Month: May 2018

1892 Illinois Probate Guide

The things one finds on http://www.archive.org/ are absolutely amazing. I’m reading parts of the 1892 edition of A Practical Treatise Upon the Jurisdiction of, and Practice in, the County and Probate Courts of Illinois, Embracing A Collation of Statutes and Authorities Upon the Settlement of Estates of Deceased Persons; Correlative Relations of Guardian and Ward; […]

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Can You Read That Last Name in 1870?

This partial census entry comes from the 1870 census for Adams County, Illinois–Northeast Township. This family was originally located through manual census searching. The last name was a rendition that was new to me. The first names are actually pretty spot on. That is ironic considering how the last name was rendered. Any ideas on […]

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A Missed Clue in Boilerplate

Every so often it is good to review material that one located early in one’s research. That’s the case with an 1833 deed from Coshocton County, Ohio. Thomas Chaney transfers property to his son Abraham with payment to be made to Abraham’s sister, Elizabeth Rampley. The payment I was familiar with. I grabbed it because […]

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Another Neill in the Limavady Pot

After some time, I completed my chart of the cluster of shared DNA matches I had at that started with the person who had a Neill from NewtownLimavady, County Derry, Ireland, in their tree (“Charting My Cluster of Matches…”). Smaller spreadsheets like that are sometimes more helpful than using the entire spreadsheet of matches. There […]

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Under My Nose

this article originally appeared on the Ancestry.com blog on 25 November 2007 Sometimes those disappearing ancestors did not disappear the way we thought they did. Rather they are right there in front of us waiting to be found. This week we look at such a situation. Our search reminds us of several research techniques that any […]

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Genealogical Standards of Evidence

I purchased Genealogical Standards of Evidence: A Guide for Family Historians after a friend mentioned it in an email. I’d seen it mentioned before elsewhere, but I’ve gotten to the point where it’s unusual for me to buy something unless someone has mentioned it to me in a positive fashion. If you’ve been thinking of […]

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My Blogs

I maintain the following genealogy blogs: Rootdig.com—Michael’s thoughts, research problems, suggestions, and whatever else crosses his desk Genealogy Tip of the Day—one genealogy research tip every day–short and to the point Genealogy Search Tip—websites I’ve discovered and the occasional online research tip–short and to the point Subscription/unsubscription links are on every blog page–and in every […]

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Lake Illinois?

This map, purported to have been created by Pierre Raffex in 1688 appears in a 1932 atlas by Charles O. Paullin. The map is centered on what are now called the Great Lakes. What surprised me on this map was “Lac des Illinois.” Lake Illinois? From where I could see it looked like Lake Michigan. […]

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