Ancestry and Geneology

[SueT]

Prepare, therefore, to follow me. ?

Wow!

That's it!

 

[kwhites634]

Ancestry has the best resources and set up.

However, there are other sites where you can find worlds of interesting things.

I really like archived newspapers. I think the site I used and liked was newspaperarchive.com

For newspaper ads my ancestors placed, and obits too. But I found that they were on the board of Bluebell icecream, and vicepresident of a gun club.

Anyway, interesting stuff pops up. It helps if your ancestors are in a podunk town with it's own podunk paper.

That newspaper stuff isn't on Ancestry.

Ancestry has excellent census records, and organizes it easily and well. But there are lots of things that they don't have too.

They had most of the Texas farm schedules. (Actually , for most of the US), but they didn't have any of the very old tax roles of Texas that are only available on micro fische and microfilm, in person, at the Houston archive library.

Ancestry has a great collection of records out of New England, even old Mayflower stuff. They also have a huge amount of British records going back to about 1000, or whenever the Doomsday book was written. The exact date escapes me at present.

The German records are spotty. It depends on what region you are from. Germans tend to be informative, so those records are usually good.

Irish records are poor on Ancestry. I had more luck finding an Irish site that I paid for for 1 month, but the name escapes me.

Also, if there are specific things you are looking for.... like I wanted to know exactly where my twice great grandparents house was... there are usually state archive sites with good records.

I found a Texas site with antique maps you could look at for free. And the Texas state archive, all free online, has most land records from the early years of Texas.

But if you are close to where they lived... the local courthouse ROCKS! You can look up all land they bought or sold, all registered brands, and anything that went to court or that a lawyer filed. So wills, lawsuits, criminal cases, all pop up.

I had 2 direct ancestors that were called to testify infront of a congressional committee... on a suspected tar-n-feathering case after "the great unpleasantness ". It was a hoot, because every word was transcribed.

Mom's people, several generations back, immigrated from Scotland, Ireland, & England. That's as far as I've gotten so far.
I'm so bogged down it's not funny; totally lost. I've got to be doing something wrong, 'cause I can't seem to get anyone past my great-grandparents. At this point, I'm not sure whether it's just my ignorance of how the site works or the screwed-up way my computer was working last night. Whatever the reason, I was so frustrated & ticked off that I wasn't far from taking a hammer to the computer. Finally quit & went to bed; at least I was able to do that much right!

 

[Alaskan]

I was so frustrated & ticked off that I wasn't far from taking a hammer to the computer.

Unfortunately I get that way often.

I have to repeat to myself "not enough money to replace the computer"

When you get stuck... start finding out everything that you know about the last people that you know.

So.. see if you can find their high school yearbooks, or if they went to college, college yearbook or directory. Lots of those are on ancestry.

Look up the papers at the right town and time (helps narrow it down alot) on that newspaper site, and see what pops up.

Try to find their obit and death certificate, and all censuses. Ancestry should have all of that. Find every single one that applies to your last "known". And look at the churches in the area too, wherever they might have attended. Ancestry has some US church records too.

Ok... make sure you LOOK at them all. Census ask different questions each year, but they are always great. See who else is in the household, and what they say about them all. In one census it might just say "Scotland " but in another it might say "Edinburgh". So look at each one closely.

Also see who else is there in the house. Maybe an old parent came over and is there only one year.

And also look on the entire page, and maybe even neighboring pages. Ancestry let's you flip the huge census book pages. Because the census was usually done in sequence, often the neighbors are a brother or uncle or brother-in-law. Don't forget to look for farm censuses, and any local censuses.

Church records are great, especially baptisms. Often they list godparents who are connected in some way to the parents. Often these are siblings of the parents of the baptized child. Some baptism records give town of residence and occupation for all involved.

If you learn the entire life of your "known" their parents will pop up!

Remember that the death certificate is often at least a bit off when it comes to "parents of the deceased ". But all of these bread crumbs add up!

If you get too frustrated, pick an easier person to research for a bit, or go play with your chickens.

 

[Alaskan]

Much of my MIL's family is buried in a tiny cemetery near here. I took pics of gravestones to show the kids, and found this pyramid shaped one with this sobering inscription:
View attachment 1558618
View attachment 1558619
"Kind friends beware as you pass by,
As you are now so once was I
As I am now so you must be,
Prepare------- follow me...."
(not sure of that last line)

Very cool.

I don't think I have seen a pyramid 1 before.

The cemetery at the church I attend has that same poem on 1 of the graves. I somehow think the ending is different.... or maybe not...

It is a blustering blowing rainstorm at present, so we will all have to wait until it clears before I get a picture and see if it matches or not.

It is a great quote.

 

[Alaskan]

Oh... when doing online research, often the first thing that you look at it a TRANSCRIBED record. ALWAYS, if it is available, look at the original page.

Ancestry often pops up some transcribed information, but has a button that says "look at original " or something like that. (If you don't see it tell me, I will get on and see exactly what that button looks like.) Always hit that button and look at the original! There is always more information to be found! Also, there are many transcription errors!

I just found 1more generation back.. they had never popped up before when searching.... why? A transcription error. Mewe was typed in as Meide.

So... if you KNOW that they should be in a town in a given year... and they don't pop up... if the town is small read through the entire original census book.

 

[SueT]

Very cool.

I don't think I have seen a pyramid 1 before.

The cemetery at the church I attend has that same poem on 1 of the graves. I somehow think the ending is different.... or maybe not...

It is a blustering blowing rainstorm at present, so we will all have to wait until it clears before I get a picture and see if it matches or not.

It is a great quote.

We too saw another grave (in same cemetery) with the same epitaph, I think it must have been trending in the 19th century....maybe before. Oooh, I googled it, here we go back to the 14th century:
An 1850 edition of the New England Historical and Genealogical Register cites the Canterbury tomb of Edward the Black Prince (1330-1376) as the source of the verse. Edward's epitaph was originally written in Norman French, but was at some point translated into English:
Whoso thou be that passeth by;
Where these corps entombed lie:
Understand what I shall say,
As at this time speak I may.
Such as thou art, sometime was I,
Such as I am, such shalt thou be.

 

[1cock2hens]

I found a good source is the findagrave website, they often have pics of old headstones with inscriptions, genealogy, etc. I upload un photographed headstones in my free time

 

[Alaskan]

I found a good source is the findagrave website, they often have pics of old headstones with inscriptions, genealogy, etc. I upload un photographed headstones in my free time

I do too.

Cemeteries are fun.

 

[Alaskan]

We too saw another grave (in same cemetery) with the same epitaph, I think it must have been trending in the 19th century....maybe before. Oooh, I googled it, here we go back to the 14th century:
An 1850 edition of the New England Historical and Genealogical Register cites the Canterbury tomb of Edward the Black Prince (1330-1376) as the source of the verse. Edward's epitaph was originally written in Norman French, but was at some point translated into English:
Whoso thou be that passeth by;
Where these corps entombed lie:
Understand what I shall say,
As at this time speak I may.
Such as thou art, sometime was I,
Such as I am, such shalt thou be.

Cool.