Week 5: Oops (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 2023 Version)

The theme for Week 5 is "Oops." We all make mistakes. This week, consider writing about a mistake that an ancestor made or that you've made in your research.  Click here to check out all the Theme’s for 2023!

My Great grandparents, Orville Charles Hiltz (1873-1959) and his wife Mary Alice O’Brien (1884-1925) were married on Oct 26, 1902 in New London, Wisconsin, USA. I always thought New London was in Outagamie County. So, I traveled to Outagamie County hoping to find their marriage record. I know that Wisconsin didn’t mandate recording vital records until about 1907, so I knew it may not be there. I like Marriage Records because they often list the parents of the bride and groom and may even have their mother’s maiden names. It is with these documents, that I can jump another generation.

I looked and it was not found. So, I thought this was the end of my journey. 

Several years went by and Ancestry added a new database titled “Wisconsin, U.S., Marriage Index, 1808-1907”. Therefore, I typed in the surname of Hiltz and found O C Hiltz. This record may not seem very useful, since it doesn’t give the spouse information. 

However, I found a little work around, if you click on the title in O C Hiltz screen; a new search screen comes up for this database. I type in the year, the location, the page and volume number. This brings up a list of people married in this year for the desired county. 

This brought up many pages of records. I use my browser's Find and type in 26 Oct 1902 and then click the next page, then find until I find the record. It was on page 7. So this method can take a little while.

I found May A O’Brien married on the same day. My person is Mary A O’Brien. However, I have found Mary misspelled as May on many transcribed indexes. Finally, it dawned on me that the county is Waupaca and not Outagamie. I thought New London was in Outagamie County. I do a little more research and discovered that all the churches in New London are actually in Waupaca County. The county line runs through New London.

I make a trip to Waupaca County and I am rewarded with their marriage record. 

I might have avoided this “OOPS” had I done a little more research on the churches in New London. However, what I really discovered is how useful Ancestry’s Indexes are in my research. They save me time, by allowing me to browse the index from the comforts of my home to see if a record might exist in that county. Keep in mind, that this doesn’t replace actually looking for the record in the county. The index might not be complete and accurate for a number of reasons. 

These indexes allow me to create a lookup to-do-list for a county and I will look for known records first, gather and record whatever information I want then try looking for records that I think should be there, but were not on the indexes. This saves me valuable time. Online resources are very helpful, however will never replace visits to courthouses for me unless, I can see the actual image of the records. I have found many errors in the transcription versus the actual record.

Remember to have fun and Just Do Genealogy!