“You’re still looking for that?” Those who are not involved in genealogy don’t understand the urge to keep looking. However there does come a time when one has to realize that you might not find that for which you are looking. The question is when do you realize that you need to stop looking? The key to a reasonably exhaustive genealogy search is to look through materials that might reasonably contain information that addresses the issue you are trying to resolve. In the case of finding an original picture of the stuffed toy Curious George I have from my childhood, that required me going through all the print photos and the negatives I have from my parents. Both need to be searched because I don’t have every print […]
I’m going through another set of photographic negatives I found in my parents’ things. There’s no date on any of the strips of negatives. Sometimes I know approximately when pictures were taken by being able to date one photo on the negative strip. Other times I am not so lucky. Occasionally there is a receipt tucked in with the negatives. There’s always the chance the receipt was accidentally tucked in the wrong envelope. Despite the potential for error, I still need to keep an image of the receipt as it can help to age the negatives. Of course, the date shipped is more closely tied to the development date and may not even be close to the date the pictures were taken. But it is better than nothing. […]
You can’t just grab any George and assume he’s your George. I almost did that for a quick minute with the George in the picture on the left. The Curious George I had as a kid my Mom kept and it was among her things when we cleaned out the house. I have quite a few things from my parents and when I’m going through pictures I’m always on the look out for something I still have in a picture from years ago. It was not to be with George. There’s a genealogy reminder here about jumping to conclusions. A little reminder about what can change over time. The eyes on the George on the right fell off decades ago and Mom replaced them with buttons. The eyes […]
Some married couples never see their former spouse after a divorce. Many times that is because one partner leaves and never returns. There are other possibilities. Some former spouses may continue to reside in the same area and interact with each other, especially if they have children. One divorced couple in my family appear on a mortgage with a son-in-law after their divorce. Other times couples eventually remarry, even after they’ve had subsequent spouses. Or they may even later live together, even if they don’t remarry. Those aren’t made up examples—just situations from my own family where I’ve removed the names.
There’s still time to join me in my June session of the US Land Records class. Details on our announcement page.
Many databases will be titled something like “Blah Blah Records of Blah Blah: 1800-1900.” Always try and determine just years are really included in the database. It could be that the “Blah Blah Records of Blah Blah: 1800-1900” actually only contains entries for: Read the “more about,” “FAQ,” or whatever they call it to determine just how complete the database is. It may include records between 1800 and 1900, but there also may be gaps. The records a person needs always seem to be in the gaps of time not included.
This webinar has been released for distribution. Details are on our announcement page.
Don’t let the fact that your genealogy isn’t “done” and isn’t “perfect” prevent you from publishing your compilation. Cite every source you have used, transcribe the documents accurately, report what they say (not what you wish they’d say), omit conjecture that has no basis, and summarize what you have found. No genealogy will ever be complete and there’s always the chance you miss something. Make certain you have used all sources that are available, not just the ones that are easy to access and not just the ones that are the easiest to understand. Realizing that it won’t be done and that it won’t be perfect doesn’t mean that you skim the surface of what is available and that you do a sloppy job. It’s just that perfection […]
All of us sometimes need to be reminded of things. For me–it’s spelling a last name consistently when writing about one specific person or couple. In writing a narrative about two members of my Behrens family, I alternated between Behrends and Behrens. I need to choose one spelling. My normal approach is to use the spelling that most members of the family used–when that is known. Virtually all members of my Rampley family use that spelling today, so that’s the one that I use. It certainly gets spelled a variety of ways in documents, but I use “Rampley” when writing about them and entering names into databases. The last name Trautvetter gets written a variety of ways, but generally speaking that is the spelling most members of my […]
We’re offering 50% off all webinars today–coupon code and list of webinars are on our webinar page. Check it out!
From a while back… After your ancestor’s deed is recorded in the local records office, the original is returned. Sometimes there may be a notation in the record book indicating to whom the deed was returned after being recorded. It may not be your ancestor. That’s a clue.
We’re offering a June session of this popular class. Details on our announcement page.
If there’s a census where you cannot find a relative, think about what their enumeration would look like if you could find it. Where would that ancestor be living? Who would be in their household? What would their ages be? If the census is recent enough, what would the ages of places of birth be for those people within the household? Think about how the completed for would look. Consider filing out their census form using blank forms readily available online. Have a source or a citation for every piece of information you put on the census. Your ancestor may have completed the form from memory but that won’t work for you. Think about who some of their neighbors might have been. By the time you’ve done all […]
Children were not always named immediately. While modern practice is to name children at birth (if not before), this was not always the case for one reason or another. It is not uncommon to see “unnamed” or “baby” as the first name on a birth certificate. A couple may have waited until they could arrange for a christening to name the baby, because they could not decide, or other reasons. This post on our sister site looks at possible unnamed children in the 1880 United States census.
Some random thoughts on a fruit cake recipe I discovered. I admit I considered throwing out a recipe card for fruit cake that I found in my mother’s things. I’m not certain whose recipe it originally was or whether Mom found it somewhere and wanted it. I don’t remember her ever making it, but the recipe was on a card just like several others of hers that I typed up in the early 1980s. Most of the others I remember her making, but the only fruit cake I remember was one that someone else made or storebought from somewhere. As soon as I typed that last sentence I realized that maybe the recipe was from the person who gave us the homemade one. There’s no indication on the […]
Recent Comments