Webinar Note: My next webinar is a two-hour lecture + workshop on Deed Records. It will be held on August 20, 1-3:30 pm EST, and is $20. It includes a free PDF guide to Using Deed Records which is a $12 value for every attendee. Click this link to register. When we first start […]
You are browsing archives for
Category: Evaluating Evidence
Two Men Become One: Identity
Proving that the sources we find are actually about the person we are researching, and not some same-named individual takes skill and time. Online databases will happily offer up records with these same-named people; the prudent researcher should never believe them without scrutiny. Additionally, the constant shift in records between use of first names, nicknames […]
Those Doggone Nicknames
My collateral ancestor Mintie was called by her middle name Lucinda in almost every record during her lifetime *except* the bible record above and one census: Nicknames, middle names and initials will get you every time in genealogical research. They still get me every now and then and it kinda drives me just a little […]
Do You Know How to Use Indirect Evidence...
Much of the hype of genealogical research often surrounds the different kinds of sources. Yes, new sources are always exciting. However, I believe that it is developing and growing research skills that will take your research to higher heights. A Field With Standards That’s one reason I recommend that everyone researching their roots have the […]
About That Mulatto…
We cannot assume that anyone marked “mulatto” in a census record had one white parent and one black parent. I have previously discussed that genealogists should know some of the instructions provided to enumerators, and that the changing definitions of race, since it is a social and not a biological construct, should tell us something. […]
Analyzing a Death Certificate
Have you maximized your understanding of the most common sources in genealogy? Your ability to solve problems in your research will grow as you learn to scour each source for every clue it imparts. This image is from one of my lectures. There are twenty-two pieces of genealogical information on this death certificate. Would you […]
The Community Reveals the Family
The power of researching our ancestors in the communities where they lived cannot be overstated. Above is a portion of a census table I created showing dwelling and family number, name, age and a few other notations. John and Abigail Waters John and Abigail Waters lived with their immediate African-American neighbors in the community of […]
Postcards Provide Clues to Family
I am fortunate to have copies of postcards that some of my ancestors sent. They are a wonderful artifact to have for genealogy, as are handwritten letters. They can also be used effectively to solve research problems. The Harbour Family: A Stubborn Problem Hannah Harbour had two children, Doss and Odie, with her first husband […]
Fooled Again: The Green Barnes Family
The family of my ancestor Green Barnes recently proved to me again that we all need to be diligent when trying to reconstruct our families. It also illustrates how original sources, assumptions and human nature sometimes conspire to confuse us. This recent odyssey started when I was reviewing the obituary for a collateral ancestor, Cora […]
When Original Sources Are Wrong
Frank Gowen married Matilda Davis on 17 August 1916 in Duval County, Florida. Seems pretty straightforward, right? This is an original source, after all. Except it isn’t accurate. Matilda married Frank GARVIN. And a seemingly small detail like that can throw your research off into all kinds of wrong directions. The Beginning of Trouble When […]