![\"page55-shrunk\"](\"https:\/\/rootdig.genealogytipoftheday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/page55-shrunk.jpg\")
<\/p>\nNormally one does not cite the index. Normally.<\/p>\n
There are three declarations of intention on page 55 in Hancock County, Illinois’ volume 4 of those records. John Albers, Jacob Lung, and John McAlister appear as having made out a declaration in 1872.<\/p>\n
I was reasonably certain that the Jann Albers was actually Jann Albers Fecht, but there was no way that conclusion could be drawn based solely upon what was on page 55.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Until I went and looked in the index.<\/p>\n
I really wasn’t even looking for his name in the index. Given the number of relatives I have in Hancock County, I was just looking at the index for any name that I recognized that I had not yet researched.![\"page55-index\"](\"https:\/\/rootdig.genealogytipoftheday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/page55-index-288x300.jpg\")
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And there was an entry in the “F portion of the index–an index that was created by the court clerk.<\/p>\n
The other entries in the “F” section of the index are in page order-except for J. A.Fecht. His index entry is not in order, leaving the impression that it was some how written in later.<\/p>\n
The only entry on page 55 for which it really fits is Jann Albers.<\/p>\n
Sometimes one has to use the index as a clue. In this case, I’ll have to include a citation to the “F” section of the index as well as that’s what actually provides me with the last name for Jann’s entry in the naturalization register.<\/p>\n
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