Michael John Neill's Genealogy Website
A common question genealogists ask, is “what’s the best data site for my genealogical dollar?” It’s a question whose answer really is “it depends.” I generally suggest to people that they maximize what is on FamilySearch, Archives.org, the newspapers at the Library of Congress, GoogleBooks, and the myriad of other free state/provincial and local websites. Those sites will keep researchers […]
As part of my work on French-Canadian Joseph Desmarais (Demarrah, Demar, etc.), I tried to locate him in the 1850 US census. His later census enumerations suggested that the family should have been enumerated in the 1850 census somewhere. While the location of his 1850 enumeration was unknown, it seemed logical that he would be in […]
My webinar on the probate materials on Ancestry.com was a great success. Now that I’ve had time to get into the materials more deeply and have had questions from attendees, viewers, and blog readers, I’m ready to continue our discussion and discovery with “US Probate Materials on Ancestry.com Part II.” This session will be held on 11 […]
It was a good hypothesis. Unfortunately it does not appear to have been true. I was hoping that the bondsman on the 1865 St. John, New Brunswick, marriage of Samuel Neill and Annie Murphy had some connection to the couple other than “just knowing them.” A search of the databases on the New Brunswick Provincial […]
The location of Tonjes Jurgens’ will from Adams County, Illinois, in 1864 raises more questions that it answers. To be honest, what I know about Tonjes in the United States is minimal and much of what I know comes from an unsourced family history. The dates and places of birth for Tonjes and his family […]
There are certain to be more, but here’s ten myths–or combinations of myths: FamilySearch & Ancestry.com have everything. My relative’s name was changed at Ellis Island. Grandma was right. Grandma was wrong. “That” never happened in our family. If it’s on more than one website, it must be true. I can do all my research on the internet because […]
Before you search the “probate database” at Ancestry.com, search the inventory to determine what they have. Their inventory is not as descriptive as it could be and some users have reported having difficulty finding it on their site. Our original post on this database included a link to the specific state databases. Choose the state of […]
These are the last two webinars in my series of new presentations. If you registered or pre-ordered and did not receive links to download–do not repurchase, email me for a link. Original, Derivative, Primary, Secondary, Direct and Indirect, Evidence and Proof and More!: Troubles with Terms This session will look at just what is typically […]
A search of the “probate database” on Ancestry.com resulted in a reference to Tonjes Ehmen in Adams County, Illinois. That reference was to an executor’s bond made out in the initial process of settling his estate during the end of the Civil War. On 17 May 1864, Anton J. Sievers made out a bond as the […]
Websites with digital images want you to subscribe. Check out the completeness of their offerings before you subscribe. Coverage of records may be complete for certain area and not for others. The time period coverage may not be as complete as the marketing material indicates. And….remember that your genealogy friend may think a site is […]
