Genealogy Tip of the Day

If you think there should be an estate for an ancestor, make certain to look for a deed even if court records are not located. In some cases...

Keep in mind that in the cases of intestate estates, a court might not be concerned about relatives who die young, never marry, and do not l...

Does that research project seem too large? Maybe it is. Pick a smaller task or research goal to start on and go from there.  Don't thin...

When was the last time you took a hard look at some conclusions and research you did in the early days of your family history adventure? A...

If you need a map of baselines and meridians within the United States, there's a good one here: http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/Visitors/P...

When interviewing that relative, keep in mind that there just might be some things they either do not know, never knew, or just cannot remem...

I record every name exactly as it was written on the document. Sometimes though I struggle with what name to "use" for an ancestor...

Need some perspective on your ancestor? Try reading a local and national newspaper on the day he was born, died, married, etc. While not eve...

Don't assume no one has ever published part of your family history. A little searching located a genealogy published in 1987 on the fami...

Use compilations of others as clues, not as proven facts to be copied down with nary a thought. Make certain you reduce the chance you perpe...

When asking relatives questions, try and avoid planting ideas in the mind of the person who is answering your questions. You want the interv...

Yesterday's tip was "how was life different" for your ancestor? Today think about what aspects of your ancestor's life wer...

If you're stuck on an ancestor, make a list of ten ways your ancestor's life was different from yours. These ways can include lifest...

If your ancestor owned property (whether it was a small lot or a large acreage), determine how it came into and left his possession. Either ...

Try a new genealogy website, read a how-to article from a journal, work on a family you've never worked on before. Keep your genealogy...

Catalogers make mistakes when going through materials. Consequently what appears as the description in the card catalog for an item can be i...

Make certain you read the entire set of court, probate, divorce papers, etc. There may be incomplete or incorrect information in one part of...

I'm not talking about one hiding in the basement. Instead does a man have a first and a second wife both named Mary? Does a woman marr...

Is it possible that your ancestor never moved, but where he lived changed? In early days of settlement county boundaries were sometimes in f...

If your ancestor divorced, determine any relationships with those who provided testimony. Siblings and relatives may provide testimony in a ...

Think about the record you are using and the pieces of information it contains. Are there facts that don't really need to be accurate? Y...

A 1921 divorce case I'm looking at for an upcoming issue of Casefile Clues indicates several times that the couple was married in 1908....

When searching for materials in the Family History Library Card Catalog, make certain you have searched for materials cataloged at all juris...

I'm working on a case where the husband's probate in the 1880s doesn't tell me very much. The widow survived. What I need to do ...

Revisit repositories, libraries, websites, etc. that you've not visited in a while. They may have cataloged new materials, created new i...

Don't assume that your sixty something ancestor would never have immigrated. If all their chidlren had left the old country, it's ve...

If you are unfamiliar with researching members of your ancestor's ethnic group, considering joining a mailing list specifically for indi...

Did you ancestors "head west" only to "head back east?" Not everyone who went west stayed. Is it possible that the ten y...

In one family that I've worked on for sometime, I realized that the step-children separated from the step-father about the time some of ...

Your ancestor might really have believed they were born somewhere they were not. As a result, every record where they provided their place o...

Remember that not every relative or genealogist who might be able to help you is on Facebook or even the Internet. If the only people you in...

Interacting with other online genealogists is great, but face to face interaction can be good as well. Consider joining and becoming involve...

Don't assume that your ancestor always was a member of the same denomination or that they were the same denomination as their parents. P...

Have you considered writing your own biography? It would be deeply ironic to have all that genealogy information on all those dead people wi...

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