When viewing any document or record, ask yourself if there is someone who is not listed that should be. In reviewing a petition to administrate an estate of a male relative, I noticed that the spouse–who supposedly survived the husband–was not listed. His children were listed. The wife was not. She should have been listed with the other heirs if she were alive and they were married at the time of his death. Her absence is something I need to research.
Even if you don’t know all the details of an item, include what information you do know about an item along with whatever provenance you have. Your information does not need to be written in formal academic prose. Your provenance does not need references to citations. What the information and provenance does need to be is recorded as completely as you have it. For the button in the illustration: This election button was found in the collection of materials in the home of Keith and Connie (Ufkes) Neill of Carthage, Illinois, after Keith passed in 2020. The unnamed candidate was running for Hancock County Treasurer (memory of Michael John Neill). He was a relative of Keith through his grandmother, Fannie (Rampley) Neill (memory of Michael John Neill). The […]
If you are fortunate enough to find an estate settlement for an ancestor that lists bills paid out by the estate, read through all those payments. It may be tedious, but I have found clues to religious affiliations, newspaper subscriptions, and other references that could lead to additional records and materials to search.
An old tip that’s still worth remembering… Ira Sargent is enumerated in the 1850 and 1860 US Census under the last name of his step-father, Asa Landon. Ira was born in the 1840s and his father, Clark Sargent, died around 1848. By 1850 his mother had married Asa Landon. Ira’s 1870 marriage record is probably the first document where he actually provided his name to the records clerk. Chances are someone else gave his name to the 1850 and 1860 census enumerator. Your relative might have known his “name,” but might never have had a chance to give it to the clerk, enumerator, etc. until after he was “of age.” Is that why you can’t find your person in any record until they get married?
This is your periodic reminder to back up your digital data. You’ll be glad you did if something goes wrong. And sooner or later, something will.
Always consider the possibility that your relative may be listed with only their initials in any document or record. Some individuals who did not necessarily prefer using their initials were still recorded without their full first or middle name anyway. Some census takers were particularly fond of using initials and the occasional newspaper editor resorted to using them as well. My great-grandfather Mimka John Habben often went by “M. J.” My paternal grandfather, shown in the picture with his truck, often used just his as well–he also occasionally signed his name this way as well.
Whenever you locate a deed of interest in a local county record book, look at the deeds before and after (at least two or three). Your ancestor might have recorded more than one deed at one time or the person from whom he purchased property may have recorded multiple deeds one after the other. Multiple deeds for your ancestor provide property details that will need to be researched further so you can have all records of real property acquisition and ownership termination for your ancestor. If the person from whom you ancestor purchased property recorded multiple deeds at the same time, there may be some clues there about your ancestor’s larger “network” of friends, associates, and relatives or about the person from whom your ancestor purchased the property.
If your ancestor’s chattel goods were sold at auction after their death, is there also a valuation of the specific property? Comparing the appraised value of items to the same value can be interesting. Actual prices can vary quite a bit, depending on the item, who is bidding on it, and how badly they want to purchase it. What’s more interesting is to see how the values of items purchased by close family members compare to the appraised value. I’ve seen a few cases where the prices paid by the widow were a fraction of the appraised value and items purchased by others were closer to the appraised value. The sale of items may have been a legal necessity, but in some locations, neighbors may have avoided serious […]
De Moss, Van Hoorebeke, Van De Walle, and similar names with “de,” “van,” and “van de,” have spaces between the prefix and the rest of the name. The problem is that sometimes they don’t have a space between the “van,” “van de,” or “de” and are all run together. When querying any electronic database for these names, make certain to search for DeMoss, De Moss, and maybe even just “Moss,” Different sites handle these names differently and what worked to locate the name on one site may not work on another. Occasionally Van De gets morphed into “Vander.”
We don’t normally do “news” on here, but the FamilySearch United States Wills and Deeds Experimental Search is worth a look. Automated reading of script reading of local record copies of land and probate records in the United States are included. Keep in mind that the material indexed is only what is in the FamilySearch collection.
I located a guardianship petition in Illinois in 1908. It mentions the two minor children, the guardian, and the guardian’s sureties. The documents indicated the ages of the children, but I got to wondering about the ages of the others on the document. The actual guardian being appointed was in his early twenties. His mother was living but his father (the original guardian) had passed away a few months earlier. The sureties on the guardian’s bond were his uncles, men in their fifties. One uncle is known to have had twelve children and probably had enough obligations as it was. If you have a document that involves several family members who were living at the time, have you thought about what stages they were at in their lives […]
As genealogists continue to operate in a research climate where more records are available digitally, it’s important to ask: What should I expect to find in this place and time for this record? If I find an online record copy of a will in an Illinois in 1890, is that all there is? No. There should be a case file with a originals of probate documents–including the will. If I find an online record copy of a will in Virginia in in 1760, is that all there is? There may be other references to the estate in court order books, but probably no case file of loose papers. If a couple marries in Ohio in 1830 and I find an entry in a marriage register, is there likely […]
The apparent jagged cut on this 1809 deed from Harford County, Maryland, was likely intentional. The image in this post was made from the original deed retained by my ancestor–the grantee in this document. Originally this deed was part of a larger piece of paper. The text of the deed was written twice and the special cut made to give one copy to each of the parties involved in the indenture. Then, if necessary, the two pieces could be put back together to authenticate the indenture. If two documents claiming to be the original did not match then one was fraudulent and it would be up to a court to adjudicate. The cuts will only appear on the original. The record copy of this deed (on file in […]
Did your ancestor or relative have both a legal and a religious marriage ceremony? If the dates of the ceremonies are different, make certain you indicate which is which in your research notes. Don’t neglect researching both sets of records as well. There may be information about the couple in one record that is not in the other.
When I think of yearbooks, I think of ones from high school or college. Grades earlier than that usually do not come to mind. That’s a mistake. The image in the illustration is from a 1954 yearbook from John Deere Junior High School in Moline, Illinois. This publication included 9th graders and 8th graders. The original is in the possession of a descendant of one of the young ladies shown in their home economics classroom. Historical societies or local libraries may have copies of these yearbooks or could give you direction in locating copies. Some of them may have been scanned and made available digitally online. Another search approach may be to reach out to online groups for the towns where the school was located and see if […]
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