Tips, Tricks, Hints, and
Links
Now, remember there is no sure fire way to find
your family members, whether you are looking for your relative
born in 1700 or for your Birth Family.
But, we hope to give you some helpful ways that
we and others have found that elusive family member.
OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS:
Your best source of information will be other family members.
You may have some you haven't talked to in years, or have never
talked to at all. Now, is the time to get out the family address
book and start making calls or writing letters. You'll be surprised
to find out who else in the family is doing the same thing you
are. I found tons of papers from family members I'd only ever
heard mention of. I've now met them, and have a great relationship
with them. If they are doing research, they will love to know
someone else is, too.
DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE
OBVIOUS
Sometimes we can get so caught up in looking that we truely
forget the obvious. If you know your grandfather's name and
about when he was born or died. Look for him in the social security
death index. If he was born after about 1890, he may have had
a number. If he did, you can file for his application. It will
give you his place of birth, his parents names (mother's maiden),
then you can get the birth certificate (if he was born after
about 1910), that too, will give you lots of information. If
you know when and where he died (again after about 1910) File
for his death certificate. Lots of info there as well.
Another great source of information is obituaries. That's right,
most of the time an obit will include such information as parents,
siblings, and decendents. If you are looking for a living person,
and find the obit of a deceased relative, you may find out Ann's
married name and where she is living now (or was at the time
of the relative's passing). If you are looking for other decendents,
you'll see where that relative was born and when, which may
help you to find them in a census for that time frame.
MORE ON ALL THESE RECORDS BELOW
CENSUS RECORDS
These are a great source of information, but not always 100%
accurate. Many times names were misspelled, or family members
left out. No one had to verify there name or age for the census
taker. If they weren't home, sometimes information was given
by the neighbors, and if they didn't read or write well, the
name may not be spelled correctly. We were looking for Wasson's
and found them under Waren. Also, they may have used initials
instead of full names. If you can't find William George Smith,
try looking for W.G. Smith. When searching the census by name,
if exact match doesn't work try the soundex, if that doesn't
work, make up your own spellings of the name you're looking
for. You might find it.
Another thing to keep in mind, most families usually lived
close to other family members. If you are looking for great
grandpa Jones, and find him on page 1, don't stop, check a few
more pages, you just might find his in-laws, or another brother,
or his parents. One county census can end up being a gold mine
of information about the entire family.
ANCESTRY.COM OR OTHER
FAMILY TREE SITES
Now, these are great sources of information, as long as you
remember a few things.
1) The best way to use the information you get off these trees
is a source of guesses. ALWAYS verify all the information you
get. Sometimes people will get information from one tree from
another, if the first tree had errors, they will get passed
on. Try to find the ones that give sources, and check those
sources. If nothing else, it will give you the paper work to
back up what you say.
2). Try emailing the person that put up the tree. Ask them
how they fit into your tree, and where they got their info.
If they email is no good, then really look at the information
and the dates and see if you can figure out what sources they
used.
3) The main thing is don't automatically assume what you see
is what you get. People are human and errors happen. If you
see an error, it is fine to let the person know just make sure
you give them your source information to verify what you are
saying, and don't get upset with them. They took the time to
put it up to try to help others. Make sure to give them that
credit.
PAPERWORK, PAPERWORK,
PAPERWORK
Don't forget to document ALL your work. Even your notes about
people you aren't sure of. Ancestry and other sites have several
free forms to help you keep your records straight. I find the
family group sheets are great for keeping families straight.
Keep all your notes on certain surnames together. Then when
you get a line figured out. get it all set up in ancestor sheets
and family group sheets, and that will make easy access for
other people you will find to see if they match that line. Keep
track of places you have looked for information and what you
found there. Then you'll remember later, if that is a place
to go back to. I have files, and files, of notes, family sheets
partially filled out, etc. They are filed in one box, and my
semi-finished ones (I say that because are you ever really finished
with a line?) in a folder easily accessable. Makes it much easier
when I find a possible lead to either match it, or disprove
it.
USE VOLUNTEERS
Looking for an obit in Calilfornia, but you live in New York?
Check the web, there are several volunteers that do live in
California (or any of the other 49 states) that would be willing
to look it up for you. Most of the time all they ask is you
do at least one local lookup for someone else. They are quite
helpful, and I've seen where they will do obit lookups, headstone
pics, and several other things for you.
DON'T GET STUCK ON THE
MAIN TREE
Remember that women change their names when they marry but
men don't. An obvious thing to say? Well, think of this. You're
looking for grandma Ethel, but don't know her husband's first
name, but you know she had a brother named Charles. Find Charles,
his name won't change and he'll be easier to find. His decendents,
might know who Grandma married. And there you go, you've branched
out on the tree, and made it back to the main tree trunk. This
process works for other searches as well, the men are always
easier to track. Even if you are looking for a living relative.
Find the brother and you can usually find the sister even without
knowing what her last name is now.
MESSAGE BOARDS
These boards are extremely popular. You can post by surname,
state, county and even city. You'd surprised at how much information
others are putting up, or asking about that you may know. I
found a great relative with all the information on one line
of my family in a message board. He even sent me all the hard
paper copies of wills, deeds, and more. We talk all the time
now, and it's wonderful. The main thing is make sure to post
properly. A post like: I'm looking for information
on N.B. Smith will not get you a lot of results.
Be as specific as you can: I'm looking for information
on N.B. Smith born 1-10-1852 in Tennessee, he moved to Ark and
changed his name. Am trying to find what his birth name really
is. He married Francis Pearlee Thompson in Daisy, Ok and had
we think 11 children. This gives more information
so I know if their N.B. Smith was born N.B. Smith, they are
not looking for the one I have in my line. But, I have one I
heard changed his name and left Tennessee and was born about
the same time, it might be worth checking into. The more specific
you are the more chance you are to get a response. There are
millions of people doing the same research you are, and you're
likely to find lots of cousins with the right information.
BIRTH, DEATH, AND MARRIAGE RECORDS
These are now becoming so easy to find online. You might not
get the actual record online, but you can usually find an index
of names for almost any year in almost any state. Once found
in an index, you can send to that state for the actual record.
Death and Birth records usually run at the most $10.00. Marriage
records vary by state. Remember though, these records were usually
not kept at courthouses until after the early 1900's in most
states. Some states do have records in the late 1800's so it's
worth checking out. These records can be a great source of information,
or at least they can give you the paper records to back up your
information.
Death records can be misleading, if the next of kin giving
the information didn't really know and guessed at it. Unfortunately
this did happen. So, on a death record, you may need to do more
investigating.
OBITUARIES
One of the best sources of information, and one of the most
overlooked. But again, be careful, not always 100% accurate.
Information was given by whoever they could get it from. Could
have been next of kin that knew it all, or next of kin that
guessed a lot. So, once you get the information, use it to investigate
further. Most newspapers are now on microfilm. Sometimes they
are indexed sometimes not, but think about the last obit you
looked at. You got the person's parents names, their siblings
names, their children's names, who passed before them and what
state and/or city their survivor's live in. Depending on whether
you are looking for deceased relatives or living ones, the obit
can provide LOTS of information. Obituaries were sometimes printed
in papers before death certificates were even issued. There
are several old newspaper sites on the internet, plus the library
usually carries all old papers for their city/county/state.
SOCIAL SECURITY APPLICATIONS
Did your mother know her grandfather but doesn't know anymore?
And there is no one else who seems to know? Check to see if
Grandpa had a social security number. If he did, you can find
him in the social security death index. For $27.00 if you know
for sure it's him, $29.00 if you need them to search a little
for you, you can get a copy of the application he filled out
to get his ssn. He would have had to put the following information
down to get his ssn:
His name, place of residence, where he works and who for, father's
name, mother's name (maiden). If you can't find a birth certificate
to give you this information, you can get it off the application.
Then you'll have another generation of grandparents to start
searching.
CITY DIRECTORIES
These are usually housed in the state archives. Where census
records can help you keep track every 10 years, these directories
can help fill in missing years. They are almost like our current
phone books. They list by head of household, so you can sometimes
get narrowed down the year the male spouse died if you find
the female as head of household in a certain year. They can
also lead to you church records, they show you where the person
worked, and where they lived, which might help find them in
a census if you're looking in one that isn't indexed, or their
name might be spelled wrong in , you'll have an idea of the
enumeration district to check in. Some of these directories
can be found online but, again check with your state archives
or library to see where they are in your state.
HELPFUL LINKS
FREE
SSDI SEARCH/ ANCESTRY/
ROOTSWEB/ GENFORUM/
RESEARCH
FORMS/All
Genealogy Sites Directory
DO YOU HAVE INFORMATION YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD? FOUND
A GREAT WAY TO FIND THOSE ELUSIVE RELATIVES? WANT TO ASK FOR
MY HELP IN FINDING SOMEONE? TAKE A MOMENT TO FILL OUT THE FORM
BELOW.
PLEASE DON'T USE THIS AS A GUESTBOOK, OUR GUESTBOOK
IS ON THE MAIN PAGE. THANK YOU.
If you can't get the above form to work feel free to email
us. As stated below this site is always a work in progress,
so questions, comments, additions and more are always welcome.If
you email us MAKE SURE TO PUT "OUR FAMILY HISTORY"
IN THE SUBJECT LINE SO WE DON'T DELETE THINKING YOUR EMAIL IS
SPAM.Thank You and Happy Family Hunting!!
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