Month: May 2016

Headed to Jamboree!

I’m heading to the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree 2016 this week and am looking forward to making the following presentations: Pre-1850 census family reconstruction He’s Not There in 1840: Using Land Records to Solve a “Missing” Census Enumeration Restacking the Blocks: Organizing Your Information If you’ll be at Jamboree, stop by and say “hi.” I’m […]

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“Just a Farmer”

The words screeched their way into my ears like a scoop shovel on a concrete bin floor. I’ve heard “just a farmer” before and no doubt I’ll hear it again, but every time the utterance reaches the harmony of my inner ear, it irritates me on several levels. I descend from generations of farmers. Generations. In fact, I’m the […]

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Discoveries in Salt Lake

There were no big discoveries made while I was in Salt Lake City at the Family History Library. However, I did make some minor discoveries that hopefully will make for interesting blog posts as we continue through 2016: A 12 year old who is a sponsor on a christening. A couple from Campbell County, Kentucky, […]

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Making Certain I Get All the Pages

Technology makes it easier to keep research logs. My personal preference when doing onsite research is to have the research log be as “process friendly as possible.” For me that means something that models how the records are organized and also models how I work best. Your own mileage may vary. The probate records for […]

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Dead or Alive at Ancestry.com?

I realize computer programming is often about details and managing exceptions. I realize that there are reasons comouter programs have default settings. Those settings usually come from initial assumptions about the data being analyzed. Sometimes it is dificult to program around every exception and every nuance in a potential dataset. Default swttings give software a […]

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What I Wish I Had Known

From the 14 December 2005 edition of the Ancestry Daily News from my former “Beyond the Index” column. Much of my early genealogy research was done by trial and error. This  column takes a look at some things I wish I had known when I started research. Things always look obvious in hindsight and it is […]

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Leaving for Salt Lake and Loose Ends

I leave in a few days for my annual research trip to the Family History Library in Salt Lake. I’m excited about going with another group of researchers to the world’s largest genealogical library. I have a list of things to do and will hopefully have some updates to post while I’m at the library. […]

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Is There a Pair that Surprises You?

Much to my delight I found where I had written down the names of the five Neill siblings who appeared in a 1940s era picture that was most likely taken at a family reunion in West Point, Hancock County, Illinois. This post really is not about that. It’s about a comment that my great-aunt made […]

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