Month: January 2017
She’s Irish, Let’s Just Call Her Bridget
Documents and people are not consistent. That’s part of what makes genealogical research challenging. And sometimes assumptions are made that create additional difficulties. I’m fairly certain the last two entries in the household of Elijah Rhoads are Nancy Agnes (Brice) Harper and her daughter, Anna Harper. It is just that a few things from the […]
Do You Ear What I Ear?
[note–This was originally published in the Ancestry Daily News on 27 July 1999, but was so popular that I thought I’d reprint it here as it’s been some time since I reposted it. It’s only been edited to remove non-functioning links.] Last week’s article used the term “birder” house. One astute reader gently indicated that I […]
New January Webinars
Due to requests from some readers, we’ve put webinars on these topics on our January calendar. Join us! Due to other work commitments, we will not be offering as many webinars in 2017 as we have in the past. Following topics: Using Unindexed Records at FamilySearch Creating Effective Online Search Strategies Setting Research Goals and […]
Separated But Not Divorced?
In some families, “there’s no such thing as a divorce” because “we simply don’t do that.” And while there may not be an actual divorce, there may be some records that indicate the couple essentially was divorced even if they were not technically divorced. The two main records one may encounter in the United States […]
These Ancestors Cannot Be Displayed
A little attempt at humor. These Ancestors cannot be displayed The ancestors you are looking for are currently unavailable. They may be hiding in offline resources which will require you to contact repositories via more archaic methods. If they are dead, rest assured they are not creating more descendants. Please try the following: Click the […]
Trying to Find a 1914 Probate File at Ancestry.com
After writing the post about the 1914 purchase of property in Elvaston, Hancock County, Illinois, by John Habben from the estate of Samuel P. McGaw, I decided to try and find some record of the sale online. I knew the Hancock County property deeds were not available online, but the probate databases at Ancestry.com does contain (or is […]
The Habbens Buy A House in 1914–and a 2017 Twist
Everything happens in context. It also pays to read more than just the immediate item of interest for additional references to the same last names and members of the same family. It also may be that newspapers across the state line from where your family lived contain valuable references. State lines are somewhat artificial and, while […]
Carthage High School Picture from Maybe 1935
I made another purchase on Ebay. It’s a Depression-era photograph of what was then Carthage, Illinois High School. The seller of the postcard, which is how the image was actually published, has indicated 1935 as the year. That’s the year the postcard was postmarked and that’s not necessarily the year in which the photograph was taken. […]
The Chaneysville Incident
It was only discovered because the word Chaneysville appears in the title. The Chaneysville Incident, originally published in 1981, weaves a narrative spanning several generations that results from the death of a dozen slaves near this Pennsylvania village. Not far from the Mason-Dixon line, apparent frustration results in a tragic end for a band of […]