Adam Pollicino

By  Louise St. Denis

1. A few don’ts… Don’t create problems for yourself by making the same mistakes others have done before you. Constantly seek out information about your new hobby. You’ll save lots of time along the way if you know what to do and more importantly, what not to do…

2. Don’t worry about how far you can get, too many factors are involved. Everyone’s research is the same, but our backgrounds have different twists and turns. Some factors will deal with your own family’s history, other factors will deal with world events. Your persistence, your luck and the amount of time you can give your new hobby will all determine how far back you can go. If a sufficient amount of information has survived through the years, then your chances of filling in all the family branches are greater.

3. Don’t make any assumptions unless you can back them up with facts. Confirm your facts using a second source of information. Family stories are often exaggerated or embellished. The social standing of a family is often improved upon. Be aware of stories about Royal or Noble descent. Try to confirm all family stories with at least two sources.

4. You must always start from the known and find your way to the unknown. So begin by writing everything you know about yourself. This teaches you how to record information accurately and completely. Remember your descendants will use your information and you may not be around to explain your notes.

5. Decide who’s genealogy you want to complete. If you choose to research all your ancestors then your charts will start with yourself. But if you want to find just your father’s side of the family, you will want to start with your father as the main person.

6. Build a miniature tree. Take a large piece of paper (the back of an old poster is great) and write down all the names of family members you know. At the top write your name, to the right add your brothers & sisters since their family tree is the same as yours. To the left write down your spouse and children’s names.

On the next line, write down the name of your father and your mother. Next to these names indicate their brothers and sisters and their families (your aunts, uncles and cousins). Lower on the page, continue with the next generation, add your paternal and maternal grandparents, their children and families. If you know your great-grandparents list this fourth generation lower on your miniature family tree.

This miniature tree is not fancy or artistic. It is completed to help you visualize where everybody fits in. Just add names; the factual information should be recorded in your genealogical diary.

7. Set up a filing system. You’ll be accumulating lots of documents and papers of all kinds. There are no rules to setting up a filing system, except that it must enable you to find what you want quickly and efficiently. Organize your files to enable you to track what you want.

8. Seek out family members, young and old, as well as family friends to get as much information as you can. Ask lots of questions, get answers to the Who, What, Where, When and Why of your family. Look through photo albums, the family Bible and all personal and vital records found in your family homes. Find as many clues as possible before you go searching in the outside world.

9. There are many outside sources available to help you conduct your research. You must be aware of what each has available in your area of research. Joining a genealogical society early on in your project will help you direct your efforts in the right direction. Make a point of writing to or visiting these different resources to see what’s available: Public Archives, Public Libraries, Genealogical and Historical Associations, Private Libraries and Associations, Family History Center of the LDS Church, Churches and Cemeteries

10. Finally, enjoy your new hobby, write a family history or produce a family video; hold a family reunion. Share your information with your new and extended family…

Read more here

Now That You’ve Found Them, How do You Keep Track of Them?

Five different types of files (proof, surname, portable, and computer) to help you get everything organized.

Finding ancestors and other relatives — that’s what genealogy is all about, right? And there is tons of information out there on all of them (even if some of them intentionally seem to have made it difficult for others to track them down!). The trick is, once you’ve learned something about an ancestor or relative, put that information into a readily-accessible, “user-friendly” form that will help you proceed to more research.

Here are some “tips and tricks” on organizing your research. Although these methods have been tried over many years of genealogical research, it is important to realize that not all methods work for everyone. Please think about how these ideas can help you in your research and organization. If you aren’t comfortable with a system, you won’t use it consistently and the whole purpose of using it in the first place is defeated before you even begin. Think about your habits and preferences as you adopt the methods that are appropriate for your purposes.

This system has been found to work best when all the pieces are combined — the proof files, surname files, the “portable” files, and computer files. When putting together your system (or revising your present system), please consider carefully before “skipping” any of these areas — I’ll explain the reasons as I go along.

1. Proof files. These are the originals (or master copies) of all the information you accumulate. Examples include birth certificates, marriage licenses, death certificates, photographs, copies of pages from secondary sources, correspondence, and so forth. These documents should never leave home!

1. Surname files. These are your working copies of the proof files, plus any notes on possible connections, ideas on which to follow up, and other similar things. These may go to the library or courthouse with you as needed.
2. Portable files. These contain the master information on ALL your ancestors and it goes with you all of the time. This should include copies of all your pedigree charts, family group sheets on all direct (or blood line) ancestors, and other quick-reference aids.
3. Computer files. These files include details and source information on all of the individuals you are researching — not just blood relations, but spouses, children, ancestors of in-laws, and other relatives. It may even include “possible” relations. This does not replace any of the other four files identified above! There are places you cannot take your computer (even a laptop). The proof files are the actual documents or copies. The surname files contain hard copies of the information in the proof files (more detail than you can put in the computer — and who would want to key in everything you find anyway?) The computer does, however, provide a valuable resource for sharing information, and for organizing data. It’s helpful in determining relationships — the connections can be made one by one and the computer will then show a graphic representation of the relationships. It’s also extremely helpful to be able to print out a family group sheet or pedigree chart (or better yet, a GEDCOM file) to share with a relative (or possible relative)

As you can see, each of these types of files has its own function; and used together they will keep your data in accessible, usable form!

Before beginning on the types of files, there are two overall bits of preparation you need to do:

• Prepare a pedigree chart (probably a “cascading” pedigree chart) showing all known ancestors. It is recommended you start with your children, so that you and your spouse do not have the same identification numbers for different ancestors.
• Number the ancestors according to the “ahnentafel” numbering system. The ahnentafel system, by its nature, provides a unique number for each individual ancestor, while allowing you to easily see where there are gaps in your information by seeing which numbers you have not assigned. (The first individual — I recommend your children as a group — is assigned #1. The father of each individual is double the child’s number, and the mother is one more than the father. So the father of person #1 is #2, and the mother of person #1 is #3.)

Once these tasks are completed, you’re ready to begin organizing your data.

Type I — Proof Files

The key to keeping your Proof Files organized is having a system for identifying each family group to keep the data separate but accessible. Keep these files by surname (for marriage records or information pertaining to the wife, try to keep two copies — one with her father’s family, one with her husband). If you find that a particular file is becoming too cramped, separate them by generation, labeling each file with the identification numbers of the parents (the ahnentafel numbers assigned above).

Also this file includes the abstracts of censuses, deeds, wills, and so forth that you have made. You should keep copies of the same documents in your Surname File.

Take care of your original proofs. Use good preservation methods for old documents and photos; handle them carefully; use acid-free paper on everything possible. Make copies of whatever material you think you may need to take along when researching. DO NOT take along your originals! You’ve heard people say, “I know where it came from, I can always request another copy.” But the horror stories pop up frequently of courthouses that have lost all the records from a particular period — or worse, a fire has destroyed everything; or laws change and those documents are no longer available to the public or for genealogical research! So even if you know where a document came from, and you have all of the information, you may not be able to get another copy. Keep your originals safe!

Type II — Surname Files

The Surname Files are your working files. These are arranged by surname so that you can take this file with you when you are researching a particular name. These files should each contain as much of the following as you have available for each surname:

Part I:

• an ancestral time line to ensure that your generations overlap properly, and to see at a glance which ancestors were living at any given time;
• pedigree charts for the surname; and
• a correspondence log and copies of correspondence.

Part II (beginning with the most recent generation in the front):

• a family group sheet with enough pages to include all children;
• a research record where have you checked and what have you found, so far;
• copies of material from Proof File; and
• generation dividers/notes.

These, then, are the files you take along to do your research, or in which you make notes of “things to do” or possible connections. Your originals are protected, but you have a handy reference available with all the detail on a given family.

Type III — Portable Files

When you are going to do research, you will want to take along your Surname Files for the family or families you’re planning to work on. But what if you find someone else for whom you don’t have a file with you? You may start out intending to research only one particular line, but discover that it seems like that family is “hiding” — or another family pops up where you weren’t expecting to find them! Without your Portable File, you may end up with files of research on individuals to whom you are not related! The names and places may be right, but the family turns out to be cousins or sometimes not related to you at all!

The purpose of the Portable File is to enable you to take enough information with you to be sure that the family you’ve found is one you’re looking for. It should include your pedigree charts, a location directory (so that you can double-check to see if you have ancestors in a particular town, county, or state for which you’ve found vital records), alphabetical listings of surnames of interest, family group sheets, and other notes.

The family group sheets should contain the basic information (birth, marriage, death, burial) with dates and places. It’s easier if everything is cross-referenced by both surnames (husband and wife), so if you run across information on a Susie BEEDLEBUB, you don’t have to remember who she married to find her — she’s right there in the Bs, along with all her BEEDLEBUB ancestors.

Type IV — Computer Files

It seems everyone is getting on the bandwagon to do everything on the computer. I’m no exception! I don’t write if I don’t have to. Here are some of the advantages and capabilities of recording your genealogy on the computer:

First, the Good News!

• There are computer programs for every budget, from Brother’s Keeper which is available on most bulletin boards, to Personal Ancestral File (from the LDS) for about $35, to Roots IV for several hundred dollars. Some programs will do everything but the research for you, so you just need to decide what you want. Key things to watch for include the abilities to:
  • expand to accommodate your family (we thought a few hundred would be more than enough — we’re up to over 10,000 individuals in our database, and it continues growing nearly every day!); and
  • import and export GEDCOM files, which will make your life much more pleasant when you wish to upgrade to another program, share information with a friend or relative, or submit information to the LDS for their database.
• Most computer programs will print various reports and charts, some of which are absolutely gorgeous and others of which are simply functional. This capability will save you time in preparing to exchange with others who do not have computer capabilities — however, be sure to check the print quality and remember that the output from some printers will fade over time. You want to be sure others will be able to read it next year (sometimes fading print is worse than none at all).
• Remember that when you are taking information from documents to put into your computer program, you need to organize it and reference the sources for EVERYTHING! On paper documents, the reader can often see the source indicated (or know that it’s a photocopy of a birth certificate). In your computer program, you must spell that out so later you will know quickly from where the information came.

Now, a few cautions I’d like to point out about genealogy on the computer.

• Think about your descendants. You get very excited when you find something your ancestors wrote — throw a little crumb to your descendants by leaving them written genealogical records of some sort.
• Will anyone be able to read your computer files in 50 years if they find the disks (or even the computer) in the attic? If your files don’t go directly to someone who protects them and maintains them, will they be of any use later on (or will anyone even know they’re there).
• When you print your data, what kind of printer, ink and paper are you using? A dot matrix printer ink fades in just a few months — it will be totally worthless in a few years. Laser printers are better, but are you using acid-free paper?

All-in-All…

By using this “four-pronged” approach to organizing your records, you will have the data you need, where you need it, when you need it. Establish a sequence of handling new data — for example, update your Portable File, then Computer File, then Surname File, then file appropriate records in the Proof File. Stay with this system, and all your records will stay in sync, making them more valuable to you, and allowing you to use your limited genealogy research time more efficiently!

Read more here

by Kathleen W. Hinckley, CGRS

What You’ll Find in Genealogy Magazines

Are you a typical genealogist with boxes or file cabinets bulging with census records, deeds, and marriage certificates? You probably have some military pension files and a collection of flowery obituaries. Perhaps you found some long-lost cousins and have pages and pages of correspondence and photocopies of documents from shared research.

But if you are a typical genealogist, you also want more! You want the maiden name of your great-grandmother. You want to know exactly when your immigrant ancestor arrived in the United States. Or maybe you cannot figure out where your great-great-grandparents married.

The answers to your genealogical puzzles may be buried in periodicals. Have you looked? If not, you are missing a gold mine of information.

Why are Periodicals Important to Research?

Indexes and Abstracts

Periodicals (a.k.a. journals, newsletters, magazines, and quarterlies) are filled with indexes or extracts of every type of record imaginable, such as cemetery inscriptions, baptisms, naturalization records, and homestead applications. These periodicals, usually published by local genealogical societies, provide a constant stream of newly indexed resource material.

Compiled Genealogies and Corrections

Some journals, such as The American Genealogist (a.k.a. TAG) and the New England Historical & Genealogical Register focus on publishing compiled genealogies of families, or correcting previously published family histories. For example, the 75th anniversary issue of TAG (July 1997) includes an article titled “Margery (Maude) Fisher, Quaker Immigrant to Delaware: A Correction of Her Lineage” by Charles M. Hansen, FASG. Margery Maude was born in 1671 and married Thomas Fisher in 1692 in Lewes, Delaware. The incorrect lineage of Margery (Maude) Fisher was published in Count d’Angerville’s Living Descendants of Blood Royal, 5 vols., (London: 1959-73, 1:46-47) and again in Gary Boyd Roberts’s The Royal Descents of 500 Immigrants, (Baltimore: 1993), 180. If you are a descendant of Margery (Maude) Fisher, this article will be critical to your research.

Methodology Articles

The National Genealogical Society Quarterly is well-known for its research methodology articles. Case studies teach readers how to analyze and correlate research to solve brick wall problems. For example, Margaret R. Amundson’s article “The Taliaferro-French Connection: Using Deeds to Prove Marriages and Parentage” (Vol. 83 No 3, September 1995) describes how she used deeds to prove the marriage between Robert Taliaferro (1688-1736) of Essex County, Virginia, and Margaret French (ca. 1690-1724) of adjacent Richmond County.

General How-To Articles

Many periodicals, such as Heritage Quest, publish articles of general interest. Their September/October 1997 issue, for example, includes John Philip Colletta’s article on U.S. passport applications, and Desmond Walls Allen’s discussion of World War I draft registration records.

John Kennedy’s article “Take Care of Pieces of Family History” in the September/October 1996 issue of Family Chronicle tells how to preserve family documents and photographs.

Queries and Book Reviews

The Genealogical Helper is best known for publishing queries from genealogists who want to connect with others researching the same family. Queries are published by other journals too, and success stories abound on how cousins find cousins.

Book reviews may seem like an unimportant or boring item in journals, but they inform us of new products or books on the market. Critical reviews also teach us standards and how to evaluate the quality of publications.

How Do I Find These Periodicals? They’re Not in the Grocery or Book Store!

Periodicals are published by every type of genealogical society ranging from the local group of ten members, to national societies with membership in the thousands. They are published throughout the world by family associations, hereditary societies, and individuals.

And, yes, they will not be found in the magazine section of the grocery store or book store. To find a periodical, you must first find the society or organization that covers your area of interest. The quickest method to find out if there is a genealogical society in the research area of your interest, is to study the Federation of Genealogical Societies Membership Directory. Information is provided on over 500 genealogical and historical societies and family associations.

Online web site directories, such as Helpful Web Sites, will guide you to publishers of genealogical magazines. Some of the sites offer online indexes to their journal and/or feature articles from their magazine. Although there are hundreds of sites, there are hundreds more that are not online yet. A visit to your nearest public library with a genealogy collection will introduce you to the variety of periodicals within the genealogical field.

Researching Periodicals

The largest and best-known index to periodicals is the Periodical Source Index, known as PERSI. This resource, created by the Allen County Public Library and available on CD-ROM, indexes over 5,000 different periodicals published in the United States and Canada over the past 200 years. Every article can be searched by locality (both state and county), publication date, family name(s), and article subject.

We should begin our research with PERSI, but not stop with PERSI. There are limits to PERSI because only the article titles were indexed. If the article was an abstract of probate records, only the name of the county and record type will be indexed. But if you examine the full index to the periodical that published the probate records, all the names will be indexed.

The problem comes in finding indexes to the periodicals. Until the era of CD-ROMs, we had to rely on publishers creating cumulative indexes. In the “old days” we used Jacobus’s Index to Genealogical Periodicals (an index to 91 periodicals published between 1932 and 1953), or the Genealogical Periodical Annual Indexes (known as the GPAI) that began in 1962. Or we examined annual indexes published by genealogical societies, a painstakingly long research process.

A couple of years ago, the New England Historic Genealogical Society published theRegister, 1847-1994 on CD. The Register is the oldest continuous publication by a genealogical society. If you have colonial New England ancestry, the odds are excellent that you’ll find references to your family in this publication.

A brief exploration of the Internet unveiled the following Web sites that have information about their periodicals and/or indexes to their periodicals. You may find many other such Web sites in your own explorations.

• Avotaynu, the international review of Jewish genealogy, publishes on subjects of interest to genealogists of Jewish and Central and Eastern European ancestry. Last year, the company put the first 12 volumes of the publication on CD-ROM using the Folio^® search engine. Users can search for words and combination of words and the software locates occurrences (hits) displaying the complete article on the computer screen. The user can then print a copy of the article. For example, a search for the surname Fischbein identifies two articles in which the name appears — Fall 1994 and Winter 1995 issues. The town of Lublin, Poland is identified with 58 hits.
• The Record, is the second-oldest genealogical journal in the United States. Articles focus on families that lived in New York prior to 1900, as well as abstracts or indexes to original New York records such as church registers and tax rolls.
• FEEFHS Internet Journal — East European Genealogy Ala Carte There are several full-text articles at this Web site such as “Researching the People From ‘No Mans Land’ — The Carpatho-Rusyns of Austria-Hungary” by Thomas A. Peters.

Research Tips for Searching in Periodicals

• Index Types — Utilize every available index type because none of them provide 100% of what you need. Use PERSI for general surname, locality, and subject searches; use CD-ROMs issued by publications for detailed surname searches; and use the annual index provided by the publication for topics not included in PERSI or CD-ROMs.
• Surname Searches — Prepare a list of spelling variations to use with every search. Include surnames of collaterals.
• Locality Searches — Search by town, township, county, or state; province, district, country.
• Subject Searches — Prepare a list of subjects unique to your family. For example, Methodists, gold rush, slaves, or Black Hawk War.
• Research Log — Maintain a record of the title and date of periodicals searched, plus research results.
• When you find a reference in an index and do not have access to the periodical, you have four options:
  • Write directly to the society that published the periodical, assuming they still exist. Give them a donation for photocopying the article for you;
  • Determine if the periodical is available at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. If it has been microfilmed, you can order the film through a local Family History Center. If not, hire a professional genealogist in Salt Lake City to make a photocopy;
  • If the Allen County Public Library in Ft. Wayne, Indiana has the periodical, they have a service to photocopy articles. Visit their Web site for details.
  • Ask your librarian if back issues of the periodical have been published on CD. We will be seeing more and more periodical collections in this format.

Researching with periodicals is never-ending because new material is published every day. For example, an article may appear in next month’s NGSQ that will name your family. Or maybe the headstones from a small, rural cemetery were recently transcribed and will be published later this year.

That is why we never give up. There is always another record or another periodical to examine in hope of finding our elusive ancestors. And when you DO figure out one of your genealogical puzzles, write an article about it and submit it to your favorite magazine. Your contribution may help another genealogist solve their own puzzle!

Read more here

by Donna Przecha

First Steps in Foreign Research

You have just leapt “The Pond” in your research, having found that a grandparent or great-grandparent is not only from a foreign country, but one whose language you do not know. Don’t think that your personal research has ended and you must employ a professional. Even though you don’t know a word of the applicable foreign language, it isn’t that difficult to do research in French, German, Swedish, Spanish, Italian, Polish, etc.

My boss recently asked me to help her with her genealogy. I always like a new challenge and especially enjoy the beginning research of a family tree, so I eagerly agreed. I have worked with American, English, Irish, Canadian, African-American, French, German, Polish and Eastern European Jewish research, but must confess I did utter a small cry of dismay when she said her father was of Hungarian descent. Not only Hungarian, but from a village that is now in Romania! However, I was not discouraged because I have found there are basic approaches to most research which work with most American and European records.

Ancestral Village

The first essential step is locating the village the ancestor came from. A detailed account of how to do this is beyond the scope of this article. Suffice it to say that this information almost always comes from a U.S. source — either family papers, letters, photographs or public records such as Social Security applications, ships’ passengers’ lists, censuses (rarely), death certificates, obituaries, etc. When you do find a village name, you need to keep in mind that it may be misspelled, the spelling may have been correct at the time but has since changed or the immigrant used the name of a larger town nearby rather than the exact village. Please take a look at the immigrant research lessons available at this Web site.

FamilySearch

With or without a village, the first step should always be the IGI and Ancestral File. You might get lucky and find work already done. While your ancestor probably won’t be there, you may find the surname which will give valuable clues as to the region where the name is found. If you don’t look, you might want to kick yourself several months down the road if you find the information was already in FamilySearch!

My look in the IGI told me that the surname, which I had never heard, was fairly common in Hungary, but I found nothing from the village I sought.

Gazetteers and Maps

When you have located the correct village, you need to familiarize yourself with it. A good place to start is a detailed map and a good gazetteer which will probably be your first “foreign language” book. Since a gazetteer is primarily a list of location names, it should be fairly easy to use.

Your local Family History Center is a good place to start in locating the materials that you need. In 1986, the Family History Library compiled a list of 100 frequently used reference sources. The list was updated in 1988 and a second list was added in 1989. The microfiche collections were offered to all Family History Centers at a very reasonable cost so many centers have these sets. These include many detailed gazetteers and postal guides for European countries. My local center had a gazetteer which listed present and former Hungarian towns and included the German, Hungarian and Romanian names. Since so many European villages were under the rule of more than one country and used more than one language in the course of time, it is important to have all versions of the name. The Family History Library Catalog (FHLC) is a good source of variant names, as it lists towns for which the library has records under all names and countries by which they have been known. However, the catalog only includes places for which they have records, not all towns.

A gazetteer will list a village by name and give some information about its size and what larger political division covers it. It may also list the churches, the nearest railroad and other helpful information. A detailed map makes it easy to locate the surrounding villages where records might also be found.

Since the spelling that came down through the family may not be correct, you will probably have to learn about several villages. Because English does not use accent marks, we tend to consider them unimportant and ignore them. You cannot do this because, in many cases, what to us is an accented letter is actually considered a different letter entirely in a foreign language. For example, an e with an accent may be a completely different letter from a plain e. So, if you are looking for a town beginning with “Kéb” it may come after a town beginning “Kez.”

Hungarian has nine accented letters that are considered different letters and appear in a different place in the alphabet. It also has seven combinations which are considered separate letters — “gy,” “sz” and “ty” to name a few. A gazetteer written for Americans may ignore these differences but one written in the native language may have a completely different alphabetical list of names. The use of accented letters and combinations occurs in the majority of European languages, not just Hungarian.

World Wide Web

A ramble through the World Wide Web has the potential of turning up all sorts of helpful information, but there is no consistency as to what type of information might be posted. Just using a search engine won’t dig out all the little hidden gems. You have to go to sites the search engine turns up, then follow links to other sites. (Be sure to bookmark as you go as you will soon forget how you got there!)

History

It is also important to learn about the history of the area. You may find that although your ancestors were Hungarian, they lived in a area that had been settled by Germans and the population was largely German. You may also find that with changing borders you will need to look in the archives of more than one country. For example, many parish records from towns in the Gdansk area of Poland are in the archives in Augsburg, Germany. You may also learn that people who emigrated from this particular area usually went via Hamburg or Rotterdam or Liverpool. You may learn about areas with names you had never heard before — Galicia, Banat, Sub-Carpathian Ukraine, Transylvania, Ruthenia — not to mention the many kingdoms, duchies, etc. of Germany, Italy, France and Spain.

Many special-interest organizations and researchers have posted detailed area information on the Internet. This is a great timesaver, because you would need to read many books in a university library to find this knowledge yourself. In most cases you can also subscribe to lists that specialize in your area. I have found that lists can be extremely helpful and you can meet some very knowledgeable people on-line who can provide information and guidance you won’t find in any library.

Be sure to look for lists that are specific. For example, a list devoted just to the Banat will likely be more helpful than one covering a broader area such as Eastern Europe. Similarly, one specializing in Alsace will probably be more productive than one for France or Europe. Some small areas have very active lists whereas others may have almost no traffic. Subscribe for a while and post a question or two and you may be surprised at what you learn. I am constantly amazed at the number of very smart people who seem to read lists on a daily basis and are always willing to respond to simple or complex questions. Lists of lists can be found at http://www.rootsweb.com/~maillist and as a category under the geographical area on Cyndi’s List at http://www.cyndislist.com.

Research Guides and Word Lists

The Family History Library has Research Guides to many foreign countries and they are well worth the small cost. A guide lists the basic records so that you can immediately become aware of records that are unique to your particular country. Most Family History Centers have paper copies of these guides. These guides are also available on CD-ROM, called Family History SourceGuide (see http://www.familysearch.org).

The Library also produces word lists for many foreign countries (also on the SourceGuide). A list gives you the essential words relating to genealogy — mother, father, baptized, town, etc. Many European villages have nearby village by the same name, but preceded by “Upper” or “Lower” — for example, lower is “unter” in German, “bas” in French and “also” in Hungarian. In a gazetteer, a village may only be listed under its main name and by looking for one of the above descriptive words you will miss it. From a word list you can learn these descriptive words and be able to identify the significant part of a village name.

Foreign Records

Once you have the spelling figured out and have identified the village, there is a very good chance that the Family History Library actually has parish records from this village and you can order the film through your local Family History Center.

Armed with a word list, reading the local records is actually not that difficult. If you are looking at parish records, you will soon be able to identify the words for baptized, married and buried to get you to the correct books. If different types of records are mixed in one book, you will be able to pick out the record type by recognizing significant words such as date, name, mother, father, godparent, buried, bride, groom, etc. Some parish records are arranged in columns so you only need to identify the heading in the columns. You also do not have to read each record. You will be looking for a certain surname and you can skip over those that don’t apply. If you are looking at civil registration records, they will probably use a standard format or printed form so it is easy to identify the location on the record where you need to look for the names.

Handwriting

Handwriting can be a bigger problem than foreign words. Reading some old English wills can be more difficult than French vital records on pre-printed forms or German parish records arranged in neat columns. However, with a little practice you can decipher it. Pick out the words you can read and note how the particular letters are formed. Once you can identify unusual letters or combinations, then you can begin to decipher other words.

There are some handbooks which help you to identify different scripts. German handwriting can be extremely difficult, but with a little practice and help from handbooks, you will be able to make out enough words and names to find the records that apply to your family. After you have found the records and have translated the significant parts, you might want to turn them over to a translator for the parts you cannot understand. Some church records include extra important information such as names of surviving family members or cause of death.

Once you begin to be able to read the foreign records, it is a good idea to continue working with them and not put them aside for later research. The ability to recognize the words will leave you quite quickly, and if you let this new skill lie dormant for a while, you will have to go through the whole painful process from the beginning.

Information by Mail

Writing to the local parish church might bring results, although older records may have been transferred to a central archive. When writing, be sure to enclose an addressed envelope and two international reply coupons (available at any post office) to prepay the reply. (U.S. stamps are useless in a foreign country.) Postage is expensive and you probably won’t receive an answer unless you pay for return postage. If you are going to do a lot of writing you might see if you can buy foreign stamps through an organization dedicated to genealogy in that area. While you should not send large amounts of money through the mail, note that a small check can cost more than it is worth to be changed into local money. Instead, a U.S. $5.00 bill may bring very good results, as this can be exchanged more easily.

Professional Researchers

After you have identified the village and found pertinent church and vital records, you might find it worthwhile to employ a professional researcher for further in-depth work. Once you go beyond standard vital and parish records, you will probably become involved in books, wills and other documents that contain a lot more text rather than fill-in forms or columns. Then an understanding of grammar and different meanings of words becomes significant and a simple word list will not be sufficient. However, you will have saved a lot of money by doing the basic research and will be able to spend your funds on more significant research.

I prefer to send out specific, small requests initially. If you give researchers free rein, they might spend time looking at records you have already looked at or don’t even want examined. After a couple of specific requests, you will have a better idea of how productive this resource might be and how competent your researcher is. If you initially authorize a large amount of money, they might use it up examining every possible record even though it seems pretty obvious there is nothing relevant there.

For example, if parish records are not available at the Family History Library, you might authorize a search of one parish for the years 1830-1850 looking for the birth of Johann Muller, then deaths between 1830 and 1860 for Georg Muller or all Muller marriages between 1820 and 1850 with a maximum cost specified. Be sure to request a list of all sources checked. Even if nothing was found, you will know not to look (or pay to have someone look) at these sources again in the future.

Go Ahead — Make the Leap!

There is no set of rules on exactly how to proceed with European research. Each area is different and will require different techniques. If you learn the history of the area, remember that spelling isn’t always exact, get a word list and look at the available records, you will probably go further than you ever imagined even though you “don’t know the language.”

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Figuring Out Family Relationships

If someone walked up to you and said “Howdy, I’m your third cousin, twice removed,” would you have any idea what they meant? Most people have a good understanding of basic relationship words such as “mother,” “father,” “aunt,” “uncle,” “brother,” and “sister.” But what about the relationship terms that we don’t use in everyday speech? Terms like “second cousin” and “first cousin, once removed”? We don’t tend to speak about our relationships in such exact terms (“cousin” seems good enough when you are introducing one person to another), so most of us aren’t familiar with what these words mean.

Relationship Terms

Sometimes, especially when working on your family history, it’s handy to know how to describe your family relationships more exactly. The definitions below should help you out.

Cousin (a.k.a “first cousin”)

Your first cousins are the people in your family who have two of the same grandparents as you. In other words, they are the children of your aunts and uncles.

Second Cousin

Your second cousins are the people in your family who have the same great-grandparents as you., but not the same grandparents.

Third, Fourth, and Fifth Cousins

Your third cousins have the same great-great-grandparents, fourth cousins have the same great-great-great-grandparents, and so on.

Removed

When the word “removed” is used to describe a relationship, it indicates that the two people are from different generations. You and your first cousins are in the same generation (two generations younger than your grandparents), so the word “removed” is not used to describe your relationship.

The words “once removed” mean that there is a difference of one generation. For example, your mother’s first cousin is your first cousin, once removed. This is because your mother’s first cousin is one generation younger than your grandparents and you are two generations younger than your grandparents. This one-generation difference equals “once removed.”

Twice removed means that there is a two-generation difference. You are two generations younger than a first cousin of your grandmother, so you and your grandmother’s first cousin are first cousins, twice removed.

Relationship Charts Simplify Everything

Now that you have an idea of what these different words mean, take a look at the chart below. It’s called a relationship chart, and it can help you figure out how different people in your family are related. It’s much simpler than it looks, just follow the instructions.

Instructions for Using a Relationship Chart

1. Pick two people in your family and figure out which ancestor they have in common. For example, if you chose yourself and a cousin, you would have a grandparent in common.
2. Look at the top row of the chart and find the first person’s relationship to the common ancestor.
3. Look at the far left column of the chart and find the second person’s relationship to the common ancestor.
4. Determine where the row and column containing those two relationships meet.

Just When You Thought You Had it

When you are working with older records, be aware that the meaning of the word “cousin,” along with the meanings of other relationship terms, have changed over time. The Glossary section of the Learning Center can help you with any confusing relationship terms, including those in Latin.

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Where Does the Time Go?

If you’ve ever looked at records that were created several decades ago, particularly before the turn of the century, you know that they aren’t always easy to understand. Handwriting styles were different and people weren’t always particular about spelling and punctuation. You’ll even find that the boundaries of countries, states, and counties changed, so that your ancestors’ records could be in different offices even though the family never moved! In the first part of our series, we’ll look at issues you might find with dates, and also how the meanings of relationship words may have changed.

Dangerous Dates

Calendar Switch and Double Dates
Beginning in 45 B.C., many parts of the world used the Julian calendar to mark the passage of time. By the Julian calendar, March 25 was the first day of the year and each year was 365 days and 6 hours long. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII determined that the Julian calendar was incorrect: each day was just a little bit too long and the human calendar wasn’t keeping up with nature’s calendar. To solve the problem, Pope Gregory XIII created what is known as the Gregorian calendar. This new calendar changed the first day of the year to January 1 and also jumped ahead by 10 days to make up for the lost time.

The practice of double dating resulted from the switch from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. Not all countries and people accepted this new calendar at the same time. England and the American colonies didn’t officially accept it until 1752. Before that date, the government observed March 25 as the first of the year, but most of the population observed January 1 as the first of the year. For this reason, many people wrote dates falling between January 1 and March 25 with both years, as in the following examples.

By the time England and the colonies adopted the new calendar, the discrepancy between the calendars was eleven days. To resolve the discrepancy, the government ordered that September 2, 1752 be followed by September 14, 1752. Some people also added 11 days to their birth dates (a fact which is not noted on their birth certificates). You should also watch for dates that are recorded as double dates even after all calendars had officially switched. People sometimes accidentally wrote double dates.

Marriage Banns and Intentions
Church records often list the date on which a couple makes the announcement that they intend to marry. These are called marriage banns. In addition, you can find marriage intentions, which were non-religious public announcements of the couple’s intention to marry. Don’t misinterpret the dates of marriage banns and marriage intentions as the actual wedding date.

Death and Burial Dates
Church and cemetery records often contain the date of the funeral in addition to the date of death. Don’t confuse the burial date with the date of death.

Date Formats
When you look at records from other countries, you should be aware of the date format that they use. In the United States, we normally write dates with the month first, the day second, and the year last. For example, we write October 15, 1970 as 10/15/70. However, many other countries reverse the order of the month and day. They write October 15, 1970 as 15/10/70. Since there are only twelve months in the year it is often easy to tell which date format was used because one of the first two numbers is greater than twelve, as in the example above.

If neither of the first two dates is greater than twelve, it is harder to tell which format was used. For example, April 3, 1970 can be written as both 4/3/70 and 3/4/70. If you run into this problem, take a few moments to look at other dates in that group of records. You should eventually run across a date where one of the first two numbers is greater than twelve, and then you’ll know the answer to your question.

Wily Words

Some of today’s most familiar words had different meanings previously, and the change in meaning quite often occurred in words referring to social relationships. For example, the word “cousin” often meant niece or nephew; and the title “Mrs.” could show high social status, not necessarily marital status. There are a few other relationship terms that you should look out for:

• The terms “niece” and “nephew” spring from Latin words which meant “granddaughter” and “grandson,” so you may find them used in that context.
• When we use the words “junior” and “senior,” we normally think of a father and son relationship. However, in the past, these words were used much more liberally and could refer to an uncle and nephew, or even to two people with the same name who were unrelated.
• The words “brother” and “sister” also were used in different ways. Members of the same church often referred to each other as brothers and sisters, and a married couple would refer to their brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law just as brothers and sisters.
• If you see “good brother” or “good sister,” the creator of the document wasn’t playing favorites. It’s just another way of saying “brother-in-law” or “sister-in-law.” You might also come across “good son” or “good daughter” which are “son-in-law” and “daughter-in-law.”
• The term “in-law” can also cause problems. In the past, “in-law” relationships could be either step relationships or the regular in-law relationship that we think of today.
• An “infant” didn’t necessarily refer to a babe-in-arms. In many cases, this meant that the person in question was a person under legal age.

Misunderstanding and misinterpreting these terms can really twist the branches of your family tree, so when you’re reading older records it is important to be cautious. When it is possible, verify information with other records. This is the best way to make sure that you have the correct information. In addition, look at the rest of the language in the document. The more arcane terms and spellings you find, the more careful you should be.

There’s More to Come!

Stay tuned for future installments of this series, when we’ll cover handwriting, spelling, and boundary changes. The more you know, the easier it will be to climb your family tree.

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What You Can Find Among the Tombstones

Death records are one of the three cornerstones of genealogical research. Along with birth and marriage records, they help create the outline of a family’s relationships to each other. They are often also the records that are easiest to obtain for documentation of your family. But what if there is no death certificate available for an ancestor you’re seeking? Or what if you want an extra sense of history and context in which to place him or her?

Cemetery Records and Gravestones Are Great Genealogical Allies

Whether you’re trying to find a source for death information or supplement information you already have, cemetery records and gravestones are excellent resources. In addition to birth and death dates, which most gravestones have, many also contain information about military service, cause of death, and other relevant genealogical information. Sometimes you will discover epitaphs that give you insight into the individual’s sense of humor, ideas about death, or even the way other people felt about him or her.

If you are having trouble locating an individual’s parents, children, or spouse, you can often find information about them, too. Some gravestones have inscriptions such as “Beloved child of…” or “Beloved parent of…,” which give you clues to the names of other ancestors. An even better find is a family plot. By locating the burial place of one relative, you may also find the graves of several other relatives. All in all, if you are unable to locate vital records for some of your ancestors, a cemetery may be a good second place to check.

Getting Started with Cemetery Records

There are several types of cemeteries in America. First, there are church-owned cemeteries, which include churchyards located right around the church, and cemeteries run by the church, but not adjacent to the church. There are also national, state, and local cemeteries that are owned by the government and maintained by tax dollars. Privately-owned, non-church cemeteries are also abundant. This type of cemetery is usually operated for profit. Finally, you can sometimes find small family burial plots on private property.

There are several ways to find out where your ancestor is buried. If you don’t know the name of the cemetery in which your ancestor was buried, look in obituaries, wills, and on death certificates — they often list burial information or the name of a funeral home that you can contact. Make sure that you also ask other family members if they are aware of any family plots. Also check the records of the church that your ancestor attended. Their records may have the name of the cemetery.

If you can’t find the exact name of a cemetery, but are fairly certain that your ancestor was buried in a specific area, you can check your local public and genealogy libraries for the American Blue Book of Funeral Directors, published in New York by the National Funeral Directors Association. This book contains the names of cemeteries, organized by location, and will at least give you a target list of cemeteries to check out. With this target list, try to call the cemetery and ask them to check their records. If there doesn’t seem to be an office, ask local genealogical societies, libraries, funeral homes, and churches if they are aware of any records for the cemetery. If that fails, you may need to visit the cemetery itself and walk up and down the rows of gravestones in search of your ancestor.

When you have the name of the cemetery, you may or may not know the location. If you don’t know the location, you can find it in several ways. First look in telephone books for the area, or ask at the local courthouse, library, genealogical society, or even local churches. Second, look at U.S. Government Geological Survey maps of the area, available in larger libraries and often in sporting goods stores. These maps show all of the roads, houses, and even the small graveyards. Finally, check your local public and genealogy libraries for the American Blue Book of Funeral Directors, published in New York by the National Funeral Directors Association. It lists cemeteries by location.

Once you have a target list of cemeteries, try calling before you visit. This could save you a fruitless trip because staff members may be able to search their records for you and tell you whether or not your ancestor is buried there. If there doesn’t seem to be an office at the cemetery, try calling churches and funeral directors in the area. They may know where any cemetery records are located, if they exist. You may want to look at cemetery records even if you know that your ancestor is buried in the cemetery. These records usually include at least names and death dates, but you may also find information such as birth dates and spouse’s and parents’ names.

If your ancestor is buried in the cemetery and you plan to visit the grave site, you should also find out when the cemetery office is open so that you can stop in and find out exactly where the plot is. This will save you the trouble of having to search the entire cemetery for your ancestor. If you do have to walk up and down among the gravestones, bring the whole family — several pairs of legs and eyes are better than one.

Other Sources of Cemetery Records

You may not actually need to visit a cemetery in order to look at cemetery records and gravestones. Many of these records have been transcribed and are available in the archives of various organizations and societies. For example, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Works Project Administration, the Idaho Genealogical Society, and the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers have all transcribed selected gravestone inscriptions from throughout the United States. Contact the Daughters of the American Revolution Library or your local Family History Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for more information about their collections of gravestone transcriptions. The Library of Congress and other large libraries throughout the United States also have transcript collections.

Another new development in cemetery records research is the creation of online transcription archives. Some contain electronic versions of transcribed inscriptions, and some, like Virtual Cemetery, also provide a photo of the gravestone and contact information for the person who submitted it. Many people use computerized cemetery records indexes to help them find the record that they need. Some libraries have computerized cemetery records indexes and you can also purchase selected cemetery records on CD-ROM from Genealogy.com.

Do keep in mind that it’s best to try and verify any gravestone or cemetery information you find through these types of sources — there is always the possibility of error in a transcription you find as a secondary source. Plus, it is often a moment of real connection when you finally do find the grave site of a long-sought ancestor; that sense of family place is well worth the trouble.

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Five Simple Strategies for Researching Beyond the Internet

The Internet has created a double-edged sword for genealogists. The computerized indexes promote research into hundreds, even thousands, of resources that produce “hits” within seconds. Some long-standing genealogical research problems are being solved because of the Internet resources. What may have taken months to accomplish in a traditional library can be done in minutes at the keyboard.

The only way to resolve the double-edged sword is to go beyond the keyboard and conduct more in-depth research with traditional sources. For example, if you find your ancestor’s date of marriage in an index on the Internet, go beyond the keyboard and obtain a photocopy of the marriage record. Study the document. Was the couple married by a Justice of the Peace or by a clergyman? If they were married by a minister, you have a clue to their religion. Were the witnesses friends or relatives? Was the data transcribed correctly by the indexer? The year may have been 1840 rather than 1849 if the zero was misread as a nine.

The Internet is but a mere window into the world of resources available to genealogists. For every published genealogy, cemetery index, marriage record, census enumeration, or military reference found on the Web, there are thousands more in libraries, archives, courthouses, and museums. The reliability of records are questionable whether found on the Internet or elsewhere. Nevertheless, you need to locate all possible records, or variations of a record, and analyze the data.

This can be illustrated with the family genealogies found on the Internet. I found a Web site that presented a seemingly complete genealogy of a family I was researching. The goal of my research project was to identify and locate living descendants of an individual in the genealogy. The online version named that individual, but did not indicate if there were any siblings. When I located another genealogy for the same family in a library, the siblings were named, thus helping me locate living descendants. If I had limited my research to the Internet, I would not have been able to piece the total family together.

Below are five strategies that will make your research more effective and successful when you go beyond the keyboard:

1. Compare Data Gathered from Different Sources

Invariably you will find discrepancies, and you’ll need to determine what is fact and what items need further research. The Social Security Death Index (SSDI), for example, gives birth dates, a full or partial death date, and death residence. How do you know if all the data reported is correct? And how do you know for sure that the person you found in the SSDI is your relative? Believe it or not, two persons with the same name can have the same birth date. That is rare, but it does happen.

I recently found conflicting data when comparing information from the SSDI with a family pedigree found on the World Family Tree. The day of birth varied between the two records, and the place of death did not agree with the “death residence” in the SSDI. An individual’s place of death and death residence reported in the SSDI are most often the same. But in this case the individual died in a hospital near a child’s residence, while the social security checks were being mailed to the person’s permanent residence. By comparing the data in the SSDI and World Family Tree, I was able to see the conflicting information and seek documentation to create an accurate family history. The death certificate, obituary, and interviews with the family confirmed that the birth date in the SSDI was correct and, of course, helped explain the death residence data in the SSDI.

2. Study the Original Version of Pertinent Books

Suppose you search a cemetery index available online but do not make a “hit.” This puzzles you because you fully expected your ancestor to be in the index since he lived in the area his entire life. Rather than accepting the negative research results, seek out the original book version of the index. Perhaps the preface (not always included in computerized indexes) will explain that only inscriptions from the headstones were in the index. If your ancestor had an unmarked grave, it would explain his non-appearance in the index.

Many cemetery indexes online are only the index portion of a cemetery book. In other words, the “index” was placed online, but the original book has a separate section with the actual inscriptions. For example, the index (online and in the book) might say “Smith, John (1870-1898) whereas the printed book might have that same index entry, but lead you to page 45 where you see the transcription: “John Smith, veteran of Spanish American War, born 1 January 1870, died 31 December 1898.”

There may also be a typographical error (pertaining to your ancestor) in the index, and you will only figure that out by studying the book page by page. If the online version does not allow full page view, you will need the original book.

Photographs and images in the original book are often not included in online versions either. The cemetery index may have a map to the cemetery, or photographs of some tombstones. The same would be true for other types of books such as genealogies, county histories, and even reference books.

3. Evaluate Data and Prepare Research Strategies

A family history titled Thomas Halsey of Hertfordshire, England, and Southampton, Long Island, 1591-1679, with his American Descendants to the Eighth and Ninth Generationsby Jacob Lafayette Halsey and Edmund Drake Halsey published in 1895 is searchable online at Genealogy Library. On page 78 is the following:

“Philip [Halsey], b. 1760, Bridgehampton, L.I.; tanner and shoemaker; d. Sept. 4, 1846. He was Captain in Continental Army, was with the last company that evacuated New York City when the army retreated; was discharged at White Plains. During Revolutionary war moved to Windsor to escape the British. He married Esther, dau of Elisha Moore, of Windsor, Ct.”

The author does not cite his sources for any of the facts, and you, as a conscientious genealogist, need to know how these conclusions were reached. The DAR Patriot Index Centennial Edition, Part II (Washington: NSDAR, 1990), p. 1283 (in my personal library) gives the same year of birth and death for Philip Halsey; however, it indicates he was a Private (rather than Captain) and a Fifer (see end of this article for use of a genealogical dictionary to define fifer). The DAR Patriot Index also reports that Philip Halsey received a pension. Did the author obtain his information from the pension file? We have no way of knowing since he did not cite his source(s). Taking the step beyond the keyboard means obtaining the pension record and looking for other sources that document the life of this individual.

4. Obtain a Copy of the Original Record

Obtain a copy of the original record. As mentioned in the introduction to this article, if you find a marriage date in an index on the Internet, you should obtain a photocopy of the original record. If your ancestor is named in a census index, seek out the full census record. Using the example of a published genealogy mentioned above, the author does cite a source in his summary of Wilman Halsey:

“Wilman, b. Aug. 2, 1749, d. Jan. 4, 1786, aged 36, and is buried at Water Mills, N.Y. He married Ruth (???), who d. Jan. 19, 1815, aged 64. His will, dated Jan. 20, and proved Feb’y 4, 1786, is recorded in N.Y. Co., Book 38, pg. 361, names his wife, Ruth,…”

The step beyond the keyboard would be to obtain a photocopy of the original will. The full will is sure to provide additional information, and will be an asset to your collection of family papers. The will book cited in the genealogy has been microfilmed and available at the Family History Library or any of its Family History Centers.

5. Build a Personal Library

Although the Internet is a tremendous resource, we still need books. Genealogical reference books will expand your knowledge of sources and provide addresses of courthouses, details of record availability by state or county, and information on types of records for various time periods. By combining the technology and accessibility of the Internet with good old-fashioned books, you will become more astute in your research methodology.

Below is an annotated bibliography of books to begin your personal library. You can expand your library with specialized books relevant to your area and time period of research.

Beginners’ How-To Guides

• Allen, Desmond Walls. First Steps in Genealogy. Cincinnati: Betterway Books, 1998.
  A basic guide to getting started in genealogy. Gives instruction in using homes sources, census, and courthouse records.
• Carmack, Sharon Debartolo. The Genealogy Sourcebook. Los Angeles: Lowell House, 1997.
  An excellent guide to beginning research. Emphasizes activities beyond research, such as joining genealogical or lineage societies, attending workshops and conferences, building a library, subscribing to periodicals, and writing your own life history.
• Rose, Christine and Kay Germain Ingalls. The Complete Idiot’s Guide^TM to Genealogy. New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan Company, 1997.
  A well-organized and thorough presentation of all record types used in genealogical research. Sidebars titled Pedigree Pitfalls, Tree Tips, and Genie Jargon are scattered throughout the book, making it easy to grasp the complexities of genealogy.

Address Books

• Handy Book for Genealogists, The. 8th ed. Logan, Utah: Everton Publishers, 1991.
  This standard genealogical reference has been in print since 1947. The 9th edition will be published in late 1998. Includes the address, telephone number, date of county creation, and summaries of records held for every courthouse in the United States.
• Kemp, Thomas Jay. International Vital Records Handbook. 3rd ed. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1994.
  Contains forms and information for ordering vital records from each of the fifty states and over 200 countries. Remember that the forms were current in about 1993-1994; therefore, telephone the agency to confirm address and fees.
• Smith, Juliana Szucs. The Ancestry Family Historian’s Address Book: A Comprehensive List of Local, State, and Federal Agencies and Institutions and Ethnic and Genealogical Organizations. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, Inc., 1997.
  The title says it all. URL addresses are included for many listings.

Dictionary

• Evans, Barbara Jean. A to Zax: A Comprehensive Dictionary for Genealogists & Historians. 3rd ed. Alexandria, VA: Hearthside Press, 1995.
  You will be surprised how many times you’ll reach for this dictionary to define words found in documents. The discussion on the Halsey genealogy in point number 3 indicated that Philip Halsey had been a “fifer” during the American Revolution. The definition in the Comprehensive Dictionary explains that it is a person who plays a small, shrill flute made of wood usually used in combination with a snare drum to produce military music.

Documentation

• Mills, Elizabeth Shown. Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997.
  Explains genealogical standards for citation and analysis-then provides over 300 models for citing conventional and online materials common to family history.

Guides to Sources

• Eichholz, Alice, ed. Ancestry’s Red Book: American State, County and Town Sources. Rev ed. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, Inc., 1992.
  A guide to resources in each state and the District of Columbia. Each state includes summaries of vital, census, maps, land, probate, court, tax, cemetery, church, military, manuscripts, newspapers, periodicals, and naturalization records, plus an historical summary of settlement patterns. There is a map for each state showing county boundaries plus addresses and date of formation for each county.
• Meyerink, Kory L., ed. Printed Sources: A Guide to Published Genealogical Records. Salt Lake City, Ancestry, Inc., 1998.
  Fourteen authors contributed to this major guidebook, presented in twenty chapters that discusses all aspects of published sources, including recent electronic publications on CD-ROM. A companion volume to The Source listed below.
• Szucs, Loretto Dennis and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking, ed. The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy. Rev. Ed. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, Inc., 1997.
  Sixteen authors contributed to this award-winning standard reference, presented in twenty chapters. It is an essential research aid for advanced and beginning genealogists. A companion volume to Printed Sources listed above.
• Szucs, Loretto Dennis. They Became Americans: Finding Naturalization Records and Ethnic Origins. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, Inc., 1998.
  An organized and thorough discussion of all records associated with immigrants. An essential reference for anyone researching an immigrant.

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by Maureen Taylor

When Was That, Again?

Is it possible to determine whether a photograph was taken in the last years of the nineteenth century or the first few years of the twentieth century? You bet! Dating a photograph requires you to use your best genealogical research techniques, but it can be done. You need to research every photographic clue and follow the leads to uncover the truth that is usually hidden in the elements of the photograph. The date is in the details.

Photographs offer many clues about ancestral lives, if you know what to look for. First, sharpen your observation skills. Then, using a magnifying glass, sweep across the image making notes of any details. For instance, in a portrait, pay attention to accessories and props. Look for signage and architectural details in an exterior photograph. In addition, clothing, photographer’s imprints and even the photographic technique can help you place the photograph in a timeframe. Since few people can identify all clues in the picture, assigning a date will probably require a trip to the reference department of a large public or academic library. But to get you started, here are seven tips for dating a photograph, using 1900 as an example.

1. Internal Details

Internal details are the little things that we take for granted in most pictures — the objects in the image. In exterior scenes, are there cars, sports equipment, or signs present? If so, you can begin to date the photograph to the turn of the century by researching the types of items people used during that time period. For instance, if there are cars in the photograph it might be one of the first ones manufactured in the new century: The Marlboro or a Waverly Electric runabout. The Marlboro was first introduced in 1900 by the Marlboro Automobile and Carriage Company of Marlboro, Massachusetts. The Waverly Electric model 18 Piano-Box style car was only available from 1898-1901. Also look for advertising. An address with a sign enables you to use city directories to research when a business was at a particular location.

The same methods apply to interior photographs. There may be products or household fashions visible in the image. You can research these trends at library using reference books and old magazines to provide yourself with a span of possible dates for the picture. Look particularly at the drapery styles and room accessories present in the photograph.

2. Obvious Clues

There are a number of distinct items in a photograph that can supply a date. For instance, a calendar present in the image can assign a month and year to the scene. If the year is unclear you can use a perpetual calendar to track down possible years. The existence of a postmark on the back of a photographic postcard is another unambiguous indication of the date of an image. Another apparent clue is a handwritten note on the back of the image with a year. However, don’t rely completely on this information, as it could have been erroneously written on the back by later relatives who thought they knew the date.

3.National and International Events

By using a timeline or chronological encyclopedia of events it is possible to assign a year to an image of a national or international historical event. 1900 had several notable occurrences that may or may not be represented in your photograph collection. You can piece together your family’s role in history by learning stories about ancestral exploits and using photographs as evidence.

• Politics: President William McKinley was reelected President with Teddy Roosevelt. McKinley ran against William Jennings Bryan and Eugene Debs (on the Socialist ticket). Any campaign buttons or other election paraphernalia can indicate the image date as 1900.
• Sports: The second Olympic Games was held in Paris in 1900 with fifty-five Americans competing in the events. Did any of your relatives participate or attend? The evidence might be present in one of your family photos. Also think about other types of sports that interested your relatives. For instance, Dwight F. Davis and Holcombe War won the International Lawn Tennis Challenge Trophy in 1900.
• Work: Occupational photographs can be found in family collections and their content can help with the dating process. You can often put a date to uniforms, badges, and equipment present in the images. Labor issues surfaced in 1900 in Pennsylvania’s coal fields when over 100,000 workers went on strike. Reexamine photographs for content related to employment.

4. Local Events

Just as national and international news items appear in family images through our ancestors’ participation in them, local events usually figure prominently in turn-of-the-century collections. Be on the lookout for the following:

• Weather: Outdoor scenes may provide you with seasonal information and local weather conditions for the photographs you are trying to date. Blizzards, hurricanes and other weather phenomena are usually noted in local papers and often appear in family images. Northern families posed their children next to snowdrifts in major storms as a yardstick of their age and the amount of snow. Hurricane damage to homes and photographs of the devastation can also be found in family collections.

• News items: Was your ancestor in attendance at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new building in town? You may not be able to immediately identify what is happening in the photograph, but rely on other evidence in the image to assign a timeframe, and then consult a local history or the newspaper to see what important things happened in the town in those years.

5.Costume

Clothing provides one of the most specific ways to accurately date an image. Women’s fashions changed quite often and even the poorest women made attempts to keep up with the latest trends. In order to accurately date a photograph based on clothing, it is important to compare your photograph with others taken around the same time. Consulting pictorial histories of the period can help you do that. The year 1900 featured many types of clothing details, so look for these clues when examining your family photographs:

• Women: Fashionable women in 1900 dressed in slim skirts that flared out below the knees, with bodices featuring tight sleeves that flared over the hand. Their accessories included round brooches, watches, small earrings and combs to hold their hair back in a bun.
• Men: Gentlemen wore coats that had a narrow shape, with white shirts and high stiff collars. Accessories included a black bow tie or a narrow tie. They wore their hair short with large mustaches.
• Children: While they were toddlers, boys and girls wore similar clothing, usually a type of dress. As they grew older, their clothing mimicked what adults wore except that girls’ skirts and boys’ pants were shorter.
• Military: Examine photographs for uniforms, insignia and medals. Foreign family members may have participated in the Boer War, the Boxer Rebellion, or the insurrection in the Philippines in 1900.
• Organizational Images: If you have a photograph of a relative in an unusual costume it could be a clue to their membership in a fraternal organization or musical society.
• Sports: Sports uniforms and equipment look different in older family photographs than it does today, so research the clothing styles and other details can help you pinpoint a time. Also, the uniforms may represent a team no longer in existence. There can be other obvious dating clues — for instance, college uniforms often included the current year on them.

6. Photographer’s Imprint

If your photograph contains the name of the photographer, one of the first things you want to do is research when they were in business. You might be surprised to find that a particular photographer was only in business for a few years. Find the working dates for them by consulting city directories, local historical societies or published directories of photographers.

7. Family Events

As you begin to ask questions about your photographs, don’t forget that the most important information can be found by talking with relatives and looking at your family history. Our ancestors documented important events in their lives with photographs. Graduations, weddings, christenings, first communions, and even formal birthday portraits can be found in family collections. What was happening in your family in 1900?

Family photographs are fascinating in the enlightening amount of history and detail they contain. When dating an image, bear in mind that it takes several pieces of information to assign a date, and one definite piece of data is not enough. This becomes essential when trying to work with an image that is a copy of an earlier photograph or a picture in which the costume clues imply one timeframe but the genealogical information suggests another. Always remember that it is the sum total of the details that decide on a date.

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by Elsdon C. Smith

Learning From Your Last Name