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Research Knowledgebase: General and United States


Here you'll find tips, guidelines, definitions, and more for your family history research.

  • Click a topic (black text) to open its contents; or
  • To open all topics, click the box with the three minus signs (header area); or
  • Click a heading (green text) to go to the corresponding page in The Family History Guide.

Overview


Basic research
  • About

    • Focus on a short list of research objectives. Select a workable number of research objectives (names or families) and ignore any hints or signals you receive about any other families, no matter how enticing they may seem to be.
    • Spend time processing and evaluating the information you gather. Don't assume the "same name is the same person," and be careful about near-matches that are not verified. (Source: Focusing Your Research)
    • Every time you find some additional information about your family, you need to start asking more questions. Many researchers stop asking questions and take the easy way out. (Source: From Whence and to Thither -- Understanding Migration Patterns: Part Eleven)
    • All research begins with a question. Looking at your family tree, you may have many questions. Genealogical questions will generally fit one of the following categories: identify an individual, prove a family relationship, or discover ancestor actions. Once you've chosen your research question, you can focus your research by formulating an objective. Your objective should include key identifiers.
      • (Source: Research Like a Pro, Part 1: What’s Your Question?)
    • Analyze your tree and choose a simple research question such as “where did my ancestor die?” or “which John Smith” is my ancestor? Write an objective from your question using the key identifiers of complete names and birth, death, and marriage dates and places. (Source: How To Research in 30 Minutes a Day: Research Like a Pro 14-Day Mini Challenge)

  • Direct lines and families

    • It is also altogether too common to open a family tree file and find generation upon generation where only one member of the family is identified. It is virtually impossible to keep that kind of pedigree accurate. Without the confirmation of the names of other family members, keeping this same name situation correct presents almost insurmountable problems.
    • Search for everyone in every family. Don't play favorites. If you are going to do the job, do it right. In cases where the wife is unidentified there are huge resources for finding the wife's name. (Source: Search for Every Ancestor, Not Just Your Direct Line)
    • When you begin research on a new family, start by compiling a family group record showing everything you know about them. It is important to list every known event in each person's life. The more events you list, the better. It is also important to cite the sources of your information. Some of your names, dates, and places may be guesses or estimates. Your sources for this data should explain how you arrived at the estimates. (Source: Family group record: roadmap for researchers)
    • Once some genealogists get started, all they do is collect names. Can they possibly remember or know who these people are, or possibly know the accuracy of all these entries? Is genealogy really a competition sport where the winner is the person with the most names listed? People who don't know who their parents are, and people who have tens of thousands of "relatives" listed in extensive family trees, have exactly the same problem: they know little or nothing about their ancestors. (Source: Using the frequency of names for genealogical research)

  • Genealogical Proof Standard

    • The purpose of the Genealogical Proof Standard is to show what the minimums are that a genealogist must do for his or her work to be credible. There are five elements to the Genealogical Proof Standard: Reasonably exhaustive research has been conducted; Each statement of fact has a complete and accurate source citation; The evidence is reliable and has been skillfully correlated and interpreted; Any contradictory evidence has been resolved; The conclusion has been soundly reasoned and coherently written. (Source: Source: Genealogical Proof Standard)
    • Each record and each piece of evidence in a record can be evaluated individually, but proof is the accumulation of acceptable evidence. Absolute proof is seldom possible, but a sufficient degree of "genealogical proof" should be the goal of each researcher. To genealogically prove a fact, you must find decisive evidence that confirms one view and excludes other reasonable possibilities. You are responsible for determining if the accumulated evidence provides "clear and convincing" proof of a genealogical fact.
    • Clear and convincing evidence means that the accumulated evidence in favor of a point is so strong that any reasonable person would also make the same conclusions. Sometimes it is not possible to find acceptable records that provide direct evidence. Sometimes the records needed to directly prove a point were not kept or preserved. In such cases, researchers try to accumulate enough evidence from other sources that they can make a statement that is "clear and convincing." Any contradictions should be resolved before connections based on that evidence are accepted.
    • Proof is the thought process by which we reach a convincing conclusion, including a thorough examination of sources and information, and a logical presentation of evidence. (Source: Evaluating Sources and Information (National Institute))

  • Rules

    1. When the baby was born, the mother was there.
    2. Absence of an obituary or death record does not mean the person is still alive; absence of a record does not mean the event did not occur.
    3. Every person who ever lived has a unique birth order and a unique set of biological parents.
    4. There are always more records.
    5. You cannot get blood out of a turnip (connections to royalty or famous persons must be documented, not assumed).
    6. Records move.
    7. Water and genealogical information flow downhill (information becomes more scarce going back in time).
    8. Everything in genealogy is connected (butterfly effect).
    9. There are patterns everywhere.
    10. Read the fine print.
    11. Even a perfect fit can be wrong.
    12. The end is always there (end of a documented family line). (Source: Annual Review of Rules of Genealogy)

Next Steps
  • Assumptions and Conclusions

    • An assumption implies that you are assuming that what you have already found is correct and by acting on that assumption you are committing yourself to a cause of action. The definition of the word assumption is a thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof.This last part, without proof, is the important part for genealogy.
    • Historical research involves locating, reading, and extracting significant information from records that include information about someone in your ancestral line. You then draw conclusions (opinions) about the extracted information.

  • Discrepancies and Contradictions

    • Contradictory evidence and discrepancies are normal in genealogical research. A novice researcher tends to ignore discrepancies. Experienced researchers tend to embrace them.
    • The best researchers always openly acknowledge, analyze, and attempt to explain discrepancies. Knowing and admitting the weaknesses of a case leads to better analysis and conclusions. It strengthens the genealogical community by setting an example of honesty, and pointing the way to better interpretation of the evidence.
    • In some cases, the discrepancy may be so minor that it need only be mentioned. Minor spelling variations of a name usually only need to be acknowledged in the source notes.
    • State the problem—explain how the evidence seems contradictory. Explain which version you believe is most reliable and why. Give one or more reasons why you believe the less reliable evidence was created.
    • An important part of genealogical research is the gathering, collation, correlation, interpretation, and analysis of all available sources against each other. When almost all the available sources about a family have been considered, you are best able to judge which are the most reliable and to reach reasonable conclusions. Always explain and resolve significant conflicts between sources. Write a statement explaining your thinking and share it with other researchers. (Source: Contradictions and Discrepancies)
    • Try to disprove uncertain connections. Use a process of elimination to find ancestors. If a person died too early, lived too long, or lived in the wrong place, he isn’t yours. Drop people from the list by finding their death records (or by finding them in records after your person died). Always attempt to disprove what you think is the last remaining link, too. Test new information by comparing it with what you already know. (Source: Solving Tough Research Problems—Overcoming Brick Walls)
    • A "revolving door" ancestor is a FamilySearch Family Tree person who has a consistently high number of changes over a long period of time. Almost all real revolving door ancestors date back into the 1700 or earlier. Revolving door ancestors can have dozens or even hundreds of people adding and changing information, and the same person rarely is involved in changing sourced information more than once. The main source of all this "bad" information is the gigantic pool of Personal Ancestral File (PAF) and GEDCOM files that are all unsourced ... There is also a segment of changes that come from people believing unsourced information in family surname or descendancy books. (Source: What are revolving door ancestors and why do they exist?)

  • Evaluation

    • All records need to be evaluated as to their relevance, their category and their format. A record is relevant if it was created for the purpose of preserving the information you are seeking.
    • All instances of contradictory evidence are merely an invitation to further research. It is almost inevitable that you will encounter contradictions. How you handle those contradictions will determine the ultimate validity of your research.
    • For a record, evaluate the origin of the information, the facts given in the record, the events described, and whether or not the evidence is direct or indirect. (Source: Dealing with Contradictory Evidence)
    • Look for improbable dates for ancestors. Commonly, a child will be shown with a birth date before the birth date for one or both of the parents. Were too many children born in the same year? Do the ages that events were supposed to happen add up? Were your American ancestors married in their childhood or having children at an advanced age? All of these indicate either the dates are wrong or the people are misidentified. Other problems caused by poor math include losing children from families and skipping generations. (Source: Examining Dates Critically in Your Genealogy Research)
    • The basic causes for inaccuracy in records include faulty observation, mistakes in recording, and misrepresentation.
    • Stop merely copying and begin evaluating. Who created the record? When was the record created? What was the original purpose of the record? How did the record get preserved in the repository or online? Why is the individual record included where it was found? (Source: How You Know You Are Past the Introductory Stage in Genealogy Research)
    • Summarize the problem. Rearrange relevant sources in a different logical order. Review old sources for overlooked clues. Separate what you assume from what you know. Sort and weigh the evidence. Analyze information for relevance, directness of the evidence, believability of the source, likelihood of the event, transcription errors, accuracy of data, and consistency with other facts. Write a formal research report to clarify your thinking. Write why you searched where you did, what you found or did not find, and what that means; construct a well-documented family group record; and list what should be searched next, why, how long that will take, and the likelihood of success. (Source: Solving Tough Research Problems—Overcoming Brick Walls)

  • Evidence

    • Evidence is information or facts about an event or a situation. Evaluate whether the evidence is valid for meeting the research objective and therefore producing some level of proof. You will want to consider all relevant evidence, but remember that all evidence is not equal.
    • Direct statements give a straightforward fact. For example, a baptismal record may state the birth date of the child being baptized. Whenever possible, try to find records that directly state specific facts as proof of a genealogical event or relationship.
    • Indirect statements support a fact by reasonable inference. For example, if a census record lists a person's age as 45 in 1851, it implies a birth in or near 1806. A marriage record is evidence that a couple was born, but unless it gives the age of the bride or groom, you can only guess at their birth dates. The couple may have been born 16 or 60 years earlier. Indirect evidence usually requires additional evidence to prove a fact.
    • Background information is sometimes misinterpreted or applied incorrectly to individual cases. For example, just because most immigrants joined friends or relatives in their new country does not mean your ancestor had relatives when he arrived in his new country.
    • When multiple sources of independent origin provide consistent information, it makes the evidence stronger. Genealogists search records to find what evidence is present. (Source: Evaluate the Evidence)
    • Sometimes the absence of evidence is, in itself, evidence. Absent evidence, or negative evidence as it is often called, is a special type of indirect evidence. The proficient genealogist utilizes absent evidence to determine an approximate time of a death, a move, a marriage, or the like. (Source: Evidence Baby Steps)

  • Patterns

    • If genealogists were to use pattern recognition, they would have to add research into the historical, cultural, social, religious, and occupational background of their families.
    • To begin using basic pattern recognition techniques to advance genealogical research, there needs to be a greater emphasis on placing the family within the context of its entire background. The most basic pattern is that of where events in a particular family occurred. (Source: Pattern Recognition as a Goal in Genealogy)
    • By stepping back and viewing the overall pattern, including the location of each event, you can begin to recognize the place each individual occupies in the family pattern. The identity of a missing piece of the pattern may be contained in adjoining pieces. Even if a particular piece turns up to have been lost or destroyed, the pattern is not broken until there are so many broken and missing pieces that the pattern is no longer discernable. (Source: Expanded Commentary on Rules of 8)

  • Organization

    • Organizing and documenting your research is a key concept for both beginners and seasoned family history researchers. File organization is important in computers, but for genealogy and family history research work it is absolutely imperative. Creating links between files (such as source documents that have been scanned, research logs, analysis forms, and records managers) can help in keeping the sources available for quick view while studying and analyzing a research problem. (Source: Getting Started: General Research Information)

  • Research Logs

    • Keep good research logs for each family. List the objective of each of your searches; for example, list John Doe's name and the type of event (birth, marriage, or death). List every record you plan to search before you search it. If you do not find what you seek, write "nil" on the log so you know you have already searched there and do not need to repeat that search. Too many "nils" show you should search elsewhere. If you do find it, summarize what you found (person and event). Also list letters you write, phone calls, and Internet searches and results on your research log. (Source: Solving Tough Research_Problems—Overcoming Brick Walls)

  • Strategies

    • Survey available information. This is a continuous process, as there is seemingly no end to the amount of information developed by others and added to online family trees. Consequently, reviewing what has been done previously or recorded previously can almost overwhelm all of the other aspects of the genealogical process.
    • Accumulate information from the survey stage. This enables you to identify documents or records that may contain information about your family. The process of identifying records and documents and discovering where they might be located is the most time-consuming part of genealogical research.
    • Review the documents and records you have accumulated. Extract the information and add it to the method you are using to record genealogical information. Also, review how this information may affect any other information and conclusions you have already made.
    • Constantly review what you have already concluded. Revise any conclusions as needed, based on additional information obtained through records and documents.
    • With inferential genealogy, you start with a focused goal; search broadly; understand the records; correlate the evidence; and write down the results.
    • You can sometimes find missing ancestors by searching for their children. Children of ancestors may be assigned to the wrong spouse, because researchers start doing the research with the spouse and ignore the research on the children. (Source: Find a Missing Ancestor by Searching for the Children)

A

African American
  • Freedman's Bureau

    • The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (often called the Freedmen’s Bureau) was created by Congress on March 3, 1865 at the end of the American Civil War to aid the newly-freed slaves (freedmen) and refugees. It was created to supervise relief efforts, including education health care, food and clothing, refugee camps, legalization of marriages, employment, labor contracts, and securing back pay, bounty payments, and pensions for soldiers and sailors. The Bureau also helped reunite families. The Bureau operations were terminated in 1872. Because the Bureau's records contain a wide range of data about the African American experience during slavery and freedom, they are a valuable source for African American genealogy. (Source: African American Freedmen's Bureau Records))

  • Great Migration


  • Slavery

    • Slavery began in 1620 in the Colonies. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Northern states gradually stopped slavery. Slave importation to the U.S. became illegal in 1808. The Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in Confederate states in 1863. The last of the slaves were freed at the end of the Civil War in 1865.
    • You must first identify the slave owner, and then study the owner’s records for clues to your family. Your ancestor’s life was inseparably connected with the slave owner. Your ancestor will be listed in records of the slave owner’s property.
    • Keep in mind that only about 15 percent of former slaves took their last slave owner’s surname. Some took the surname of people they admired, such as Lincoln or Washington, and some took a surname they had been using for many years without the knowledge of the slave owner. (Source: Quick Guide to African American Records)
    • There are well over four centuries of the history of African slavery in America, up to when Brazil finally abolished slavery in 1888. A commonly repeated myth is that it is impossible to do genealogical research about African Americans before about 1870. Some of the ancestral lines of the originally enslaved people in America are difficult to research, and others are not any more difficult than other people who came to America as servants, slaves, indentured servants and in other capacities. The main challenge for genealogists has been the general lack of specific vital records and other similar and easily located public documents. It is, therefore, necessary to rely on probate records and other less available and more difficult-to-use documents. (Source: A History of the beginning of the end of legal slavery in America: Part Two)


Archives
    About

    • For almost all U.S. archives, only very small percentages of their available records have been digitized and are available online. However, it is very important to do your initial research online before traveling to an archive and spending time onsite. Many archives have ongoing digitization projects, and the availability of any given type of record will change over time, so you may need to revisit the archive online from time to time.
    • Each archive has its own procedures, rules, and regulations for access. Also, some archives, particularly private ones, may require a researcher to apply for and obtain a license and even be associated with an academic institution to obtain permission to do research. Some, like the Library of Congress and National Archives, require training before you can even gain access to start to do research.
    • For any visit to a library or archive, you need to develop specific research goals. You should know exactly what information you need to discover and whether the particular archive has records that might help to answer your specific research questions. (Source: How do we find records in an archive?)

B


Birth records
  • About

    • Most states began recording births between 1900 and 1930, with some states recording births on the county level as early as the 1860s.
    • Birth records may include the name, birth date and birthplace of the child; the father’s name; the mother’s name, including maiden name; and birthplaces of parents. (Source: FS—Wiki: How to Find United States Birth Records)
    • For birth information, the following types of records may also be helpful: Vital records, church records, family bibles, cemetery records, obituaries, newspapers, census records, biographies, naturalization and citizenship records, and school records.
    • Birth records might seem like the first place to start your search, but experts recommend looking into death records first and marriage records second, followed by birth records (because they are usually the most difficult to find).
    • It is very common to find birth information in other sources. For example, New England town records may contain some of the earliest birth records, but mandatory birth record were not kept by all of the states until well into the 1900s. Some early records of births and christenings or baptism dates were kept in local church records.
    • It is not unusual for birth records to be entirely missing. State and county jurisdictions began keeping birth and death records at different times as required in each state, so you must check with the local state laws to determine when the earliest state or county birth records are available. In some states, birth records are confidential for a period of up to 100 years or more, and access to more recent records may require proof that you are a direct descendant of the person whose record you seek. (Source: FS—Wiki: United States Birth Records)

    • Strategies

    • Reasons why you may not be able to find a birth record: 1) the birth took place in an unexpected location; 2) the jurisdictional boundaries of the birth place may have changed; 3) no record of the birth was ever made (a calculated birth date is all that is available); 4) the record of the birth has an incomplete or incorrect index; 5) you may be searching for the wrong family; 6) the child could have been adopted, or was a foundling or illegitimate; 7) the person may have changed names later in life and never disclosed the birth name. (Source: Discovering Birth Records)
    • Recent birth certificates may be protected by privacy laws, which vary by state, and can generally be ordered from the state government for a fee. (Source: Genealogy Record Types)


Books
  • About

    • With online research, books are almost uniformly ignored. Good sources for online genealogical books include WorldCat, Google, and FamilySearch. (Source: Where are all the genealogy ebooks?)
    • Access levels used in Google eBooks: Full view = Books in the public domain are available for "full view" and can be downloaded for free. Preview = For in-print books where permission has been granted, the number of viewable pages is limited to a "preview" set by a variety of access restrictions and security measures. Snippet view = Two to three lines of text surrounding the queried search term are displayed, in cases where Google does not have permission of the copyright owner to display a preview. No preview = Google also displays search results for books that have not been digitized. Their text is not searchable and only the metadata information such as the title, author, publisher, number of pages, ISBN, subject and copyright information, and in some cases, a table of contents and book summary, is available. (Source: Wikipedia: Google Books)

  • Interlibrary Loan

    • Interlibrary Loan is one of the most underused resources for genealogists. If a book is not available at your local library, it can be requested via interlibrary loan. The requested item is then forwarded to your local library where you can either check out the material or use the item in the library. At the end of the process the book is returned to the originating library. There is usually no charge for this service to the user. (Source: Library of Congress Newspapers on Microfilm)
    • Loan requests between branch libraries in the same local library system are usually filled promptly, while loan requests between library systems may take weeks to complete. However, if an item is rare, fragile, or exceptionally valuable, the owning library is under no obligation to release it for interlibrary loan. Some collections and volumes, especially bound journals and one-of-a-kind manuscripts, are non-circulating, meaning that they may not be borrowed. Books may be delivered by mail or courier service. Photocopies may be faxed or scanned and delivered electronically. (Source: Top ten genealogical repositories in America -- have you been there?)


Brick walls / Advanced research
  • About

    • Five ways to jump-start your genealogy: 1) Proofread what you have already written; 2) Read a good book about an ancestral line; 3) Attend a conference; 4) Take a genealogy trip; 5) Take a genealogy class. (Source: 5 Ways to Jump-Start Your Family History)
    • If you think your genealogy research has hit a brick wall, it may be helpful to ask yourself the following questions: 1) Have I carefully checked the location where my ancestor was supposed to live? 2) What do I know about the specific ancestor's family, especially children and grandchildren? 3) Have I looked in the newspapers? 4) Have I read about the history of the place? 5) Have I looked at all of the possible record sources? (Source: Questions to Ask Yourself Before Declaring a Brick Wall)
    • Ten barriers to future genealogical research: 1) Abandonment of training of cursive handwriting; 2) Lack of adequate document preservation; 3) Lack of history training for younger students; 4) The huge avalanche of information that is overwhelming our ability to focus on any specific task long enough to solve complex problems; 5) The unsure future of digital preservation; 6) Political pressure to destroy or restrict access to certain genealogically important documents; 7) General lack of appreciation of genealogically important documents; 8) proliferation of inaccurate and unsupported family trees; 9) Increases in natural disasters; 10) A general impression that genealogy is "easy." (Source: Ten Threats to the Future of Genealogical Research)
    • Some of the most common "brick wall" issues in genealogical research are instigated as a result of unsupported assumptions about ancestral families that have no basis in history or geography. (Source: How to Start Learning History for Genealogists (and everyone else too))

  • Neighbors and Relatives / Cluster Research

    • A "cluster" consists of extended family members, friends, neighbors, and other associates such as business partners, of an ancestor.
    • Cluster research is supplemented by "jurisdictional research" and utilizes the concept of beginning your research in the lowest or basic jurisdictional level.
    • The first step in implementing cluster research is to become aware of the historical setting and surroundings of the target family or ancestor. (Source: A Step-by-Step Approach to Using Genealogical Cluster Research: Step One)
    • Sometimes people claim that they have hit a brick wall when all they really have hit is one brick. Constant attention directed at the missing person is unproductive. You already know that person is hard to find, so try someone else; brothers, sisters, neighbors, children, grandchildren. You need to learn as much as you can about the entire family and any records that may have survived from family or neighbors. (Source: Questions to ask yourself before declaring a brick wall)
    • Proximity implies a relationship of some kind. Good genealogists use this to their advantage. Learn to be aware of neighbors and associates. As you gather information and sources for individuals, strive to understand their family, friends, associates, and neighbors as well. You will soon realize that people are born, raised, married, have children and grandchildren, migrate, live, die, and are buried in clusters. Their community relationships often provide clues to solve difficult genealogical problems. The more a genealogist can discover about an ancestor's community, the greater the odds of uncovering significant relationships.
    • Make note of pastors, godparents, witnesses, bondsmen, partners, suppliers, executors, and similar community members on documents.
    • Always investigate anyone living in the same household.
    • Neighbors in the area with similar given names or surnames, occupations, or place of origin are good candidates to be relatives. Study the neighbors and associates in land records, plat maps, censuses, tax records, and directories. Strive to figure out their relationship to your ancestor.
    • People often moved in groups. They usually moved to an area where neighbors spoke their same language, so the "new" neighbors were often known from an old neighborhood. Land purchases and sales may be evidence of genealogical lineage between buyer and seller.
    • In cemeteries pay attention to gravestones anywhere near your ancestor's grave.
    • If an ancestor lived near a parish, town, county, or state line, look for people on the other side of that line who could be relatives. (Source: FamilySearch Wiki)
    • People move in groups. The neighbor often came from the same place as your ancestor. Plat your ancestor's land and run the deeds of each neighbor. Find out who the witnesses on documents are. Study a family in community context. Study people in the area with the same surname and with different surnames in the same house. Identify census neighbors at least 12 before/after. Near a county/state line, study families over the line. Comb the area for same first names, origins, or jobs.
    • Even "landless" ancestors may be traced by creatively using data about neighbors and correlating it with facts about the problem ancestor. Identify census and land office neighbors. Organize and sort what you know and look for similarities and dissimilarities. Keep asking what your correlated sources imply about subtle relationships or further records and clues. (Source: Solving Tough Research_Problems—Overcoming Brick Walls)

  • Timelines

    • The main reason for using a timeline is to put the person in historical perspective. This integration of events gives you potentially valuable source suggestions. For example, if a male ancestor was of the age to fight in a war, then realizing the connection between his availability and the wars that have occurred is a strong suggestion to follow up with military research.
    • Timelines can be used to distinguish between multiple people with the same name. Timelines can also give strong indications of missing family members, particularly children, and other types of missing information. (Source: Comments on Becoming an Excellent Genealogist, Chapter Twelve)
    • Gather everything you know about the objective: previous research, known information from published trees, etc. Compile it into a timeline, then analyze each piece of information for reliability. (Source: Revisiting Timelines and Analysis Again)
    • Go through each event in your timeline and analyze the source (original, derivative, authored) and information (primary, secondary, unknown). Look for gaps and write down any questions or ideas you have. (Source: Revisiting Timelines and Analysis Again)

Business records
  • About

    • Business and occupational records are seldom identified as genealogical records but can be useful. Governments from the earliest times have issued permits and licenses to allow businesses to operate. Also, from the earliest times there have guilds and trade unions have governed the activities of their members and kept records.
    • Newspapers are also a good source of information about business activities. Some business activities require the business to publish information in a newspaper of general circulation.
    • For many years, cities in the United States published city directories and telephone directories. These directories list all the businesses in the cities and in many cases all of the residents. They are both extremely useful in tracking the movements of your ancestors.
    • Some businesses, such as mortuaries, have been required by law to maintain records. Other types of business records may be found in historical societies and university special collections libraries.
    • Occupational records are usually associated with a particular business. However, some professions such as doctors, lawyers and accountants have professional organizations that my also have historical records about their membership. (Source: James Tanner, QRB Videos)

C

Cemeteries and gravestones
  • About

    • Cemetery records often include birth, marriage, and death information and clues to military service, religion, membership in an organization. Family members were often buried near each other.
    • Types of cemeteries include church, government (town, county, state, and national), military, fraternal organizations, corporations, and family or private.
    • Sources for cemetery records include a) the present sexton, funeral home, or minister who may have the burial registers and the records of the burial plots;
      b) a local library, historical society, or local historian, who may have the records or can help you locate obscure family plots or relocated cemeteries;
      c) cemetery associations, who sometimes publish inventories or transcripts for their areas;
      d) sextons' records and transcripts of tombstone information that have been published, often in local genealogical periodicals; and
      e) lists of soldiers' graves. (Source: FS—Wiki: United States Cemeteries)
    • BillionGraves.com is a free website for looking up headstone photos from around the world. Volunteers use smartphones to take GPS-tagged photos of headstones and upload them to the BillionGraves website. The photos are then available to be transcribed by volunteers. All of the photos can be easily accessed for research online. (Source: Using BillionGraves to Document Cemeteries)


Census, United States
  • Definitions

    • A census is a count and description of the population of a country,state, county, or city for a given date. Census lists are also called "schedules." In the United States a nationwide census has been taken every ten years since 1790. (Source: United States Census)
    • Agricultural schedule: listing of farms, owners/managers, and crop and animal details (1850, 1860, 1870)
    • Enumerator: a census taker
    • Enumeration district: geographic area where census information was recorded
    • Manufacturing schedule: name of manufacturer, type of business, manufacturing details (1820, 1850, 1860)
    • Mortality schedule: deaths in the year preceding the census year, including name, age, sex, marital status if married or widowed, state or country of birth, month of death, occupation, cause of death, and the length of the final illness (1850, 1860, 1870, 1880)
    • Population schedule: listing of the individuals and/or households in the entire census area
    • Schedule: a questionnaire used by census enumerators (Source: Step-by-Step Guide to Using Online Census Indexes: Part Three)

  • About

    • Online indexes exist for every U.S. census through 1940. FamilySearch, Ancestry, MyHeritage, and Findmypast have fully indexed copies of all surviving U.S. census schedules.
    • Census indexes typically alphabetize surnames (last names) and then given (first) names or other names and initials of heads of families and specify the county, city. Other census information is usually not included in an index.
    • A well-indexed census is one of the easiest ways to locate where an ancestor lived and when they lived there. You can also use censuses to: 1) Follow the family over time; 2) Determine family relationships; 3) Find clues to other locations where the family lived; 4) Show clues for finding other records. (Source: United States Census)

  • Accuracy limitations

    • Human error may occur in understanding and copying what a resident said.
    • Names may be misspelled or vary from other records. Literacy rates were lower in rural areas for earlier censuses.
    • Place of origin may be misinterpreted or incorrectly assumed by the census taker.
    • A resident may give false information about age.
    • Enumerators rarely missed residents, but in cases where they did, it was usually due to the residents moving. (Source: Step-by-Step Guide to Using Online Census Indexes: Part Six)
    • Use census information with caution, since the information may have been given to a census taker by any member of the family, or by a neighbor. Some information may have been incorrect or deliberately falsified. Compare, contrast, and correlate each census population schedule with those of other census years, and with non-census documents to get the most accurate picture of the family history. (Source: United States Census Accuracy)

  • History


  • Strategies

    • A census record is not just a list of names with some added information, it is also a snapshot of a neighborhood and a community. (Source: Search for the Cluster)
    • Because census records are geographically compiled knowing the location where your ancestors lived is close to absolutely necessary in order to identify the right person or family.
    • Look at the census pages both before and after the sheet you found for your ancestor. The enumerators would go up and down the streets, and that it is common to find related families living in close proximity to each other. (Source: Burned Courthouses and Lost Records)


Church records
  • About

    • Church records in the United States began in the early 1600s. Sometimes church records are the only records containing birth, marriage and death about individuals. Therefore, they are a valuable substitute when vital records do not exist.
    • Some types of church records for denominations include christenings/baptisms, marriages, burials, confirmations, communion, admissions, and removals.
    • A baptism or christening could be either for a child or an adult. Children were christened within a couple of months after birth. This can be substituted for a birth record.
    • A church marriage record was usually kept by the minister of the church in which the couple married, in addition to a government record of the wedding.
    • Burial records were kept by the minister conducting the funeral or by the minister of the church where the person was buried. This can be substituted for a death record. (Source: FS—Wiki: United States Church Records)
    • Church records are not usually classified as genealogical records, so a general search for genealogical records may not find any church records. (Source: James Tanner, QRB Videos)

  • Denominations

    • Your ancestor may have changed denominations for reasons of convenience or conviction. When the family moved to a new community, they may have started attending a church located there, or they may have changed denominations by conversion.
    • The information kept in a church record by a specific church depended largely on the denomination of the church and the record keeper. Each denomination may have recorded different information.
    • To locate your ancestors in church records you must know where they lived and their denomination.
    • It is necessary to know the town or at least the county your ancestor lived in to locate their church records. This will help you narrow down possible churches your ancestors may have attended. (Source: FS—Wiki: United States Church Records)
    • It is very likely that the vast majority of your ancestors were members of a church. To take advantage of any existing church or religiously oriented records, it is very important to determine your ancestors' religious affiliation.
    • One way to determine possible religious affiliation is to search for churches geographically near where your ancestors lived.
    • The earliest immigrants from England were called Puritans. Later, the members of their church were known as Congregationalists. Later immigrants were Quakers, Anabaptists, Presbyterians, Catholics, and Mennonites. (Source: James Tanner, QRB Videos)

  • Strategies

    • Look in home sources for church certificates such as a baptism certificate or a marriage certificate. Also search for funeral notices to see where the funeral took place.
    • Obituaries may mention the church where the funeral took place.
    • Locate the marriage record or certificate for a couple. If they were married by church authority, it will state the name of the clergyman and sometimes the church.
    • Look for the cemetery they were buried in. Some churches have their own cemeteries. If they were buried in a church cemetery, they belonged to the church at one point.
    • The family Bible might reveal which church the family belonged to.
    • County histories may contain information about the local churches in the area.
    • If your ancestor lived in a large city, check the city directory to see what churches were in the neighborhood. Some denominations had congregations by ethnic type (Irish, German, English, African-American). City directories often list the pastor or priest and you may be able to determine the ethnicity of the congregation.
    • Contact the local genealogical society or public library for information on churches in the area.
    • Some communities only had one church, so most residents would have attended that church.
    • Sometimes an ancestor preferred to attend a church close to his or her home, and was not concerned about the denomination he or she attended. Check churches close to your ancestor's home.
    • Your ancestor may have traveled some distance to attend a church n the next town or county, if the denomination was important.
    • If you know your ancestor's country of origin, it can give you a clue as to their religion. Some individuals immigrated to avoid religious persecution, and may have belonged to a church not popular or common in their home country. (Source: FS—Wiki: United States Church Records)
    • An example of a simple "cluster" is church membership. The fact that an individual or a family belongs to or attends a particular denomination forms a cluster of affiliation that can be used not only to discover the family when it moves to another location but also to track family members who are separated from the family. (Source: A Step-by-Step Approach to Using Genealogical Cluster Research: Step Four)


Court records
  • About

    • Three main types of legal cases you may find in court records are civil (an individual, but not society, is harmed), equity (disputes between individuals that do not involve violation of laws), and criminal (violation of laws).
    • Dockets, or court calendars, are lists of cases heard by the court. Dockets usually list the names of the plaintiff and defendant, the date the case was heard, the case file number, and all the documents related to the case. They are usually in chronological, not alphabetical, order, but they may be indexed. They serve as a table of contents to case files.
    • Minutes are brief, daily accounts kept by the clerk of the court of all actions taken by the court. They usually include the names of the plaintiff and defendant and a brief description of the action taken. They are in chronological order and are seldom indexed.
    • Orders are the specific judgments or orders of the court. They usually include a brief description of the case and the judgment to be carried out. Some court actions recorded in court orders—such as orders granting citizenship, appointments of guardians, and re-recording of deeds to replace destroyed land records—are not found in any other court records.
    • Case files generally contain the most helpful family information. A case file consists of a packet or bundle of all the loose documents relating to the case, such as the copies of evidence, testimony, bonds, depositions, correspondence, and petitions. To find a case file, obtain a case file number from the docket, the minutes, or an index. (Source: FS—Wiki: United States Court Records)
    • One example [of success in research] was finding the parents of an end-of-line person from looking in the courthouse where the records were kept. These were records that were not yet online. (Source: The WikiTree Challenge Week: A great opportunity and experience)

D

Dates
  • About

    • Estimated dates may be useful for research purposes but may be misleading if left as recorded dates in family records. Genealogists have used "ballpark" dates such as estimating the age of the mother from the birth of the first child or estimating a marriage age based on the local custom.
    • A death record may contain a birth date calculated from the assumed age at death. Or, birth dates in census records may also be calculated from the age given on the date of the census and are commonly off one year. Calculated dates are "acceptable" as long as they are clearly indicated as calculated.
    • If the date of the birth of a child seems to indicate that the mother was too young or old to have children, it is not a good idea to immediately remove the child from the family, because the date of birth or age of the mother might be wrong. (Source: On the Inexactness of dates in genealogy)
    • Write dates as day-month-year. Example: 10 March 1784, or 10 MAR 1784. This way, there is no confusion about whether it is the 10th day of the 3rd month, or the 3rd day of the 10th month, and we know it is 1784 (not 1884 or 1984). (Source: Recording Your Family Information Charts and Symbols (National Institute))


Death records
  • About

    • Most states began recording deaths between 1900 and 1930, with some as early as the 1860's. Death records could have been recorded by the local government, by a local church where the family attended, or in the local newspaper
    • Death records may include the name of deceased; death date and place; cause of death; age at death; state or country of birth; marital status and spouse's name; birth date and place of deceased; parents of the deceased; birthplaces of deceased's parents; name of undertaker; and cemetery where buried. (Source: FS—Wiki: How to Find United States Death Records)

  • Strategies

    • Your ancestor's death is more recent than his birth or marriage. It is usually best to work from recent events backward, from the known to the unknown.
    • The death record usually tells you where your ancestor last lived. Then you can look for other records for that place.
      • The death record may lead you to other documents created in connection with the death, such as the burial and probate of your ancestor. Those records may give new family information.
    • Death records exist for many persons born before birth and marriage records began. Death records may contain birth and marriage information not available anywhere else. (Source: FS—Wiki: United States Vital Records)
    • Recent death certificates may be protected by privacy laws, which vary by state, and can generally be ordered from the state government for a fee. (Source: Genealogy Record Types)
    • Death certificates are a relatively recent innovation (later 1800s to early 1900s). Looking for a death certificate depends on the time period of implementation and the date of compliance by local record keepers. (Source: Searching for Death Information)


Directories
  • About

    • Directories were created for salesmen, merchants, and other interested in contacting residents of an area. They are arranged alphabetically giving lists of names and addresses. These often list the adult residents of a city or area.
    • The most helpful directories for genealogical research are city and county directories of local residents and businesses.
    • Directories are particularly helpful for research in large cities, where a high percentage of the people were renters, new arrivals, or temporary residents. A directory may be the only source to list an ancestor if he or she was not registered to vote and did not own property.
    • Contents may include the following: An alphabetical listing of inhabitants (arranged by name, address, and occupation); street address listing (arranged by address, name, and occupation); widows, working women, and adult children at home; street locator, including cross streets; addresses and maps of churches, schools, funeral homes, cemeteries, post offices, courts, hospitals, benevolent associations, newspapers; list of marriages and deaths of previous year, and death dates. (Source: FS—Wiki: United States Directories)

    • Addresses

    • Sometimes, finding the specific location where an ancestor lived can make the difference between identifying the right family and going off on a wild goose chase down an unconnected family line following someone with the same or similar name. For the past 100 years or so, if I want to know where an ancestor lived, I can simply look up the ancestor in a directory.
    • These other record types can contain the ancestor’s exact address: Employment, Military, Land and title, Tax, Court, legal notices, Immigrantion, Institutional, Cemetery, Mortuary, Probate, Census, Vital, School, and church. (Source: Finding an Ancestor's Address)


DNA Testing
  • Definitions

    • Autosomal tests (atDNA) look at chromosomes 1–22 and X. The autosomes (chromosomes 1–22) are inherited from both parents and all recent ancestors. The X-chromosome follows a special inheritance pattern. Ethnicity estimates are often included with this sort of testing. (Source: Wikipedia)
    • Mitochondrial tests look at the mitochondria, which is inherited from mother to child and so can be used to explore one's direct maternal line. (Source: Wikipedia)
    • Y-DNA tests look at the Y-chromosome, which is inherited father to son, and so can only be taken by males to explore their direct paternal line. (Source: Wikipedia)

  • Strategies

    • Break down a brick wall where paper records may not exist to solve the problem.
    • Confirm the relationship between two people or families.
    • Learn about deep ancestry and ethnicity.
    • Locate the biological parents of adoptees or people who don't know their parentage.
    • Verify ancestral lines found through paper records. (Source: DNA Basics)

G

Gazetteers
  • Definition

    • A gazeteer is a geographical dictionary or directory used in conjunction with a map or atlas. It typically contains information concerning the geographical makeup, social statistics and physical features of a country, region, or continent. Content of a gazetteer can include a subject's location, dimensions of peaks and waterways, population, gross domestic product and literacy rate. This information is generally divided into topics with entries listed in alphabetical order. (Source: Wikipedia)

H

History
  • About

    • Consider national, regional and local history and geography; always move from the known to the unknown; go to the records if they won't come to you; be reasonably sure what you are looking for is there before you go there to look for it; the record you find may prove something you did not want or expect; and just when you think you have looked at all the records, you find out you are just starting. (Source: Finding an Elusive Ancestor)
    • Look for the places in Wikipedia and read the available history on that website. From there, start doing research online search for "the history of ..." and go from there to books and other records. (Source: How to Start Learning History for Genealogists (and everyone else too)).
    • Read a good book that talks about the history of the location where my target ancestor lived. Check your local library or historical society for suggestions or go online and search in WorldCat.org for the location plus the words "genealogy" or "history." You might find your ancestor's family in the book or not, but you will come away with a greater appreciation for the area where they lived and just might get some good ideas about where to look. (Source: Questions to ask yourself before declaring a brick wall)
    • Use local histories, biographies, and genealogies. Town and county histories often have biographical information about citizens. Look in the FamilySearch Catalog. Use Place Search; from the drop down put in STATE, or COUNTY, then use the key word. In the drop down, put in HISTORY for counties, or STATE, COUNTY, TOWN – HISTORY for town histories. Repeat for the topic BIOGRAPHY and again for GENEALOGY. (Source: Solving Tough Research_Problems—Overcoming Brick Walls).
    • The place of an event in an ancestor's or relative's life should be recorded as it was identified at the time of the event. Before you enter the location of the event you should do some historical research to determine how the place of the event was designated at the time of the event. Identifying the place as it existed at the time of the event gives genealogical and historical researchers a place to start looking for records of the event. So this is the connection between recording the place an event occurred and finding a record of that event. (Source: Where was the event? Where are the records?)
    • Ideally, genealogical research should be well-grounded in history. There is a major movement to encourage contributors to online family trees to support their entries with specific citations to historical documents. Notwithstanding that effort, many genealogical conclusions in online family trees are lacking in historical authenticity. In addition, some genealogists and even historians accept superficial, traditional conclusions rather than questioning easily found but inaccurate information. (Source: A History of the beginning of the end of legal slavery in America: Part Two)

I

Immigration / Emigration
  • History

    • France settled in Florida (South Carolina) in 1562 but were all killed in 1564 by Spain. Spain settled St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 but attempted settlements as early as 1526. England settled in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. Holland settled in New Amsterdam (New York), New York in 1624. Sweden settled in New Sweden, New Jersey in 1638. Russia Settled their Three Saints Bay Colony on Kodiak Island, Alaska in 1784. (Source: Case Studies in American Migration: Part One, Moving Away From the Coast)

  • Guidelines

    • Always start researching the immigrant's children and even grandchildren. Most researchers begin with the immigrant and spend a lot of time looking for a record containing a record of the immigrant's birth. Since the immigrant was not born in America, the records about his or her birth are not likely here. So the idea is to find records preferably from the immigrant or his family that tell where they originated.
    • Research the entire family and anyone living in the area who speaks the same language. People tend to congregate in communities. If the immigrant came from a certain place, it is likely that the neighbors and associates came from the same or very near place.
    • Search for church records. It is sometimes possible that the immigrant "transferred" their membership in a church to the same denomination in America. The church priest or minister may have noted the congregation of origin.
    • Use a Record Selection Table such as the one in the FamilySearch.org Research Wiki.
    • Don't believe all you hear from family traditions. It is possible that the family has a tradition based on ignorance. For example, a tradition that your ancestors came from Germany may obscure the fact that they came from the Austro-Hungarian Empire or even from Poland. With the changes in political boundaries in Europe and elsewhere, it is not a good idea to accept tradition as fact.
    • Become aware of the laws in force at the time your ancestors immigrated. Immigration laws in the United States and before when European countries claimed sovereignty, have changed over time. It is a good idea to make sure you understand how the laws may have affected your ancestors' arrival in America.
    • Be skeptical of the reasons given for your ancestors' name changes. (Source: Find Your Immigrant Ancestors -- Begin Research In the United States)

  • Passenger Lists

    • Some of the earliest immigration records are the lists of passengers on boats coming to America. The key issue in using immigration records for genealogy research is connecting the names on the passenger lists and other associated documents with the immigrant once they have arrived in America.
    • Sometimes, it is possible to find the passenger list from the name of the ship using arrival and departure records. There are many websites and archives that contain passenger lists in various ports.
    • The most common ports of arrival were Baltimore, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; Detroit, Michigan; New Orleans, Louisiana; New York City, New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Los Angeles, California; and San Francisco, California. (Source: Find Your Immigrant Ancestor - Manifests and Passenger Lists)

  • Strategies

    • Begin the search for an immigrant in the country of arrival, but also look to the reasons that made the immigrant move in the first place.
    • In an online family tree a person may be listed as living in a certain location and then moving to another location that does not make any sense. Usually, it turns out that the second person is in fact a different person. If you find information about an ancestor that runs counter to the normal migration pattern, this is an invitation to do more intensive research into the history surrounding the family.
    • For the last one hundred years, individuals had to obtain some sort of permission to move across an international boundary or even internal political boundaries within a single country. At times, some countries imposed and still impose travel restrictions on their own citizens and even the process of moving from one city to another to work, requires documentation. That need for permission generates a whole slew of documents that genealogists can use to identify and track individuals. Even if permission was not necessary, there are still documents that track the movements of individuals and families.
    • Inexperienced genealogists focus on names and dates. As we gain experience, we expand our searches to include the social, political and economic backgrounds of our ancestor's surroundings.
    • Very often, the ancestor would adopt a new name, officially or very often, unofficially, when they moved to a country with a different language. (Source: The Good and the Bad of Names, Dates and Places -- Part Two: More about Names)
    • Usually, the existence or absence of information about the origin of the immigrant depends on the immigrant's economic status. Subsequently, you can usually find your rich ancestor immigrants and cannot find your poor ones and since the poor vastly outnumbered the rich, finding and identifying the origin of our collective ancestors is major obstacle to extending family lines. (Source: Stymied by the Immigrant: Part One)

  • Town of Origin

    • Before you can effectively search the records of another country, you need to know the name of the city, town, or parish your immigrant ancestor came from. The first step is locating the immigrant in the United States.
    • Clues about an ancestors' town of origin are found in various sources, including diaries and other records in your family's possession, family and local histories, church records, obituaries, marriage records, death records, tombstones, passports (particularly since the 1860s), passenger lists (particularly those after 1883), and applications for naturalization.
    • You must also know enough about the ancestor to positively identify him in the records in the country of origin. Dates (even if they are approximate), places, and familial connections are key to helping you decide if a person you find is your ancestor.
    • Since people often immigrated in groups, knowing the predominant groups in the counties your ancestors settled in can provide clues regarding their origins. (Sources: Find Your Immigrant Ancestors - Naturalization Records -- Part Three; Immigration: Finding the Place of Origin)

L

Land and property
  • About

    • Land and property records are legal records of ownership and the transfer of ownership. Land and property records are not generally classified as genealogical records; they are mainly historical records that contain information about your ancestors.
    • Not all United States land and property records are digitized, and records are scattered all over the country in state and county libraries, archives, and courthouses. Where the original records are stored depends on the way the records are classified. For example, original deeds are usually found in county courthouses, along with probate records and marriage records. (Source: James Tanner, QRB Videos)

Location and geography
  • About

    • Genealogy and geography are interrelated. Learning about geography is an integral part of learning how to do genealogical research.
    • Start with local records when they are available. Some types of useful records for locating your ancestors include census records, vital records, county and state histories, military records, probate records, and obituaries.
    • The term "jurisdiction" refers to a particular geographic area administered by a defined legal authority. Useful genealogical records are created in overlapping jurisdictions such as nations, states, provinces, counties, districts, townships, municipalities and so forth, that pile up like pancakes. All of these overlapping jurisdictions of records need to be searched at each level for each individual ancestor. (Source: James Tanner, QRB Videos)

M


Maps
  • About

    • Maps are used to locate the places where your ancestors lived. They identify political boundaries, names of places, geographical features, cemeteries, churches, and migration routes. Historical maps are especially useful for finding communities that no longer exist.
    • Maps are available from the National Archives, the Library of Congress, county agencies, and other libraries and historical societies.
    • Maps are an important source to locate the places where your ancestors lived. They help you see the neighboring towns and geographic features of the area from which your ancestor came.

  • Types

    • Maps are also helpful in locating places, parishes, geographical features, transportation routes, and proximity to other towns. Historical maps are especially useful for understanding boundary changes.
    • Maps are published either individually or as an atlas. An atlas is a bound collection of maps. Maps may also be included in gazetteers, guidebooks, local histories, historical geographies, encyclopedias, and history texts. (Source: FamilySearch Wiki)
    • Pictorial maps can provide historical insights into place where ancestors lived, showing buildings, streets, names, etc.
    • Sanborn Insurance Maps provide details for many city locations. In many cases, the maps can help identify old buildings shown in photographs and may give valuable clues as to the churches and businesses in the area where you are searching for your ancestors. (Source: Sanborn Insurance Maps - an Overlooked Genealogical Resource)
    • County atlases can be quite detailed and show individual parcels and ownership for rural areas.


Marriage records
  • About

    • Churches and governments often kept marriage records before they documented other life events. Whether a civil or church authority performed the ceremony, local laws usually required that the marriage be recorded in civil records.
    • You may find records that show a couple's intent to marry in addition to the records of the actual marriage. (Source: United States Marriage Records)
    • Marriage records are usually stored with the clerk of the town or county where the bride resided, but some particularly early ones may be housed in the state’s archives and more recent ones may be found in the state's Division of Vital Records.
    • Some marriages are noted only in church records.
    • Marriage records usually include the name of the bride and groom and where they were married.
    • Marriage records may also include the bride and groom's ages at the time of marriage; residence of the bride and groom; birth dates and/or birthplaces of the bride and groom; names and birthplaces of parents; occupation of bride and groom; and marital status of bride and groom: single, widowed, or divorced (Source: FS—Wiki: How to Find United States Marriage Records)

  • Strategies

    • Recent marriage certificates may be protected by privacy laws, which vary by state, and can generally be ordered from the state government for a fee. (Source: Genealogy Record Types)
    • Consent papers may be available if the consent of a parent or guardian was required, often when the bride or groom was underage. The consent may have been verbal or written on the license or bond. (Source: FamilySearch Wiki)
    • A "Gretna Green" is a favored marriage place. When a couple runs away from their home area to get married in a place with fewer marriage restrictions, the place they go is often called a "Gretna Green." They may want to marry at a younger age, want to wait a shorter period after obtaining a license, want to marry without parental consent, want to avoid procedures such as blood tests, want less paper work, want to avoid paying a marriage bond, want to keep the marriage a secret, want a less expensive marriage, or want to marry a closer cousin than their home district will allow. In common law, a "Gretna Green marriage" means a marriage transacted in a jurisdiction that was not the residence of the parties being married, to avoid restrictions or procedures imposed by the parties' home jurisdiction. For genealogists seeking a hard-to-find marriage, searching marriage records in the nearest Gretna Greens may be worthwhile. A Gretna Green can be a certain county in-state, or an out-of-state place. (Source: FamilySearch Wiki)


Migration
  • About

    • Migration is a general term used to refer to movements of people from one geographic area to another. The term "immigration" has a political overtone and usually involves a change in national citizenship. It also refers to people moving from one country to another.
    • Study migration patterns. Rivers and mountains channeled migration trails into predictable patterns. When you know where a family settled, you can often infer where they came from. First settlers often named their new town after the place they left behind. (Source: Solving Tough Research_Problems—Overcoming Brick Walls)

  • Homesteading

    • The Homestead Acts, beginning in 1862, had more impact on the population of the country as a whole than almost any other government action, law, or policy.
    • Homestead application papers often mention family members or neighbors, and previous residence as shown in dozens of papers which may include land application forms, citizenship applications, family Bible pages, marriage or death certificates, newspaper clippings, and affidavits. A researcher can obtain applications and related papers from the National Archives if he can provide a legal description of the land for which the homesteader applied, whether the homestead was eventually granted or not. (Source: Homestead Records)
    • 10% of U.S. land was given away under the Homestead Act; homestead lands were located in 30 states; 40% of homesteaders who "proved up" their claims earned a deed from the federal government; the Homestead Act was in effect for 123 years; the average homestead claim involved about 160 acres; about 4 million claims were made under the Homestead Act; 27 million acres were distributed by the Homestead Act. (Source: Case Studies in Migration: Part Nine: The Homestead Acts)

  • Sites

    • The General Society of Mayflower Descendants publishes the Silver Books. A compendium of 5 generations of the descendants of the Mayflower passengers.
    • The Oregon Territory and Its Pioneers site was started in 1989 and is an ongoing project that focuses on the pioneers of the Oregon Territory up to and including 1855.
    • The Mormon Migration website will help you with a database of over 90,000 Latter-day Saint converts.
    • The Pioneer Database Project with help you find those who crossed the Plains to Utah before 1868 from its database of more than 61,000 pioneers and 384 wagon and handcart companies. (Source: James Tanner, QRB Videos)

  • Strategies

    • Genealogists need to understand the transportation systems available to accurately determine their place of origin and distinguish between people with the same or similar names.
    • If an ancestral family seems to disappear from the historical record, research into the road and rail system as well as trails, waterways and canals might give hints as to where the family moved.
    • Throughout history, extended families tended to travel and settle together. Research into migration patterns can suggest additional places to look for records that will help you find where your ancestors originated. (Source: James Tanner, QRB Videos)


Military records
  • About

    • Military records are created in times of war and of peace.
    • They can provide evidence of military or patriotic service, residence at time of military service or pension, birth information, family relationships, and relatives who served.
    • You may find evidence that an ancestor served in the military from family traditions, census records, naturalization records, biographies, cemetery records, or records of veterans organizations. (Source: FS—Wiki: How to Find United States Military Records)
    • As a genealogist, to begin to use military records, you need to know the history of the country you are researching. If your ancestors lived during a time of war, which almost certainly they did, it will take some very specific research to determine if any of your ancestors living at the time of the war were involved in any way. (Source: Finding Your Ancestors in Military Records)
    • Wars are important to genealogists because they generate records. Military records can be both surprising in the amount of genealogical data they contain or very disappointing in the lack of information. Records about the involvement of the individual soldiers can be scattered into a variety of record sources. If your ancestors lived in America when one of these wars was in progress, there is a possibility that someone in your ancestral family was involved in the war and you may find records about your family that you previously were not aware of. (Source: Why Military Records Matter)


Myths in genealogy
  • About

    • A traditional story becomes a myth when careful research discloses that the basic facts in the story are either unsupported by any contemporary sources or inaccurate when compared to contemporary sources.
    • Many family traditions have been believed for so long by so many people that they have taken on mythic qualities.
    • Traditional stories are fundamental to creating the connections between the researcher and the ancestor. The researcher can learn from the stories how the life of the ancestor affected all of his or her descendants. The damage comes when the myth competes with the reality as supported by historical records and replaces reality. (Source: Revisiting genealogical myths)

N


Naturalization
  • About

    • Naturalization is the process of admitting an immigrant as a citizen of the United States.
    • From 1789 to 1882, there were very few restrictions on immigration or naturalization except for enslaved people and Native Americans. The adoption of the 14th Amendment in 1868 guaranteed citizenship to those born or naturalized in the United States, including former enslaved people. (Source: James Tanner, QRB Videos)

  • Records

    • Before 1906, the naturalization process took place in the local state courts, so the records are scattered across the country in various state courts.
    • After 1906, naturalization actions were transferred to the Federal Courts. The records are held in the National Archive Branches where the naturalization occurred.
    • United States Federal Census Records can give valuable clues about whether or not your ancestors were naturalized. Goal D2 can help you learn about these records. (Source: James Tanner, QRB Videos)


Newspapers
  • About

    • Newspapers often report family information. Birth announcements may contain the infant's name, birth date, and parents' names, as well as the religion of the family. Wedding announcements may contain the wedding date and place, the names of the bride, groom, bride's parents, and groom's parents, and the religion of the family. Death notices and obituaries may contain the name and place of residence of close family and friends of the decedent, as well as the decedent's death date and place, birth date and place, and biographical information. Family information may also be found in news stories, legal notices, local personal columns, and advertisements.
    • They usually began before government birth, marriage, and death records, often published soon after the initial settlement of a locality. (Source: FS—Wiki: United States Newspapers)
    • By 1800 there were about 200 newspapers being published in the United States. (Source: James Tanner, QRB Videos)

  • Strategies

    • Newspapers may serve as a substitute for civil records that were destroyed.
    • They may contain details not found in more structured records.
    • They can report marriages, deaths or accomplishments of people who no longer live in the area but who still have friends or family there. (Source: FS—Wiki: United States Newspapers)
    • Newspapers' content stretches way beyond obituaries. Newspapers were the daily diary of the world. Especially in small towns, newspapers were the Facebook of their day and told the story of the families living in the circulation area. (Source: Using Newspapers in Your Research)
    • The number of online digital newspaper collections increases daily. You can also see which newspapers were published in the state and county by going to Historical American Newspapers on the Library of Congress website. There are also several very large online subscription websites. (Source: Questions to ask yourself before declaring a brick wall)
    • Especially in smaller communities, newspapers included information about almost every significant event including births, marriages, deaths and every event in between.
    • In small town newspapers, when you find one ancestor’s name, read the rest of the newspaper and search for additional relatives mentioned.
    • Search for digital newspaper websites for each state in the United States. Find more digital newspaper websites by using a Google search with “digital historic newspaper websites” as a search term. (Source: James Tanner, QRB Videos)

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Obituaries
  • About

    • An obituary is a published or unpublished death announcement. A particular obituary may be a simple two-line death notice or an elaborate biography of the deceased.
    • Obituaries or death notices were often recorded a few days after a person's death.
    • Detailed obituaries were not common previous to the 1880s, and deaths may not have been recorded in newspapers previous to the mid to late 1800s. (Source: Genealogy Record Types)

    • Information

    • Obituaries may be a good source of information about a person and may also include information about family members.
    • They usually give the name of the deceased and the death or burial date but often do not contain the death date (this may be estimated from other information such as the date and day of the week that the obituary was published).
    • They may also contain the birth date, marriage date, names of parents and spouse, children, occupation, education, and the location of living family members at the time the obituary was written.
    • They are usually printed in a funeral program, a newspaper or in a local history. They may also be published in newspapers in the town or towns where the person lived or grew up. (Source: FS—Wiki: United States Obituaries)
    • The presence or absence of an obituary in any given newspaper depends entirely on the circumstances of the person's death and the interest of the community, and in some instances, if the family could afford to place the announcement.
    • Failing to find an obituary in an index is really no indication that such a document does not exist. In some instances obituaries may have been published in other county, or even regional or state newspapers. Searching for obituaries should always include as many online digital newspaper collections as you can gain access to. (Source: Searching for Death Information)


Online family trees
  • Reliability

    • The current condition of online family trees is merely an extension of the pre-existing condition of a multitude of individually created genealogies. In fact, most of the original information on these family trees originated from the incorporation of the information from millions of paper family group sheets and pedigree charts.
    • Wiki-based websites include FamilySearch Family Tree, WikiTree.com, and Geni.com. There is some degree of hand-wringing among genealogists over the fact that wikis are subject to user editing. Although the mechanisms for moderation vary, the main idea of the wiki is that the users will correct any inaccurate information over time. (Source: Why I Quote Wikipedia)
    • Data in online trees, or in any other genealogical format, should be examined for completeness, reliability, and accuracy. (Source: Comments on The Future of Online Family Trees)
    • Often people have just looked through these family trees and decided that the people, dates and places that they found are correct, and then add that information to their own family tree without researching whether or not the information is correct. If the data you find on a website doesn't have a source attached or merely says something like: "Note book number 2," beware, the information may not be correct. When an owner of a family tree is contacted regarding some information that they have published, they will frequently respond with the answer that they found that information on someone else's online family tree. In other words, they don't know their information is correct; they are simply copying someone else's dubious posting. (Source: Family Trees" An Online Research Tool)
    • Online family trees are notorious for being unsupported by source citations and other failings. Some genealogists refuse to put their family trees online likely because they don't want to mingle with the unwashed masses but sometimes for reasons of privacy and incomplete research. Cooperative and collaborative family trees receive the greatest number of complaints. The existence of millions upon millions of online family trees and increased DNA testing will eventually confirm relationships for many people without a significant individual effort at documentation. (Source: Top 10 Problems with Online Family Trees)

    • Strategies

    • There are several things you can do to minimize the impact of people making changes in online trees: 1) Add as many sources as you can to each individual. 2) Correct existing entries before building on them. 3) Watch all of the family members of a target ancestor, for changes being made. 4) Communicate with anyone making an unreasonable or incorrect change. 5) Be persistent, but take time to think and reflect and not react as if the changes were personal affronts. (Source: How to Stop People from Making Incorrect Changes in Family Tree)
    • Carefully review every entry currently in the Family Tree for completeness and accuracy. Review every source attached and read and/or review every attached memory. This is not an optional exercise. If you haven't read and reviewed every source and memory for each individual you work with, you have no business changing or adding information to individuals in the Family Tree. Don't cause more errors and confusion by ignoring this requirement. If you ignore the sources and memories, you are just making more work for those of us who did the original research. https://genealogysstar.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-basic-steps-in-cleaning-up.html


Orphanages
  • About

    • Orphanages, which date from the seventeenth century in England, were originally workhouses, poorhouses, and asylums. The purpose of orphanages is to shelter orphaned and abandoned children.
    • Orphanages in the United States were especially active during the period between the Civil War and the Great Depression, when they cared for more of America's dependent children than any other means did. Children were often considered orphans even when their mother was still living. (Source: James Tanner: QRB Videos)

    • Strategies

    • Orphanages maintained by state and local governments were funded agencies that may have maintained better records than private and church agencies. Their files usually include the child's name, age or date of birth, birthplace, date of admission, names of parents, birthplaces of parents, name and residence of nearest kin, date of discharge, to whom indentured and when, whether the child was orphaned or abandoned, and any remarks.
    • Orphanages operated by religious groups and private benefactors also kept records useful for researchers. (Source: James Tanner: QRB Videos)

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Probate records
  • Definition

    • Probate records are court records created after an individual's death that relate to a court's decisions regarding the distribution of the estate to the heirs or creditors and the care of dependents. This process took place whether there was a will (testate) or not (intestate). (Source: United States Probate Records)
    • The transfer of a person's property after death are collectively referred to as probate actions. The United States system of probate is primarily derived from English law. (Source: Don't Forget to Look at Probate Inventories, Accountings and Sales)

    • About

    • Probate records may include wills, bonds, petitions, accounts, inventories, administrations, orders, decrees, and distributions.
    • Probate records are essential for research because they often pre-date the birth and death records kept by civil authorities.
    • Probate is a function of state governments. Therefore, the laws and resulting records vary from state to state and changed over time. Probate records for many states can be found at the local county courthouse. (Source: FS—Wiki: United States Probate Records)

R

Records
  • Accuracy

    • Often information is missing from a record that you expected would include it. For example, you may only have the year for a marriage or the province, not the town, of an event. Sometimes the clerk did not know or could not remember the specific information. If no other record is available, it may be necessary to accept unverified evidence, as long as it does not conflict with any proven record.
    • On occasion the recorder may have made a mistake. Infrequently an original record is deliberately falsified, such as "back-dating" a marriage to account for the early birth of the first child. Even a source recorded close to the time of the event may have errors.
    • Finding aids sometimes contain mistakes that can mislead the researcher, such as wrong page numbers in an index. (Source: Evaluate the Evidence)

  • Information

    • The first evaluation to make is whether the record pertains to the person or family being searched.
    • Primary Information was recorded at or near the time of the event by someone closely associated with it. It is usually found in original records. However, not all information in an original record is "primary." For example, a death record usually contains primary information about the death but secondary information about the person's birth. If you cannot determine where the information originated, it is undocumented and therefore less reliable information.
    • Secondary Information was recorded much later than the event or recorded by a person who was not associated with the event. Thus, a census taker who records an adult's age is recording secondary birth information. The further removed the record is from the event or situation it is reporting, the more secondary it is. Most derivative records and many printed records (except directories and newspapers) contain secondary information, but not all printed information is secondary.
    • Secondary information is not necessarily less correct. In any record, a recorder can make a mistake or may deliberately mislead. With secondary information, the chance for error is increased because the recorder is not familiar with the events and may have to interpret information from several sources. In printed information, (either primary or secondary) errors may be made in the publishing process.
    • Photographic copies, including microfilm, microfiche, digital, and photocopies are virtually as good as the actual document, although they may sometimes be hard to read. Be on the watch for deliberate alterations. Copy errors may be introduced if the document was transcribed, extracted, or abstracted. If such copies are printed or published, the researcher must also consider possible typographical errors. Generally, the further removed the copy is from the actual document, the more errors are likely to have accumulated. (Source: Evaluate the Evidence)

  • Inherited

    • Look critically at every date and determine whether or not the dates and places entered are consistent. Did the counties or even the countries entered in your data even exist at the time of the event in your ancestors' lives? Are the dates outside of the time when records were kept in the place of the event? Could the parents have actually known each other and gotten married? Are the places where the children are reported to have been born consistent with the birth places of the parents and the place where they were married? If there are inconsistent places, how did they occur? Could the mother have been in the place where the children are recorded as being born? (Source: Examine Inherited Pedigrees Carefully)

  • Jurisdictions

    • Most records you search have jurisdictional limitations. That is, they apply only to a certain geographic area and to certain events and/or families. For example, marriage records in the United States are usually recorded by each different county. Many different jurisdictions exercise authority over what records are created or kept about our ancestors. For example, in the United States, naturalization records were kept by the federal, state, city and county jurisdictions. You must know which jurisdictions kept the records you are seeking in order to select the best records. (Source: Select Specific Records)
    • Consider that records are kept at different jurisdictional levels. Search for the town or city if you are looking for records specific to that jurisdiction (cemetery, church, directories, town histories, etc.). Search for the county for records that would cover more than one town or that might be kept by the county government (vital records, court records, land and property records, county histories, etc.). Many important records might be located at the state or provincial level (census, military, state histories, etc.), or even at the country level (census, federal land, citizenship, etc.). (Source: FamilySearch Catalog Places Search)

  • Layers

    • Records can be thought of as existing in "layers" of accessibility. Records and sources in lower layers are more difficult to find and research than those in higher layers. Each time you move back in time 50 years or more, or a record is not available online, the next level comes into play.
    • Level 1 (high): These records are easily obtainable and could refer to other resources (such as vital records). Examples of Level 1 records include the U.S. census and the Social Security Death Index (SSDI).
    • Level 2: These records have a more limited geographic coverage. You must know where your individual ancestor or family lived before you can locate the record. Vital records fall in this second layer, as do land records, etc.
    • Level 3: These records may require specialized research techniques. Military records belong to this layer, as well as some church records. They are valuable, but they are somewhat harder to research.
    • Level 4: These records are usually not readily available online. They include tax records, cattle brands, water records, etc.
    • Level 5: These records have been so seldom examined that there are few references to their existence. They include contents of many historical societies and university and college libraries. Not only are these records hard to find, they also may reside at a considerable distance from the source. Although they may be cataloged by the institution, the catalog entries likely tell the researcher little or nothing about the detail of the content. (Source: Searching through Layers of Sources to Find Your Ancestors)

  • Location

    • Genealogically valuable records are created at or near the place that an event occurs by people who have an interest in the event or duty to report it.
    • Place names are recorded as they were, jurisdictionally, at the time the event occurred. An accurately recorded place name can help you find pertinent records.
    • One common mistake is to designating the place of an event in a town, city, county, state or country that did not exist at the time of the event. You should know how the place was designated at the time of the event, and note whether that name is different from the one used today.
    • Rural ancestors may have referred to their birthplace or residence as a larger city nearby, or as a larger general area.
    • Records created at the county level could have been moved as new counties were created from the old ones. Boundaries for cities, counties, states and countries can change frequently. There is no substitute for examining maps made close to the time that events in the life of the ancestor occurred.
    • A significant challenge in determining the place of origin of an immigrant is determining the name of the place at the time the immigrant was born. In some parts of Eastern Europe it is possible that the same location has a name in more than one language. Some places in what is now Poland have place names in both Russian and German. It is important to search online for information concerning the previous name of various locations to attempt to ascertain what the place was called at the time.
    • Of the three major issues of name, date, or place, the most important is the place. At least one place of at least one event in a person's life must be identified or there is always a major possiblity of having choosen the wrong person.
    • In many instances, the correct identification of an ancestor may only be possible when the addresses or similar location information separates them out as individuals. Fixing the location of more recent ancestors resolves the difficulty as the researcher goes back in time. (Source: Finding an Ancestor's Address Carefully)
    • The most relevant genealogical source documents were created at or near the time and place of any specific event.
    • Look for documents in every political jurisdiction pertaining to a genealogical event, such as township, county records, state records and national records. (Source: Keys to Finding Relevant Genealogical Sources)

  • Missing

    • Five steps to discovering more records: 1) Make sure you are looking in the right place; 2) Begin your search for records, not for people; 3) Find out about a variety of records; 4) Milk the records you do find for all they are worth; 5) Carefully examine and evaluate each record found. (Source: 5 Steps to Discovering More Records)
    • If you cannot find a particular record, you may be looking in the wrong place or searching in the wrong timeframe. The type of record you are looking for may not have been kept in the way you suppose at the time the event occurred. The record may have been lost, destroyed, or never created.
    • Vital records are important historical records, but they may even be inaccurate and in many cases, they may be entirely missing. For example, in most of the United States, birth and death records were not universally mandated and kept until well into the 20th Century.
    • Simply finding out that a courthouse burned on such and such a date tells us nothing about what records were lost or whether the lost records were ever reconstructed. The fire did not destroy all of the records in the county, there are still newspapers, private records, church records, school records, town records, directories, and on and on. In fact, many of the stories of burnt courthouses are inaccurate or simply myths. (Source: Burned Courthouses and Lost Records)

    Questions about records

    • When and where was the record created?
    • Who created the record?
    • Why was the record created?
    • Who provided the information for the record?
    • How was the information recorded?
    • How was the record preserved?
    • What kind of information is missing or incomplete in the record?
    • Are there any other records that are usually associated with the record?
    • Which records came just before and after this record, and would they give further information?
    • Is the record part of a series of records that may contain further information about the family?
    • Where are other associated records located?
    • How reliable is the information contained in the record?
    • What other information is suggested by the record but missing? (Source: Evaluate the Evidence (Source: Evaluate the Evidence)

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School records
  • About

    • School records date to the earliest settlements in America. They may contain valuable information about an entire family. However, because access to the records is often governed by state, local, and school policies you will need to research to determine what procedure to follow.
    • You should also consider researching private school records and those of colleges and universities.
    • Recently, the large online genealogy database programs have begun publishing digital copies of millions of school yearbooks. You can search a yearbook for photos and information about your relatives and ancestors. (Source: James Tanner, QRB Videos)

Searches
  • Guidelines

    • Never rely solely on an index for information about an ancestor.
    • Always try to view the original record found through an index.
    • If there is a basis for assuming that an ancestor should have appeared in a record, search the record page-by-page and entry-by-entry.
    • Disregard traditional spelling assumptions.
    • Start from what you know for certain, and don't make any assumptions about the data.
    • Look for and accept name variations. (Source: How to Use FamilySearch Family Tree Effectively)
    • Search from general to specific to get better search results. Start with name, residence and gender. Then if that doesn't work, add one piece of information at a time, such as the spouse's first name and maybe a date. Each time you add one piece of information, do the search over and see the results before searching again with one more piece of information. (Source: Using Online Databases: from General to Specific Searches)
    • If we make invalid or incorrect assumptions at the onset of any search, then the search will not produce the results anticipated. (Source: Chaos and Genealogy -- How Accurate Can We Be?)
    • Before searching for a specific record, understand how records were kept in the specific place and time. We have far more records to search than we have the time and inclination search, so we need to focus on the core issue of searching, that is to identify the places where events occurred before spending time searching for records of those events. (Source: Chaos and Genealogy -- How Accurate Can We Be?)
    • Looking for any record at all about an ancestor or relative will always be easier than looking for a specific record about a specific event. As we accumulate records about the individual, his or her family and all the surrounding families, exact dates may become less and less of an issue. Hammering away at finding one date is mostly counterproductive. (Source: Chaos and Genealogy -- How Accurate Can We Be?)

  • Next steps

    • Widen your search for records. Stop looking for names and look for information about the family, the area where they lived and the country they lived in. It also helps to look in a variety of repositories: libraries, museums, historical societies, governmental agencies and many others. You just may have to reconstruct the history of an entire county to find your one or more elusive ancestors. Do not rely solely on online sources. You may have to travel to where your ancestors were supposed to live and start talking to everyone you can find who might know about the area. (Source: Widen Your Search)
    • Perform a historical survey of the records available at the time and place an event occurred in your ancestor's life. The "information" you are seeking may be in a completely different type of record than the one you are assuming is available. there is always a record available with the information sought, even if it is not the record you are looking for. (Source: Scattering data across the Web - a problem of consolidation or methodology? Part One)
    • A reasonably exhaustive search "assumes examination of a wide range of high quality sources" and "minimizes the probability that undiscovered evidence will overturn a too-hasty conclusion" (Genealolical Proof Standard). Online and local searches should be done, and it may be necessary to back uop a generation or two to get a firmer foundation for your research into the past.


Sources
    Definition

    • At the most simple level, a source is a record, written or oral, that provides evidence of an event in the life of a person in a family tree. If you were born in the last 100 years in the United States, you likely have a formal birth certificate. If not, you may have had to obtain an alternate record of your birth from a church record or get some other type of proof of your birth. These records constitute a "source" for evidence concerning your birth. Likewise, there is a need for source records for marriages, deaths and all of the other events in a person's life. (Source: Why Do We Add Sources?)

  • About

    • Not only does a source provide information about a specific event, that same source may also provide information about other events and evidence that can be used to extend family lines. To have an accurate record, it is necessary to have some level of verification. That verification can only come through providing original sources. This not an optional activity.
    • As you examine records, make notes, sometimes called source citations, about where you found the information so that subsequent researchers (even yourself) can find the record again. (Source: Why Do We Add Sources?)
    • Every user of an online tree needs to closely examine all of the sources added to every individual for relevance. Inappropriate sources need to be detached. The information presented by the sources needs to be evaluated and where appropriate, used to correct the entries in the tree. (Source: How to Use FamilySearch Family Tree Effectively)

  • Likelihood of events

    • Even if the events were clearly recorded, you must also determine if the events described in the records really could have happened. Some events (such as joining the military at the age of ten or twelve, being born on the father's birthday, or owning a considerably larger estate according to a probate inventory than recent tax lists or census records indicated) are less credible than others. Such events are possible but unlikely.
    • If the records present an unlikely situation, you may have stumbled across records of two unrelated people with similar names. Evaluate the chronology of the situation: could this event have happened as the record says it did? If a man's will was proven on 28 November 1754 and his death record gives a death date of 15 December of the same year, one of the records is wrong or does not pertain to the same person. (Source: Evaluate the Evidence)

  • Next steps

    • After finding a potential source, figure out if it is actually about your ancestor. If it is relevant you can add to what you know about that ancestor. This often provides clues for further research. It will certainly help better identify the ancestor. If a source is not relevant, tell why in order to help other researchers.
    • Compare old and new information. Correlate all information about the ancestor and compare it with information from the new source. Look for at least two or three unique data or identifiers shared by both the new source, and what you already know.
    • The relatives and friends in close proximity are among the most unique and best identifiers. For example, if a person named Fox married someone named Pace, those two surnames appearing together in records as married would usually be so unique you could be confident you had identified the same couple. Likewise, parents, siblings, children, and sometimes neighbors appearing together can be convincing evidence a new source is about the correct ancestor.
    • Other identifiers. Unique similar names, or a group of names in close proximity, unique similar dates, unique similar places, and unique similar sources can all be used as identifiers to help judge whether a new found source is likely to be about a given ancestor.
    • The more specific and exact the data are, the better. Be especially cautious when the only matching information is vague or incomplete. A common name, or a year-only date, or a state-only (and sometimes county-only) identifier may not be unique enough.
    • Compare the number of matching with mismatching identifiers. The more unique identifiers that match, and the fewer that mismatch, the more sure you can be a new source is relevant.
    • Does it fit the pattern? Also, analyze whether events in the new source fit the pattern of your ancestor. Is it likely that the event described could have happened as described to your ancestor?
    • When in doubt, tentatively guess a new source is not relevant (or hold it in abeyance).
    • Minor discrepancies do not prevent a match, and are to be expected. But it is a genealogist's responsibility to acknowledge and explain discrepancies and contradictory evidence.
    • Preliminary follow up. Once you decide to accept a new source a relevant or not, explain your decision on your research logs. If the source seems possibly relevant, photocopy the document, and add the new information from the new source as new event(s) on the ancestor's family group record. Be sure to add a source citation footnote for each event. In the footnote add a short preliminary evaluation of the source. File the source photocopy and updated family group record in their correct places.
    • Later, after you have thoroughly researched all the parents, siblings, and children of the ancestor, it is important to reconsider your preliminary acceptance of a source as relevant. When almost all that can be gathered about the family is assembled, correlated, corroborated, and analyzed in its totality, you are in a better position to make a final judgment about the relevance of an individual source. (Source: Determining If a Source is Relevant)
    • Continue doing more research until each entry is supported by multiple historical records including source citations to those records. Any entry with no sources should be considered inaccurate or wrong until supported by a historical source. If an individual in the Family Tree has only one source, remember that only the information in that one source is verified. For example, a birth or christening record does not validate a marriage. (Source: The Basic Steps in Cleaning Up FamilySearch Family Tree)


Spelling and name variations
  • About

    • Some basic rules about spelling: 1) Many of your ancestors may not have known how to spell their own names. Don't assume that parents taught their children any one particular way of spelling their name. 2) Many people were known only by a nickname and never used the name they were given at birth. 3) They wrote what they heard. Many of the records we rely on to search out our ancestry may have been created by someone other than the ancestor. 4) The use of a family name or surname varies from culture to culture. 5) The pool of names used by any given family or culture may have been very small. 6) The way a name was spelled was unimportant until industrialization. If you go back far enough, you will find that common people, without land or property, vanish from the records. 7) Changes in governments sometimes changed names. For example, when the Spanish Empire expanded into the Americas, almost all of the indigenous names were replaced by names acceptable to the Catholic Church. 8) Immigrants often changed either the spelling of their name or their name entirely. (Source: Considering Name Spellings in Genealogy)
    • It is not unusual to find ancestor's names spelled various different ways. Remember that the people who were recording the names often did not hear the name correctly or simply spelled the name the way they felt was right. Your ancestor may not even have known the "correct" way to spell his or her name. (Source: The Good and the Bad of Names, Dates and Places -- Part Two: More about Names)


Stories
  • About

    • We need more than just names. We need more than just dates. We need a sense of place, a sense of the surroundings, the people and the events that made up the lives of our ancestors.
    • How do you tell the difference between five men named John Morgan, all living in the same town without examining the history, surroundings, place, setting, and the events of those people and all of the others living in that same town?
    • The stories of the lives of our ancestors is not the side show, it is the show. It is the main feature. Sometimes we think we don't have time to spend on mundane things like the lives of our ancestors, we are too busy pushing back the years and marking off the check boxes on our pedigree charts to waste our time with stories. (Source: Going Beyond Just Names and Dates)
    • Stories can be part of a larger oral history, but sometimes if we concern ourselves with making a complete record, we lose the moment and the story is lost along with the oral history that never happens. Even if the originator of the story is no longer available, it is still a good idea to write down as many and as much of the stories as you can remember. (Source: Preserving Family Stories)


Surnames
  • About

    • The key to using surnames as a finding aid is to match surnames to locations. You can take that process even further and find your ancestors by looking at the frequency of names in a specific geographic area, regardless of the overall frequency of the name.
    • Your surname's spelling may have changed over time. It is not enough to say that you are likely related to someone who spells their name the same way as you do.
    • The origin or meaning of certain surnames is usually not useful in determining relationships except with very specific or rare surnames. In fact, some surnames developed independently in different languages and different countries.
    • The standardized spelling of surnames depends entirely on the literacy level of the population and in most European countries and in America, standardized spelling is not common until towards the end of the 19th Century. Before spelling was standardized, it was common for the same person to have different spellings throughout their life. (Source: Using the frequency of names for genealogical research)
    • Sometimes it is possible to guess where a surname originated through surname distribution maps. These maps graphically display locations where surnames occurred at different periods in time. This strategy provides genealogists with a starting point for research in the birth country, when that information cannot be discovered through sources recorded in the new country of settlement. It works particularly well for less-common surnames and among families that have stayed in the same European locations for centuries. (Source: surname distribution Maps)

  • Patronymics

    • Patronymic surnames were common in both the British Isles and in Scandinavia. In Scandinavia, children would have their father’s first name as their surname; males would have the suffix -son or -sen, while females would have the suffix -dotter or -datter.
    • In England and Wales, surnames of patronymic origin end in -s or -son. In Ireland and Scotland, patronymic surnames begin with Mac- or Mc-, which means “son of”. (Source: Patronymics in the British Islands and Ireland)
    • Having a surname in common is certainly no indication of relationship. However, surname patterns and concentrations of people with the same or very similar surnames in a particular geographic area can be helpful tools in some areas of genealogical inquiry. Surnames are derived from a variety of sources: Patronymics and Matronymics -- surnames derived from the given name of a parent; Occupation -- such as the surnames, Tanner or Smith, from the occupations; Topographic -- names after landscape features such as hill, lake and valley' Descriptive -- such as young, white, strong etc. (Source: The Sirens' Call of Names in Genealogical Research)


Social Security Death Index (SSDI)
  • About

    • The Social Security Death Index is a list of deceased individuals whose deaths were reported to the Social Security Administration. It has been kept since 1962. It is an online, searchable database.
    • The SSDI typically has the following information on the individuals: Name, social security number, state where issued, birth date, death date, last residence, and lump sum payment. (Source: FS—Wiki: Social Security Death Index (SSDI))

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Tax records
  • About

    • Local tax records usually indicate where and when people lived in a particular place.
    • They may include the name and residence of the taxpayer, occupation, description of the real estate and name of the original purchaser, description of some personal property, number of males over 21, and the number of school children, slaves, and farm animals.
    • The federal government directly taxed citizens in 1798, 1814 to 1816, 1862 to 1866, and at other times until 1917 when personal income and other taxes were introduced. (Source: FS—Wiki: United States Taxation)


Town records
  • About

    • Town records are civil records created by town officials to document birth, marriage, divorce, or death events. They often include information about elections, officers, meeting minutes, laws, warnings out, and other public records. (Source: Town Records)
    • Nearly the entire area of New England, with the exception of the northern part of Maine, lies within the jurisdiction of a town or city and most of the local records were kept on a local basis.
    • The information included ranges from lists of livestock brands to tax assessments. It is not uncommon to find records of land transfers, marriages, deaths, probate actions, court records and almost every other type of transaction.
    • Town records may still be located in the office of the Town Clerk or may have been gathered into a centralized repository such as a town archive. Many of the records have found their way onto microfilm and may have been digitized and available on one or more online genealogical database programs. (Source: About New England Town Records)

V

Vital records
  • About


  • Strategies

    • What dates does this record provide?
    • What ages are given, and what places are mentioned in this record?
    • Are parents or a spouse named?
    • Are witnesses to the event related to the family?
    • Who provided the information? Was that person someone who knew the family well?
    • Does the death record give the name of the cemetery or funeral home? You may be able to search those records for more information.
    • Does the information from the record fit with what you know about the family from other records? If it does not agree, it may have been miscopied by a clerk. Check your sources. (Source: FS—Wiki: United States Vital Records)
    • Currently finding certificates of vital records is relatively easily done online but obtaining a copy may be limited by local laws and regulations. If the certificate was created more recently, it is probable that there is a cost involved in obtaining a copy. (Source: Genealogical Research: Searching for Certificates)