[Genealogy] Age is 20/30, Metes and Bounds Release Date, Got Your Deed, Lookups, and More
Michael John Neill
mjnrootdig at gmail.com
Wed Sep 9 05:12:59 CDT 2026
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Genealogy Blog Update
9 Sept 2026
** Age is 20/30
** Full-Text Searching at FamilySearch--5 Week Class
** Metes and Bounds and AI--new release date
** Have You Got Your Deed?
** Upcoming Trips--Join Us!
** Do You Need a Simple Lookup?
** Updated Webinar List
--------------------
Age is 20/30
--------------------
I’ve often seen ages listed in fractions of a year 1/12, 2/12, etc. but it
is not often that I see an age listed as a fraction of the number of days
in the month. Maggie Johnson is listed as 20/30 for her age in this 1880
census enumeration from Prairie Township, Hancock County, Illinois. The
census states that she was born in May. The date this census was taken was
12 June 1880 and the actual date of the census was 1 June 1880. My guess is
that this means she was 20 days old–but May does have 31 days, not 30.
Source:
1880 U S Census, Prairie Township, Hancock County, Illinois , page 20D,
line 40.
Next step is to see if there is a birth certificate for her. That search
should start in the records of Hancock County and expand from there if
needed.
*Don't forget: *
- 5-week class on Using FamilySearch’s Full-Text Search
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2026/08/31/5-week-class-on-using-familysearchs-full-text-search/>
-------------------------------------------------------
Updated Webinar List
--------------------------------------------------------
Increase your research skills!
Ready-to-Go Webinars from Michael–download immediate:
-
Creating Children’s Stories from Genealogy Events
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/creating-childrens-stories-from-genealogy-information/>
-
Creating Families from pre-1850 Census Records
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/creating-families-from-pre-1850-census-records/>
-
DeedMapper webinars
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/deedmapper-intro-and-more-deedmapper-webinars/>
-
FamilySearch Catalog
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2026/02/19/using-the-familysearch-catalog-webinar/>
-
Farming Ancestor webinars–landowner and non-landowner versions
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/rooting-around-for-farmers-and-tenants-and-laborers/>
-
Full-Text Search at FamilySearch
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2026/08/05/updated-familysearch-full-text-search-webinar/>
-
Full-Text Search at FamilySearch with Common Names
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2025/11/04/common-names-at-familysearch-full-text-webinar/>
-
How Errors Get in Records
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/how-errors-get-in-records-webinar/>
-
Illinois Genealogy Research
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2026/03/10/genealogy-research-in-illinois-webinar/>
-------------------------------------
Using AI for Metes and Bounds Deed Analysis--to be released 18 September
-------------------------------------
A completely new presentation!
and there's still time to get it at the introductory price
*Using AI for Metes and Bounds Deed Analysis*
[image: image.png]
Do deeds with metes and bounds descriptions give you headaches? You are not
alone. We will see how to use AI to help with drawing properties, analyzing
deed transactions, noticing patterns, and more. Our presentation is
easy-to-follow, down-to-earth, and practical. This presentation is not
about how to find land records. We will assume you already know how to do
that.
[image: image.png]
Topics covered will include:
-
Using AI to work with metes and bounds descriptions.
-
Manual versus AI transcriptions
-
Fitting parcels together
-
Viewing acquisitions and sales over time
-
Creating ownership chronologies
Participants are encouraged to send Michael a limited number of questions
after they have viewed the presentation.
Revised release date is 18 September 2026. Pre-order price $21
<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=WZ7W2VTNUFRM6>.
Post-release price $27.00. Handout included which will include commentary
and prompts that were used. The presentation is approximately an hour long
and can be viewed more than once.. Order yours today
<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=WZ7W2VTNUFRM6>.
Don’t wait as we tend to forget.
About Michael:
Michael John Neill has actively researched his genealogy since the early
1980s. He has given genealogy lectures at a variety of national and small
conferences since the 1990s. Michael has a master’s degree in mathematics
and taught mathematics at a community college for thirty years. He has led
research trips to the FamilySearch Library for over twenty years.
-------------------------------------
Got Your Deed?
-------------------------------------
This image comes from the *Rockford *[Illinois]* Forum *of 9 January 1850.
Apparently the former recorder had approximately 1,000 deeds that had never
been picked up. Interestingly enough my ancestor Clark Sargent purchased
federal property in Winnebago County during this time period. Clark died in
1847 and, who knows, maybe his deed was in this collection.
Makes a person wonder how many deeds were never picked up by the property
owners. I doubt if all 1,000 deeds were picked up by the rightful
parties–wonder what happened to them.
-----------------------------------------
Upcoming Trips
-----------------------------------------
- Midwest Genealogy Center–October 2026.
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/mid-continent-genealogy-library-october-2025-research-trip/>
- Library of Virginia–March 2027
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2025-library-of-virginia-research-trip-richmond-virginia/>
- Allen County Public Library–June 2027
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/allen-county-library-2027-research-trip/>
-----------------------
Do You Need a Simple Lookup?
----------------------
Sometimes all the genealogist really needs is a lookup. Sometimes they need
more extended research. Which really depends upon the situation.
One lookup example stems from the newspaper article I located from 1892 in
Quincy, Illinois. It references a court case regarding estate of my
ancestor, Ulfert Behrens.
Years ago, when I was much younger, I located his estate file which
included a copy of his will. I did not do land or court record work at that
time. While I am always interested in land records, I don’t need them right
now and the family relationships have been fairly well documented with
other records. However, this court case intrigued me. But do I need to hire
someone for extensive work to research this? Probably not. All I really
need in this case is information from the file.
However, I do need someone with research experience–even though they are
doing a “lookup.” Why?
1. So they know how to search for this record. The newspaper doesn’t
have any citation information.
2. So they know how to extract. There might only be a few papers in this
file or there could easily be hundreds. In some cases, many of the pages
may be repetitive or contain entirely legal jargon. I might not want to go
to the expense of getting a copy of the “entire file.”
3. They need to have experience searching this type of record and know
what various items in the file mean and interpret them correctly.
In this case, I probably don’t need a formal research report since one
document is being researched. However, I do need to know what records were
searched, how they were searched, and what the citation is for the records
that were located.
A lookup might not be as simple as a lookup.
-----------------------
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-------------------------
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Michael John Neill
Genealogy Tip of the Day
PO Box 17
Henderson, IL 61439
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