrants it. For example, “…beginning at a tree in the line of John [Rucker?] and continuing with his line…” In the above example, I might consider explaining after the transcription why I think the last name is Rucker. The word sic (Latin for “as is”) should be bracketed as well when it is used to indicate that you copied something exactly as it was in the document–even though it looked wrong. For example, “…to my son[sic] Elizabeth I leave my farm…”
Her name was not Capander Newman. The 1844 marriage reference in Marion County was to Cassander Newman. What looks like a “p” as the third letter of her name in the 19th century script was actually “ss.” Up through much of the 19th century, this usage was common. Usually the “p” that replaces the “ss” does not look like an actual “p.” If possible read the rest of the document to see if there is a letter you can clearly identify as a “p.” There probably is a difference. Unless the writer just insisted on making them the same way. It’s also worth noting that not all writers followed all the rules for writing script. But keep in mind this usage was common. The 1844 was marriage shown […]
Always consider reaching out to the local library to see if they have any materials that may assist you with your genealogical search. Review their website and their genealogy page (if any) before contacting the library. The answer to your question may be sitting on their website. Do not expect them to do the research for you and do not be surprised if they send you to some reference material to actually read for yourself. The best they may be able to do is to tell you what they have and how to access it. Budgets and staff time are sometimes limited. Librarians can be helpful, but they cannot be your personal research assistant. Reviewing their website and doing your homework first allows you to ask better questions […]
If your US relative obtained a pension based on his military service, affidavits and other information in the application have a good chance of documenting where the veteran (or his widow) lived after his active military service was over. This can be helpful for individuals who moved frequently or for whom you’ve had difficulty tracking their post-service movements. A 1903 affidavit in the pension file of Gardner Ramsey documents some of his family’s movements in Arizona and California in the late 1800s. US federal military pension records are housed at the National Archives. The FamilySearch Wiki has a page devoted to more information on these records.
If your ancestor was of an age where he could have served in the war between US and Mexico between 1846 and 1848, have you searched to see if he was in the war? Military service records, pension records, or other materials could provide significant information on your ancestor. Stories of service may not have been passed down to the current generation. The National Archives has a wonderful page with links to databases and other information about the Mexican War. If your ancestor received a land warrant based on his Mexican War service, he should appear as a warrantee on the Bureau of Land Management database of federal land patents.
My late Mother had this mug. Well, she didn’t have the actual mug shown in this image. This is a picture of a replacement mug I purchased after the original was knocked off a counter by a cat. I had given my daughter the mug when going through my Mom’s things and, when my daughter moved, the mug fell off a counter and broke into numerous pieces when it encountered the floor. My daughter now has a mug that she calls “Grandma’s mug.” But it’s not really the same one her Grandma had. This mug of course is not an antique and it’s not something that is being put forth as having been in the family for generations. The replacement was mainly for sentimental reasons. Do you know […]
If you relative had a known issues with their hearing, have you included this in your entry for them in your genealogical database? Difficulties hearing could have impacted your relative in a variety of ways, including occupational choices, ability to easily function in certain social settings, and their ability to hear and answer questions from census takers, record clerks, and the like.
From quite a while back… The middle entry on this page of 1838 baptisms from Aurich, Germany contains the entry for my ancestor. The fourth column contains the names of the sponsors. When I was trying to analyze the entry for my relative I thought the symbol in the middle red circle on the image were a part of the entry. Then I looked at the other two entries on the image I made and realized that the items in the circle were partially used to number each entry and were not a part of the names of the sponsors. If I had only copied the entry for my ancestor and not other entries on the same page, I might have missed that. Don’t copy only the entry […]
Do you notice who is not listed in records where other family members are? In going through a series of “gossip columns” for a family in the early 20th century, I noticed that one individual’s husband rarely attended anything. I’ve made a notation about his frequent absence in my compilation of the columns. There are other records where sometimes people who “should be listed” are not. This happens in more than the gossip columns of local newspapers. Are you making a notation of this in your analysis of the record? Some absences mean more than others. Missing family functions may just mean there’s been some sort of disagreement, that someone is a loner, or needs time away from their spouse. Failing to appear in a city directory may […]
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