Michael John Neill's Genealogy Website
These rules for manually creating soundex codes for numbers and how to index names and titles were taken from the images 6 through 19 on FamilySearch‘s “Michigan, Eastern District, Naturalization Index, 1907-1995” (created from the NARA microfilm publication M1917). Images made from digital image of microfilm roll 1 from the M1917 NARA publication. Interesting reading for […]
Sometimes researchers want one approach that will answer their question. One method that will allow them to “know” that they’ve got same person and not another with the same name. The problem is that there’s not a magic genealogical approach that works in all situations. What might work best depends upon the location, the time […]
Several members of a Huls family landed in New York in November of 1870 on board the Donau–three adults and three children. Typical for the time period, no relationships are given. And typical for records when relationships are not given, none should be inferred without additional research. Speculation about relationships are necessary to formulate additional research […]
Using Indexes at FamilySearch Making the best use of indexed materials at FamilySearch requires a knowledge and understanding of how the indexes at FamilySearch work and how they do not. After providing an overview of search strategies to use at FamilySearch we will look at several examples where locating the person of interest was more involved than simply […]
There are lessons here about taking things out of context, not realizing when someone is being sarcastic, jumping to conclusions, and failing to get the entire story. It’s also easy to fall for the conclusion that is the most dramatic. A March 1932 editorial in the Chicago Tribune references a bombing at a drug store owned […]
Add this to the list of things one can discover in the personals column: evidence that someone purchased a drugstore The 9 August 1923 issue of the Chicago Tribune contained a personal announcement that Wm. G. Trautvetter had purchased the drug store at 300 E. 79th Avenue in Chicago and would not be responsible for […]
Ancestry.com indicated on their website recently that their 1860 census has been updated. As usual there is no real indication of just what type of update has been posted. Most likely the update does not mean what I’m really hoping for: a new index that lists Benjamin Butler who was born around 1819 probably in New […]
It may not be new, but it’s new to me, so I’m posting it. Ancestry.com recently indicated that “Germany and Surrounding Areas, Address Books, 1829-1974” is a new or updated database. In taking a look at this image database (which appears to be heavily concentrated in late 19th and early 20th century materials), I made […]
“I have a brick wall. In fact, I have many brick walls.” “There’s no such thing as brick walls. They are all in your head.” It does not matter whether you think genealogical brick walls exist or whether you think they don’t. It doesn’t. What matters is how you approach your research when you think […]
