[Genealogy] Cemetery Visits, Those Old Genealogies

[Michael John Neill]

In this email:

How Many Times Have I Been to that Cemetery?
Farmers But Not Landowners
Library of Virginia Research Trip
Midwest Genealogy Center Research Trip
Those Old Genealogies
Consultations
Are you Getting these Emails?
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The Urge to Not Organize
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How Many Times Have I Been to that Cemetery?

I’m not a big fan of any sort of meme or “busywork” activity, but as I
looked at the panoramic picture I took at the West Point Cemetery, I got to
wondering “how many times I have been here other than for genealogical
research? Had I ever been at the cemetery without writing down an
inscription or taking a picture.

Had I ever been there for an actual funeral?

And I could only think of once: my grandmother’s funeral in 1994. For some
reason I have the vague memory of attending another funeral there and
interacting with certain relatives, but I cannot think of who it would be.
I must be remembering a different funeral involving my paternal family or
have convinced myself that the interaction did not take place at Grandma’s
funeral. It’s just some additional evidence that memory is a fickle thing.

My grandfather died in 1968 and at six months of age, I was too young to
attend the funeral. I’m not certain where I was, but I think my
great-grandma Ufkes probably watched me while my parents were at the
funeral. My great-grandma Ufkes always seemed so old and ancient to me, but
when she babysat me she would have been in her early seventies, the same
age my mother was when she died. Somehow that does not seem as old now as
it did then.

Other members of my paternal family who died after I was old enough to
attend funerals were not buried in West Point. My grandpa Neill’s siblings
are all buried elsewhere as are my grandma Neill’s. Grandma is the only
member of her family buried at West Point—it’s a Neill cemetery and many of
my grandfather’s relatives are buried there.

And now I am off to think about the other funerals I have attended and
where the internment was afterwards and how many times I had been to those
cemeteries.

“When did you attend funerals at a specific cemetery?” might be a really
good question to ask that family member you are interviewing.
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Farmers But Not Landowners
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Presentations on farming ancestors tend to focus on those who owned real
estate. It can be a challenge to research those farmers who rented their
ground, worked as sharecroppers, or those who worked in agriculture as farm
laborers. In this presentation we focus on these types of individuals
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/farmers-tenants-and-laborers/>.
Farm renters, sharecroppers, and farm laborers tend to leave fewer
records–we’ll
focus on research strategies directed towards them.
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/farmers-tenants-and-laborers/> They
can be challenging to research in a way that landowners are not.

Details at:
https://genealogytipoftheday.com/mailman/listinfo/genealogy_genealogytipoftheday.com

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Library of Virginia Research Trip--March 2026
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Join Michael for four days of research at the Library of Virginia in
Richmond this March.
https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2025-library-of-virginia-research-trip-richmond-virginia/


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Midwest Genealogy Center Research Trip
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Join me for four days of research in Independence, Missouri, and the
Midwest Genealogy Center in May 2026. Details on our announcement page at
https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/mid-continent-genealogy-library-october-2025-research-trip/

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Those Old Genealogies
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It’s a rush to judgement to say that “old genealogies are worthless.”

When analyzing information from pre-1900 genealogies, it’s advised to keep
in mind the likely way that information from the book was obtained.
Generally speaking, genealogical facts in these publications came from one
of three places:

   - other published books
   - correspondence with living family members
   - original civil and church records

The accuracy of what is taken from another book rests on how accurate the
original compiler was and how accurately the copier copied the information.
Photocopiers and scanners were not available.  If the book you are looking
at contains no information about where information was obtained from, it
can be difficult to know what was copied from other compilations and what
was not. The problem is compounded if more than one previously publication
was used. But those publications did not obtain all their information from
the previously printed page.

Living family members likely supplied information for some of these
pre-1900 genealogies as well. They might have copied information from
family bibles, copied it from other published genealogies they may have
had, or shared what they knew from first hand knowledge. Some books will
indicate when family members supplied information. Many do not. The time
frame matters. A genealogy published in 1885 may easily contain information
submitted from someone born in 1835–some of which they knew first hand. The
difficulty rests in knowing what was submitted by someone who had
reasonable knowledge of the event and what was copied from an unknown book.

And some of these publications included information obtained from official
civil or church records. Sometimes the date, location, and type of event is
suggestive of where the information was obtained (*eg. “*Elijah’s will was
admitted to probate in Middlesex County, on 1 October 1792.”).  Some
authors were more diligent in obtaining information from original sources
than were others. The user of these publications also needs to remember
that during the time period these publications were published, information
obtained from original records required someone to actually see the actual
record and record that information (either an abstract, extract, or a
transcription) by hand. That was a limitation that is not faced by
researchers today.

Any published reference can contain errors.

Just because some of these books contain mistakes that have been repeated
numerous times and others make claims to ancestors stretching back to the
early Christian era does not mean that the whole of them should be ignored.

Some questions to ask when using one of these genealogies:

   - *how possible, probable, likely is it that the information on events
   taking place less than 100 years before the publication of the book was
   submitted by someone with “reasonably accurate knowledge” of the event?*
   - *what events, dates, and locations seem to possibly come from some
   type of official record?*

I think back to a genealogy of one of my families printed in the early
1980s. Most of the information on events in the 100 years or so preceding
the book’s publication came from family members. The compilation process
for this book was not unique. There’s always a chance that some information
in the book is incorrect. But it may be the only source I have. When the
time period moves further back, the ability to compare statements with
contemporary church or civil records to dwindle. And in some cases,
especially with a genealogy published in 1900, there may be no “official”
record of those events.

A little something to chew on the next time you pull a genealogy published
in 1885 off the shelf–virtually or physically.
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Common Name Webinar
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Details on this presentation are at:
https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2025/11/04/common-names-at-familysearch-full-text-webinar/

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Consultations with Michael
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Need help with your research? Schedule a genealogy consultation today!

https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/consultations-with-michael/

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Are You Getting These Emails?
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Send me a message at mjnrootdig at gmail.com to let me know.  Thanks!

Michael

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