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Your Guide To Cemetery Research – Are You Missing Important Genealogical Clues?
As a genealogy researcher, I spend a lot of time in cemeteries. I expect you do, too. Now it’s confession time….. Early in my genealogy research days, I would aimlessly wander about a cemetery looking for my ancestor. Once I found the gravestone, I took a photograph of the front and then I left. Doing cemetery research this way, I missed so much important genealogical information! [Maybe the title of this post should be “Don’t Research Like I Did!”] Fast forward to present day, and I come away from cemetery research with a lot of information on my ancestors. I created this guide to cemetery research to show you how…
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Find Alternatives To Vital Records When Birth Records (& Others) Cannot Be Found
Vital records are well, ….vital to genealogy research. Finding a formal birth record such as a birth certificate is one of the first things a genealogy research searches for. Marriage and death records are next in line. What happens when your research pre – dates the use of vital records? What alternatives to vital records should a genealogy researcher search to find the birth, marriage and death information on an ancestor? 8 Alternatives to Vital Records Vital records are relatively modern records when searching for your ancestors. Your research does not have to go far back in time to pre-date the use of these formal records, but you DO have…
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7 Places To Start Finding An Ancestor’s Death Date
Finding an ancestor’s death date is usually high on a genealogy researcher’s wish list. Often that death date can be difficult to track down – especially as we go further back in history. Why do genealogy researchers have trouble finding an ancestor’s death date? Well, several reasons….. Researchers may be searching for a death record that does not exist. Formal death certificates are fairly “modern” records, so searching for a death certificate for an ancestor who died in 1860 is a wasted search. Researchers may not understand the county/state boundaries or geographical region where an ancestor lived. If an ancestor lived close to a state or county dividing line, he/she…
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How To Research Your Ancestor’s Estate Record
Researching your ancestor’s estate record can provide a gold mine of information and give your genealogy research a boost! A common source of genealogical information, I daresay estate and probate records are among some of the first records a researcher seeks out. Why? Well, you certainly find information on the deceased, but more often I am after information about any other family members and/or members of the community that are mentioned. Multiple generations, neigbors and those associated with the family can also be found among the pages of an estate record. And… If your ancestors were contentious and tended to sue each other over an estate, even better. Well, maybe…