Shaking the Family Tree - for Money!

Most of us are not researching our family to prove that we are entitled to money - but that is the goal of some professional genealogists. In some estate cases, a decedant has no immediate family. Relationships are then researched to determine who is the closest living relative. A good example of this type of situation is described in this story.

I've successfully used the following resources to identify relatives:

JohnHancock.com
MissingMoney.com
New York State Comptroller

Each site was designed by private (and public) entities that wish to locate people who either owe money or are entitled to refunds.

I should mention that I've never attempted to get any money through this process. However, I suspect that caution should be taken while using these sites - if you contact the entity that is looking to give away money, you may find that you become the person who is asked to resolve someone else's money issue!

Who knows? Maybe YOU are connected to long-lost money... Happy hunting!

The Unknown Soldier

My visits to National Battlefields have always been meaningful, mainly for how they remind us of the sacrifices of our veterans (including many that never returned). One of the most memorable "Unknowns" I've encountered was Amos Humiston. His story provides a small glimpse into the work required for any genealogist who wishes to find out where one of their War Dead may be interred.

This story describes the efforts of one man who wanted to see his fallen comrades return home. The 91-year-old Pearl Harbor survivor has spent the last 20 years cataloging the unidentified dead from the Japanese attack on Hawaii on December 7, 1941. There were once several hundred Unknowns, each buried in a grave in the "Punchbowl" at the National Cemetery of the Pacific (I was fortunate enough to be able to visit that site in 2009 - it was sobering to see the rows of stones, each flat against the ground, that filled the caldera of an extinct volcano). This veteran was not content to leave them there - he prodded the government to provide additional details until stones could be properly marked (with ship names) and additional data provided that connected people to their lost brothers, sons and fathers.

In the post New Year's Resolutions (2012), I discussed one goal of transcribing a source record that could provide assistance to another researcher. Perhaps that is all that most people could ever hope to do for their fellow genealogists. However, you can see here that there are often folks in this world who see such an effort as just a starting point. Following their inspiration, go out there and look for a cemetery with tall grass and start transcribing! Happy hunting...

Preserving Photos

After my extended family departed from our Thanksgiving celebration, a series of group photos began to appear in my email and on social media sites we all share. We have become accustomed to having a large picture (it gets harder as the family grows) each year. One of my jobs (as the family historian) has been to file these pictures and identify them for future reference. For that reason, I have learned several lessons about the task of preserving photographic memories.

The first lesson, probably, is that you can never have enough back-ups for digital photos. My sister just had her laptop stolen - and it had all her pictures stored on it. I can't emphasize how important it is to store these types of photos in several places (CDs, DVDs, portable hard drives - or printed copies!). Remember, electronic media degrade over time. If you are preserving photos, you may also want to take the time to back up your videos and Audio Genealogy Records,

For older photos, it is crucial that they be protected from the elements. You could probably save yourself some frustration if you scan old photos and store them (in another place) electronically - just in case you are the victim of a some kind of water/wind/fire disaster. There are also several important steps you may need to take to protect the originals (e.g., acid-free albums, etc.).

Additional tools and resources can be found at the sites below:

AARP.org
Heritage Photographs
Minnesota Historical Society

Use your photos to augment the information in your (text) family history. As always, happy hunting!

Overcoming Language Barriers

Perhaps the most challenging element of genealogy research is that many records are written in languages other than our own. This can range from as "simple" as a sacramental record (clearly written in Latin) to a nearly indecipherable scribble (written in an unknown language). What are we to do?

For starters, you should keep a small collection of English to "X" dictionaries. Of course, the choices will depend on the ancestry of your family. One important note: even if you have a dictionary, you may not be able to completely understand context or local idioms. I've been fortunate in foreign countries to encounter local researchers who can explain the hidden meaning (even behind the simple translation). You may need to enlist the help of a professional or join a genealogy group that specializes in a particular ethnic group.

General translation resources include:

CyndisList.com
Family Tree Magazine
Genealogy Pro

Specific languate resources are listed below:

CyndisList.com (German)
FamilySearch.org (Latin)
Google Books (Italian)
Rootsweb.com (Polish)

There are many, many more links on the web for translation services.

While conducting genealogy research on your foreign ancestors, you should remember that many valuable gems are buried in the translation of old records. Don't get discouraged if it is hard to bridge the language barrier - keep at it. Happy hunting!

Patriotic Branches

At this time of year (in the United States), many of us take time to remember the lives of our patriotic ancestors. We proudly recall the genius of the men who developed our founding documents and try to appreciate the sacrifices of our fallen heroes. Try as I might, I can't read about the beginning of the USA (or subsequent, formative periods) without wondering "what was MY family doing at that time?"

Even those of us whose family didn't even live in the country when it was founded take pride in how our ancestors eventually helped to make it greater by their blood, sweat and tears. Wouldn't it be great to find our own "Founding Fathers and Mothers", the ones who came here first and set the family in the blue field of stars on the flag? As you've read in other postings on this Blog, I'm convinced that genealogists are blessed with the capacity to add flesh to the bare bones of the human story of all of us (not just the famous and infamous). Connecting our family history to our nation's history allows us to find out where we fit into the American Experiment.

Before anyone gets worried that I'm wearing my heart on my flag colored sleave, I want to reiterate that I believe the search for ancestors (and collateral relatives) should be rooted in trying to understand them as people. In working so hard to find them, we can also come to understand ourselves (and other people walking in the world around us). Pride in a common purpose or goal (national, religious, etc.), shared across decades/centuries in the hearts of colonist descendants or new immigrant families, makes our country stronger and binds us together. It is one thing to proudly pronounce that we are "hyphenated"- Americans, but most of us are linked by a common thread - the desire of our ancestors to make a new life in an "undiscovered country."

If you hit a brick wall in the last year, consider this: you don't have to get discouraged about one line while excluding work on another. Often, we find new energy to pursue our genealogy projects when we tackle a "less glamorous" branch. Somewhere in the past, your mother's father's mother's family was working in a smothering coal mine in Wales and found that they just couldn't accept such a life. Someone (brave) in the family decided that a drastic change was needed and looked for a place to go where new opportunities were there for the taking. Sometimes it was the USA, but there are plenty of other places on the globe that are populated by the kin of people who simply wanted to seize the brass ring or throw off shackles imposed by landed gentry. When they found the place to do it, they embraced that land as their own.

Here's to Patriots old and young, past and present - may their spirit inspire us to build the best family history we can. Happy hunting!

Genealogy Software

Over the years, I've had several requests for my opinion on the best type of genealogy software. In each case, I've been hesitant to answer - everyone has a different feel for what is user-friendly (and what isn't). In fact, the program I bought back in 1998 (Ultimate Family Tree) is still useful to me today, despite its antiquated capabilities. Most people, however, want something new.

To provide an objective perspective, I recommend you visit a great site I found recently - it provides reviews of (at least) the top ten genealogy software products and has links for purchasing them. If you want to learn more about available programs to file and publish your genealogy research data, visit No1Reviews.com. Happy hunting!

Discovering Your Health History

One side benefit to genealogy research is that you can sometimes learn about your own destiny in the process. If you are able to determine the the types of diseases that your family members are predisposed to (especially those that led to their deaths), you could (potentially) discover a means to avoid the impact of these ailments on your own life.

The US Department of Health and Human Services has developed a very useful tool to collect a family health history, My Family Health Portrait. This is just one way to organize data as you recover it. When you are finished, you can provide the output to your health care practitioner.

In addition to the resource above, here are some additional examples of sites that can guide you in your pursuit of your family's health history:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Genealogy.com
Mayo Clinic

Some people begin researching their family history with the sole goal of finding out about their medical vulnerabilities. They may discover other items of value to a traditional genealogist, but may actually discount the information in the pursuit of purely health-related data. When you encounter someone like that Online, attempt to collect the data that you need while assisting them with if you are able.

On the other hand, you could encounter some resistence if you approach members of your family (or potential members, as you have successes in your research). Medical information is, after all, private. You may have to settle for simply reviewing death certificates of your ancestors. Use whatever data you can find to shape a health history to use during discussions with your doctor. Happy hunting!

What (or Who) Makes News?

We now live in a well documented society. For every story, both good and bad, there is a very good possibility that someone will capture the event as it happens. Some stories are pieced together from circumstantial evidence, but many times the clincher comes from DNA found at the scene (especially in criminal investigations). It is hard to imagine a time when we couldn't pull up a news story on demand. But, actually, it wasn't that long ago that people lived in relative anonymity, their lives a "closed book" to all-but the most tragic or scandalous events.

A short remove from the digital capabilities of our age, there were still intrepid news reporters who traveled to the site of disasters (sometimes a few days after the event) and attempted to record the event for readers around the country. Nothing proved more attractive than a tragedy (small or large) - readers didn't have Soap Operas or the Internet to distract them...

Even though many of the stories that resulted from media attention in an earlier age have not survived anywhere in modern parlance, some still exist in the archival records of libraries and online digital collections. Hidden amidst the vital statistics sections and major international news headlines, you can find gems of family history you might never have considered. During the past few years, I have located several relatives - some appearing as witnesses to crimes, some described by their neighbors (since they were too embarassed or humble) after the tragic death of a family member. If you are interested in pursuing potential stories of your family, here is a great example of a research methodology you can use.

Always remember: without intersections of our relatives' lives with documented history, family trees would be dull and only a mere skeleton of what they could be. Interviews, obituaries (and relevant news articles found in a similar way) or the lucky discovery of a biography of a relative, you might never know your ancestors. Peristence is the key to discovering additional ancedotes - happy hunting!

Mississippi Death Certificate Index Reaches 20,000 Names

The Statewide Index to Mississippi Death Records (1912-1943) achieved an important milestone today: 20,000 entries! These are indexed by year and by county - check out the site!

The process is difficult, but we make progress each month. If you would like to assist us in our efforts, we'd love to hear from you (email us at webmaster (at) cooganresearchgroup [dot] com)!

Correcting Genealogy Errors

The Internet provides us with many new opportunities. Perhaps the most exciting capability it allows is that people can share information they discover and even update details as soon as they are available (e.g., Wikipedia. We are now able to read about almost everything and learn the small details even insignificant issues and events. The flip side of this benefit is that errors can often quickly become "facts" when they reach the web.

If you think about it, it doesn't take the Internet for made-up stories to morph into the truth. Even before the 'Net provided a viral opportunity to spread inaccurate information as fact, there were paper records that propogated errors - often with as much finality. A great example of this recently came to light, when an amateur historian determined that Union soldiers were inadvertantly buried in a Confederate Cemetery. The story shows how errors became "fact" - and were chiseled in stone for good measure.

The news story portrays a situation that hasn't been completely resolved. While the correct flags can now be placed near the cemetery stones on Memorial Day, it will take additional effort to solve the problem made when those brave men were buried. The metaphor of stone-carved mistakes works almost the same way with the Web - it may be difficult and time consuming to correct the error. Unfortunately, except for one "stone," there are thousands of virtual replicas in the "Ether" that can't simply be erased or re-chiseled.

A great article about the different types of errors that affect genealogists (recordation, transcription and misinformation) can be found at Archives.com. The first one is usually beyond the control of people conducting research in the Twenty First Century (like the story above). The last two - incorrect digital transcribing and spreading false family stories as "fact" - are definitely within the control of our generation. We need to always be vigilant that we do not contribute mistakes to the pool of genealogy data.

So, what it if you discover mistakes that have made their way into the category of "the truth"? For starters, it will take a lot of work to fix them. Don't let that deter you, though! Locating the errors online may be the easy part, but you need to look at righting wrongs as a worthwhile pursuit - one step at a time. One useful guide to making corrections in Internet genealogy databases can be found at Genealogy.com.

You should be committed to the pursuit of genealogy "truth" (as best as we can know it) - for your own family and the records that are located in the area where you live. Always assure your notes indicate uncertainties and unknowns - and add them to other works whenever possible. Happy hunting!

Professional Genealogy Services

We've talked a lot about how you can do your own genealogy research on this Blog. But what if you don't have the time or your health prevents you from conducting a thorough search? The good news is that there are plenty of folks who would be happy to take over the search - for a fee, of course. In an earlier post, I discussed the perils and rewards of pay-for-database-access. This post relates to hiring a researcher.

Perhaps the greatest warning I can give you before you pay someone else to research your family tree is that it can take an enjoyable hobby and turn it into a money pit. If you know exactly what you want to spend and what you want to discover, you can probably rest assured that it will be worthwhile contracting someone to help. But, if you are just beginning and don't have any background information at all, I would strongly recommend against hiring someone. You need to review some of the tips I've presented and complete those tasks before you ever contact a professional researcher - for example:

Conducting an Interview
Internet Privacy
DNA Testing
Publishing a Family Tree Online
Taking a Genealogy Vacation
Connecting the Dots...

If you can most research on your own, you can sub-contract out the "hard stuff" to someone else. Often, this will jump-start your research again and then you can continue without additional help. If you ask someone to do too much, though, you may eventually discover that you paid a lot of money for something you could have found yourself, using free resources - especially ones online (that is painful!). But, if you absolutely feel that you have hit an unbreakable wall, you might want to find a person who can get you to the other side. Here are some examples of professional genealogy services available on the Internet (this is NOT and endorsement of any product):

GenealogyPro
Heirlines
Heritage Consulting
Lineages
TreeMaker.com

I hope you are able to use these tips and resources to discover the pesky roots in your family tree. Use the Comments section to add additional links. Happy hunting!

Lies My Ancestors Told Me

As genealogists, we are often confronted by inconsistencies in the stories that our family passed down through the ages. More often than not, the details of family lore have been changed with each generation (much like a centuries-long game of "Telephone"), making for an entertaining tale but providing only a little bit of the truth. If you are lucky, you will be able to find deeper meaning from the stories - and maybe fill in blanks that folks weren't willing to divulge in the past.

Sometimes, though, the information passed down will be wrong - and not just wrong, completely wrong. One interesting example of this situation is the elaborate history of a minority group that has lived in the Appalachian Mountains of the US for many years. The Melungeons claimed that their ancestors were Portuguese or a special race of Native Americans. A DNA Project (2005) recently provided results that indicated that it is more likely that the Melungeons are descendants of African males and European females. It is also probable that the group created a mythology of its roots to overcome prejudices against them. And, to a certain degree, they appear to have been successful.

On the other hand, there are the equally intriguing stories of the possiblity that President Thomas Jefferson had black descendants. The Hemings family always maintained a connection to the author of the Declaration of Independence but it wasn't clear whether they were correct. Finally, in 1998, a Y-DNA Test showed that it is very likely they connect to the Jefferson line - if not to the former president himself.

Never forget that our ancestors had their reasons to keep secrets or create backstories. We may not always understand or sympathize, but their actions probably make sense if you consider the social mores of the world in which they lived (remember the adage "All first-borns came early and the rest came in nine months"?). One of the best things about genealogy research is that you can often share stories about how your family lived - including the trials and tribulations, along with the joys and successes. Often, you can even identify the "story tellers" who skewed the truth or carefully detailed the record of the family story.

If you haven't considered how folk lore and mythology can propogate across a few generations (and how you can capture it in an interview), you should read this great Genealogy Forum article. You might also want to check out the Paul Harvey's The Rest of the Story. The lesson from his many anecdotes about people (you only thought you knew them!) is that every person who has ever lived is much more than a birth, death or marriage date...

Sometimes you will get lucky and there won't be a lot of lies in your family history... The older members of my family were actually relatively honest about the family scandals - it has helped me to explain why some branches separated from the rest of us over the years. Their honesty also provided me with a explanation for when I finally reconnected with long lost cousins. I hope you are equally fortunate. Happy hunting!

Lookup Links

Have you ever wished you had access to books and newspapers that are unavailable at your local library? Have you been stymied in your efforts to access a digital resource because it is no longer produced? You probably wish someone nice would be able to find your family in one of those resources. Do such people exist?

Fortunately, they do. As early as 1999, sites started up on the Web that allowed people to identify information they could access and searchers could contact them for help. Usually, all that was then required was for the searcher to pay the finder a minimal fee (for postage, mileage and copy costs). These types of sites are sometimes classified as "Genealogy Co-Ops." Some examples include:

CyndisList.com
GenealogyWise.com
Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness (went offline in 2011)
Twitter

Use these sites to work together to find information that otherwise might be unreachable for you or others. Happy hunting!

Is 1/32nd Enough?

This week, many of us became aware that a U.S. Senate Candidate (Elizabeth Warren) in Massachusetts had long claimed minority status because of her connection to one of the Five Civilized Tribes. Investigative reporters revealed that her tenuous relationship to Native American heritage could have provided her with hiring advantage and allowed her employers to tout their commitment to diversity. Now that the news is out, her candidacy could be negatively affected - all because she stated she had Cherokee roots.

A genealogist in Massachusetts conducted extensive research to determine the validity of Warren's claims. He found evidence that she was, indeed, descended from Cherokee ancestors - through a great-great-great-grandmother. While she might have found a silver bullet to save herself from future media probes, the connection to Native American ancestry is still a question of degree. Is 1/32nd enough?

As one opinion article in the New York Times pointed out, each tribe has different criteria to determine official membership. In years past, most people weren't clamoring to be identified as Native American - there was a stigma in many places - and assimilation was desired by many. However, the success of Indian Casinos and minority preference in hiring and education have led many people today to try to connect themselves to any branch of a tribal membership they can. As a result, tribal groups themselves have had to refine (or redefine) requirements - leading to even more controversial results. The Cherokee tribe itself recently expelled descendants of slaves the Native Americans took to Oklahoma in the 1830s while a cash-rich tribe in California recently "scrubbed" their membership rolls.

The U. S. government (Department of the Interior) points out that if you want to determine if you are eligible for membership in a federally recognized tribe, you need to contact the tribe, or tribes, you claim ancestry from. It is the individual tribes who set tribal enrollment requirements. Be warned: I've found some humorous references to how you may be perceived by others as you attempt to connect to a tribe (Wantabes and Outalucks). I suppose it may be worth the effort if you are able to finally achieve official recognition - but I'm not convinced it would be very easy.

If you are actually trying to establish a link to Native American ancestors, I recommend you review this article at Archives.com. Happy hunting!

Inspiring Television

I'm not normally able to watch television on Friday Night, but I have sometimes recorded a show on NBC called Who Do You Think You Are?". When you have free hour (even via DVR), you should definitely take the time to enjoy one of the episodes. No matter how serious of a genealogist you are, it is very interesting to watch various well-known personalities as they follow the trail to find their ancestry.

One spoiler alert: I've come to the conclusion that the most recent episodes have become more of a blatent advertisement for Ancestry.com. This distracts a little bit from the exceptional concept and intriguing story lines. My beef with their overt efforts to sell their product is related to my previous posts objecting to the quote "you don't have to know what you are looking for." Actually, you do! As we've discussed several times before, you should never assume that you can just type names into a search engine and instantly retrieve your family tree. There is a lot of "off-line" work that needs to happen before you can verify online discoveries.

To be blunt, the show sometimes provides an overly optimistic representation of how actual genealogy searches usually proceed. They usually use the services of professional genealogists - which I think is a very good thing. However, the ease with which the "star of the show" is able to find their family is a reality TV representation of the actual time-staking (trial & error) data mining and long-term commitment to genealogy searches required to find family roots. But I'm not naive - how could anyone make a show entertaining if it took several weeks to locate one name? The time lapse between the beginning and end of the episodes isn't immediately obvious, so we may just be watching the highlights. I'll admit that gives me a great feeling to watch people as they rediscover the amazing stories of their family's past.

Despite my criticisms above, I highly recommend the show - usually broadcast starting at 8 PM in the Eastern Time Zone on Fridays (check your local NBC listings). No matter what, you will be inspired to keep looking for your roots. For every famous person who had the resources to find everything in the space of a one hour TV episode, there are many other "regular" people who will find the same results with some serious dedication (and time). The show should remind you to never quit searching. Happy hunting!

Online Genealogy Training

Have you ever wanted to take a course in genealogy but couldn't find one near you? It is your lucky day, then! I've found a few online locations that offer free or fee training on different genealogy topics. These (hopefully) helpful virtual genealogy training examples can greatly enhance your family history search (both online and offline):

CyndisList.com
FamilySearch.org
FamilyTreeUniversity.com
Genealogy.com
UniversalClass.com

Disclaimer: This post is not an advertisement! I gain nothing from mentioning the links above and have not used the products to see if they are useful or worth the cost. If you figure that out (one way or another), please use the comments to share your experience. Happy hunting!

Finding DNA Foundations

Since my previous post about DNA, I've discovered some fascinating information about the capability of Y-DNA to pinpoint certain ancestral family links. Available technology now offers researchers with an opportunity to find a common ancestor - probably farther back than any official records could reach. These "forefathers" may have existed - there is is ancedotal (or mythological) evidence that an actual person could have been the father of someone who shares similar Y-DNA. More often, though, relationships are based on statistical studies of the Y-DNA of men living in a certain area or who have a cultural connections.

Men with Jewish ancestry, for example, can learn if they are descended from the "Y-chromosomal Aaron" (otherwise known as the most recent common ancestor of the Jewish priestly group called "Kohanim" - connected to Cohen or Kohen surnames). This might allow them to sneak a peak at what their male ancestor was doing at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Ancestors of men with a matching Y-DNA sequence were connected with the earliest history of the Jewish religion - all the way back to the time of Moses and Exodus. More information can be found at Cohen-Levi Family Heritage.

Another instance of this type of research can be used by men with Northern Ireland and Scotland ancestry. The sequences of men who share the same Y-DNA markers with an ancestor in those regions has been linked to a man named Naill of the Nine Hostages, who lived in the Fourth or Fifth Century A.D. (roughly at the same time as St. Patrick). Men who share the same sequences can be relatively certain that their male ancestors were petty chieftans and/or raiding pirates along the coasts of Ireland, England and France. More information can be found at FamilyTreeDNA.com.

There are other examples - and technology (along with anthropological studies) continue to refine family relationships using DNA. Your own ancestry could have a similar common ancestor that could be found using a Y-DNA test. I recommend you consider adding your test to the growing database - and sharing your story with a comment to this post. Happy hunting!

Who Needs a Search Index?

I'm speaking, of course, of the difficulties of locating your relatives in the recently released 1940 US Census. It is now available online at Archives.gov.

I spent most of today looking for family and wanted to share the following lessons-learned:

(1) You need to know the address! Since you can't search the census (yet), you actually need to know a street address for the people you are trying to locate. After that, I recommend you locate the address on map (you can use Google Maps). The reason for this part of the process is to locate crossing streets.

(2) You need a lot of time! Without a search index, you will only be able to locate a relative if you search through multiple pages of the different Enumeration Districts. So, even if you know the city and the street address, you may find that you end up viewing between 30 and 100 pages to locate someone. This is especially true if the address is on the boundary of one of the EDs (in that case, I recommend you view the ED map).

(3) You need a lot of patience! The census takers walked up and down streets in their ED, so the order isn't necessarily logical to a person who peruses the films. You may find that they walked down the opposite side of the street where your relative lived and then took "detours" onto side streets (for pages and pages) before returning to the street of (your) interest. In addition, after all the looking, you may find that your relatives weren't there in 1940. I've even seen a case where the street locator didn't correctly identify the ED - so I had to browse to find it (after referencing the ED map).

To put things into perspective, I successfully located nine families after five hours on my first day of searching. However, I learned a lot about the process and I expect to find relatives faster in the future.

After you take your own stab at browsing the 1940 Census, please share your lessons-learned in the comments section. Happy hunting!

Audio Genealogy Records

Many people have worked for many years to create a written and visual record of their family history. I've met several people who can justifiably be proud of their efforts - but they still have one regret: that they didn't get to interview an older relative. All that is left of that person's life and knowledge of the family's story is third-hand information. Capturing details of Aunt Edna and her famous chocolate cake recipe from transcribed notes taken in the one-on-one discussion is great - but there is something better: an audio recording of the entire interview!

We've all been to museums where the words of someone famous are captured in audio form. To put it in personal perspective, though, I'll mention a sad story I recently heard about a man who lost his daughter. After that tragic event, he would play her voice mails over again, just to hear her talking. Eventually, the phone company deleted the files (read about the story here). The outcome of this story is still in doubt (the company claims the audio is lost forever, but the dad is trying to force them to try harder to recover the files).

Preservation of our loved ones' words - and interesting accents or dialects - brings us closer to them and could truly improve the quality of a family history. As part of a genealogy effort, you need to attempt to prevent old recordings from degrading. Cassette tapes, for example, have a limited life span and will be nearly impossible to understand if you don't take action to save them. I just found an old answering machine with a small tape in it - it has some messages from over 25 years ago that are both entertaining to hear and are a snapshot of my life from that time.

The lesson here is not to ever discount the idea of saving voices of your family. You should consider making a permanent digital (and online!) recording of as many people as you can. They don't have to know a vanishing language (although that would be something very valuable to record), they could just talk casually about their memories. Maybe someday in the future you might even hear a fact you overlooked that truly breaks through a "brick wall." Happy hunting!

More 1940 US Census Information

We are a little less than two weeks away from the release of the 1940 Census! I found a great article about it that I thought you might find interesting:

Census Documenting Great Depression to Be Released

Enjoy - and happy hunting!

A Stickler for Sources

A serious genealogist always wants to record the source of data discovered during a search. Unsubstantiated details don't belong in a well researched family history. For that matter, the larger genealogy community does not benefit from errors that can't be traced to source documents.

You should strive to be as dedicated to properly identifying your sources as you are to finding the deepest roots of your family tree. Here are some sites you can use to support or develop your list of sources:

Genealogy.com
North Carolina Museum of History
Olive Tree Genealogy
SteveMorse.org

When you post genealogy information online, you should always cite your sources. By doing so, you build credibility for your efforts and prevent the propagation of false data. When other researchers locate your family tree, they can rest assured that you didn't introduce unsubstantiated guess-work into your project. Doubtful information can be included, but it should be noted as such.

Hopefully, you will always encounter equally verifiable information. Either way, happy hunting!

Transcription Errors

Have you ever encountered a website that seemed like it contained your genealogy missing link, only to discover the site's search index took you to a similar looking - but completely unrelated - result? You probably felt cheated and frustrated that you came so close and didn't have anything to show for your efforts. Sometimes the explanation for your dead end centers around an error in the transcription of an original source document.

Search indexes on the Web are built with algorithms that identify text and connect it to what you request as you interface with with the engine engine. But what if the text was wrong? It could be that someone typed the data wrong when they entered it - from a previous document. Or, they might have been unable to read the original source - and made a guess when they converted it to digital form. Either way, you feel like you got the raw end of the deal...

The biggest impact of a transcription error is usually that you don't find the information you sought. It could also lead to someone making a leap of faith to try to connect to something that looked similar to what they were looking for - and, if they post that on a family tree site or message board, that will spread the error further around the Net.

As I've written previously (for example, in New Year's Resolutions (2012)), you should try to avoid contributing error to available digital genealogy data. This starts with always ensuring you only trust original source documents that you read yourself - and that you add notes to show your level of certainty. Don't just go with what some search engine says is the truth. You should also consider sending a note to the webmaster for a site that has an error on it.

Always try to carefully transcribe data you find yourself - and help to fix the mistakes of others. As the saying goes: "Trust, but verify." Happy Hunting!

Life-Stories Emerge

For the last 10 years, I've been trying to figure out how a person is connected with our family. He doesn't appear to be a blood relative, but he appears at family events and even shared a residence (during the 1880s) with some of my cousins. As I've gathered information, I filed it away until I was recently able to construct a short biography of the gentleman. I wanted to share it with you, since it required a wide variety of sources (online and offline) to create.

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Felix Devlin is a person of great interest in the development of this family tree. He may not have been a relative of the Coogan family, but his life intersects with their lives several times in the period between 1850 and 1890. His origins are uncertain, but he most likely came from County Tyrone or County Armagh, since his name was common in those areas during the early Nineteenth Century.

The relationship between Felix Devlin and the Coogan family may have begun before their immigration to the United States, but the first indication we have of a connection comes from the 1860 Census: Felix (age 30, a charcoal dealer) was living in the 16th Ward of Brooklyn, New York, with his wife (Ann, age 34, born in Ireland) and children (Bridget, age 7; Mary, age 6; Peter, age 1; and James, age 5/12 - all born in New York). In the same household, a Bridget "Caugan" served as a domestic servant. Her age (20) and birthplace (Ireland) indicate that she could be the same person who arrived in New York with Hugh "Elder" Coogan in 1853.

On 17 MAR 1863, Felix and his wife, Ann, (both listed with the surname "Develin") were baptismal witnesses for John Coogan, son of Hugh "Elder," at the Coogan family parish (St. Mary's) in Kingston, New York.

He may have been able to purchase a bar or saloon earlier in the decade, but Felix first appeared as a barkeeper (in the vicinity of DeBevoise and Morrell Streets) in the 1869 Brooklyn City Directory.

In the 1870 Census, Felix (age 43, importer of liquors) appears again in the 16th Ward of Brooklyn. His family included his wife (Ann, age 40) and children (Bridget, age 17; Mary, age 16; Peter, age 12; James , age 10; and Annie, age 8). In the same home, Bridget "Cogan" (age 28) served as a domestic - but now she is accompanied by two older people: Morris (59) and Eliza (57) Maloney. We don't yet know if these are relatives.

The Devlin family saloon was often described in Brooklyn histories from that era as the home of the "Felix Devlin Light Guard"). Sadly, financial successes were accompanied by tragedy: Felix's wife apparently died in the mid 1870s and he had some difficulty raising his older children after that point. An article (search "Felix DEVLIN" - case sensitive) from the September 29, 1877 edition of the Brooklyn Union-Argus described the circumstances of how James Devlin (Felix's son) murdered someone and then robbed the family saloon as he made his escape.

Perhaps so they could assist him after these sad events (or to escape their own troubles in Kingston), the wife and children of Patrick "Innkeeper" later moved to Brooklyn and moved into the same building (95 DeBevoise) with Felix. The 1880 Census reported that he had become a real estate agent and lived with his children (Bridget, age 26; Peter, age 21; and Annie, age 18).

The last verifiable interaction between Felix and the Coogans was when he served as a witness to Michael "Stonecutter"'s will in Kingston. In the September 4, 1885 edition of the Kingston Daily Freeman, the wording of the article below seems to indicate that Felix died the same day as Michael "Stonecutter" after witnessing the latter's will. However, we believe this is a mistake.

A STRANGE COINCIDENCE: Michael Coogan, who died last Wednesday evening at Higginsville, called about 4 o'clock on the afternoon of the same day at the office of D. W. Sparling with two other gentlemen, and said to Sparling: "I wish to make my will, as life is uncertain." Sparling drew up the will, and it was signed by Coogan and witnessed by the two gentlemen, Thomas Grant and Felix Develin. Mr. Develin died about 8 o'clock on the same day.

It is likely that Felix actually lived into the 1890s. A candidate certificate (which we have not yet ordered) is for a Felix Devlin, age 61, who died in Kings County on 04 JUN 1891. We continue to research Felix's life in an effort to determine our Coogan family connections to him - and to each other.

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If you can write a "mini-biography" like this about people you are researching, it truly makes them come alive. It also identifies areas where you could do more research. Happy hunting!

Airing Dirty Laundry

There are tender ways to memorialize your deceased relatives - and then there are ways you should not! I recently read an obituary that included information that would make most people cringe - but most genealogists would probably value it for the backstory. Check it out here.

This is a contemporary example of the Famous - or Notorious? post I wrote a few months ago. If the survivors had just listed names and dates, no one would ever know the sad past of this older lady. Nor might one descendant ever understand why he/she never sees Uncle Peter at family gatherings. It's these elements of a story that make a family story come alive - but it might be a hundred years before members of the family could read it without fighting...

The saying goes: "May you live in interesting times" - but I'd change it for my fellow genealogists to read "May your family be filled with interesting people." Happy hunting!

Overcoming Obstacles

If you've had success with something like the 1930 US Census and you then begin to work backwards in time, you may be surprised (or really disappointed) when you get to the 1890 US Census: it doesn't exist anymore (lost in a fire). Similiarly, if you've been finding all kinds of great things in the Census of Ireland for 1901 and 1911, you may be horrified to learn that there are almost no censuses from earlier than that that survived the struggle for Irish Independence. These are just some of the obstacles that you will need to overcome as you conduct your family history research.

Another dilemna often is that vital records weren't required by the State or National government before a certain year. This can be especially aggravating if your ancestor was born just before the start of compulsory record keeping.

Of course, you could get lucky and find your family on the other side of such gaps (cemetery stone, family bible, etc.). Maybe you already knew where the family lived in the "Old Country" and just need to visit that town to see the family farm. But if you aren't that fortunate, you can sometimes still find some alternate sources to fill in blanks. I've listed a couple below:

(1) Census Substitutes: Ancestry.com has created a resource that allows you to search 1890s era city directories from around the United States and, possibly, locate an address where your family lived. You can find a head of the household but probably not much more than that. However, an address could be helpful if the state where the person lived conducted a census +/- five years from the lost Federal records. Don't forget, you actually don't need to search Ancestry if you have some other means to access a city directory...

(2) Parish Records: Catholic Priests usually kept records of the sacraments they performed. These could have survived at a specific church or diocesan records archive. They are often much more detailed than a birth certificate from that era could be. Be prepared for a requirement to translate from Latin or another language. Some parishes will prepare an un-official baptism, marriage or death certificate from data in their old books - kind of a nice item to have if you are preparing an official family history.

More gaps and obstacles are out there. Don't give up! You may need to find some really creative ways to search the Web to locate a source - but your persistance should pay off. Happy hunting!

Biographies

Genealogy successes often require a certain amount of luck. Perhaps you've travelled extensively and made numerous visits to libraries and archives - but how often do you have a "Eureka" moment? The famous/infamous reputation of your relatives may pay off with a newspaper article now and then - and, if you are lucky, you may find it. Vital records, censuses and directories may also yield a number of key details about your family history. But to truly hit the jackpot, you need to try to find a published record of your relative's life story.

Biographies can include surprising amounts of information about a person. You might find birth and marriage details, names of children, occupational pursuits and memberships in fraternal or professional organizations. You might even find a photograph of the person. But you might be surprised to learn that a biography may also contain, as Paul Harvey used to say, "the rest of the story." I've seen examples where the story doesn't even focus a lot of attention on the person it is purportedly written about - it can tell about the difficult immigration of his parents from the Old World or business successes.

Some great examples of sites that post biographies:

American Genealogical-Biological Index
Archive.org
GeneaBios
Google Books

You may have to take your search for biographies off-line. Many books are available only in printed form and at certain libraries. It may take years to track those down. But you should never give up looking - finding a bio of your relative may be the best genealogy discovery you ever make. Happy hunting!

Connecting the Dots...

When you've finished the traditional family tree (with little circles for each person, vital facts enclosed), you may be proud of your progress - and may even impress other friends and relatives with your pedigree. Still, I hope you won't ignore the nagging feeling that people's lives are more than the sum of their life milestones. You may even have begun to wonder if your own life would mean anything if it was portrayed simply as a branch on the proverbial family tree.

While birth dates, death dates and marriage dates are all important elements of your project, you should try to expand your search beyond those simple data points. If you make only vital statistics the focus of all of your research, you may miss out on an essential component of the process: truly getting to "know" your relatives. Beyond being born and getting married, they also got in trouble with their parents, failed classes in school, won the blue ribbon for watercolor painting at the county fair, got a speeding ticket, won election to the City Council. For many life events, someone else in the family (or, if you are lucky, a reporter!) was an eye-witness. Your job, as a conscientious family history researcher, is to find records of these life lessons.

Admittedly, the news isn't always good. As we've discussed in Famous - or Notorious?, you may find that one of your relative's lives is very well documented for reasons that might make some people cringe. But other people lived quietly in the shadows - and their stories will be much more difficult to discover. You should start with the things that are found in the Attic or Basement: old Bibles, photo books, keep-sakes, programmes from graduation ceremonies. After that, you can expand your search into the public record arena (tax records, directories, military service records, etc.).

Online genealogy provides a unique opportunity for you to conduct your research when most libraries and archives are closed. This allows you to add "flesh" to the "skeleton" of your family history when you actually have the time to browse records without feeling the pressure of other family members (who want to leave the records office)! If you check out the links at Virtual Genealogy, you should be able to make some significant progress in building a framework for your overall project.

But don't forget: There are also facts and anecdotes in the minds of our older relatives, as we discussed in Conducting an Interview. Never undervalue the memory of people who lived before television and the Internet "melted our brains." You should try to learn all you can from them about everyone in the family they can remember - even if you don't know the BDMs. You can always (later) visit the Web to see what they have on dear old Uncle Frank...

The lesson here is that you should always develop a life-story for individuals - not just collect names and dates. Your own life will eventually be summed up in an obituary, written (hopefully) by someone who knew you well. Try to create a biographical sketch for the members of your family you research. Happy hunting!

Library Cards

Did you know that you can access census data and newspaper transcriptions online for free with a library card from your local library? I'm sure many of you have visited a library to use their computers and/or access their subscription to Ancestry.com. Many libraries allow "at home" access, too - provided you have a card. I've had some great successes using that method, especially with these sites:

Heritage Quest
NewsBank

Contact your local library for a card today - and search records you never knew you could. Happy hunting!

Unpleasant Experiences

After years of Google searches, exchanging data and posting genealogy questions online, you've suddenly had an unusual encounter with someone who seems to dislike genealogists. You were just asking whether the person you found in a Google search is actually the cousin your Gramma mentioned before she died. But, instead of being happy you "found" them, they wrote back with some nasty words about how "people like you" from "that part of the family" need to leave them alone. How did this happen?

Many genealogists share a quality of searching for the truth (the whole truth, right?). This may lead to confrontations with people who didn't want to be located or become part of the wonderful family tree you are (re)creating. It may have been possible to convince your own family that your research is harmless but there are many people in the world who have burned bridges and genuinely want to avoid interaction with parts of their extended family. Remember: the "black sheep" in the family don't just appear in old records - they still exist today.

Be considerate of the people who demand you remove references to them in the family history. You can't expect to heal all the deep wounds that were created through decades of family strife. If you are lucky, the person may be willing to tell you something about their branch - but also make it clear that they don't want to see that information online or continue communication afterwards. This is the time for paper records - keep the anecdotes and vital records they provide to yourself. Maybe someday, the breach will be healed - but don't push too hard to make it happen today.

You don't have to let unpleasant experiences dampen your enthusiasm for genealogy searches online. For every person who isn't happy you "found" them, there will be many more who are excited to know about cousins they never knew they had. Happy hunting!

Mississippi Death Index Milestone: 15,000 Names

We are still plugging away! Now there are over 15,000 names in the MS Death Certificate Index, hosted by Virtual Genealogy. Visit the site to see the progress we are making to catalog a full listing of deaths between 1912 and 1943!

Get Ready: 1940 Census is Coming!

There are some events you can set your watch by: tax deadlines, elections, etc. Maybe you didn't know it, but you can count on something else: every 10 years the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) releases another U.S. Census for genealogists to devour. And - wait for it - 2012 is such a year. We're still a few months away from the official release date (April 2nd), but I'd like to suggest that you utilize this time to get ready. First, a few details about the census itself:

Census Date: 01 April 1940

Population: 132,164,569

Data Collected: address, home owned or rented, name, relationship to head of household, gender, race, age, marital status, school attendance, educational attainment, birthplace (if foreign born, citizenship), location of residence five years ago, employment status if at work, occupation, weeks worked last year, wage and salary income last year (sample 1940 census form)

The best thing about this census is that its release is being coordinated in advance - ensuring free access for everyone. The census will also be made available in digital form from the first day of release. FamilySearch and its partners will manage the indexing process - meaning that it shouldn't be too long before you are able to search for your family.

While you are waiting (with baited breath, I'm sure) to be able to dive into this valuable resource, you may want to consider attending a lecture (some people are call them a "get ready class") on the subject. Most Family History Centers should have information about that kind of opportunity. It would also be a good idea to look around in your local area to see if there are any genealogy societies hosting similar events.

If you are interested in a more "self-directed" experience, you can browse some of these sites for more 1940 Census resources and research ideas:

Ancestry 1940 Census Substitute
Facebook
NARAtions
USGenWeb

One more important thing to remember: the 1940 Census release experience may turn out to be a little like "Black Friday" (i.e., the day after U.S. Thanksgiving). We've recently seen examples (e.g., 1901 UK Census, 1901/1911 Ireland Census) where the servers couldn't handle the traffic. So, it may take a few weeks (and a LOT of patience) for the average person to find a lot in the census. But don't give up trying! This resource is very valuable for family history research and may help you make a connection between Grandma's stories and your own life. Happy hunting!

A Lasting Tribute

My friend, Joan, passed away late last month - she was 84. I actually never met her in person, I only interacted with her online. Still, the genealogy chats we had through email were as vivid as any I've had face-to-face. She was really something: a dedicated researcher, a stickler for documentation, a selfless volunteer. Joan lived half-way around the world from me, in a place where I've never travelled, and had done research in the in-between places. Without her contributions to my family history, I'd still be stuck at the water's edge in North America...

Folks who've worked for a life-time on a Family Tree project are often meticulous and thorough, building a bridge to the past with their sweat and tears. Precious discoveries, found only in dusty archives of war-torn Europe, could never be regained if they were lost. And, while it seems there is almost always someone in the family who takes on the task of searching for the family roots, not every one of those people have children or can identify their successor(s). As a result, there is a good chance that all the hard work could be lost forever. Some genealogists consider (though many do not) what will happen to their work when they pass away. It is an important question. What would happen to all of your genealogy data and connections if you suddenly had to stop your search?

In Joan's case, she contacted me a few years ago to ask if I could help her put her research on the Internet. We worked very hard together to get permission from living relatives and sanitize the information to avoid posting data on living people. I created a draft of the site from emailed data - 214 pages of births, deaths, marriages and residences - and told her she could add/or change as necessary. I knew the site was too big to be perfect - but she wanted it to be right. So, despite her statements that the process might take forever (and my recommendation that she not attempt it), she reviewed every page in about three months. We had several interesting back-and-forths on the names and relationships and, by the end, she seemed excited that the task was done - and that some of the research would survive her.

Her family understood her concerns - and how much she valued the connections she had made through that hobby. So, on the day after she died, I (and the rest of her genealogy email contacts) received an email from Joan's family. They kept us up to date on her funeral arrangements and (later) informed me that they were taking steps to save all of her work. The whole thing made me feel great because it showed that her concerns about the preservation of her genealogy data were actually unfounded - someone was ready and willing to pick up her mantle and carry it forward.

Genealogy researchers are a special breed, with lots of similar ideas about family and goals for that long-hoped-for reconciliation. Joan exemplified the search for knowledge and truth that many of us who love this hobby share. I'll miss her. With her in mind, I wish you all happy hunting!