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Remember there is no sure fire way to
find your family members, whether you are looking for your
relative born in 1700 or for your Birth Family.
But, we hope to give you some helpful
ways that we and others have found that elusive family
member.
OTHER FAMILY
MEMBERS:
Your best source of information will be
other family members. You may have some you haven't talked to
in years, or have never talked to at all. Now, is the time to
get out the family address book and start making calls or
writing letters. You'll be surprised to find out who else in
the family is doing the same thing you are. I found tons of
papers from family members I'd only ever heard mention of.
I've now met them, and have a great relationship with them. If
they are doing research, they will love to know someone else
is, too.
DON'T FORGET
ABOUT THE OBVIOUS
Sometimes we can get so caught up in
looking that we truely forget the obvious. If you know your
grandfather's name and about when he was born or died. Look
for him in the social security death index. If he was born
after about 1890, he may have had a number. If he did, you can
file for his application. It will give you his place of birth,
his parents names (mother's maiden), then you can get the
birth certificate (if he was born after about 1910), that too,
will give you lots of information. If you know when and where
he died (again after about 1910) File for his death
certificate. Lots of info there as well.
Another great source of information is
obituaries. That's right, most of the time an obit will
include such information as parents, siblings, and decendents.
If you are looking for a living person, and find the obit of a
deceased relative, you may find out Ann's married name and
where she is living now (or was at the time of the relative's
passing). If you are looking for other decendents, you'll see
where that relative was born and when, which may help you to
find them in a census for that time frame.
MORE ON ALL THESE RECORDS
BELOW
CENSUS
RECORDS
These are a great source of information,
but not always 100% accurate. Many times names were
misspelled, or family members left out. No one had to verify
there name or age for the census taker. If they weren't home,
sometimes information was given by the neighbors, and if they
didn't read or write well, the name may not be spelled
correctly. We were looking for Wasson's and found them under
Waren. Also, they may have used initials instead of full
names. If you can't find William George Smith, try looking for
W.G. Smith. When searching the census by name, if exact match
doesn't work try the soundex, if that doesn't work, make up
your own spellings of the name you're looking for. You might
find it.
Another thing to keep in mind, most
families usually lived close to other family members. If you
are looking for great grandpa Jones, and find him on page 1,
don't stop, check a few more pages, you just might find his
in-laws, or another brother, or his parents. One county census
can end up being a gold mine of information about the entire
family.
ANCESTRY.COM OR OTHER FAMILY TREE
SITES
Now, these are great sources of
information, as long as you remember a few things.
1) The best way to use the information
you get off these trees is a source of guesses. ALWAYS verify
all the information you get. Sometimes people will get
information from one tree from another, if the first tree had
errors, they will get passed on. Try to find the ones that
give sources, and check those sources. If nothing else, it
will give you the paper work to back up what you
say.
2). Try emailing the person that put up
the tree. Ask them how they fit into your tree, and where they
got their info. If they email is no good, then really look at
the information and the dates and see if you can figure out
what sources they used.
3) The main thing is don't automatically
assume what you see is what you get. People are human and
errors happen. If you see an error, it is fine to let the
person know just make sure you give them your source
information to verify what you are saying, and don't get upset
with them. They took the time to put it up to try to help
others. Make sure to give them that credit.
PAPERWORK, PAPERWORK,
PAPERWORK
Don't forget to document ALL your work.
Even your notes about people you aren't sure of. Ancestry and
other sites have several free forms to help you keep your
records straight. I find the family group sheets are great for
keeping families straight. Keep all your notes on certain
surnames together. Then when you get a line figured out. get
it all set up in ancestor sheets and family group sheets, and
that will make easy access for other people you will find to
see if they match that line. Keep track of places you have
looked for information and what you found there. Then you'll
remember later, if that is a place to go back to. I have
files, and files, of notes, family sheets partially filled
out, etc. They are filed in one box, and my semi-finished ones
(I say that because are you ever really finished with a line?)
in a folder easily accessable. Makes it much easier when I
find a possible lead to either match it, or disprove
it.
USE
VOLUNTEERS
Looking for an obit in Calilfornia, but
you live in New York? Check the web, there are several
volunteers that do live in California (or any of the other 49
states) that would be willing to look it up for you. Most of
the time all they ask is you do at least one local lookup for
someone else. They are quite helpful, and I've seen where they
will do obit lookups, headstone pics, and several other things
for you.
DON'T GET
STUCK ON THE MAIN TREE
Remember that women change their names
when they marry but men don't. An obvious thing to say? Well,
think of this. You're looking for grandma Ethel, but don't
know her husband's first name, but you know she had a brother
named Charles. Find Charles, his name won't change and he'll
be easier to find. His decendents, might know who Grandma
married. And there you go, you've branched out on the tree,
and made it back to the main tree trunk. This process works
for other searches as well, the men are always easier to
track. Even if you are looking for a living relative. Find the
brother and you can usually find the sister even without
knowing what her last name is now.
MESSAGE
BOARDS
These boards are extremely popular. You
can post by surname, state, county and even city. You'd
surprised at how much information others are putting up, or
asking about that you may know. I found a great relative with
all the information on one line of my family in a message
board. He even sent me all the hard paper copies of wills,
deeds, and more. We talk all the time now, and it's wonderful.
The main thing is make sure to post properly. A post
like: I'm looking for information on N.B. Smith
will not get you a lot of results. Be as
specific as you can: I'm looking for information on N.B. Smith
born 1-10-1852 in Tennessee, he moved to Ark and changed his
name. Am trying to find what his birth name really is. He
married Francis Pearlee Thompson in Daisy, Ok and had we think
11 children. This gives more information so I
know if their N.B. Smith was born N.B. Smith, they are not
looking for the one I have in my line. But, I have one I heard
changed his name and left Tennessee and was born about the
same time, it might be worth checking into. The more specific
you are the more chance you are to get a response. There are
millions of people doing the same research you are, and you're
likely to find lots of cousins with the right information.
BIRTH, DEATH, AND MARRIAGE
RECORDS
These are now becoming so easy to find
online. You might not get the actual record online, but you
can usually find an index of names for almost any year in
almost any state. Once found in an index, you can send to that
state for the actual record. Death and Birth records usually
run at the most $10.00. Marriage records vary by state.
Remember though, these records were usually not kept at
courthouses until after the early 1900's in most states. Some
states do have records in the late 1800's so it's worth
checking out. These records can be a great source of
information, or at least they can give you the paper records
to back up your information.
Death records can be misleading, if the
next of kin giving the information didn't really know and
guessed at it. Unfortunately this did happen. So, on a death
record, you may need to do more investigating.
OBITUARIES
One of the best sources of information,
and one of the most overlooked. But again, be careful, not
always 100% accurate. Information was given by whoever they
could get it from. Could have been next of kin that knew it
all, or next of kin that guessed a lot. So, once you get the
information, use it to investigate further. Most newspapers
are now on microfilm. Sometimes they are indexed sometimes
not, but think about the last obit you looked at. You got the
person's parents names, their siblings names, their children's
names, who passed before them and what state and/or city their
survivor's live in. Depending on whether you are looking for
deceased relatives or living ones, the obit can provide LOTS
of information. Obituaries were sometimes printed in papers
before death certificates were even issued. There are several
old newspaper sites on the internet, plus the library usually
carries all old papers for their city/county/state.
SOCIAL SECURITY APPLICATIONS
Did your mother know her grandfather but
doesn't know anymore? And there is no one else who seems to
know? Check to see if Grandpa had a social security number. If
he did, you can find him in the social security death index.
For $27.00 if you know for sure it's him, $29.00 if you need
them to search a little for you, you can get a copy of the
application he filled out to get his ssn. He would have had to
put the following information down to get his ssn:
His name, place of residence, where he
works and who for, father's name, mother's name (maiden). If
you can't find a birth certificate to give you this
information, you can get it off the application. Then you'll
have another generation of grandparents to start searching.
CITY DIRECTORIES
These are usually housed in the state
archives. Where census records can help you keep track every
10 years, these directories can help fill in missing years.
They are almost like our current phone books. They list by
head of household, so you can sometimes get narrowed down the
year the male spouse died if you find the female as head of
household in a certain year. They can also lead to you church
records, they show you where the person worked, and where they
lived, which might help find them in a census if you're
looking in one that isn't indexed, or their name might be
spelled wrong in , you'll have an idea of the enumeration
district to check in. Some of these directories can be found
online but, again check with your state archives or library to
see where they are in your
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