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July 2018 is completely focused on providing you with genealogy tips that are …..well,….”out of the box“.
Welcome to DAY 28 of the 31 Days of “Out of the Box” Genealogy Tips series!
Need to start at the beginning of the series or catch up? Start here.
DAY 28- That Third Cousin & Collateral Cousins
Do you have that one photograph in your collection you cannot identify? Wondering if that family legend is really true?
Seek out those more distant relatives. Seek out those collateral cousins, too!
Share an unidentified photograph(s) and ask them to forward the photograph(s) to other family members they know. Share the oral history that came down through your side of the family and ask about the stories from their side of the family. You may be surprised by the similarities.
The photograph above is a good example of this concept of contacting a collateral or distant cousin. This couple’s photograph sat for years in my unknown collection. I was consulting a Richardson researcher about a different photograph when my break came. He glimpsed this photograph and identified the couple as his grandparents Matthew and Edna (Richardson) Yeaman. This Richardson researcher whom I’ve never met was from Alaska and is my third cousin twice removed.
No relative is too far in distance or location on the family tree not to potentially have information on your family tree.
Where To Find Those “Third Cousins”?
Check with your family members, especially those older generations!
If you are the older generation? Perform descendant research on one or more of your collateral lines.
Check with genealogical societies local to where your ancestors lived. Members are often familiar with who is researching which family.
Now It’s Your Turn!
Create your plan for finding a distant relative to compare genealogy notes with!
Check out previous posts in the 31 Days of Out of the Box Genealogy Tips:
[one-half-first]
- Day 1 – Volunteer!
- Day 2 – Genealogy Wikis
- Day 3 – Cemetery Research
- Day 4 – Newspaper Society Pages
- Day 5 – Vertical Files
- Day 6 – Religious Periodicals
- Day 7 – Unplug Your Genealogy
- Day 8 – Cultural Periodicals
- Day 9 – Facebook Groups
- Day 10 – DNA Education
- Day 11 – Funeral Records
- Day 12 – Occupational Records
- Day 13 – School Records
- Day 14 – Civil War Veterans Homes
- Day 15 – War of 1812 Pensions
[/one-half-first]
[one-half]
- Day 16 – Twitter Chats
- Day 17 – Mortality Schedules
- Day 18 – Non-population Schedules
- Day 19 – 1890 Census Fragments
- Day 20 – Tax Records
- Day 21 – Private Collections
- Day 22 – WorldCat
- Day 23 – Merchant Records
- Day 24 – FlickR
- Day 25 – Map Collections
- Day 26 – Road Records
- Day 27 – County Heritage Books
[/one-half]
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