Records: Not Created Equal
As I was using Ancestry today, I realized that not everyone knows the difference in types of records and can easily get confused when faced with conflicting records - which happens quite frequently.
Best records
Birth Certificates/Records - perhaps as recorded by a church instead. If in doubt on original spelling of the name, this is the one that should go into your files/charts. The best birth and baptismal records include the names of the parents sometimes even giving the mother's maiden name.
Note: Some caution should be used as sometimes a baptismal date is given instead. If you see two conflicting "birth" dates given within two weeks of each other, it's almost guaranteed that the earlier date is the birth date and the other one is the baptismal date.
Marriage Banns and Records. Some of these will give the parents' full names which is the best evidence for a merger of families. Sometimes, they will also give rough ages of the partners and whether either of them were married before. While divorce was relatively uncommon, early death was not, often followed by a hastily-arranged marriage to help look after the children left behind.
These records might also indicate the name the people are going by at the time along with their preferred spellings. Of course, that only counts if they're literate. I've certainly seen marriage records where the people signed with an X.
Note: Again, sometimes dates will conflict because of marriage banns which were read at the parish church for the three weeks before the wedding. The wedding itself might happen on the third week or any (reasonable) time thereafter. When I was learning to index (get records listed in the searches), I was told to use the final date for the marriage date - which might not be the actual date they married. Sometimes, the banns record itself gives the date, but not always.
Death and Burial Records. Some of these will give names of other relatives and/or parents names. They can be a real goldmine of information, with a caveat... The person giving the information is: 1) in shock/grief, 2) might not have the best information.. that may have died with the person.
Note: Again with the dates. If you have two conflicting numbers fairly close together, it's reasonably safe to assume that the earlier date is the death and the later date is the burial.
Immigration/Emigration Records.
(Immigration = INto the country. Emigration = EXit the country.)
This might be a passenger list on a ship, or actual cards or records indicating someone is leaving a country - or if you're really lucky, they came in through Ellis Island or one of the major immigration areas (thinking of the US here.)
However, there are lots of ways to mess this one up - like they don't record full names, or don't record originating cities or any other verifying information. Or you could be like my great-great grandfather who stowed away on a ship from Germany... Most of the time, these guys still end up on the records somewhere, but there are lots of things that can get in the way.
Another big hurdle is that names often changed as they came into the US. Güth became Good. Andreas became Andrew and Johannsen became Johnson. (All real examples from my own family tree.)
Military Records
These can be some of my favorites.
Draft cards often have physical features listed, what their current occupation is as well as who was waiting at home for the soldier.
Other examples of military records include: pension claims, widow's benefits, even discharge (or other) records.
Census Records or "Household Examinations" or "Church Books"
These are often absolute gems.
Census Records will usually list everyone in the household, their age, origins, occupation, marital status and other things. Although some years weren't very useful, most of them are very enlightening - especially if you look at the pages either side of the target... sometimes extended family were living further down the same street!
Household Examination and Church Books are absolutely amazing! So far, I'm familiar with the ones in Sweden and Germany primarily, but it's likely other countries did this as well.
These books will often give huge amounts of information about each generation, who they married, who their kids were, etc, when they died - all on one piece of paper. For me, I was able to use a German one to sort out two families people had mixed up on their family charts.
Other top level Records
Social security claims/records
Naturalization records - sometimes in two parts, when it's claimed and when it's received.
Divorce and related records
Police records and related
Good Records
Family Bibles - They're an excellent source, but you have to remember that they are prone to normal human limitations. Life happens and you don't always remember to look at the calendar.
Find-a-Grave - This site is an excellent repository of grave information. Sometimes you also get obituaries and other pieces of great information. It's not infallible, but most of the time the information is spot-on and will help you get a long ways on your research.
Local lists of records - such as a book of births, marriages and/or deaths in whatever state/county you're looking in. Sometimes, they're not hugely helpful. For a long time in England, they'd give the person getting married and then the three-month time period they supposedly got married in. Another reason for dates to conflict!
Compilations or local history books - For contemporary dates (i.e. within living memory of the contributors), these are excellent. The further back you go, the less reliable they are. We actually had a family history book (in print) that took back our lineage back to some knight in England. When we researched further, we discovered that the named knight had no children (or if he did, the certainly weren't acknowledged!)
Newspaper articles - Take with a pinch of salt, but they could be a very good source of information, especially if your ancestor was convicted of a crime or had a printed obituary. There are several online repositories of old newspapers articles - especially for the big cities of the US.
Okay Records
Applications for the Sons or Daughters of the American Revolution are only somewhat reliable. They're only as good as the genealogist who put together the information. I would take these as hints only - or something to supplement your own application if you feel the desire. (I don't - even though I definitely qualify.)
Bad Choices
I didn't even include the word "records" here - because that's the problem. Anything done without records is faulty. (See Issue 4
Other People's Family Tree Charts - This has got to be one of the worst ways to get your information! These can serve for hints, but only hints... Insist on documentation before you add anyone new to your tree.
Guesses/ Hunches - On par with bad family trees... I had a hunch today, looking at some information and hints, that I was looking at a second marriage, but there's no way I would have put that into my chart without finding evidence (which I have found now. Until you find evidence, it's just a theory. (My father, in his files, keeps pages for theories - as well as disproven theories.)
Recent findings
This is Abiah Folger
(Source: Baker Ancestry)
She was my 8x great-grandmother.
She was also the mother of Benjamin Franklin - yes, the famous one.
Her brother Eleazer was also the 4x great-grandfather of James Folger who founded Folger's coffee!
That was pretty cool.
By the way...
Looking for a pretty picture to finish today's article, I found another case of "Happy-go-Clicky."
I was looking for a picture of Josiah Franklin (Abiah's husband and Ben's father).
I didn't find one.
But I did find a Josiah Franklin which someone else grabbed and used in a slide share presentation, presenting him as Abiah's husband. Well, that image of "Josiah Franklin" was labeled as being the image of a guy living in the 1800s - a full 150 years after Abiah's husband!
To quote Yoda (and one should) - How embarrassing!
Anyway,l that's it for today's issue of Records & Reason. I hope you enjoyed it!
Crossposted on Steem, Whaleshares and WeKu.
Past Issues
| Issue No. | Subject |
|---|---|
| 1 | Why do Genealogy? |
| 2 | What to do or not do in your genealogy & a note about literacy |
| 3 | Sweden: patronymic names and church books |
| 4 | Happy-go-clicky - Just say NO!!! |
Lori Svensen
author/designer at A'mara Books
photographer/graphic artist for Viking Visual
now also on: Whaleshares and WeKu
