I indicated, some time ago, that I was going to give some advice on how to find people - genealogically speaking. I haven't yet, but some things that have been happening recently have given me the examples I need to do so now.

 

As some of you know, I'm currently volunteering at the local genealogy center. Having been involved in genealogy for the better part of 12 years, this is kind of a big deal for me. I love doing genealogy, and I love helping others do genealogy. But why do genealogy at all? Depending on who you are, there may be several reasons for doing it, but one of the most important, from a global perspective, is it's ability to show you two things; namely, where you came from, and that we're all related (the link may be decades, centuries, or even millennia back, but it is there).

 

So how do you get started? Where do you find information? Where can you go for help?

 

Getting started is actually easier than you think. There are a plethora of sites on the internet that can provide sources and there are historical societies, genealogical centers, and private individuals who can all help when you get stuck. Currently, the two most used sites available online are FamilySearch and Ancestry.

 

FamilySearch, a site owned and run by the LDS Church (the Mormons), is free to use and now completely open to the non-Mormon public. This site is great for two main reasons: 1) they have a vast store of digitized sources; and 2) Family Tree.

 

Because of the LDS Church's focus on genealogy, they have a mammoth store of records that they make freely available to the public, either through the website or through their family history centers. Need to find a family history center near you? You can locate them through the LDS.org website. Each center is equipped with computers, and volunteers who can help you find your family.

 

FamilySearch is constantly being updated and as recently as mid-April, they have completely revamped their website. Although Family Tree has been available for a while now, not many people really know what it is. Family Tree is a real time updateable pedigree chart that can be accessed by anyone, anywhere, at any time. This means that, instead of duplicating material, everyone has ready access to what has already been done so duplication is (theoretically) held to a minimum.

 

Now, there are some drawbacks to this system, for example, when people have a nasty case of My-Tree-Itis and they change things they shouldn't. But that's why there is now an easy-to-use source feature that allows you to add source materials to each person's information.

 

Ancestry is a paid site that, like FamilySearch, has many sources for information. It is true that Ancestry has sources that FamilySearch does not, but the reverse is also true (and did I mention that FamilySearch is FREE?!). The fees for Ancestry aren't cheap, but the website if freely accessed from any LDS family history center.

 

And these aren't the only helpful sites! There are numerous already, and more cropping up all the time. Two others to check out are MyHeritage and FindMyPast.

 

Okay, that's great and all, but what do you do when you get to these websites?

 

 

There are a number of sources for information; some countries have more, some have less. The most obvious are of course birth and death records. But those aren't, by any means, the only ones. Other sources include censuses, draft cards, passenger lists, church records, cemetery records, even city directories and newspapers.

 

While most of these records can be found somewhere on the internet, not all of them can, and not all from one or even two sources (FamilySearch and Ancestry are great, but they don't have everything). So where do you look when it's not in either of those two places? Try the other two I've already mentioned, but also try the government of the location you're looking for. It can take a fair bit of work, and not all governments are helpful enough to have free access to records, but you won't know if you don't try. As a last resort, you can visit the location and go through their records by hand (records are kept in different places depending on the type of record).

 

(I have a fairly extensive list of sources for free records. If you are looking for something specific let me know and I'll see if I have a source for that. If not, I can probably find you one)

 

 

Okay, now that you've found the source, what do you do with it?

 

That depends heavily on the source. The most common sources of information are not always the most accurate. Let me repeat that: the most common sources of information are not always the most accurate. What sources are the most common? Birth, death, and census.

 

It might come as a shock to some people that these records aren't necessarily accurate, but any time humans are involved then errors are going to occur, and they can occur at any point in the process. But that doesn't mean these records aren't a valuable source of information.

 

 

What information is contained in each type of record? And how accurate is the information?

 

Birth records can include the names of both parents (including mother's maiden name), the date and place of birth, and the place of birth of the parents. Note I said can. Not all records will contain the names of both parents, and some won't even have location of the child's birth. Depending on where the record is from and how old it is, it may only contain the name of the mother, or the name of the father (but not both), or it may not show the mother's maiden name or the father's first name.

 

Death records can include the names of both parents (including mother's maiden name), the dates and places of both birth and death, whether the individual was married and their spouses name, the cause of death, and the date and location of burial. Some records, especially for those of immigrants, may not contain parent information, and not all records will give the name of the spouse.

 

Census records are a little more tricky. Depending on the year and country, a census record may show any or all of the following: all members of a household by name, age at time of census, year (and sometimes month) of birth, birthplace of individual and their parents, relationship to respondent, education levels, immigration year, occupation, value of home (and whether they own or rent), and physical street address. Very old census records may only show the head of the household by name, and only indicate that others live there.

 

Census records are great, but they're also notoriously inaccurate. "Back in the day," censuses weren't sent through the mail; someone had to physically go to the residence and compile the information. Back in a time when literacy was hit and miss, census takers may not have had much more education than the people they were surveying, and immigrants with accents may have made their task even harder.

 

Standardized spelling (something most of us probably take for granted) didn't typically exist much before 1900 - anywhere - so many respondents and census takers may have resorted to phonetics. Handwriting may also present issues; when the records were extracted/indexed, the person reading the record may not have been able to decipher the handwriting, and while a letter changed or missed here and there may not seem like a big deal, when you're looking through digitized records, it can make all the difference in the world.

 

Some recent research provides perfect examples of the problems with census records. A couple years ago when I was in New Orleans, I took a number of cemetery photos that, for one reason or another, I haven't done anything with until recently. One of the families I photographed started off a marathon of hunting. Typically what happens to me is I find some family that sparks an interest and then I run myself ragged researching them...(have I mentioned that I'm crazy?) It was no different with this family (we will call them Family A).

 

Three of the family are buried in a family vault in the Saint Vincent de Paul Cemetery No 1 on Louisa Street. They are a father and two of his three children (both children having died very young). Researching them lead me to another family (we will call Family B). It's this second family that illustrates one of the many problems with census records.

 

I found Family B in the 1900 US Census, where Family B Wife is shown as having been born in, and emigrated from France in 1875. I then found her, with her husband, in the 1880 Census shown as being born in Louisiana, and, with her parents, in both the 1870 and 1860 US Censuses...the 1900 Census also shows Family B Husband as having been born in, and emigrated from France in 1875, while the 1880 Census shows him as born in Louisiana. What difference does this make? Well, if genealogy is old hat to you then you'll do as I did and check earlier censuses. If you're a newb, however, you could waste precious times (and become incredibly frustrated) looking for immigration records that don't exist - because they never did.

 

A second example is illustrated by a direct line ancestor of mine. Colonel Augustus Lyman Sisson was the son of Augustus Sisson...(no, of course that hasn't caused a whole host of problems all on it's own)...and records show he died 11 June 1850 In Willoughby, Lake County, Ohio. The problem is, he's listed on the 1850 Census which was recorded 5 August 1850...Oops! right? Wrong. Careful reading of the wording on the census shows that there was no mistake made, because the census clearly says, "The Name of every Person whose usual place of abode on the first day of June, 1850, was in this family." As Augustus was alive on 1 June 1850, he was, quite rightly, listed in this census.

 

So, while censuses are fabulous for the wealth of knowledge they can provide, use them with discretion! Don't take them as gospel because they very often aren't! A good rule of thumb is the law of averages. If you have five sources and all five agree, then you can probably take the information as correct. If you have five sources and three agree, depending on how the information is shown in the other two, your three may be correct. If you have five and they're all different, but one has exact information, the one with exact information is probably the most correct. In all this, listen to your gut. If something doesn't ring true, then keep looking.

 

Next time: More sources!