When research in the United States gets back beyond a certain point, records are fewer and less likely to make direct statements. This is why it is crucial to research the person/family of interest as thoroughly and completely as possible. I prefer to think of an “obsessively, relentless find anything on anyone remotely connected to my person” approach instead of an exhuastive search. It is important to remember that any conclusion reached when the records are not clear may need to be revised if new information comes to light. That’s why it’s important to find as much as you can before reaching any conclusion and especially important to wait until publicizing any conclusions. Even then, something new may be located and your conclusion will need to be rewritten. […]
A tree compiler indicated that a relative of mine was born in a specific small town in Illinois in the 1860s. I won’t repeat the name of the town or the relative in this public forum. But I was intrigued because the location was a significant distance from the general area where several of us conjecture he was born. I was more intrigued because there are no local birth records in Illinois in the 1860s. Their source, which could very well be reliable, was something I was interested in. Their tree had three sources for the specific village–the 1870, 1880 and 1900 census record. I had seen the census enumeration for this person, but doublechecked it just in case. All it said was Illinois as the place of […]
A stint in prison can explain why your ancestor is not enumerated with his family in the census. Court records or newspapers may contain additional details about why your ancestor landed in prison. State prisons (or the state archives) may have additional records. And, it is also possible your relative ended up divorced over his incarceration–resulting in more records.
A researcher had an ancestor who died young, leaving behind a wife and a child. The wife married again and had another child with her second husband. The researcher wanted to learn more about the ancestor who died young. Totally understandable. They had refused to search the wife’s second husband and knew little about her life after her first husband died. While there’s no guarantee that records on the wife after her second marriage will provide clues about her first husband, it is a possibility. While there’s no guarantee that a record on the second husband will provide a direct or indirect clue about the first husband, it’s a possibilty. Witnesses on those records, details on property owned, or other references created well after the husband of interest […]
While the ability of full-text search at FamilySearch allows researchers to easily find things they may never have found before, it is not perfect. Full-text search: Manual searches are still necessary. Use of original and other indexes are still necessary. Use of full-text search is not, in this researcher’s opinion, an exhaustive genealogy search. It’s a start but other methods must still be used. Join Michael at the Midwest Genealogy Center this October!
In August of 1823, Enoch Tinsley purchased several items at the estate sale of Spencer Reeves in Fleming County, Kentucky. While it’s interesting to see what Enoch purchased and it offers some insight into his day-to-day life, there are a few other genealogy clues it gives us: Just how significant of a genealogical clue those items are depends upon what I know about Enoch. But as a caveat, if there were more than one Enoch, it may be difficult to tell just from this reference to which Enoch this purchaser list is referring. Join me for an AI or US Probate Records Class.
Knowing who provided information on a record helps us to determine the perceived reliability fo that information. But determining who the informant really was can sometimes be difficult. Aside from the 1940 US census, no informant is listed on any US census record. Did the head of household provide the information? Did their spouse? Did an older child provide it? Was it all provided by the same person? It can be impossible to tell. Even if an informant is listed on a death certiticate, they may not have provided each detail themselves and some death certificates have multiple informants (the doctor, the mortician, and a relative/friend/neighbor/etc.). Early death certificates may only list the doctor as the informant and one has to surmise who really provided the non-death information […]
Join me next week for 4-week classes on AI and US probate records. Details on our announcement page.
Genealogists sometimes throw out a variety of terms: primary information, secondary information, original sources, derivative sources, negative evidence, negative findings, evidence and the like. These terms are frustrating beause occasionally they are not as clear as we would like for them to be. Definitions may seem clear but sometimes reality has a way of muddying the waters. It does not help that humans have a tendency to prefer terminology to be black and white and crystal clear. But like life, much of genealogy is not crystal clear. That does not mean we should not be concerned about terminology and not try to understand it. Knowing the definition of the terms and having some understanding them helps us to understand records and to interpret information in those records. Evaulation […]
Dower is a legal right a wife has to a partial interest (usually one-third) in her husband’s property upon his death. It’s largely been abolished in the United States (there are exceptions) in favor of other statutory spousal inheritance rights. There was a time where a wife would have to relinquish her dower interest in real property when the husband sold that real property. A dowry refer to property a bride brings with her to a marriage, typically from her family. Dowry is typically a pre-marital property amount brought by a bride. Dower is typically an inheritance right of the widow.
Working with pre-1850 US census records can be a challenge. It’s important to obtain as many other records on the family as possible when trying to determine who is in the household. The name listed as head of household is typically the oldest person of that gender listed, but there are exceptions. The household may include an older parent. Children enumerated are most likely to be full siblings, half-siblings, or step siblings of each other, but there are exceptions. One of the children could be a niece or nephew by birth or marriage to the head of household–or a child they took in. It could also be that the head of household or their spouse has one of their siblings living with them and if the family was […]
There’s confusion about negative evidence and negative findings. I see it in various postings and writings trying to differentiate the two. It can be easy to confuse them and frankly they are easy to confuse. I searched for John Ufkes in the 1870 Hancock County and Adams County, Ilinois, federal census records. I used indexes and performed a manual search. That’s a negative finding. A negative finding is when I search for someone in a record and do not find them in that record. A negative finding can change if I eventually find the person in a record–perhaps by looking for my John Ufkes in a different county I find him. In that case my negative finding no long exists. I’ve got a negative finding if I don’t […]
There’s a never a guarantee that you’ll get an answer to every genealogy question you have. Sometimes that’s just the way life is. You may also get an imcomplete answer or one that raises more unanswered questions. There are things you can do to maximize the chance you do find that answer. Constantly learn about new sources and finding aids for those sources. Make certain you are familiar with records for the area at all geographic levels. Do not just focus on online or easy-to-access sources. Consider the fact that some of your information or assumptions about a person are wrong. Make certain you understand the local geography, history, and culture. Double and triple check every detail. Consider asking someone with specific knowledge in the area and time […]
I was using tax records from Dawson County, Nebraska. They were digitized and available on FamilySearch. The temptation was to jump right in and start looking for my people. That was a mistake. What I needed to do first was to familiarize myself with the records so that I searched them correctly and did not overlook any references. Individual volumes appeared to have included the personal property assessment first and then the real property assessment. One could have been tempted to find the personal property name and assume one was done. That would have been a mistake. The second was that the records were organized by precincts. After approximately 1884, the precincts boundaries appear to have followed civil township lines and those names were used. Before that it […]
When confused about a bit of handwriting on a page of script, look for any words on the page that can clearly be determined. On census pages after 1850, occupations and places of birth are great places to see examples of some letters where you clearly know what the word is. There may be first names that are easy to determine what they are. Then go back and look at that word you are having difficulty with. For me in a recent difficult-to-read piece, there were numerous references to “keeping house,” so I learned how the enumerator made their “p”s. There were numerous references to “farmers,” so I knew how he made his “m”s. It’s not always possible to do this, but look at the whole page before […]
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