Genealogy Tip of the Day

If Uncle Herman (or Aunt Hermina) disappears after they reach young adulthood, consider the fact that they might not really have disappeared...

Look at the ages of your ancestors when they had their "first" marriage. Was their age at that "first" marriage old enou...

If you're confused in reading a mortgage, remember that the mortgagor is usually the one who signs the document and is the one who is bo...

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We've mentioned this tip before, but it bears repeating. Is there some document, picture, or record where the only copy in existence i...

Learning to read another style of handwriting can be difficult, particularly the words written in it are in a foreign language. One way to g...

If you are fortunate enough to find an ancestor's biography in an old county history, bear in mind that information submitted for these ...

Some families name children according to naming patterns and other families do not. Names being repeated in a family can be clues to connect...

In any form of testimony where someone indicates they have known your ancestor for a specific number of years, determine when your ancestor ...

Depending on their family and work situation, there is a chance that an ancestor is enumerated more than once in a census. The census was no...

The death notice, obituary, death certificate, and tombstone all have the same date of birth for great-grandma. This probably does not mean ...

While most couples who took out a marriage license did marry, it is always possible that they did not. If there is a record that a couple go...

Derivative citizenship is citizenship that is "derived" from someone else's citizenship status. If your alien ancestor was und...

Do you keep track of what databases you use and what people you try and find in those databases? Or do you just keep entering in names, hopi...

When was the last time you read some local history for the area adjacent to where you are doing research? A little more background informati...

When researching urban ancestors and using city directories, determine if more than one publisher published directories. If you are only che...

For those who are new: I currently write and maintain the following blogs: Genealogy Tip of the Day   http://genealogytipoftheday.blog...

Some immigrants, when providing birth or origin information in their new country, may have provided a town "close" to where the we...

In viewing some marriages as listed in the Bourbon County, Kentucky, marriage register for the 1815 era, it was easy to see that the marriag...

Remember when analyzing family structure and possible migrations that the mother has to be in the same place as the child on the date of bir...

Just because a female has the same last name as her father does not mean she is unmarried. A relative of my had the maiden name of Mattie Hu...

A grantor is the person "selling" or transferring the property from his or her ownership on a deed. The grantee is the person who ...

Make certain you have searched the records of all the courts that a county or other local jurisdiction might have. Some counties might have ...

All of us have a set of  "tricks" that we use to search for people in online databases. Don't search for every family in the e...

Our $5 webinar sale is back! All presentations are made by Michael John Neill. Our style is informal and informative with the intent on ...

Can you remember the last historical fact you learned? If you can't, maybe it's been too long since you learned something about the ...

We are offering the following genealogy webinars in June 2012: Crossing the Pond--Part 2 Making Corrections to Your Ancestry.com Tree A...

Leaving someone out of a will does not mean that they were not a child of the testator. It could be that the child had previously been given...

That obituary for your great-uncle might have been written and paid for by his third wife. Consequently, she may choose not to mention his f...

If you want a copy of your ancestor's death certificate, think twice before paying one of those online places an exorbitant fee for ...

Be careful in assuming the gender based solely upon how a name is used today. My ancestor Augusta Newman is a male--sometimes he used August...

Remember that even after a county was formed, it is possible that the county line was eventually "tweaked" years or decades later....

Witnesses to wills generally are not heirs of the testator, the person who signs the will. They can be relatives or someone totally unrelate...

If your ancestor "disappears" consider the possibility that he changed his name. In earlier times, a person could simply change th...

If your ancestor "disappears" ask yourself what historical events were going on at that time. Was there a gold/silver rush? Was th...