Genealogy Research – BACKTRACKING THE COMMON

September 20, 2017September 20, 2017

Granddad Gus’ Birth Certificate Arrives Forty-Four Years Later

It would take an act of the Texas Legislature to legally establish my grandfather’s existence, including when, where and to whom he was born. There’s nothing normal about his birth certificate.

Gus Roberts was born August 24, 1898 on a farm in Lamar County, Texas eleven miles north of the community of Brookston. That’s the kind of information you normally obtain from your parents sometime after you’re old enough to remember. But less than a month after granddad’s third birthday, his father was dead and his mother was in jail! It would take a County Judge named Eugene F. Harrell to establish the facts of Gus Roberts’ birth. His decision was adjudged and decreed two months shy of granddad’s’ forty-fifth birthday in 1943!

I imagine my grandfather needed a birth certificate long before 1943 and it was probably problematic and annoying not having one. This is evidenced by the rapidity with which he obtained one when it became legally possible.

The Texas law, HB 197, passed and signed by Governor Coke R. Stevenson in March of 1943 allowed grandfather to take his case to a county court, prove who he was and obtain an official birth certificate and have that record registered with the State Health Department. He obtained his legal hearing and his “official existence” in a Lamar County courthouse on the same day, Saturday, June 12, 1943.

This official Texas birth record contains a number of facts related to my grandfather. Some of them are more certain than others and some are certainly incorrect. Let’s look at the record and compare it to what we know or suspect. You may click on the image to enlarge it.

The Official Record

His name – The full name of the child is “Gus Roberts” I believe this is correct and I’ll have more to say about it in a future post.
He was a male. His birth was legitimate and occurred on August 24, 1898. – Due to some testimony around his father’s death, there was a question concerning his paternity. His father and mother married two years before his birth in 1896. And though my great-grandfather was over twice my great-grandmother’s age, I’m related to both of them by the wonder of DNA. Legitimate.
His father’s full name is given as Jack A. Roberts. This most certainly is incorrect. I don’t mean he wasn’t called by this name or a variant of it and I don’t mean his son, who was only three when he died, didn’t know him through others as Jack A Roberts. What do I mean? There is a large body of evidence my great-grandfather’s name was John Anderson Roberts. John Anderson’s father, my great-great grandfather’s name was John Rivers Roberts and there’s evidence he went by Johnny, John Rivers or John R. This may have been to distinguish himself from his father who was also named John Roberts. Perhaps John Anderson was known as “Jack” from his childhood. I don’t know. I do know his neighbors in Lamar County knew him as “Jack”, “Jack A.”, “Jackie” and/or“Uncle Jackie”.
His father is described as a white male, age 70 years at the time of Gus’ birth. This is only half right. He was white. He was not 70. He was born in March of 1830 in Williamson County, TN. He would have been 68 years at the time of his son’s birth. Impressive.
His mother’s full maiden name is given as Mary Lanningham. When she married John Anderson in 1896, the name on the marriage license was Mrs. Mary Thompson. I have been unable to uncover the details of Mary’s previous marriage. I do know there were a number of Thompson men as candidates on or near the Emberson Prairie of Lamar County. Based on my research, I believe her family name was originally Van Landingham. Her Texas family spelled their surname without the double “n”, as in Laningham by the time her son Gus was born. And though I do not know what the “L” represents, I believe her name could be more fully rendered Mary L. Laningham based on a census record from 1880.
Gus’ mother is described as white and age 35 years at the time of his birth. I suspect this again is only half right. Yes, she was white. No, I don’t know how old she was for certain but suspect she was born in 1871 and would have therefore been closer to age 27. I plan to do a post explaining my conclusion in the future.
The number of children born to this mother including this birth and the number of children living at the time of this birth is one. If this is correct, it would mean Gus was Mary’s only child prior to her time in prison.

I’m not concluded my “reasonably exhaustive research”. Before I can assess the reliability of this testimony, I need to research the probate records for this hearing and learn who testified or provided affidavits in 1943. Sounds like another trip to the Lamar County courthouse.!

Thanks for reading the blog and feel free to share your “birth certificate stories”.

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Happy Backtracking,

Gary

September 12, 2017September 12, 2017

Understanding and Interpreting Birth Certificates

For fifty-eight years my father had no official given name. He was simply “Roberts” on the birth record tucked away in Kerr County, Texas.

Genealogists love birth certificates! They’re informative, sometimes puzzling and can even be intriguing. Like his father before him, Burton Lee Roberts had to go back many years later to the county of his birth and have his certificate amended.

What can we learn from the birth certificate of B.L. Roberts?

Some birth certificates are incomplete.
Birth certificates provide facts and clues for the diligent family historian.
Birth certificates are not always correct.
Birth certificates are always specific to a person.

Incomplete Birth Certificates

The blanks are not always filled in and when they’re not, the certificate is incomplete. In the enhanced image of my dad’s certificate there are several blank spaces. These include the specific address of his birth and his given name or names at the time of his birth. On the space after “FULL NAME OF CHILD” there is simply the word “Roberts”. This would remain so until it was amended in 1977.

On other certificates, I’ve seen the space for the father’s information left blank. When it is, the blank under the term “Legitimate” is often left blank or filled in with the word “No”, but not always.

When you find a blank on a certificate, ask yourself, why it’s blank? The answer may or may not be obvious. The answer may or may not be that significant.

Birth certificates provide facts and clues

Some documents are better sources of information for specific needs. Keep this in mind as you do research. I like death certificates for the date of death better than a headstone and I like birth certificates to establish the date of birth better than a headstone. Yes, I know, I wish we could always find one too! Whatever you find that provides evidence for your work, remember, the information is only as good as it’s source. If the mother is the source and she doesn’t know where her husband was born, the information will most likely be incorrect.

Birth Certificates provide facts. On Dad’s certificate we learn he was a male child considered legitimate and born on February 24, 1919 at around 4:30 pm. His father was Gus Roberts a white male living in San Antonio, TX aged 20 years on his last birthday and was born in Paris, Texas. His mother was Emma Ingram a white female living in San Antonio, TX aged 20 years on her last birthday and born in Carrizo Springs, Texas. Gus is a laborer and Emma is a housewife. The attending physician was J.L. Fowler. He lived in Ingram, TX. The Kerr County Clerk at the time was Jno. R. Leavell. Dad was the sixth birth registered in Kerr County!

Birth certificates may also provide clues. Dad’s certificate states his parents’ residence at the time of his birth was San Antonio, but his place of birth is given as the city of Ingram in Kerr County. What’s up with that? Were they on a trip when she went into labor? That’s possible. We know they resided in San Antonio, Texas on or near the time of Dad’s birth. His father worked for Otis Elevator and when he filled out a World War I draft card he and his wife Emma lived on Nebraska St. in San Antonio. We know Emma’s mother lived in Ingram, TX. (If we hadn’t, Dad’s certificate would have been a good clue.). That’s about 85 miles west of San Antonio. We know other Ingram girls (Also Emma’s maiden name) delivered their babies while visiting their mother in the town of Ingram. Here’s where another clue is presented to us. Why was there no given name on Dad’s original birth certificate? Perhaps his mother had traveled to Ingram from San Antonio weeks or even a month before Dad was due. Perhaps his father was in San Antonio working and not in Ingram when his first child arrived. This may explain the missing given names on the certificate. Perhaps Dad’s mother wasn’t sure what her husband wanted to call his son.

Birth Certificates Are Not Always Correct

As previously stated, birth certificates are only as good as their source. Therefore they’re not always 100% correct. Be aware. Having said that, they’re still our best source for an accurate birth date.

While my dad’s original certificate is incomplete, it appears to be accurate with the information it provides. That’s not totally true about the side notes attached to the amended certificate.

I believe Dad and Mom must have decided to get an official birth certificate on the same trip to the Texas hill country, Dad’s from Kerr County and Mom’s from Bandera County. They were both in for surprises. Dad discovered he didn’t have a given or middle name. Mom discovered she was a year younger than she thought she was. I wish I could have seen their faces. How does someone in their late fifties not need an official birth certificate before then? How does someone in their middle thirties lose track of their age? Dad would later obtain an affidavit from his father and return it to Kerr County in order to amend his birth certificate. Here’s a photo image of the amendment.

The top part of the document is the clerk’s recording of what she sees in the original document. The bottom part is the amendment to the original document. Here’s where I suppose Dad officially receives his full name Burton Lee Roberts. Burton was after Burton Cheesman, the husband of his mother’s sister B.G. They were very close. Lee was his mother’s middle name. My dad would later name his firstborn David Lee Roberts.

But not all of the information on this amended document is correct. The clerk misread the original and put down the father’s name as “Geo.” rather than “Gus” in the information she recorded at the top the the page. So, if you’re looking for a George Roberts living in Texas during the early part of the 1900s, here’s your “proof”. (I type laughing.) Add it to your family tree!

The next image is the photo of the back of the previous image and dates when the amended certificate was recorded in Kerr County.

Birth Certificates Are Specific to a Person

These are useful photos of two documents containing wonderful information about Burton Lee Roberts. I’m grateful to have them and seek to collect birth certificates for all of my family research subjects when they’re available. I’m sure you do as well.

One more reason these are so valuable to me, some people still question my dad’s birth date. He did this to himself. He joined the army when he was sixteen but lied about his age to do so. He has a military birth date of February 24, 1917 and an actual birthday of February 24, 1919. Confusing? Sometimes. But that’s why we do reasonably exhaustive research. Happy backtracking!

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February 8, 2017

Become the Expert – Then, Collaborate

If anyone knows more about Burton Lee Roberts than me, it would be my mother – and I’ve told her things over the past five years she didn’t know about him. He was my father for thirty-three years before his death in 1988. While free with his opinions, he held his secrets close. I peppered him with questions all my life about his family, growing up, military service and the medical profession. He and I cleared land together, did electrical trim work over one summer and fished on a few occasions. I got to know him better (understand) through my psychology and pastoral counseling studies. He and I spoke of spiritual things on only a couple of occasions. We later had our goodbye conversation when it became clear he would not live much longer. I believed we were ready. I was wrong.

My 2012 budding interest in genealogy, and Dad’s family in particular, brought multiple new facts and affirmations about his life to light. And with those discoveries many more new questions I wish I could ask. I peppered Mom and one surviving aunt with some of those questions. I so wish I had become interested in genealogy earlier. My dad’s sister would have been a gold mine of information. She died in 2010. Missed opportunity.

Now what? I still know a great deal about him and continue to pursue missing information and historical tidbits. I will tell his story – and stories. As I’ve explained, I’m in the best position of perhaps anyone to do so.

What about you? Whose life or family line do you know better than just about anyone else? This makes you the closest thing to an “expert” on that line. (Tread lightly here. One definition of an expert is “a has been under pressure”.) You have something significant you should consider giving it to the greater genealogical community. How do you share it?

Collaborate

I use online trees and DNA to find new cousins. My online tree is bigger, more expansive and less documented than the one I’m building offline. It’s only a tool to find those new cousins. These cousins know more about a particular part of a family line than I do. They have access to documents and therefore documentation I do not have. They often have photos and family lore. This is when I let them “straighten me out”. I’m ready to consider their facts and hear their arguments. Trust, but verify. When I find a researcher (cousin) who will not turn and run the first time we disagree, I find a jewel. I treasure these people in my genealogical research and my life. I could not know what I know today without them. May their tribe increase.

My appeal to you

Do diligent research. Follow genealogical proof standards.
Write and post stories to your online trees.
Find other researchers interested in your family line through online trees and DNA results.
Be ready to collaborate. Be generous with your research. Be open to having your work questioned. If you’re right, best genealogical research practices will confirm it. If you’re wrong, you’ve found what you’ve wanted all along – a more accurate representative tree of your family lines.

TIP: When you’re contacted by another researcher and told you may be wrong (or often just told you’re flat-out wrong!), receive it and let them know you welcome their input. Consider them a research partner in this branch of your research. Check out their documentation. If they’re right, admit it. Tell them how right they are and how much you appreciate their work. Right or wrong, let them know you appreciate their effort to assist you.

A cousin once contacted me and told me I might need to check a part of my tree. They believed I was wrong about who and how I had a branch configured. They shared with me their understanding of that branch. Here’s the first thing I thought. It’s unlikely I would know more or be more accurate than this cousin about this part of our shared tree. I listened. I considered. Of course, she was right – and of course I wish I always thought this way!

A “new cousin” recently contacted me and said I might want to reconsider some children I had attributed to a couple in my tree. He sent me transcriptions of two legal documents with source citations. He was right. I did want to reconsider it. His information introduced me to a new person in my tree previously unknown and resolved some conflict in my research. Collaboration.

Become the expert in your branches of the family tree and then freely, willing, joyfully collaborate with others.

January 10, 2017

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize

big-prize Need some help with your genealogy? Need direction? Need encouragement? Keep your eyes on the prize.

Alice Wine of Johns Island, South Carolina is credited with these words from the early days of the civil rights movement. Various versions were sung in the battle for equal rights. Inspired by an earlier spiritual song entitled Gospel Plow, the words remind us that no matter how difficult things become, we must keep our eyes on the prize. Remember where you’re going, what you’re trying to accomplish. Refuse to allow problems to keep you from obtaining the prize.

I’m hesitant to use this phrase in the discussion of genealogy because of its origin. I don’t wish to lessen the struggle for civil rights in any way but I view the principle as almost universal in accomplishing anything with or without significance. If you want to get something done, obtain a goal, you must keep your eyes on the prize.

The family historian knows this struggle.

The Prize

What’s the prize in your genealogy research? You tell me. Why did you first get into genealogy? What are you trying to accomplish now? Are your eyes fixed resolutely on your prize?

I was late to hunt. But I wanted to know about my father’s family because I knew so little. I needed to, as TV’s NCIS New Orleans character Dwayne Pride says, “learn things”. I now have a partial timeline for my Roberts family covering over 200 years. I have hundreds of pages of documents related to my direct line and have written several blogs about this family. I also have an equal amount of information, if not more, on my mother’s Byrd family. So, why has my research slowed to a crawl?

Life. Like you, I’m busy, perhaps as busy as I’ve ever been. I’m near the end of my life’s journey and there are things I want to do, including but not limited to family research. There are, believe it or not, some things more important than genealogy.
Loss of focus. The reality is my family history research suffers more from a loss of focus than my busyness. I may not do as much when I’m busy with other things, but I can do some. If I don’t, it’s probably a loss of focus. I’ll explain more.
Laziness. I’m not typically a lazy person. Most of my life, however, I’ve worked more with my mind than with my hands. Watching others work so well and diligently with their hands often makes me feel lazy. In my research, I can see laziness creep in when I lose focus or things become difficult. Laziness may also show itself in the constant clicking of internet links, chasing the “shiny objects” of genealogy, or building our family trees on the research of others without gaining the genealogical proof.

When I began

When I began, I wanted to know about my dad’s family. That was my prize. Having learned so many wonderful and at times fascinating things, I wanted to share these facts with my family and preserve their legacy for my children and grandchildren. This became my prize. It fueled the energy to begin this blog. It inspired me to take my grandchildren on family history trips. It’s the reason I may pause but can’t quit this “hobby” of family research.

Backtracking my family and leaving their stories for my children and grandchildren is still the prize on which I must keep my eyes in my genealogical research.

In my research, I discovered many stories to tell. It’s important to document these stories. What are the sources for the facts behind the story? Can others read my research and come to the same conclusions? What good is a legacy without proof? A tale? A myth?

Little Prizes

This brings me to the little prizes I must pursue to obtain my big prize. Think of it this way. If my big prize is well documented and written stories about my family left for my children and grandchildren, I need to pursue a series of smaller prizes along the way to obtain my big prize. Big prizes cannot be gained without taking many smaller steps. As I write these words, I’m reminded how many times I’ve read and heard versions of this same advice. Experienced genealogists and longtime family historians have written and shared these thoughts long before I began my sporadic research in 2012. I should apply their experience and pursue the little prizes which help me reach my big prize and document it all as I go. Think about your own research.

Have a goal. Have a goal before you boot up your computer or get in your car to go to a library or research facility. Discover and document ____________. What do you want to do? What are you trying to learn that will help you accomplish the “big prize”? the Familysearch Wiki page has an excellent article entitled “Principle of Family History Research”. Click the title and give it a careful read. Learn more here and here.
Develop a research plan to reach the goal you desire. Amy Johnson Crow recently blogged on this subject. Other resources may be found here, here and here.
Follow the Genealogical Proof Standards. If you don’t know what this is, please take time to click and read. This is the best way to create certainty about the stories we wish to pass to future generations.
Write it all down. Every fact I find will not make it into this blog but I need it recorded, documented, saved and backed up in at least two places for future generations to use

I may not always have something to say to the genealogical community at large but I’ll always have something to say to my grandchildren. I need to keep my eyes on this prize. One goal after another (small prizes) to reach one big prize. Perhaps as I do and write some of it down here, you’ll find something useful or entertaining in your own research.

Keep your eyes on your prize.

October 19, 2016

Free Help for Your Irish Research

Jake Fletcher is at it again. This generous professional genealogist, educator and blogger from Massachusetts recently shared three dynamite FREE online Irish resources for researching our ancestors. He dispels the myth this is an impossible task for regular folks who can’t travel to Ireland. Check them out on his blog.

I also encourage your to follow his blog, especially if you have family lines traced through New England.

Thanks Jake!

September 16, 2016

Dealing with Discouragement in Your Genealogy

Photo credit: www.quotesnpictures.com — Photo credit: http://www.quotesnpictures.com

Discouragement is the companion of the family historian. You either learn to face it or you get out of genealogy.

Genealogists and family historians come in all flavors. They’re as different as snowflakes. The one constant? They all must learn to deal with discouragement. If you’re going to stay in “the hunt” and continue your “backtracking”, you’ll need to overcome discouragement. Believe me. It will be worth it!

Let me frame it for us. What are some common discouragements in genealogy?

The learning curve – We can’t learn fast enough to prevent mistakes costing us time and money.
The Cost of the hobby – Everywhere you turn, someone appears to be trying to “make a buck” off your interest in your ancestry.
Disinterested family members – Our families may show little or no interest and may even be antagonistic toward our research.
Missing courthouse documents – You put in the time and effort to go to the courthouse only to discover someone has either removed or displaced the record.
Burnt courthouses – Not only is one document missing but all the documents burned up in a fire over 100 years ago!
Online trees that propagate misinformation.
Online tree owners who will not reconsider their tree’s information.
DNA test results without trees attached to them.
DNA test owners who will not respond to your messages or emails.
Lost or corrupted files which are not backed up.
Allowing the undocumented work of others to waste our time going up the wrong tree – an unforced error.

Okay, that’s enough negativity. Most of us have experienced plenty of discouragement. It’s part of the hobby. How do we deal with our discouragements in genealogy?

You might allow them to overwhelm you and force you out of the hobby. But because you’re still reading this post, I assume you want to overcome them and continue your research.
Cut through the clutter by choosing to focus on one family line and one goal at a time. Such as, “When did great-grandfather Ingram first arrive in the county?” Learn, if you don’t know, how you could discover and prove this one thing and set about doing and documenting it. You’ll soon be piling up encouragements.
Spend wisely. Ask others. Listen. Don’t be afraid to drop a subscription for a time. You can pick it up later. I once bought a year’s subscription to a newspaper service. I should have tried the free month and then stopped it when I realized it wouldn’t help me with my current family line. It costs me but I also learned from it. I let my Ancestry.com subscription expire at times and use those times to catch up on what I’ve gathered from their databases.
Don’t trust undocumented family history information. It’s a choice. Use it as a clue but don’t trust it as a fact – until it has been proven.
Take some time to be grateful for the documents you’ve discovered, the history you’ve uncovered, the family you’ve met, the cousins you’ve found and the mistakes not yet made. Gratefulness may be the greatest antidote to discouragement.

Here are some things I’m grateful for today in my genealogy research.

A wonderful glut of online free information to make me a better family researcher and save me time and money.
Incredible library and research facilities within my reach.
The ability to choose where, how and when I spend my resources on genealogy.
Family members who listen, discuss, collaborate and cheer me on in my research.
Hundreds of documents I’ve uncovered and retained in my research that add color and flavor to my family’s story.
Online tree owners who have allowed me to view their private trees and been open to answer my questions.
DNA tests and the wonderful cousins I’ve met (some literally) because of them.
The ability to back up all the files that really matter to me on an external hard drive and/or in a cloud.

So many reasons to be grateful. So little time. Encouragement is a choice. Choose wisely.

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Happy backtracking!

September 14, 2016

Too Busy to Read Blogs and Newsletters? Please Think Again…

I’m too busy NOT to read blogs and newsletters. It’s counter-intuitive. Taking time to read the writings of others saves me both time and money in my genealogy/family history research. You too will benefit from this fun discipline. Here’s how.

“Time is money”, the saying goes. Most genealogists and family researchers have significant limits of both. How we spend our limited time and money will often determine the measure of our success. Our success in family research is measured by uncovering our family’s story and documenting it for future generations. If we’re going to spend the time and money discovering our family’s past, we need to spend the time to do it right.

Books, genealogy site subscriptions, seminars, conferences, research guides, genealogy software, supplies, etc. all cost us money and time. How does reading free blogs and newsletters save us on both?

What Can Blogs and Newsletters Do for You?

Provide you with time and money saving tips and tricks – for free!
Instruct you in a specific area of your genealogical research.
Inform you of other great places to find time and money saving help.
Connect you with others researching your family lines.
Show you the best use of technology in your research.
Alert you to upcoming events in your areas of interests.
Bring to your attention money saving discounts.
Introduce you to someone with whom you can converse about genealogy.
Provide genealogical case studies and models in writing family history.
Entertain you. That’s right, relax and enjoy the stories and foibles of others. Laugh a little.

How to Find the Right Blogs and Newsletters

With hundreds of genealogical blogs and newsletters, how do you decide which ones to follow for their updates?

Think free! My paid ancestry research sites and software often come with a blog included. I use them, but I don’t consider them free. There are many good free sites. They often offer products or services but you need not purchase them.
Use the Google search terms “genealogy blog” in your search engine. You’ll find all you need to get started. Don’t overdo it. Take your time, over time. Be willing to “upgrade” and “kick one to curb” if you find others who do a better job providing you with your research needs or interests.
Listen for a blog in your voice. All blogs are not equal for many different reasons. One characteristic seldom mentioned is “voice”. Certain writers “speak” to me. They write in a way I can “see, hear and understand”. These aren’t the only blogs ending up in my inbox but they’re the primary ones.
Select blog writers who encourage you to use “best use” genealogical practices.
Once you find a blog that meets your criteria, see if they recommend other blogs and check those out.
Your favorite blogs list will always be in flux. Never be afraid to discard one blog for another that better meets your needs.

Blogs and newsletters arrive in my inbox throughout the week. I’ve selected these for all of the reasons previously listed. I always “peek” at these before I discard them for the day. I want to see what they contain but I don’t always read them or all their content. Part of my research time is set aside to determine if these particular blogs or newsletters will help make me successful. Will they save me time or money? The ones that make it into my inbox, by my invitation, will more often than not do both.

Be choosy. Yes. Save yourself some time and money. Select the right blogs and newsletters for you.

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September 12, 2016September 12, 2016

What Is Backtracking?

What does it mean to backtrack our kin?

Have you ever trailed an animal? Have you tried to find and follow an animal without the ground being covered with snow? When I was much younger, my older friend Larry Drewery put on a clinic. We and his brother Terry “struck” the trail of a wounded animal around 9:30 pm. In the darkness, with only a flashlight, Larry trailed him for over two hours through the briars and brambles of a dark creek bottom. His success that night is still the finest display of trailing I’ve ever personally observed.

Is Larry’s success an example of backtracking? No. Think of backtracking as striking the trail of the same wounded animal and working backward to find where he was wounded and then all the way back to where he woke up that morning! That’s backtracking and it, like your family history, can be very challenging.

I call my blog “Backtracking the Common”. I’m discovering most of the family in my past were common, salt-of-the-earth kind of people. They’re not just my kind of people — they’re my people.

Backtracking the common is much more difficult than backtracking the famous.

I grew up with absolutely no knowledge of my great-grandfather Roberts. I “cut his trail” (came across evidence of where he had been) in 2012 and backtracked him from Lamar County, Texas to Calloway County, Kentucky. I learned the name of his father. Like his, it was John. From there I backtracked them to Williamson County, Tennessee and learned my great-great-grandfather shared the same name with his father—yep, John again. I had to learn how to distinguish the “track” of my great-great-grandfather John R. Roberts from his cousin John D. Roberts who also lived in Williamson in the early 1800s. From Williamson County I backtracked my 3 x great-grandfather John Roberts (That’s right, same first and last name with an unknown middle name or initial) to Lunenburg County, Virginia. I’m presently comparing the “tracks, broken twigs, and overturned rocks” of THREE John Roberts in the area, near the same age, in the middle-to-late 1700s! Difficult and tedious are two words that come to mind. This may take some time.

Backtracking John Roberts sometimes feels like backtracking a John Smith.

Here are a few suggestions for backtracking your common kin folks.

Stay focused. Avoid of the “shiny objects”. Stay focused on the next “track”.
Set attainable and reachable goals. Make your plans to accomplish your goals and stick to the plan.
Understand you may need to learn about the lives of your kin’s family, associates and neighbors to follow the trail of your ancestor. I now know most of the family names in southern Williamson County, TN and northeastern Lunenburg County, VA.
Let others help you. Taking the time to read this post is an example of seeking help in your research process. There’s an abundance of excellent free help on today’s internet when it comes to researching family history. When you need it, take advantage of it.
Refuse to allow difficulty to overcome your desire to learn and tell your family’s story.
Take a break when you need it. Switch family lines or stop all together. Recharge your emotional and mental batteries and then pick up the trail!

Happy backtracking!

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What is your all-time favorite tip for “backtracking” your family’s history?

May 12, 2016July 10, 2016

Where was Newton Roberts in the 1860s and 1870s? Or, When Census Records Wont’ Tell Us What We Want to Know

Are you trying to find an ancestor in the census but can’t find their record? There is more than one way to resolve this issue and find your ancestor. Interested? Continue reading “Where was Newton Roberts in the 1860s and 1870s? Or, When Census Records Wont’ Tell Us What We Want to Know”

November 28, 2015December 2, 2015

Genealogy Tip #8: Power Researching!

Here’s the situation. You’re researching multiple family lines. You have an opportunity to visit an excellent genealogical library or research facility miles or even days away from where you live. You’ll have limited time, a day or two, to be in the facility. How do you maximize your time and carry home the most amount of information? Try what I call power researching.

Here’s what you need:

A small camera or phone camera with plenty of photo file storage capability and/or scanning capability. It must be able to capture excellent images without a flash and have a removable battery that can be easily changed. I use a Cannon Power Shot A4000 IS. You’ll waste valuable time if you have to stop to charge your phone or tablet.
Photo software with editing capability on your computer, laptop or tablet.
An extra battery for your photo/scanning device
A charger to recharge your spent battery while you continue to work with your fresh battery.
You may want to use a tripod or other device for you photo work. They just slow me down.
Pen and paper
A flash drive.
The research guide you’ve prepared. (Explained below)

Here’s what you do before you go:

Prepare a simple research guide. What surnames are you researching, in which locations and for what date ranges. Know the counties’ histories and boundary changes and remember, your ancestors often registered documents in adjacent counties because it was more convenient. For example, my Horn or Horne relatives arrived in what I believe is current day Wilson County, Tennessee sometime after 1791 (Wilson county did not exist in 1791) and had, to my knowledge, moved on by about 1836. I would need to research no fewer than seven counties: Sumner, Davidson, Wilson, Smith, Rutherford, Warren and Cannon for those early date ranges! So I would write down the main target surnames, their known allied surnames, the county names in which I may find a record of their presence and the date range I may expect to find them there. Don’t forget alternate spellings.
Go online and search the target library or research center’s catalog. Prioritize the order of your search by the roadblock you are trying to remove or most coveted surnames. Put in the search query. For example, I would put in Wilson County, Tennessee and look for deed books, will books, histories, tax lists, etc. all in the appropriate date range. I would copy and paste the catalog information, especially the call numbers, into a document in my word processor. I would then repeat the process for each potential county. Remember to prioritize. You’re preparing the guide you will use when you visit the facility. You need your list to be progressing from most important in your research to least. Only you can determine this order. If I’m visiting a good facility for the first time, it’s not unusual for me to have eight to ten pages in my guide.
Print out the guide you’ve built. Then write the appropriate surnames beside each document title on your list. This will be critical in getting the most out of your time.
Charge your camera battery and your spare battery. Have an extra data storage disk. Pack your charger! When you change a battery out, put the used one in the charger.
Make certain you know the location and times the facility will be open. Don’t trust the times you find on a website! Call the week before you go and confirm with a person their times and policies concerning non-flash photography (By the way, if your camera has a “silent” mode, please use it.)
Take a flash drive with you. (sometimes called a thumb drive or memory stick). If you find data on a facility computer/microfilm reader, you may be able to simple plug in your flash drive and download the information to take home with you. This saves you the time and expense of copying.
Plan your meals. I usually pack a lunch (or dinner depending on the hours the facility is open). I want to control and limit my time away from gathering “gold”.

Here’s what you do when you arrive:

Be at the facility when it opens.
Proceed through any check-in process necessary for the facility, get oriented, select a research table nearest your work and head to the stacks with the research guide you prepared.
Find and collect the first five or six books and/or documents from the top of your list and return to your table.
On a sheet of paper, you brought with you, write down the title and author of the first book. Under this write the surnames appropriate to this book down the left side of your paper allowing room between each surname and alternate spelling. I try to do this in alphabetical order to hasten the later process.
Search the index of the first book. (If your document does not have an index, you’ll need to determine if you should take the time to research it the “old fashioned way”, photo or copy the entire document now or take time to search it or copy it later in the day.) Now, use the names you wrote on your paper. These will be your family surnames and allied families from the appropriate county and times. Beside each name found in the index, write the page numbers where these names appear in the book. You are preparing your “photo guide”. Do this for each name on your paper for this specific book.
Begin photographing. I do it in this sequence. Photograph the outside cover of the book, then the title and copyright pages. If you like, photograph the forward or introduction. Photograph any explanations of abbreviations, etc. which may later assist you. Photograph the hand written page you have just prepared. Now, begin photographing each page number beside the names you have written down. Save time and trouble by photographing both pages facing you. Don’t peak at the information. It’ll slow you down. (OK, I confess. If it’s a brick wall subject, I always peak.) Continue this process through each of the names and pages on your list. Photograph maps or diagrams you stumble across in the volume. Then repeat the process for each book on the table preparing and photographing a page for each one.
When you’re finished with the first five or six books, place them on the return carts (do not re-shelve them) and find the next five or six books on your list. Repeat the process as before until you finish your entire list or have to go home.

When you arrive home:

Download all of your images. Hopefully your photo editing software collects your download/upload dump into one file. (I believe the most I’ve collected from one facility is 996 over two full days.)
I name this one file with the name of the city, facility and date of the visit.
I create sub-folders within this one main folder. The sub-folders are named according to the titles of the books from which I gathered the images. These images should be numbered in sequential order by your camera and/or photo software. Keep those image designations. Do Not Change Them. Do not rename them. Now, simply collect the proper images for each titled folder (the title of a book or document) and deposit them in the folder. I now possess the images pertinent to my research in the proper folders for each book I photographed.
NOW the work begins! I must, at my own pace, go through each page and mine out the “gold” for my research while carefully documenting my sources. Then I can analyze the data and better tell my family’s story.
Backup! Backup! Backup! Backup all data using multiple resources.
Finally, I prepare a hard copy file folder for the trip and place the research guide and name pages I prepared for each book or document in this file.

I’m fortunate to live “down the street” from some excellent genealogical research resources. But, they don’t have everything I need and I can’t get everything I need online – not even barely. If I’m going to go through the time and expense to travel to a research facility, I want to gather as much “gold” as I can. I’m sure you feel the same way. This is just one idea how you might do it.

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Happy backtracking!

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