Are You Logging Off?

Genealogists occasionally use someone else's computer to log into one of their various email or database accounts. Some genealogists use their own personal Ancestry.com accounts when at a library or Family History Center (it makes it easier to put things in your own "shoebox.").

Are you logging off when you get done? If you don't the next person could be accessing things you don't want them to.

Historical Context?

Have you put your ancestor's life into the appropriate historical context? As mentioned in my earlier post, a relative "disappeared" ca. 1918. While there are many things that could have happened to him or places he could have gone, given the era it is always possible that he enlisted in World War I and died overseas. That would explain quite a bit about his disappearance.

Of course, if I'm working on this theory I also need to keep in mind his age at the time. That impacts the liklihood of his enlisting as well.

All the cousins?

If you are at am impasse, have you actually located all the possible relatives who might be able to help you in your search?

My wife's great-grandfather "disappeared" ca. 1918. I'm not certain if he was in World War I or not, but I do know that it is possible that a descendant of one of his five siblings might have heard what happened to him. My wife's family does not know. However, it is possible that years after he left, he made some contact with a sibling and that information was not shared with this great-grandfather's children.

So my search for him is not complete until I have worked on locating the descendants of his siblings.

Think "Who Gave it?"

If you are confused about a document, consider who gave the information and how they came to know that information. While your speculation may not be correct, it may get you to thinking about the perceived accuracy of the information. And THAT may be helpful.

Write it Yourself

If you are having difficulty reading handwriting in a foreign language, after you've located a script guide (try Cyndislist- http://www.cyndislist.com or google for "german script," etc), try writing it yourself. Practing the script is an excellent way to "get it in your head."

Look for the In-laws

If your research has hit a brick wall, make certain you have completely researched the in-laws. It may be that a record on one of them provides the missing link to your direct line ancestor.

Google that Minister

I finally located the marriage record for an ancestor of my wife. It was the first marriage for him and the one from which my wife did not descend. However on a whim, I "googled" the name of the minister. Turns out he was well known in his area, founded what is now nationally known university, and involved in many activties in the mid-nineteenth century.

Also because of googling him, I learned the name of the church and found the email of the church archivist.

I think I'll be googling more minsters. I won't hit paydirt everytime, but one never knows.

Base Lines and Meridians

Need help with base lines and meridians in federal land states?

Here is a map:

http://www.blm.gov/cadastral/meridians/pmmap.jpg

The "Visitor Center" at the Bureau of Land Management Website has excellent information as well:
http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/Visitors/

Needing a Project?

If you need a change of pace, determine those ancestors for whom you have a copy of their signature.

Remember, most recorded deeds and wills do not contain original signatures.

Searching for signatures may cause you to locate records for which you never thought to look.

Occupations

Have you tried to learn the occupation of each one of your ancestors? Knowing how your ancestor supported his family may provide suggestions as to what kinds of records he might have left behind.

It might also explain migration patterns, family social status, etc.

And if you know what your ancestor's occupation was, have you learned about that occupation during the time he or she lived? That too, may provide you with more insight into your ancestor's life.

Just Read a Newspaper

A great way to get a perspective on your ancestor's time and place is to read an issue or two of their hometown paper while you are searching for that obituary. In addition to the national news, there will be local news.

Reading the paper will give you a history lesson in microcosm and may make you aware of things you never learned in history class. It might give you an entirely different viewpoint on your ancestor as well.

And being familiar with the newspaper's layout and general style never hurt either.

Clues in Metes and Bounds Descriptions

Sometimes the uninitiated is not aware of the neighborhood clues that are contained in a metes and bounds property description from state land states. These descriptions are the ones that give the boundaries of the property by listing the points, the angles, and the lengths of each side. Frequently these descriptions will mention by names the other owners of properties that border the property being transferred.

This can be a great way to get names of neighbors of your ancestor.

Jumping to Conclusions

Don't jump to conclusions. Your first response to a record or a document may be incorrect.

I posted to my facebook account that I had been in the courtroom in the Hancock County, Illinois, courthouse in front of the judge. One can draw several conclusions from that.

The reality is that I was there for a wedding.

Find out more before you reach a conclusion.

Don't assume it was my wedding either. My statement never indicated in what capacity I was there. Be careful reading more into a statement than is there. It may cause you to go off on a completely incorrect research tangent.

Is there another index?

Never let someone tell you there is no index or there is just one index to something. Determine if there is another index or if an index was created and published privately.

There were a series of land records I was searching for in a county in Illinois while at the Family History Library. They only had indexes to each volume, compiled separately in the front of each one.

What they did not have was another index to the land records that was created and maintained at the courthouse. That index had not been filmed and consequently was not at the Family History Library. Using that index took 5 minutes to find the deeds I needed. Going through the volumes' indexes one-by-one would have taken me at least 3 hours.

Ask for Ideas?

Consider asking someone unrelated to your family to look at a document or a record that confuses you. Going to your local genealogical society meeting can be one way to do this. Another is to scan the document and post it to a blog and mention it on an appropriate mailing list. This can be a good way to get short documents translated or at least to have someone look at a word or a phrase that is difficult to read.

To see an example of how I did this on my website visit here:

http://www.rootdig.com/2009/04/german-word-i-cannot-quite-make-out.html

Read the Description

Always make certain you read the description of a data set before searching. This allows you to see whether or not it includes the information you need.

The Family Search site includes some Ohio Tax records. I was excited as both my wife and I have early Ohio ancestors. Unfortunately at the time I visited the site, only a few counties were included. They will add more, but READING what areas are included before I search a database saves me time if the locations I need are not yet included.

Turn it All Off?

Stuck on a certain problem or document? If your computer is always "online," consider temporarily turning off your internet connection while concentrating. Maybe even turn off the cell phone.

Recently I was working on a christening record from the 1870s. It was written in German and mentioned two families. The temptation was to start surfing for information on the families before I really completed my attempt to translate the document.

Sometimes it is good to brainstorm and jot down ideas one after the other when you cannot immediately do some of them. Being able to search immediately can easily get you distracted and cause you to lose focus on what you were originally trying to figure out.

Without constant interruption or the temptation to be distracted I was able to concentrate on my document, read it as best I could, and make a long list of ideas for how to follow up on what it told me. Then, when I was out of ideas, I got back on the computer and started working on my list, one item at a time.

It helps a lot to be focused.

Doing the Math Right?

Are you subtracting correct when taking an age and calculating a year of birth? It might pay to doublecheck your computations so you do not create errors in your own records.

It seems like a simple thing, but a subtraction error, especially if done in your head late at night while on the computer, can easily happen.

And a year of birth calculated as 1802, when it should be 1812, might make all the difference in interpreting other records correctly.

One Good Reason to Make a Blog

There are many reasons a genealogist should create a free blog. One is that it can be used to post images of documents you cannot read. I am a member of several mailing lists, one of which has several members who are good at reading German script.

Occasionally when I have something where I cannot read a word or two, I put the image on my blog and then post a message to the mailing list about the document I cannot read and then tell them where I have posted the image.

This makes it easier for them to try and help me figure out the document.

One recent posting can be viewed here:
http://www.rootdig.com/2009/04/german-word-i-cannot-quite-make-out.html

I usually only post small things where I have a word or a phrase I cannot read. If it is a three page document, I usually try other options including professional translators.

Was Grandma Mixed Up?

Sometimes errors in genealogical records are unintentional. Census and christening records indicate my grandmother was born in Wythe Township, Hancock County, Illinois. Grandma always thought she was born in Tioga, Hancock County, Illinois-in nearby Walker Township. On every record from her marriage through her death, Grandma's place of birth was put down as Tioga--because that is what she thought it was.

The error wasn't intentional, but rather was based upon her belief as to where she was born.

I have noted the discrepancy in all the records and made a note about what Grandma thought in her file so that someone else will know why there are the differences in her records.

Errors happen for a variety of reasons. I was lucky in this case because I knew how the errors got there. That does not always happen.

Discrepancy Charts

Genealogy information does not always agree. Several years ago I wrote an article for Genealogy.com on discrepancy charts that can be used to organize inconsistent information. That article can be viewed here:

http://www.genealogy.com/37_neill_print.html

Too long for a "short tip," but it's worth taking a look at. I have linked to the printer friendly version.

Using All the Indexes

In some cases, there may be several sites that index the same set of records. Consider using other indexes when available and when one index does not help you to find the desired person. Another person making their own index may read something differently than did the first person. Don't assume someone is not in a record because one index fails to include him. And remember that a manual search of the records may be necessary.

Can You Undo It?

If you have an original copy of a document or photograph, do not do anything do that paper or photograph that cannot be undone.

Putting it in a frame or an envelope (usually) is one thing. Taping it in a book is another.

Get all the Maps You Need

Make certain you have maps of all the areas where you are doing your family research and that those maps are contemporary to the time when your family lived in the area. County lines change as do other political jurisdictions. Modern maps are a good idea too, particularly when trying to determine where the farm is today or where that cemetery is located.

Learn the Foreign Language Script

Remember that there is more to reading records in a foreign language than simply learing the vocabulary. Foreign language records are often written in a different script and that letter that looks like an "L" may actually be a "B." There are script guides on a variety of how-to websites. The Family Search Site (http://www.familysearch.org) has online images to scripts from several countries in their section of research helps. Checking out the appropriate country's page on Cyndislist (http://www.cyndislist.com) or her page on handwriting may also locate links to pages to help you read the handwriting.

Review on Birthdays

Here's an off-the-wall idea--but some days I find writing tips a little difficult.

Make a calendar with your ancestor's dates of birth on it. Then on the ancestor's birthday, review the information you have about that person. This might help you find something in your files that you had forgotten.

Today would have been my great-grandmother Ufkes' birthday--she would have been 114. She was born Trientje Marie Janssen on her parents' farm near Basco, Hancock County, Illinois.

Return Trips

Did your ancestor make a return trip home to visit family? It was not unheard of for 19th and 20th century immigrants to the United States to make one or two return trips home to visit. Records of their arrivals on these subsequent ocean crossings may provide more details on them than their original entry records do.

Look at the Eternal Neighbors

When you locate that ancestor in a cemetery, look at the neighboring stones. There is a reasonable chance they are relatives. At least copy down the names and information (or take pictures) while you have the chance. Five years later (when you have discovered their names in other records) it may be too late to get information from their stone.

Get a Legal Dictionary

For many genealogists, a legal dictionary is a great help. This is especially true when analyzing court and probate records where legal terms may be used profusely. I picked up on on Ebay several years ago. A current in print one is not necessary and may be beyond your genealogy budget. Mine dates from the 1980s and serves my purpose well. In fact, I may pick up a few more from earlier time periods if I happen to spot one at an auction.

How are they Organized?

Some records are organized geographically (census), some records are organized chronologically (vital records), and some are organized by name (indexes). Learn how a record series is organized before you use it. That will help you glean as much from it as you can.

Preserve Your Originals

Never take your only copy of a document with you on a research trip. You may use it. Never put the original copy of a document out for permanent display. Sunlight will permanently fade it. Use copies. Save yourself the pain of losing or destroying the only copy of something you have.

Places of Birth at the Time of the Record

Remember that birthplaces in census and other records may have been written down as they were at the time the record was created, not the time the birth took place. At different times, my ancestor indicated she was born in Prussia, Hanover, or Germany. This was because of who was "ruling" the village where she was born at the time of the census or other record. It may just seem like great-great-grandma was confused when she really was not.

Nuncupative Will

A nuncupative will is a will that is orally dictated by the testator. These are typically deathbed type wills. This will is to be written down as soon as possible by the witnesses and presented to the court within the time allowed for probate. Not all jurisdictions have honored these as valid.

Search Collateral Lines for Pensions

Miltary pensions, especially if the widow survived and claimed her pension, may provide information about more than just the veteran and his widow. Relatives might have had to testify to the marriage of the veteran and his wife, their residences, their children and other information in an attempt to document the pension. These documents are more detailed if the widow cannot find her marriage certificate or the courthouse burned. Relatives who were present at the marriage or who knew of the couple's marriage might have testified. Wonderful records these are.

My ancestor's Civil War pension provided information about the wife's family, including her siblings. She also indicated who was at her 1867 wedding and the sister-in-law who was present at the birth of one of her children.

Too Many Mailing Lists?

Are you on too many genealogy mailing lists? I was beginning to think I was. Reading the constant barrage of messages was taking time from my research. In my case, I set up email filters so the mailing list messages go into separate folders insted of my main inbox. Then I can read the messages when I want to and not have them coming in every hour or so.

And there were a few lists I unsubscribed to. One only has so much time.

It might be worth your while to be selective about what lists you are on.