George Adolph Trautvetter was born in 1869 in Walker Township, Hancock County, Illinois, and died in Jacksonville, Morgan, County, Illinois, in 1934. Some things I’ve learned about research from George:
- the importance of keeping people with the same name straight. George had a paternal uncle George and paternal first cousins named George. Since they all had the same last name it was imperative that they be kept straight.
- people might not really have died where you are told they died. George’s obituary and family tradition indicated he died at home in Loraine, Adams County, Illinois. He actually died at a hospital in Jacksonville, Illinois.
- some people move–a lot. Until approximately 1920, George and his family moved frequently from one rented farm to another. They never left the general area, but their residence varied from one census to another and their children were born in several different locations.
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