Censuses and vital records are the backbones of genealogical research. Finding ancestors on every census and discovering their vital records can help a researcher begin to identify an ancestor and the familial relationships for that ancestor. Land and probate records are also valuable sources. But what happens when a search of these records doesn't yield many results? Additional (and often less-used) records can then be examined with the goal of finding clues that will lead to more information about the ancestor. I recently finished a project where I relied heavily on city directories to help find new avenues of research. ...
What is the FAN Club and how do you use it in your research? When working on family history, we tend to forget about all the people that our ancestors interacted with beyond their household. Just like you interact with many people beyond your household, so did our ancestors! To aid in researching our ancestors and those that they knew, Elizabeth Shown Mills developed the FAN club principle. She defined the FAN club as the friends, associates, and neighbors of your family. Later genealogists have expanded the FAN club to include family members, particularly those living in other households and...
If you've been following this series of DNA blog posts, you are ready to create a research objective and move ahead in your genetic genealogy journey. With access to DNA results and information about matching relatives, you now have a tool that is like a sledgehammer that can break down brick walls in your family history research. DNA alone does not tell you anything about your family history. But when it is used in conjunction with time-honored, traditional genealogical research you have a powerful tool that will help you find your ancestors. With DNA, you need to understand what you’ve...
In our podcast episode today, I'm discussing my research project to discover the parents of Lucinda Keaton of Pendleton, Anderson County, South Carolina. Diana and I will review what I knew when I started the project, how I found clues leading to a hypothesis that her father was William Keaton of Pendleton District, South Carolina, and what records I searched to prove the hypothesis. We'll discuss each step in the research like a pro process, including my timeline analysis, locality guide, research plan, and so forth. The locality guide portion of my project was important, since the location I was...
Today I'm sharing two pieces of exciting news: I solved my Keaton brick wall, and Research Like a Pro: A Genealogist's Guide is now available on paperback! After editing, formatting, and preparing work samples for the book for the last two months, I have become very familiar with the process. To check it out, click here: Research Like a Pro on Amazon. Learning to research like a pro is what helped me solve my brick wall, and that's what I'm sharing in this post. I'm so excited to share how I solved the brick wall of my 3rd great grandmother Lucinda (Keaton)...
