A witness to a document is stating that the individual who signed the document looked like they were of sound mind and it appeared that they were acting of their own volition and not under any influence of another person or substance. Witnesses to a document may have known your ancestor. Witnesses to a document may have been related to your ancestor. Witnesses may have been just another warm body in the Justice of the Peace’s office at the same time as your ancestor. Witnesses do not have to be related to your ancestor and they don’t have to be “friends” with your ancestor. They could be, but they do not have to be. Keep that in mind. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day […]
An 1830 document indicates your ancestor is an infant and has a guardian appointed for him. The next year the ancestor marries. What gives? What gives is that an “infant” in the legal sense is someone who is under the age of majority. While that can vary from state to state and has changed over time, it typically is 18 for females and 21 for males. So your ancestor could be 15 years old and be an infant. Just something to keep in mind. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Locating a divorce record gave me a new spelling for my grandmother’s maiden name of Trautvetter. The new (to me) variant is “troutfitter.” I performed a google search for the name, finding many references. Most of the sites had to do with fishing and I was initially confused. It took me a few minutes before I realized most of the “troutfitter” references were a play on the words “trout” and “outfitter.” Then it made sense, but I also realized that for the majority of the pages I located “troutfitter” was not based upon someone’s name. Oh well. Remember that there is a word outside of genealogy. I will still look for Troutfitter (and Trautfitter) references, but won’t assume they all have to do with with the last name. […]
You interviewed great-Aunt Myrtle five years ago when you first began your research. When was the last time you asked her questions? Maybe even discussing with her some of what you have found will cause her to “remember” things she never would have thought of if her memory had not been jogged. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Does your local library have access to any database or sites that could be helpful in your genealogical research? Many libraries subscribe to a variety of databases including magazine and journal articles, historical archives, etc. Of course you should find out what genealogical databases your library has access to, but there may be variety of other databases in the reference section that could provide useful to your research. Nearby university libraries may be a gold mine as well. Even if they don’t have a genealogy collection. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Many database searches allow users to perform soundex searches. This allows users to look for names that “sound like” the name that was entered in the search box. This is great as long as you are aware of this and do not overlook reasonable variants of the last name in the process. For this reason it is good to know the soundex codes for your last names and their variants. Not because you need them to search, but so you know what names you need to perform soundex searches for in order to not miss any results. The last name Demoss occasionally gets written as Demop (because the “ss” is made like a “p” sometimes. A soundex search for Demoss will not bring up Demop because the two […]
Have you tried searching for that ancestral last name by cutting off part of it? Perhaps “De Moss” was entered as “Moss.” Perhaps Van der Walle was entered as just “Wall.” Goldenstein might have been entered as “Golden.” The list goes on. Consider what might have happened if someone dropped the first syllable or two of your ancestor’s last name. Then try the same for the last syllable or two. You might be surprised at what you find. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
In some states, older county records have been placed at the state archives. The state archives may even have created indexes to some of these older records. For any state where you have relatives, locate the website for the state archives (a google search for “yourstate state archives,” where yourstate is the state name will probably do the trick). You may be surprised what you find there. I located the divorce for my globetrotting relative Philip Troutfetter at the Colorado State Archives and am waiting for a copy. Never hurts to try. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
They put new carpet in my office at work. The drawback was that I had to take everything out. The upside was I “found” folders and papers I had forgotten about or mislaid. Do you have stacks of copies in your genealogy workspace that have been neglected? So you even know what is in those stacks? Go through and clean up your genealogy work area. At the very least you may be more efficient. At the very most you may find something you completely forgot you ever had. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Have you considered helping someone else with their genealogy? I’m not suggesting spending months of intense research. But have you considered: Offering to take pictures of stones in a nearby cemetery? This offer could be posted to a Rootsweb mailing list. Best to start with a small cemetery. Performing lookups in a book you have at home? Answering a query on a mailing list that does not relate to one of your families? Sometimes it feels good to just help someone else with their research. Sometimes it generates good “genealogy karma.” And sometimes when you help someone else, you learn something that later helps you with your own research. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
If you are stuck on an ancestor, you might consider hiring a professional to solve it for you. Sometimes this is cost prohibitive. Professional genealogists have bills to pay too and need to charge for their research services. However, some will do consulting work–where they read over your organized material and make suggestions. Sometimes that is all you need–suggestions of what to do next. I did this recently and it was exactly what I needed. Also I really just needed another set of eyes to look over what I had and make certain that I had not overlooked something. One warning. Organize your information first. Any professional receiving unorganized information will need to organize it. That takes time and increases the number of their billable hours. A plumber […]
Genealogists should be asking themselves “why?” whenever they locate a document. Sometimes the answer is easy. Death certificates are created because someone dies, marriage certificates are created because someone was married. Of course, vital records (and some other records) are kept for reasons somewhat unrelated to your ancestor’s existence. Wills are recorded because someone died and the estate needed to be settled. Guardianships are recorded because a parent died and left an estate and minor children. Deeds are recorded because land was sold. Sometimes deeds are recorded because the surviving spouse died and the property needed to be transferred. Sometimes this fact will not even be indicated on the deed. Anything that falls “outside normal parameters” should really cause you to ask “why?” My wife’s Roman Catholic ancestor […]
Do not limit your search for obituaries to just one newspaper. Your search may start with the newspaper closest to where your ancestor lived or died, but it should not end there. If your ancestor lived in an urban area, consider looking at other papers or suburban newspapers near where the ancestor lived. If your ancestor was in a rural area, look at nearby papers and always look at the newspaper from the county seat. Also consider foreign language or ethnic newspapers if your ancestor was an immigrant or the child of immigrants. Different newspapers do not alway give the exact same information. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
I do not have too much of my own ancestry posted in the public trees at Ancestry.com because I do not have time to answer all potential inquiries. However, I do have information posted in two public trees on two of my more problematic families. My hope is that the automatic search at Ancestry will locate something I have overlooked, or that a relative crawls out of the woodwork and contacts me. I’ve already had two relatives send me e-mail messages. The problem is that my responses are apparently not getting back to them. I have had three messages from different relatives in response to one of my trees. I sent return e-mails almost immediately. No response. Two replied to my tree again a few months later. Again […]
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