If your ancestor went somewhere “out of the blue” to get married and married someone from that “out of the blue” location, have you determined why they went there? It might not have been to find a spouse. I discovered an uncle worked in Nebraska for several months on a farm near where his cousin lived. The uncle didn’t meet his wife while in Nebraska, but it very easily could have happened. In this case, I already knew about the cousin and where he lived so his name and residence were not a surprise to me. This newspaper reference has got me to thinking about other relatives who married someone they had met a distance from home–and I had not figured out what the connection was. In some […]
If your ancestor’s death record says they were born in Hamilton, Illinois, is the reference to the city of Hamilton, Illinois, which is in Hancock County, Illinois, or is it a reference to Hamilton County, Illinois, with the word “County” omitted? Hamilton County is in southern Illinois and quite a distance from Hancock County where the city of Hamilton is located. There are many US locations where a town has the same name as a county but the town of that name is not located in the county of that same name. It’s not just the United States where the same name can be used for political jurisdictions that serve different purposes and where the smaller jurisdiction is not located within the one that is larger. Even if […]
I wrote a little story about my Grandma Neill on my personal Facebook page. The details do not really matter. To me and to others who knew both my grandmothers it likely was obvious to whom I was referring. People who didn’t know both of the reasonably well had no idea which grandma I was referencing. Veiled or missing references do not always matter in off-the-cuff Facebook posts. However, in writing or materials that will hopefully be read by others and by individuals long after the writer is deceased, clarity and specificity does matter. Don’t neglect stating “the obvious” in any genealogical writing you do. Your reader is someone who does not have any knowledge of the individuals involved. They may also not be aware of local history, […]
Putting an ancestor’s life in context matters, but there are things to consider before just assuming that every historical event had an impact on your ancestor’s life in a meaningful way. National and global events are not the only ones that potentially mattered to your ancestor. Regional, state/province, or local events may have mattered to your ancestor as well. It’s possible that certain regionalized events impacted your ancestor more than some national events did. It is also worth stating specifically that not every event had an impact on your ancestor. When my grandmother was born, the Dawes Committee was working on drafting what would later be referred to as the Dawes Plan. Did that impact her parents living in the United States? Was it something her father might […]
Military widow’s pension application files often contain evidence regarding their marriage to the soldier. If the widow is fortunate, she has (or can easily get) a certified copy of her marriage record. In other cases, the widow may have to rely on testimony of individuals who were present at her wedding. If the marriage took place forty years before the statement and a significant distance from where the widow resided, ask yourself: Why was this person at the wedding–were they a relative? How did the widow find this person all these years later–did they keep in touch? Are they still living near each other (but in a different state) all these years later. Why? It’s great when a deposition or affidavit from a witness provides evidence of your […]
When querying genealogical databases, it’s not always necessary to keep track of what searches you conducted–particularly if the individual is easily found. But when a family cannot be easily located in the 1860 census, instead of pounding away harder at the keyboard or swearing, keep a list of the searches you have conducted. Track the options you used. Track how you formulated wildcard searches. Track the nicknames and diminutives you searched for as well. Track the range for year of birth if that was one of the search parameters. It’s impossible to troubleshoot your search process if the only place you keep tabs on what you are doing is in your head.
It can be tempting to think that if one keeps looking and tries hard enough, that there’s “got to be” a document somewhere that answers all your questions. Sometimes. But most of the time there’s not. To be certain, I’ve found a page of court testimony that outlined the family relationships and military pension affidavits that answered many of my questions. But in most situations, determining the relationships required looking over all the snippets of information I had from a variety of records, analyzing those snippets, and trying to determine what they said in the aggregate. No clue is too small. There might be that one piece of paper in a courthouse that will answer all your questions, but likely there’s not. Chances are it’s quite a few […]
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Is it possible that your relative lived in an area for a few years and left behind no records at all? I have an ancestor who married probably in Kentucky in the latter part of the 1810s. At least I’m assuming there was an actual marriage as they lived together the rest of their lives and had over a dozen children. But her parents? I’ve started to wonder if the reason that I cannot find them is that they were only really “passing through” the area where their daughter met her husband. If they rented a home (or more likely a farm), there would be no records of land ownership or property taxes. If chattel property was taxed, I need to determine what personal property (both in terms […]
If your ancestors were movers who frequently owned property, make certain you have obtained copies of all their local land records. Deeds where they are grantors (sellers) may provide some details about where they moved. Transactions on their property in the area they left from may not have been finalized until after their move. The deed of sale may indicate their new county or area of residence or acknowledgements of the deed in front of a local official may indicate where that official was permitted to act. Either way it could help you determine where they went.
When any index takes you to an image in a set of images or a page in a record book, look at images and pages before for additional images or additional pages. Ancestry.com’s index to Missouri probate records indicated that there were a few pages for a man named George Trask who died in St. Louis in the 1860s. Scrolling beyond the initial ones indicated there were well over 100 images. Whenever I locate a land record for a relative in the local office’s land record books, I look at the deeds recorded before and after the one I found in case the person recorded multiple deeds at the same time. When you find any record for a person, make certain you have the whole item or set […]
In any record where you find an ancestor, look at adjacent records and see who appears in those records. Are there any clues in those names or records that could help you learn more about your ancestor? If it’s a death record, did they die of the same disease? If it’s a marriage record, were other family members (or friends) getting married on the same day? If it’s a naturalization petition, did other immigrants from the same area naturalize at the same time? Who filed land claims on the same day as your ancestor? Who appears next to your ancestor on a list of names that signed a petition? Did someone file three land records on the same date and they are recorded together in the records book? […]
If your ancestor was a landowner and a drop of water fell on the property they owned, do you know what path it would have taken to get to the ocean? There may be a geography lesson in there for you.
If you are stuck trying to find a document or a record or are having difficulty in interpreting something a clerk has written in a document or in a record, remember the perspective of the clerk. The clerk may not have understood what your ancestor said, may have been poorly educated himself and cared little about the accuracy of the records he left behind. Or the clerk may have been very concerned about the accuracy and reliability of his records and your ancestor may have been vague in his answers, less than honest, or generally grumpy and unwilling to provide information.
The date that a couple obtained a marriage license is not necessarily the date of the marriage. Getting a license does not mean the couple was actually married. Things can happen after the license and before the ceremony. If the license was returned with the name of officiant and date of the ceremony, then the couple got married. If you only have the marriage license date, record it as the marriage license date. And always pay attention to the how the dates on a document are described.
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