Genealogy Tip of the Day

We are not talking about the high school prom. If you have a date of birth, death, or marriage for an ancestor, you had to get it from somew...

I will admit it. Even after 25 years of research, occasionally a microfilm machine will confuse me. Sometimes I hesitate to ask for help. Af...

Make certain you are getting the entire record. I was using marriage records for Champaign County, Illinois, recently. They were on microfil...

Do you have maps of all your ancestral locations at a time contemporary to your ancestors? It might not be possible to get maps for every an...

Does your local library have access to databases not specifically genealogy that might help you in your research? Libraries that have Proque...

A death certificate for a potential relative indicated he died in "tumway, Iowa." I had no idea where that was. I didn't try t...

Remember that using the 1880 census is free at Ancestry.com and at Family Search. The images are not free, but the data is. Ancestry.com...

Keep track of the individuals that you have eliminated as being your ancestor, his parents, his brother, etc. That way you do not research t...

I almost overlooked the death certificate of her husband. The lady I was researching died in 1914 and was listed as a widow. I didn't lo...

I wanted to locate children of a relative in census records after her death. The names were somewhat common and I didn't have too many d...

For those who did not know, the 1925 Iowa State Census asked for names of father and mother. Ancestry has included those as search terms. Mi...

Remember that the census we use today was not the one on which the census taker took his "original" enumeration. The census copy t...

Keep in mind that your ancestor may have moved back and forth. Not everyone followed a general path in just one direction. I'm working o...

My latest "Casefile Clues" column was posted Sunday. It discussed a preemption claim in Missouri in the 1850s. Readers who aren...

This free online index is just to some Missouri newspapers, but it might help those with ancestors in the "Show-Me" state. http://...

Put the birthdays of your ancestors on a calendar. Use those days (or a day nearby) as time to review your information on that individual an...

Have you searched for EVERY appropriate person in the SSDI? Are there people in your database who might be in there and for whom you have no...

When was the last time you visited the USGenWeb pages for your counties of interest? It has been at least several years since I visited the ...

Do you know the Soundex codes for your last names? Visit http://resources.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/soundexconverter to get the codes. ...

Sometimes the brick wall is created when an ancestor's mother marries after the death of her husband. The problem is that if you do not...

A poster to a list indicated that her European ancestor's first name was changed from Andreas to Andrew when he immigrated to the United...

My second "Casefile Clues" column went out to subscribers this weekend. It discusses a passport application that was located on An...

We don't normally include websites at "Genealogy tip of the Day," but this one is free and really too good for the genealogist...

My grandma Neill told me she remembered her baptism. I was skeptical as the denomination of which her parents were members practiced infant ...

Does that ancestral signature on a document match the handwriting of the document itself? Don't conclude your ancestor wrote the record....

Are you working on the same family day after day after day? Consider taking a few days off and avoid making genealogy "your job." ...

Keep in mind that a minor could have had several guardians in their life if one of more of their parents were deceased. Guardian of the pers...

I've been working on my wife's English ancestors the last few times I have been at the Family History Library. One frustration has b...

I've been playing around with the free access to the 1930 census on Footnote.com and in experimenting with their interface, I remember...

You can follow me on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/mjnrootdig I am on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/rootdig Michael

My grandmother Neill had a brother named Cecil. Her sister's husband was named Cecil and her husband (my grandfather) was named Cecil. W...

My first Casefile Clues has gone out to the subscriber list. For those who are unaware my "Casefile Clues" column is no longer ava...

Until they are all digitized and indexed (which is years away from happening, if ever), court records are one of richest body of records tha...

Have you thought about how your information will be shared with others after you leave this Earth? How will your information be preserved? T...

Before going to a library to research, print out one page that contains a bibliographic citation for each source or reference you wish to us...