There can be much gnashing of teeth about what spelling is “correct.” It is important to remember that 20th and 21st century concerns over spellings and names matching exactly were not a concern in an earlier time. In some places they were not even a concern in the early 20th century. Documents should be transcribed as they are written, even if the name is not spelled “right.” If a census spells great-grandma’s name as “Fany,” that’s how I transcribe the document for my records. Because that is what it said. If my great-grandma’s birth certificate spells her name clearly as “Francis,” then that is what I transcribe the record as. I don’t change it. If great-grandma herself always signed it as Fannie and that’s what most of her […]
When you find that relative in a city directory, after you’ve saved their information and made certain you understand any abbreviations in the entry, check out the front matter. City directories often contain a variety of non-residential information in the front section of the book. Much of the information is geared towards helping individuals navigate city government, churches, libraries, and the like. But one never knows what will appear in the front section of a directory. This Colorado Springs directory from the very early 20th century contained a list of fire boxes. It also indicated all the various mail trains that ran to and from the city, when different courts were in session, and more. Always worth a look at the front matter.
We’ve changed the date for “More AI for Genealogy” to 19 November. Details on our announcement page. Still time to join us.
Tracking down those aunts and uncles who had no descendants is advised because it helps give the researcher a complete picture of the entire family and it helps all members of the family to be remembered. Those are excellent reasons. But there’s another reason. Some record on that relative with no children of their own could provide information on those relatives you can’t find out more about. This 1980 death certificate for my aunt listed a sister-in-law as the informant–complete with residential address in 1980. Had I been unable to track her down, the reference would have been extremely helpful. Any record on that relative with no descendants could tell you more about your relative’s life. It could also provide information on other family members as well. The […]
Subscribers to Casefile Clues should have received issue 5-9 today. If you did not, please let me know by emailing me. If you’d like to subscribe to Casefile Clues, visit our website to learn more.
In her 1901 divorce petition a relative indicated that she “heard” her estranged husband was living in Salt Lake City. It matters to me, in analyzing that piece of evidence, that she indicated she “heard” about his residence there. It means she probably did not have first hand knowledge of that information (firsthand knowledge would have included visiting him in Salt Lake). She also stated her date and place of marriage. That she had firsthand knowledge of because she was there when that happened as a participant. But when analyzing that bit of residential information for her estranged husband, I need to keep in mind how she acquired that bit of information. Her knowledge of his residence in Salt Lake City was secondary. Her knowledge of her date […]
A reminder from the past… If a relative was in the DAR, her application papers could provide valuable research clues, even if you have no interest in joining yourself. Older applications were approved with less stringent standards than today, but there may still be pieces of information contained in those applications that is unavailable elsewhere. Search for your potential ancestral connection at the DAR website. Search here for descendants of DAR patriots in the DAR database.
We’ve sent download links for those who ordered my presentation “Top Genealogy Tips of the Day.” These are the most popular tips from our website, based on traffic and interaction on Facebook. More details are on our announcement page. Email me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com if you ordered one and did not receive.
For reasons that totally elude me, I’m picking up a new project: determining the educational level of various direct line ancestors and their siblings. It sounded easy, but it’s turning out to be more of a project than I thought. I’m fortunate that in the United States there’s the 1940 census that asked the question of last grade of school completed. That census caught all four of my grandparents and all of their siblings but one (my parents were not alive in 1940). That’s the generation where I’ve decided to initially focus as my parents and their siblings is a fairly small group (my father had one brother and my mother had no siblings who survived infancy). The 1940 census is one place to ascertain educational levels. Death […]
As I looked through the list of graduates from the 1926 class of Loraine (Illinois) High School, I noticed one thing immediately: five of them apparently preferred their middle name over their first name. It was interesting that the middle initial was even used and not omitted entirely but perhaps someone felt that at least some homage needed to be paid to their entire name. Is that name you have for an ancestor actually a middle name? Are they occasionally lurking in other records under their first name? Sometimes we are fortunate enough to know a person’s actual first name. Other times we are not.
If accessing a court case is a part of your genealogical research, make certain you have accessed any records of summons or “appearance in court” requests that were issued. These items, typically addressed to a local sheriff, may help indicate when and where someone was living in a specific location. In the case of the illustration, the summons indicated that several of the defendants were not living in the state of Virginia in early 1830 when the summons was issued.
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Some census takers were plain lazy, some couldn’t spell, and some didn’t care. After you have exhausted all the variations on your ancestor’s first and middle names, consider that they might have been enumerated with just their initials. Or perhaps their first initial and their middle name spelled out. I have seen entire townships where no one apparently had a first name and everyone was named with their initials. I have seen locations where census takers used initials for non-English names instead of trying to spell them correctly. Maybe your ancestor was enumerated as J. Smith in the 1860 census. Now there’s a real problem.
Join me for one of these research trips in 2025: Library of Virginia FamilySearch Library Allen County Public Library
From a while back… In some cases the latest transcription of something might not be the best. If you’ve seen a published book of tombstone inscriptions from the 1990s, you still might want to look at that book of transcriptions done in the 1940s. Stones might have been more legible in 1940, some might not have been readable at all in 1990. That book of transcribed marriage records in the 1930s might contain handwriting interpretations with different renderings of certain words. The ink might not have been as faded in 1930 as it was when a later transcription was done. And the transcriptionist from 1930 might have been more familiar with local names than was the 1980 era transcriptionist. Do not always assume the latest publication is the […]
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