Michael John Neill's Genealogy Website
Visuals can add to a presentation in ways that words simply cannot. The image that is a part of this blog post is a modified six-generation pedigree chart. Instead of listing names of individuals, their residence in 1880 is given. Since so many of my families were in one of two Illinois counties, I chose […]
Research logs are important and serve a useful genealogical purpose. Sometimes they are not enough. Research logs should search specific and usually include spaces for the title of the source, where/how the source was accessed, what names were searched for in the source, what was found, etc. Those are details that one needs to track to avoid […]
[modified from a post on our old blog site] I struggle with terms and definitions. In this blog post, I muse on “statements.” This is not meant to be an edict, but rather an attempt on my part to work through terminology and definitions in order to make my work as accurate, clear, and consistent […]
I’ve proved it. That’s a loaded sentence. We don’t prove something with one just record that states what we want. We evaluate that record. We determine how reliable that record is. We decide who the probable informant is. We determine how reliable that probable informant is. We need to make certain that the scribe or clerk […]
There are several lessons in this assignment of property from John Demoss of Harford County, Maryland. One is that some individuals literally make a mark when “making their mark.” That’s not an “x” John Demoss made when he “signed” this property transfer. I cannot say if there is any significance to the fact that John’s mark is […]
Clues can come from any type of record and can be big brick wall breakers or small pieces of knowledge that give insight into an ancestor without revealing one iota about his or her ancestry. And that’s just fine. It’s also why a comprehensive search of everything you can get your genealogical hands on is […]
According to a search of the 1850 census on Ancestry.com, there were 1123 natives of California living in New York State. Some of them were born in California as early as 1800. That total seems a little high and California births as early as 1800 (who returned to New York State) seemed a little early. After […]
