In this episode, Diana and Nicole discuss Diana’s research identifying Clemsy (Cline) Weatherford’s origins despite record loss in northeastern Arkansas. She began with extensive documentary research, identifying Clemsy’s likely family: father John C. Cline, siblings Jacob, John, and Mahala, and half-siblings Jesse, Abner, Ann, and Amanda. She then incorporated DNA evidence, using tools like the Leeds Method and network graphs with Gephi software. Nicole clustered DNA matches for her cousin Lucretia, confirming Mahala (Cline) Shockley...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is the second in a series of discussions with Michelle Mickelson about the Alford/Johnson research project. The project was commissioned to determine if James William Johnson was actually Patrick Alford. The data from a deep dive into friends, family, associates, and neighbors revealed that the two men were almost certainly the same – based on records of the siblings. Join us as we review this project with Michelle....
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about using Airtable for a genealogy research log and how to configure and save different views of your tables. Tables are like pages within a spreadsheet. In your research log table, you may have many entries of various record types. You may want to filter to just see tax records, then group them by tax district, especially if you’re studying many people with the same name. After...
A couple years ago I completed a proof argument that Lewis Tharp was the father of Barsheba Tharp. This week I’ve been updating the FamilySearch Family Tree with the information and sources I included in that proof argument. One of the details I found in a Hawkins County deed connected Barsheba’s brother, William Tharp, to Rebecca Tharp, formerly Rebecca Vernon. I found Abraham Vernon’s will and it mentioned his widow, Rebecca. Abraham’s will also mentioned...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about the Family Locket Genealogists project to write up our client’s research about James William Johnson and his origins. In episode 256, we interviewed James Wesley Johnson about his ancestor James William Johnson and the discovery that James was actually Patrick Alford. James asked Family Locket to verify his research and write up the research professionally. Michelle Mickelson, one of our researchers, took on this task, and...
When researching the identity of an ancestor who may have changed his name, examining the people he associated with can lead to important connections. In part 1 of this series, we looked at using the FAN methodology (comparing Friends, Associates, and Neighbors). The timeline clearly showed that Patrick Alford changed his name to James William Johnson between 1879 and 1885 to hide from Texas law. With a clear understanding of James’s relationship to his...
Have you ever suspected your brick wall ancestor may have changed their name? Understandably, name changes hinder typical research practices that connect us to our ancestors. Research can come to a halt when our subject seems to disappear from the records. For example, women often change their surname after marriage. Immigrants may change their name to blend into American culture. Orphan children may have taken on the surname of a family after adoption. Individuals may...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about Diana’s research project on Clemsy Cline, her third-great-grandmother. Clemsy was born about 1817 in Alabama and married Henderson Weatherford. We discuss the first steps in the research like a pro process to decide on an objective, gather and analyze known information, and create a timeline. Transcript Nicole (1s): This is Research Like a Pro episode 226, using the fans to find a female ancestors’ Father. Welcome...
When researching our female ancestors who have few records naming them, to make progress, we need to do cluster research. We determine the people in her FAN club (Friends, Family, Associates, and Neighbors) and research them! My first post in this series discussed my ancestor, Mary Clemsy Cline, who was born about 1817 in Alabama and died after 1880 in Wise Couty, Texas. My initial analysis showed three individuals I want to explore as part...
Do you have females in your family tree who have few records and have left even fewer clues to their origins? You may have a maiden name and an estimated birth year, but there may not be any marriage record. Perhaps birthplaces conflict with one census naming one state and another census naming a different state. How do you tackle this type of brick-wall research? When faced with a tough challenge, one proven methodology is...
