[Genealogy] Suggestions, All that Part, and More

Michael John Neill mjnrootdig at gmail.com
Thu Apr 23 07:23:52 CDT 2026 

Need to unsubscribe? Manage here
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/mailman/listinfo/genealogy_genealogytipoftheday.com>
.

Genealogy Update 22 April 2026
(c) 2026 Michael John Neill



** Some Research Suggestions
** All That Part Does Not Mean All
** Presentations
** Keep Getting the Blog Update

-------------------------------------------
Some Research Suggestions
-------------------------------------------

Here are some research suggestions to remember as your research progresses:


   - Use contemporary [to the problem] maps
   - Cite sources
   - Avoid using record transcriptions
   - Determine a record’s likely informant
   - Question the reliability of the likely informant
   - Ask “how did this record get to me from its *original *location?”
   - Question (respectfully) the conclusions of others
   - List the assumptions that have been made
   - Reorganize the information in a different way?
   - Do other record sources have copies of the same record?

Not an exhaustive list by any stretch of the imagination, but enough to
keep me busy!

--------------------------

All That Part Does Not Mean All

---------------------------

Part of a 1796 deed in Harford County, Maryland, from James Rampley to
Jesse Kent states:

“…Bargain and Sell unto the said Jesse Kent his Heirs and assigns *all that
part of a Tract of Land originally Granted* to the said James Ramply by the
State of Maryland on the first day of December seventeen hundred and ninety
five as by said Patent may appear…”

I admittedly read the deed too fast and focused on the “all that” portion
of the text. Later when analyzing it, I relied a little too much on memory
as well which did not help alleviate the confusion. The patent was for 32
acres and the deed referenced above was for 10 acres. Selling the whole
patent by this 1796 deed should mean that the deed discussed 32 acres. The
discrepancy in the acreages was too much to write off to an approximation
error.

Even after seeing the word “part” I was not immediately convinced that
there wasn’t a problem with the 1796 deed. I was stuck on the “all
that…Tract of Land granted” part of the document.

Later the deed states “…as contained in the following Courses…[followed by
the metes and bounds description]…”

It actually took a little while for it all to sink in.

Extracting key phrases from the deed it’s really saying:

“…all that part..contained in the following Courses…”

When I focused on those words the meaning was a little more clear. The deed
did not intend to transfer the whole of the patented property. The only
intent was to transfer the part described in the metes and bounds
description. Of course, I knew that. The legal description of the property
is always what is intended to be transferred, but metes and bounds
descriptions are not easy to visualize and simply reading one doesn’t
immediately lead one to conclude whether it is 10 or 32 acres.

My misinterpretation may seem a little silly and it may seem like I’m
admitting that I’m not as “on the ball” as I should be. Personally I think
it is good to admit that we all occasionally make errors in
interpretation–especially if we read things quickly and accidentally focus
on the wrong part of a document. Every researcher is guilty of occasionally
of making a hasty conclusion that is incorrect. However, in my case, I knew
I had to be overlooking something and I was.

Usually if I think something in a document is “wrong,” I ask myself:

   - am i certain what the terms mean?
   - have I left out a word or part of the document?
   - have I assumed something that is not true?
   - do I need to transcribe the whole document?

There are other questions, but these are an excellent start. All of us
occasionally make a snap interpretation that is incorrect. The reason why
we cite sources, get to the “original,” re-analyze and re-interpret is to
reduce the number of these mistakes that we spread with others.
There’s no shame in catching your own errors of interpretation. Critiquing
and proofreading your own writing is an excellent way to catch these errors.

Harford County, Maryland, Deed Liber JLG, Volume N: 95-96, James Rampley to
Jesse Kent; FHL microfilm 14096.
And we learn best when we’ve caught our own mistakes.

Want to keep getting the blog update?


With distribution costs of the updates, we've finally had to stop sending
this out for free after this issue. We hope you've enjoyed receiving the
updates, but we simply have to pay the bills to keep things afloat.


There are items in the update that are not published in our blogs.


We're only asking $5 a year to get the weekly update.


If you don't want to receive the weekly update after that---do nothing. If
you'd like to keep getting the weekly update, use one of our two options:

   - auto renewal
   <https://erpzbosab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001hmhFJl5DJbrEp8AqspsovmO2xlsP4l2wi9y0CLOHNLLSMgrM26bCgFhW0fT6JkRYFLsS4KFB0tZmVf2RuZ9WLm3w2YZIau8ZaPrJHTgUzhOill7G0sIgabVFo1l0AHBQXFjMnOc2b6MnhqZVMj3yXz6cVIOiMPMKMjbsur8qCfYBaTxG4rZC8XpKvY83izCVWMsuZKK7ZRlatWiA8RlBNInb-IospbOZPm18tqN-dcyH07zOmwsKAg==&c=V2Z9JSRAPdp8Yh6St3I14Vo4-3flizguUGdRJFlpvIDpRN2hqqIJnQ==&ch=WlNW1ibfqSQ6lcv8vC2pEP49wYJX8RfsT6oAJKjczQzgkChSA-DA-A==>--your
   payment option will be charged automatically in a year. You can always stop
   the payment beforehand.
   - non-auto renewal
   <https://erpzbosab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001hmhFJl5DJbrEp8AqspsovmO2xlsP4l2wi9y0CLOHNLLSMgrM26bCgFhW0fT6JkRYcP016londRtrGOcOhq2orersUBMikTgvb9k1O8sob1-bybAYyBuKNluPK5NdX9hAVGJS__LaE7puVeqQoGW34ux6vR5_phY-xFznIRk1uPLP-fysqq12PyL4Z4DcV1AcXJ0bavJLSW6TQ9v26HyfUfV12818EDVrl1ilrDWbVvCm5cS63KpzaQ==&c=V2Z9JSRAPdp8Yh6St3I14Vo4-3flizguUGdRJFlpvIDpRN2hqqIJnQ==&ch=WlNW1ibfqSQ6lcv8vC2pEP49wYJX8RfsT6oAJKjczQzgkChSA-DA-A==>--you
   will be billed and not automatically charged

Either way--you do not need a PayPal account. Just click on "pay with debit
or credit card." This is the easiest and cheapest way for me to accept
credit cards as a small merchant.


Thanks for your support!

-----------------------------------------------------------

Introduction to Artificial Intelligence for Genealogy

 ------------------------------------------------------------


Been curious about using artificial intelligence for your genealogy
research? In this hour-long session, we will provide an overview of
responsible and simple ways to use artificial intelligence to assist with
your genealogy research. Our focus will be practical, easy-to-follow
techniques to use artificial intelligence to jumpstart your research in a
responsible manner. We won’t talk about ways to create images or fiction
but will show you how to incorporate AI into your research in down-to-earth
ways that don’t waste your time. We will see how to use AI to get research
ideas, focus your research, transcribe handwriting, organize and extract
information—and how to create your own research prompts.

AI can be used as a research assistant that’s always available. See how to
take advantage of it without the hype. Available 24 April  (revised date).

 Pre-order price is $22
<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=2DJMKLMETRABQ>
—order yours today
<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=2DJMKLMETRABQ>.
Price after 24 April is $30.

-----------------------------------------------------------


Brick Wall Busters 2026--New!
-----------------------------------------------

This hour-long presentation is geared towards advanced beginning or
intermediate genealogists. Our focus will be on problems in the United
States between roughly 1700 and 1900. Brick wall ideas will be pulled from
consultations with clients and personal research experience. Approaches
will be practical and down-to-earth. Presentation approach will be through
a series of examples from a variety of time periods, locations, and social
classes. Handout included. Presentation made by Michael John Neill.

Presentation (video/audio) and handout will be released for viewing on 24
April 2026 (revised date). Pre-order price is $22–order today
<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=E26EPTPJ3C7AU>.
Price after 24 April 2026 will be $30.


-------------------------------------------
*Need to unsubscribe? Do so at:*
*https://genealogytipoftheday.com/mailman/listinfo/genealogy_genealogytipoftheday.com
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/mailman/listinfo/genealogy_genealogytipoftheday.com>*

------------------------------------
Michael John Neill
Genealogy Tip of the Day
PO Box 17, Henderson, IL 61439
http://www.genealogytipoftheday.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://genealogytipoftheday.com/pipermail/genealogy_genealogytipoftheday.com/attachments/20260423/1df8571c/attachment-0001.html>

More information about the Genealogy mailing list