Tuesday's Tip - Newspapers Can Provide Data Missing from Records

Historical newspapers can provide information about events that are missing from the record books. For example, if you have a marriage license, but no return, check the local newspapers to see if a marriage announcement was printed (click here for an example from my own family). In small town papers, you may find other useful information; in city papers, there may only be the names of the bride and groom with the date of marriage.

© 2012 Denise Spurlock, Ancestral Trees Research

Tuesday's Tip - Finding the Obituary

I didn't find David Franklin's obituary for a long time. Why? Because I was using the year of death as part of my search criteria. David died on 29 December 1932; his obituary was not published until 5 January 1933.

Since many of the smaller newspapers were weekly or biweekly, it could be several weeks after a death before an obituary was published.

Lesson learned: If your ancestor died in December, the obituary may not be published until January!



© 2012 Denise Spurlock, Ancestral Trees Research

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy - Week 14 - State and National Societies

I belong to several state, regional and national genealogical societies including the Southern California Genealogical Society, the Utah Genealogical Association, the New England Historic Genealogical Society, and the National Genealogical Society. All have publications and benefits that are helpful to me in my research.

Of these, I would say I am most thankful for the NEHGS. I am descended from early New England ancestors and the databases and other reference materials available to me through their website have been invaluable in furthering my research on these familial lines.

I also have a particular interest in early American history. Reading their books and periodicals has helped expand my knowledge and provided many hours of enjoyable reading.

Although I am not sure I will ever have the opportunity, I would love to visit Boston and take advantage of the research library and educational programs offered by NEHGS.

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy by Amy Coffin is a series of weekly blogging prompts (one for each week of 2012) that invite genealogists and others to discuss resources in the genealogy community including websites, applications, libraries, archives, genealogical societies and more. You do not have to be a blogger to participate. If you do not have a genealogy blog, write down your thoughts on your computer, or simply record them on paper and keep them with your files.

© 2012 Denise Spurlock, Ancestral Trees Research

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy - Week 13 - Local Societies

Because my genealogical research is focused thousands of miles from where I live, I’ve never joined a local genealogical society. However, I am thankful for all that local societies do in preserving records and promoting family history. Without their tireless efforts, much of what we find online would not exist. Local societies have taken on the dirty work of transcribing old, overgrown cemeteries and sitting in dusty courthouses going through record books. What they have produced throughout the years is amazing!

In this new digital age, local societies are joining in the effort to index the 1940 census. Often their cemetery work involves not only transcribing information from headstones but also taking photographs and creating memorials such as Find-A-Grave and interment.net. They continue their efforts within their communities to preserve and promote local history and to educate their members and the public about genealogy.

Despite the fact that I have no ancestors in the area in which I live, I need to join a local society so that the resources we have are available to researchers everywhere!

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy by Amy Coffin is a series of weekly blogging prompts (one for each week of 2012) that invite genealogists and others to discuss resources in the genealogy community including websites, applications, libraries, archives, genealogical societies and more. You do not have to be a blogger to participate. If you do not have a genealogy blog, write down your thoughts on your computer, or simply record them on paper and keep them with your files.

© 2012 Denise Spurlock, Ancestral Trees Research

Motivation Monday – March Madness

Public domain image, from
Wikimedia Commons.

Between “Censusmas” (April 2^nd) and Easter, I lost the first week of April, after a crazy March! Here is my status on my 2012 goals:

Client Research

• Ongoing heir search in the Midwest United States
• Full family history project as a gift for a family friend’s 80^th birthday.

Personal Research and Organization

• Using the Surname Saturday prompt, I blogged each week about one of my ancestors. With the first week of April included, I’ve made it through all my great-grandparents. Next weekend I start with my 2^nd great-grandparents; while I have done considerable research on some of them, there are others who really need some attention!
• I transcribed four deeds for Amanuensis Monday postings. I did not get as many other documents organized as I wanted; however, I did spend several hours processing (including writing proper source citations) and organizing about 40 documents and photographs. There are still many more to do!

Writing

• Continued weekly participation in Amy Coffin’s 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy with a total of four posts in March! I got behind, spent some time catching up and I’m behind again!
• In March I wrote 20,801 words for blog posts, Examiner articles, and the family history project. I wrote another 23,902 words at 750words.com – a total of nearly 44,703 words!
• My editorial calendars went by the wayside for March – need to try again!

 Speaking

• I presented “Countdown to the Release of the 1940 Census” at the March 16th meeting of the San Fernando Valley Genealogical Society.
• Scheduled a workshop on “Source Citations for Beginners” for the Genealogy Garage scheduled for May 19th at the Los Angeles Public Library.

 Education

• Completed my research report assignment for ProGen.
• I participated in several excellent webinars and a mentoring meeting sponsored by the Association of Professional Genealogists.
• Participated in the Mini-Professional Management Conference sponsored by the Southern California Chapter of the APG.
• I’ve finished reading Annie’s Ghosts: A Journey into a Family Secret by Steve Luxenberg, and now need to write the review for it, as well as review The Family Tree Problem Solver: Tried and True Tactics for Researching Your Elusive Ancestors by Marsha Hoffman Rising.

Giving Back

• I went to Wilmington Cemetery to take photos for Find-A-Grave and to research a burial for someone. I took a few photos and created about half a dozen memorials. I was disappointed that I was unable to get good photos because the grass had nearly grown over several of the grave markers in the area in which I was working. I’ll be taking some gardening tools along with me next time.

 So that was March…time to get back to April!

© 2012 Denise Spurlock, Ancestral Trees Research

Tuesday's Tip: No Land...Only Slaves!

If you are researching African-American ancestry in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, or Mississippi, you might want to check out the No Land…Only Slaves! series. These books contain slave records abstracted and indexed from deed books. I contacted one of the authors by email for more information. The following books have been published:

Volume 1:  Bossier Parish, Louisiana

Volume 2:  Claiborne Parish, Louisiana

Volume 3:  Caddo Parish, Louisiana

Volume 4:  Harrison, Hunt and Kaufman Counties, Texas

Volume 5:  DeSoto Parish, Louisiana

Volume 6:  Lafayette County, Arkansas

Volume 7:  Panola and Grayson Counties, Texas

Volume 8:  Bienville Parish, Louisiana

Volume 9:  Smith and McLennan Counties, Texas

Volume 10: Fannin County, Texas

Volume 11: Upshur and Ellis Counties, Texas

Volume 12: San Augustine County, Texas

Volume 13: Rusk County, Texas

Volume 14: Travis County, Texas

Volume 15: Cass County, Texas

Volume 16: Navarro County, Texas

Volume 17: Bastrop County, Texas

Volume 18: Hempstead County, Arkansas

Volumes for the following counties and parishes are in the works:

Nacogdoches County, Texas

Pontotoc County, Mississippi

Scott County, Mississippi

Lauderdale County, Mississippi

Madison County, Mississippi

Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana

Sevier County, Arkansas

Red River County, Texas

Lamar County, Texas

For more information, contact:

Slaves & More Bookstore

13215 Twin Oaks Drive

Balch Springs, Texas 75180

214-235-5099

Email: slaves8m@yahoo.com

Website: http://slaves.8m.com

© 2012 Denise Spurlock, Ancestral Trees Research

And the race is on…

… to find your ancestors in the 1940 US Census, released this morning!

Genealogists have been talking about, blogging about, and preparing for the census release for months. And the system has bogged down with everyone trying to use it at one time.

Don’t yell at your computer (or worse yet, those who have worked so hard to get it ready), don’t kick the dog, just relax and keep your census senses about you. Here are a few things you can try:

1. Create an account on the NARA site and then bookmark those EDs that you want to look at; this will save a little time as you go back to the site to try one more time!
2. If you can get to the images you need, download them and look at them offline. I haven’t been able to do this yet, but I have heard that people are having success downloading the images.
3. Check Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org; both are uploading images to their servers which are browsable.

Everyone is eager to find their family members, but now that it has been released, the 1940 census is not going anywhere. If you can’t get to the images, do some other family research instead. The images will be there tomorrow, next week, a year from now. In fact, in 6-9 months, we’ll have an every name index!

Sign up to help index the 1940 US Census!

© 2012 Denise Spurlock, Ancestral Trees Research