[Genealogy] Whys that are Gone, Virginia Births in 1640, Full-Text, Trips, and More
Michael John Neill
mjnrootdig at gmail.com
Thu Sep 10 09:22:38 CDT 2026
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Genealogy Blog Update
9 Sept 2026
** The Whys that are not There
** Full-Text Searching at FamilySearch--5 Week Class
** Metes and Bounds and AI--new release date
** Virginia Births in 1640 Can Exhaust Major League Players
** Upcoming Trips--Join Us!
** Updated Webinar List
--------------------
The Whys that are not There
--------------------
The records our ancestors left behind only tell us a part of the story. One
has to be careful reading more into documents than is actually there.
Johann George Trautvetter and his wife Sophia Elisabeth (Derle) Trautvetter
immigrated from Wohlmuthausen, Thuringen, Germany, in June of 1853 with
their three sons and one daughter. They arrived in July of 1853 in
Baltimore and immediately settled in Hancock County, Illinois, where they
purchased property. Approximately in 1869 Johann George returned to Germany
and died there in 1871. His funeral entry in the church register at Bad
Salzungen indicated that he had returned to Germany and left his wife and
family in America.
He and Sophia sold their farm to their youngest son in the late 1860s. No
reason is given. It could have been as simple as they were retiring, wanted
to avoid the eventual costs of an estate settlement, and needed the money
from the sale.
And I really can’t speculate as to why he returned. There’s no diaries,
family letters, or records that provide any specifics. Did he return for a
visit and become too ill to return to his family? Was he unhappy in
America? Was the marriage an unhappy one? Did he want to return to Germany
while Sophia refused to leave her children? While the biography of one of
their sons simply says Johann George “returned for a visit” to Germany and
died there, that explanation may have been one that put a positive spin on
his travels and looked better in publication than the actual situation.
All I have are records. I don’t have reasons.
And I’m hesitant to spin a story explaining someone’s behavior when that
person is dead and gone and did not leave reasons behind.
There are times where it’s a little easier to see the probable reasons
behind someone’s behavior even if those reasons are not stated.
It’s slightly different when a woman with small children is widowed by her
husband in the 1850s and remarries in short order. In that case it’s
reasonable that economics forced her hand. The same is likely true of a
widower in a similar situation during the same time period.
A young male who leaves Prussia in the late 1860s probably did so to escape
serving in the Prussian Army. Probably. But is there anything specifically
stating that he did? Such a story may be in a biography, obituary, or
family story passed down through the generations. And even the family story
may have been started by relatives long after the immigrant himself was
dead.
Try and stick with the facts as evidenced by records as much as possible.
In some cases there is an amazing amount of detail in what records *are* left
behind without trying to “figure out” what else happened without any
sources to back it up.
Would you want your descendant taking the documented details of your life
and spinning stories around them?
*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.
-------------------------------------
Virginia Births in 1640 Can Exhaust Major League Ball Players
-------------------------------------
[image: image.png]
We’ve mentioned “exhaustive search” several times in various posts on this
blog. Generally it’s the idea that you search all records that would
reasonably expect to provide information to assist in answering a specific
research question. Genealogy professionals and academics espouse the
“exhaustive search” as a part of the Genealogical Research Standard.
Exhaustive search does necessarily mean that you have to obtain every
document that might contain the event date or location for which you are
looking. It usually means getting that record that’s most likely to provide
you with the best information (usually original source, primary
information, reliable informant). “Most likely” and “best” are not as
well-defined as some us would like, but genealogy research is full of terms
that are sometimes necessarily vague. That’s part of the way in which
genealogy is part art and not just science.
Many times an exhaustive search is location and time period sensitive. If
I’m trying to establish the birth date for my grandmother born in Illinois
in 1924, it’s probably sufficient to obtain her birth certificate.
Probably–unless there’s something unusual about it. There’s another
problem–I don’t know what’s unusual about a 1924 birth certificate unless
I’ve seen several from that same time period. That’s another reason to
research more than just a very narrow band of people.
What’s exhaustive changes when the problem is establishing a parentage in
Virginia in 1640. That’s a whole different ball game from a research
standpoint (a 1924 Illinois birth is usually junior high softball compared
to the Major League Baseball of establishing a 1640 birth in Virginia).
Frankly it’s a time to look for everything you can on that person and their
probable family. Everything. Whatever record you can get whether it could
mention any detail of the birth or not
I’ve long been a proponent of when I’m really stuck to look at everything.
Even if something on that list of “everything” might not answer the
particular question. Everything.
That’s how I used a 1909 christening record to establish that someone was
alive in 1953. You never know what something will say until you look at it.
-----------------------------------------
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/>
-----------------------
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Michael John Neill
Genealogy Tip of the Day
PO Box 17
Henderson, IL 61439
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