In 1902 Philip Troutfetter was arrested in Boston, Massachusetts, after having been on the run for several years.  His travels were not over when he was arrested. He had one last trip: back to Colorado for trial.  The Denver Daily News referenced Troutfetter’s travels throughout the United States, Cuba, and Columbia. Some of his travels have […]

It never really dawned on me until just now. Just how literate was your ancestor? The clipping in this blog indicates that my ancestor did not learn to read English until he was 60 years of age. By this point in time, he had become a citizen married bought and sold a mill bought and […]

Part of the 1763 will of Joseph Daby from Middlesex County, Massachusetts, reads “…was my Sons Viz Daniel Daby Deceased…” A superficial reading may interpret the word “Sons” to mean that Joseph had more than one son. The intent in this rendering is to indicate that Joseph is bequeathing something in his will that used […]

One never knows what will be in “free text” records until one actual reads them. The county tax records for Bedford County, Pennsylvania, are written in apparent blank notebooks for the 18th and early 19th century. That might have been frustrating for the tax collector and assessor, but it’s potentially good for the genealogist using […]

The Bedford County, Pennsylvania tax lists on FamilySearch are wonderfully extant. This lists includes original records that are available digitally. There are a few published books of some of these records, but those books are not available online. Assessment books, 1776-1788, 1814-1867 Author: Bedford County (Pennsylvania). Board of County Commissioners Tax and exoneration lists, 1773-1789, for […]

Personal and property tax records are one of those documents that usually have to be analyzed carefully to get more than the very basic information from them. Property taxes document land ownership and tax payment (usually)–they don’t guarantee residence on the property. Personal tax records usually document financial value over a given threshold and usually […]

“You don’t know what you don’t know until you know you don’t know it.” I’ve been using tax records for Bedford County, Pennsylvania, in the 1780-1820 time frame in an attempt to sort out various members of the Chaney family. The records are wonderful, occasionally contain occupational information, and once in a blue moon include […]

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This is an excellent example where understanding the records being accessed and crafting an accurate citation is imperative. That citation should be more detailed than just “an image on a website from Pennsylvania.” The citation should not just be created because someone said “citations are important.”  It should be created so that you know what […]

From the former Ancestry Daily News by Michael John Neill — 8/31/2005 This week we look at a record that we have not utilized in this column before: a minor naturalization. A minor naturalization does not mean: That the individual was a minor at the time of the naturalization. That the individual worked in a […]