Author Archives: Site Admin

Don’t Ignore What Doesn’t Agree

If original material disagrees with other records or with your conclusions, do not simply ignore those original records because of the difference. Acknowledge that the other material exists and attempt to determine what might have caused the difference in statements of fact. If the cause cannot be determined and you still have reason to believe the other record to be incorrect, write up the records and reasons used.

Short Marriage at the End?

Are you losing great-grandma at the very end of her life? Is it possible she married very late in life and her last name changed?

Took me a long time to find an ancestor of my wife who married her second husband in her late 60s. I assumed (incorrectly) that when her first husband died when she was in her early 60s that she never remarried. She didn’t disappear, but instead died and was buried under her second husband’s last name.

Compiled Trees Should Not Be Your Only Source

Compiled trees (regardless of the compiler or the book, site, etc.) should not be your only source for a fact, relationship, date of an event, etc. These trees can lead you to other sources and give you research ideas, but do not simply “copy it down because you saw it online.”

At the best, compiled trees provide references to original source materials.

At the worst, they are completely incorrect.

The truth is that most are somewhere in between. Use them as clues.

Note from Site Administrator: And Always, Always, Always document your source. In this case the tree where you obtained the information.

Abbreviations Are Often Contemporary

An 1819 document used the abbreviation “M.T.” as part of the location in a document. It took me a moment to realize that the reference was to “Missouri Territory.” In 1850, such an abbreviation would not be used

Abbreviations were always used in the context of the time and place. Keep this in mind when interpreting them.

And remember that using abbreviations in your own work should be avoided precisely to avoid confusion.

Recording the Execution of the Acknowledgement

A recorded deed in a county record office may have several different dates attached to it:

the date of execution–when it was signed.
the date of acknowledgement–when it was acknowledged.
the date of recording–when it was recorded.

There is a difference to these dates and in some cases all three may be the same, but the execution happens first, then the acknowledgement, then the recording. In some instances the recorded copy might not mention all three dates.