[Genealogy] Four Words, Do You Ear What I Ear, and More

[Michael John Neill]

All concent (c)2025 Michael John Neill

Today's Post:
** Four Words
** Do You Ear What I Ear?
** NotebookLM Webinar Moved
** Consultations
** Upcoming Trips--don't wait to register


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Four Words
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Today on her Facebook page for *Evidence Explained*, Elizabeth Shown Mills
<https://www.facebook.com/evidenceexplained/?fref=ts> posted a “thought
prompt:”

Your Best Advice in Four Words or Less

My contributions to the effort were:

   - There’s always exceptions.
   - No one knows everything.
   - Break every rule once.

I stand by those. Others suggested the importance of the law, citing your
sources, taking breaks, and other ideas that were similar to the three I
posted.

Then I thought of one more:

Follow the money.

It probably should say “follow the things worth money,” but that would have
been too many words. Even though I suggested “breaking every rule once,” I
decided to follow four words or less rule. There are many times when
following the money is a good research strategy. How property was acquired,
how property was sold, how estates were settled, how people supported
themselves, and  answers to similar economic issues can solve some research
problems. I have one ancestor who in his early twenties had enough cash to
purchase nearly two hundred acres of real estate *sans* mortgage. That’s a
question I wish I could answer concretely instead of just putting forth
some conjecture.

Not every piece of advice solves every problem just like every tool will
not solve every problem.

It’s ok to have four word rules.

Just make certain to have more than four of them.

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Do You Ear What I Ear?

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[this appeared in the *Ancestry Daily News *on 27 July 1999-and was one of
our most popular articles]

Last week’s article used the term “birder” house. One astute reader gently
indicated that I most likely meant “brooder” house. I thank them for the
correction and must plead ignorance for while I was raised on a farm, we
did not have chickens. You can be certain I will not make the same mistake
using bovine phrases—I would never hear the end of it!

The mistake makes a point and I’m actually glad it happened. Mishearing and
misinterpreting words and phrases can cause problems genealogically in
several situations. I have categorized the difficulties here, but bear in
mind that there might be some overlap and that the distinction between some
categories is not really important.

*Did Not Hear Correctly*
Just as I misunderstood Grandma, it might be that the respondent on an
official document or record did not hear correctly and gave “incorrect”
information as a result. This same difficulty can arise when family members
are asked for information. In one of my families, confusion arose between
the two names “Augusta” and “Geske.” These names are distinct, however, an
individual with a hearing problem might easily confuse the two.

*Misunderstood the Question*
The respondent might have heard all the words and thought he understood the
meaning of the question. If your ancestor gave an “incorrect” birthplace
for his mother or father, is it possible that he interpreted the question
as “where is your mother from?” instead of “where was your mother born?”
Mother might have been born in one place and “been from” somewhere else
(depending upon where she grew up and where her family originated). It
might have been this place that she considered herself “from” even though
it was not actually where she was born. We cannot know for certain what our
ancestors were thinking when they were answering questions for the census
taker or the marriage license clerk. All we have is the document they left
behind.

When interviewing family members use as many names as possible.
Relationships can create confusion. When interviewing my grandmother, it
took several minutes to make it clear to her that I was asking about her
grandfather Trautvetter, not her father. She had referred to her own dad as
a grandfather for so long (to her own children) that she originally
answered the questions as if I was asking about her father. Using her
grandfather’s name of John reduced the confusion (her father, fortunately
was named George). While it may not be possible use names exclusively,
minimizing the number of relationships used when asking questions can
reduce confusion.

*Did Not Know the Language*
Was your immigrant ancestor answering questions that were asked in a
language he did not understand? Even if your ancestor could speak English,
it seems reasonable that she might have easily mistranslated a key word or
phrase.

*Was Not Listening*
Have you ever answered a question without ever really listening to it?
Asking your parent, spouse, child, or co-worker might provide a different
answer. Is it possible your ancestor was not paying one hundred percent
attention when the 1920 census taker knocked on his door? Did your ancestor
assume no one would ever really care about the answers eighty years later?

*No One Cared*
When the clerk was filling out my marriage license, he asked me how to
spell my mother’s maiden name. And so I spelled it out. If I had married in
the county where I was born and raised, most of the office staff would have
known how to spell the surname (and many would have known it without even
asking). Close attention is not always paid to detail today and it
certainly was not one hundred and fifty years ago either.

*Spoke a Dialect, Used Slang, or Had an Accent*
Dialects and variations in pronunciation can impact how words are spelled
in records. “Gibson” can easily be pronounced so that it is spelled like
“Gepson.” There are numerous names where this is a problem, a problem
compounded by dialects, “drawls,” and “twangs.” While it may be possible to
know how our ancestors pronounced a name or a word, this information is
generally not available.

*It Has Been a While Since I Was Able to “Ear” It*
In some cases, it is literally a lifetime from the day when a family
tradition is heard until that day it is told. You grandfather might have
heard a story when he was a child and not repeated it until he had
grandchildren of his own. The chance that as a child he misunderstood
something is reasonable. This difficulty is compounded by the effects time
can have on one’s memory.

*The Ancestor Was Not Literate*
If your ancestor was unable to read, she could not “proof” any answers or
words listed on any form she might have signed. Even if your ancestor could
read, if the forms were not in her native tongue, she might have easily
misunderstood a question (or her answer). The clerk might not have been
concerned about explaining it to her either.

Genealogists need to bear in mind auditory difficulties when dealing with
records. These difficulties are compounded by problems with how our
ancestors might have interpreted various terms and phrases. Documenting
these difficulties may be impossible in many cases. When it can be done, it
should, especially with pronunciations.

I always track the ways names are pronounced when I know it. One of my
ancestral surnames is Behrens. My great-grandmother pronounced it as
“barns” (the kind cows sometimes reside in). This pronunciation is duly
noted in my files. While it’s not written as technically as it would be in
a dictionary, it serves the purpose.

*But I Don’t Know How It Is Pronounced*
Asking older family members is a good first step, but not always possible.
As your research progresses further and further back in time, the chance
that living family members have heard the name decreases. Researchers who
do not know how a name is most likely pronounced may wish to post such a
question to one of the mailing lists for the surname or the message boards
at http://boards.ancestry.com. Individuals with the name may post replies,
but it is important to remember that the pronunciation today may be
significantly different from one hundred and fifty or two hundred years
ago. [update–try posting the question to the appropriate ethnic genealogy
group on Facebook.]

Genealogists use their eyes for the bulk of their genealogical work, and
rightly so. But we must also use our ears and mouths—for that’s how many of
those words made their way from our ancestor’s minds to those records.

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NotebookLM webinar moved

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Because NotebookLM was out of commission for several days and because I
then got sick, I’ve moved this to 6 January 2026–at 8 pm. central time.
Details are in our original post, only modified to reflect date change
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2025/11/24/notebooklm-at-google/>
.
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scheduled after the first of the year

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Upcoming Trips:

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   - Midwest Genealogy Center-Independence, Missouri, May 2026
   <https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/mid-continent-genealogy-library-october-2025-research-trip/>
   - Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, March 2026
   <https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2025-library-of-virginia-research-trip-richmond-virginia/>
   - FamilySearch Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, 12-19 August 2026–details
   just announced
   <https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2022-family-history-library-salt-lake-city-trip/>
   - Allen County Public Library, Ft. Wayne, Indiana, September 2026
   <https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/acpl2022/>



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Michael John Neill
Genealogy Tip of the Day
http://www.genealogytipoftheday.com
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