Wednesday, February 15, 2012

February 15 - Work sideways

Research the sibling or cousin of an elusive ancestor.

This tip can be very helpful when looking for elusive ancestors. I have found siblings living with other siblings and their name missed spelled in Census Indexes and that is what makes them so hard to find. In my own life, I’ve had my youngest brother lived with me for about a year. My husband’s brothers have lived with us on and off over the years. Currently my two mentally disabled sisters live with us.

I also told my class today, that looking at neighbors might help find your ancestor. Let’s say you find your relative in the 1900 and the 1920 census but not in the 1910 Census. If the 1900 and the 1920 are the same area, look at neighbors from both census records and see if any are the same. If they are, then look for the neighbor in the 1910 census and see if you can find your relative. Indexes were created by people, and maybe they skipped your family or the name was very difficult to make out and it spelled in such a way you would have never guessed.

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