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Have you thought about how long after your ancestor’s death he or she may be mentioned in a record? My ancestor Peter Bieger died in 1855. He is mentioned by name in a 1906 deed when his grandchildren are signing a quitclaim deed for the property. Fifty-one years after he died. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!

Researching “completely” a family you know may do one of several things for you or your research. You may learn something about research or something about the family you did not know before. Recently I obtained deeds showing how a house and a farm were sold after the owner’s died. In both cases, I knew all the vitals on the family. In both cases I understood the records better because I “knew” the family. That helps me understand records later when I don’t know the family. Sometimes it is easier to learn about records when the family isn’t as foreign to you as the records. And in one case I learned a few things about the family that were new to me. Another reason to search for everything. […]

I wasted an hour today looking for a set of documents I scanned. I scanned and saved them when I was in a hurry and the file name was very helpful, “ufkes.” When a last name is your mother’s maiden name, MANY files contain that word. I eventually searched the entire hard drive for files with “ufkes” in the title, but there were MANY that I had to go through. I renamed the file with a more descriptive name “john_ufkes_cancelled_homestead_file” Are your file names helpful? ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!

Is there some record type of source you have never utilized because you thought it was too difficult to use, too difficult to understand, or was hard to access? Consider expanding your research horizons and make today (or this week) the time you use that new (to you) source. You may make some wonderful discoveries. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!

When writing genealogy information for anyone to read, avoid using terms like “Grandma” or “Uncle” without fully identifying the person. Vague references will only confuse the reader. The same is true when asking people questions in an interview. It took me forever to get my grandma Neill to understand that I was asking questions about HER Grandfather Trautvetter, not her dad (who was my dad’s Grandpa Trautvetter). Once you’ve had children, it does get a little confusing who you mean when you say “Grandma.” Don’t leave someone in a hundred years confused about who you meant. Be specific. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!

I am on entirely too many email lists for genealogy. Finally at long last I sat down in my gmail (which I use for my genealogy email) and made a separate filter for each one. Messages to these mailing lists then never go to my main inbox and I don’t see them unless I visit the folder individually. Now my inbox is not overflowing with these messages and I my inbox can stay clear for the “important” ones. This is particularly helpful as I get my genealogy email on my blackberry and before the filter I was ALWAYS getting email on my phone. A little annoying. Email lists are great for genealogy, but now I can read them when I want–not have them flying at me 24/7. ———————————— […]

In some families and ethnic groups, there are tendencies to pass on certain names. Sometimes this is done in a certain fashion, perhaps the oldest son for the father’s father, the oldest daughter for the father’s mother, and then on down the line. Remember that this practice was a tendency in some families and is not proof of anyone’s name at all. Names can be used as clues, but they are “extremely circumstantial” ones at best. And if both grandfathers are named John and both grandmothers are named Anna, then you really have a mess! ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!

Remember that just because your ancestor took out a marriage license does not necessarily mean that he got married. Make certain there is a return as well with the date of the ceremony given by the officiant. Most people who take out a license get married, but once in a while something happens between the courthouse and the ceremony. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!

Many genealogists would benefit from having a legal dictionary. It doesn’t have to be a current one. I picked up an old edition of Black’s Law Dictionary on Ebay several years ago for $8–shipping was nearly that much as well. Current editions are much more expensive. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!

Just because someone is listed as someone’s child in a census doesn’t mean they actually were their child. Could they have been a step-child or a neighbor child who was taken in? And if person A is person B’s “cousin” the exact biological relationship may not be as simple as one thinks. Their parents could have been siblings or half-siblings or the relationship could have even more distant. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!

Keep in mind that a last name that may be unusual in one area may be very common in another. The name Schulmeyer is not too common in Iowa where my wife’s relatives settled in the 1850s. Yet when I looked at the church records for Beberstedt, where the family was from, there were several of them. It seemed like when looking at the church christenings like half the births were either to a Schulmeyer mother or a Schulmeyer father. A slight exgaggeration perhaps, but close enough to the truth to keep me on my research toes. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!

Upon occasion, one hears fellow genealogists being slightly judgemental about a specific ancestor. Instead of getting bogged down in that line of thinking (which doesn’t help your research any), think “why?” Putting yourself in your ancestor’s shoes gives you a different perspective. If you were twenty-six years old, widowed, the mother of two small children, unable to speak English and living where you had no relatives, what might you do? You might marry the first German speaking single male around–one who would not have been your choice if you were twenty years old and still living at home with no children to support. If your great-grandfather “disappeared” consider where he might have gone and what he might have done in an attempt to find him. Was there a […]

Are you working to get more than just birth and death dates for your ancestors? After a while, lists of names and dates get a little dry for even the most serious genealogist. Consider fleshing out other details on your ancestor. County histories, newspapers, and court records are all great places to get beyond the bare facts. In lectures, I refer to my ancestor’s 1850 era Mississippi River tavern as “Barbara’s Bar and Grill.” The local newspaper referred to it as a “house of ill repute.” You never know what you will find until you look. I still don’t have Barbara’s date of birth, but I know a lot about her from court records and newspapers. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!