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Place Your Ancestors into Context and Locate Vital Records
HOW TO…
The most basic record types for establishing an ancestor’s locations and life events are birth, marriage, and death records. Government census records are another type of documentary evidence that can be used to verify his or her location at regular intervals. The use of these records forms a framework for other research of an individual’s life. Once you establish an ancestor’s location in a specific place at a given point in his or her life, you can pursue your search for other documents and evidence to expand your knowledge and understanding of that person.
This chapter focuses on how to place your ancestors into historical and geographical context so you can be most effective in understanding and using records about their lives. A simple yet extremely effective methodology for the proper use of maps and gazetteers to help locate records is presented. We also will discuss the fundamental records that document the three types of personal records that may be available: birth certificates, marriage licenses and certificates, and death certificates. Examples of documents from the United States, the United Kingdom (like the one shown in Figure 4-1), and Canada are included to provide a better understanding of what these documents can offer.
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FIGURE 4-1 Certified copy of an 1874 birth entry from Wales
Chapter 5 will continue the discussion of how to place your ancestor into context with a detailed discussion of census records. For now, though, let’s concentrate on methodologies for placing your ancestors’ lives into context and get started locating these records.
Place Your Ancestors into Context
Our ancestors were real people. They lived in specific locations and were influenced by other people and events, just as we are today. Their curiosity and interest in the world around them was keen. Like the people shown in Figure 4-2, they actively sought out the news of the day, sometimes even traveling considerable distances to obtain a newspaper. They lived in a community and interacted with their family members, friends, neighbors, and other people in the area. The climate influenced their lifestyle, and the social, political, and economic environment most certainly influenced their lives. The type of government and its organization, leadership, and regulations imposed a structure under which they lived as well. All of these factors contributed to the types of records that may have been created for and about your ancestors.
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FIGURE 4-2 Our ancestors were interested in the news of the day.
An ancestor who was a farmer was dependent on weather and a market for his crop in order to survive and prosper. He may have farmed most of the year but worked elsewhere in the winter months to sustain an income. Another ancestor who was conscripted for military service would have received special training and was probably assigned duties in a specific geographic area. He may have traveled a great deal and been involved in armed conflict.
Consider, for example, an Irish family in the mid-1840s who was impacted by the Potato Famine. Starving and economically devastated, the father may have sought relief for himself and his family by emigrating from Ireland to America. By studying the history of Ireland during that period, you can understand the factors that motivated someone to want to emigrate elsewhere. By also studying the history of America at that time, and the specific area to which the family immigrated, you can gain an appreciation for what drew the family there: jobs, opportunity, cost of living, and climate, to name but a few.
As you can see, it is impossible to research your ancestors in a vacuum. It is important to place them into geographical and historical context, and that means studying history, geography, economics, sociology, and all sorts of materials that may provide you with insights into their lives and into their motivations for making some of the decisions they made.
Become a Student of History
The study of your family’s story also becomes a study of history at all levels. I’ve found that making the connection between my ancestors and the history of the places and times in which they lived has brought history to life. My ancestors came alive for me beginning on the snowy day spent with my aunt and grandmother in January 1962, and my interest in and appreciation for history, geography, and my family heritage were sparked forever. No longer were historical facts merely a memorization of places, dates, and famous people’s names. The exploration of my family’s history has made me place them in a particular place and time, and I give consideration to what the impact of events in the area at that time might have had on them. I reflect on what their participation in those events, and their interactions with their contemporaries, might have been. No matter their station in life, they come alive for me, and learning more about them is an exciting and enlightening experience!
My brother located some letters a few years ago that were written between 1900 and 1902 by the woman who was to become my paternal grandmother and that were addressed to my grandfather. One poignant letter dated Thursday, 19 September 1901, stated that she, her mother, and two sisters had been up late the night before. The family had attended a special church service that day in honor of President William McKinley who had died on 14 September of wounds sustained from an assassin’s bullets on 6 September at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. It was a national day of mourning and the church service coincided with McKinley’s funeral in Canton, Ohio. This letter is a personal expression of shock and grief that was echoed in newspaper accounts of the time.
Your research will take you to many interesting places where you will discover a wealth of information. There is no doubt that you will become fascinated with contemplating what your ancestors’ lives must have been like as you read and learn more about history.
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Historical newspapers can provide details of events and daily life that influenced your ancestors. Millions of newspaper pages are digitized and indexed each year. Database collections such as Ancestry.com and NewspaperARCHIVE.com are available for personal subscription. Others newspaper databases, such as HeritageQuest Online, NewsBank, ProQuest Historical Newspapers, the Times (of London) Archive (1784–1985), and others, are only available by institution subscription. You may be able to access them through public and academic libraries.
Family Histories
Someone may have written a history of your family or an historical account that includes details about your family. Unless one of your ancestors was an eminently famous person whose biography would be of interest to a wide audience, you will find that most family histories are either self-published by the author or privately published. Sometimes an author only produces a few copies of the family chronicle in manuscript form and perhaps donates a copy to the local public library. These gems can be invaluable resources and point you to all sorts of information. However, it is important to use your critical thinking skills to evaluate the content and the source materials. Don’t accept any “fact” at face value, even if the family history was compiled and written by Uncle John or Cousin Mary. Research and verify everything for yourself. You may find that all of their information is correct and well researched and that the source evidence was meticulously cited. However, there is no substitute for examining the source materials yourself and forming your own conclusions.
County and Local Histories
Histories written about a limited area, such as a town, county, or parish, can provide important details in your research. The History of Mecklenburg County from 1740 to 1900 by J. B. Alexander, originally published in 1902 by the Observer Printing House in Charlotte, North Carolina, proved a goldmine for my family research. I learned a great deal about the history of Charlotte and the surrounding area, which a number of my ancestors helped settle in the early 1700s. Included were articles concerning agriculture, commerce, and economics through the years, which helped me visualize my ancestors’ environment. Other articles discussed individual churches, their histories, and their congregations. Modes of travel, clothing, and medical treatments were described. However, of special interest to me were biographical sketches of several of my ancestors, including my great-great-grandfather, Isaac Wilson, M.D., for whom a photograph was included. (See Figure 4-3.) To my knowledge, this is the only surviving photograph of my ancestor, who was born on 30 December 1802 and died on 15 December 1880. Imagine my excitement at learning specific details about him, such as the fact that he was a “progressive physician” who practiced between 1825 and 1875. I learned that he eschewed the practice of cupping, in which a cupping glass was used to increase the blood supply to an area of the skin.
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FIGURE 4-3 This photograph of the author’s great-great-grandfather, perhaps the only surviving photograph of the man, was discovered in a county history published in 1902.
My great-great-grandfather organized and participated in both shooting matches and fox hunting. I also learned that he was a justice of the peace and that he officiated at many weddings. This was the first place I learned that he was married three times. Based on what I gleaned from this book, I set off on research to verify the information using other records and found the written account to be extremely accurate.
County heritage books have become popular in the United States and elsewhere over the years. These are primarily compilations of information about places, events, and families whose roots have been based in that area. Organizers solicit articles from area citizens and descendants. Recognize that a great deal of this information may be hearsay or family myth, and may have been written by persons who were neither researchers nor historians. Every fact should therefore be carefully scrutinized and personally verified for accuracy.
There are a variety of places where you can find local histories. Towns and cities celebrating centennials, sesquicentennials, bicentennials, and other milestone anniversaries often publish booklets commemorating the extended history of the area. Articles and photographs may include your ancestors and other family members. In addition, local newspaper and magazine coverage may include similar genealogical treasures. Don’t overlook these resources in your search for family information.
Churches and synagogues preserve many types of records and also can be a source of local historical information. Commemorative books and albums are common and may include names, photographs, and other details that may be useful.
The local or county genealogical and historical societies are essential research resources. They may have unique photographic and documentary materials relating to your family that can be found nowhere else. In addition, these groups undertake transcription and preservation projects. These may involve compiling materials, creating indexes, and generating reports or articles for their newsletter or journal. Such projects might include compiling histories of local businesses, canvassing and indexing cemeteries, and transcribing tax rolls and jury lists. They also may possess diaries, journals, photographs, and correspondence files of local residents. You never know what they have until you ask.
The local public library and nearby academic libraries may have originals or copies of documentary information of local historical value. Besides the privately published family histories mentioned earlier, these repositories may also have file cabinets (known as “vertical files”) with miscellaneous documents such as correspondence and obituaries. Newspaper clipping files may also contain collections of articles related to specific subjects and people. Some libraries’ special collections have acquired unusual sets of records. The library at the University of South Florida in Tampa has acquired the earlier records of several local mortuaries/funeral homes. The special collections department of many public and academic libraries should be explored through their online catalogs and in person.
State and Provincial Histories
Learning about local history is important, but be sure to learn about state and provincial histories as well. These provide a broader perspective of the historical role played by a town or county. This can lead to a better understanding of the events and influences in your ancestor’s life.
Again, historical and genealogical societies can potentially provide excellent resources for your research. Libraries of all types hold books about state or provincial history, particularly state libraries and archives. One of my favorite websites is LibrarySpot.com at www.libraryspot.com. Here you will find links to all types of libraries in the United States, links to national libraries in more than 100 countries, and many reference resource links. The UK Public Libraries site at http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/square/ac940/weblibs.html provides a compilation of links to public libraries in the United Kingdom. The National Archives (TNA) in the UK provides access to a combined catalog of the country’s archives called Access to Archives (A2A) at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a. Library and Archives Canada has created a web page of Canadian library websites and catalogs at www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/gateway/s22-200-e.html. State, provincial, and national libraries and archives provide extensive materials about history. Many of these facilities also house and preserve original sources, as well as printed, microfilmed, and scanned images. Such collections include
Many more such national sites can be located by using your favorite search engine and entering terms such as “national library” or “national archive” and the name of the country.
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The study of histories of many types will help you place your ancestors in context with the events of the times. Local histories may even contain references to your ancestral family. At the very least, local histories will help you understand the environment in which your ancestors lived and worked and the people in their lives.
National and World History
The influences of national and international events were important factors in the lives of our ancestors, their families, and their communities. The perspective of history gives us the opportunity to better understand our forebears’ place in it. You may think that events in France in the late 1700s had little impact on the American continents, but you would be incorrect. On the contrary, following its devastating defeat in the Seven Years’ War against Britain (1756–63), France was eager for revenge against the British. When the American Revolution erupted, statesman Benjamin Franklin traveled to Paris and met with French government officials, and the two countries entered into a treaty on 6 February 1778. Franklin met with King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette on 20 March 1778 to confirm that treaty, and with that the French entered into an agreement to provide aid and support to the American colonies. Following the American Revolution, the French helped broker the signing of the Treaty of Paris at Versailles on 3 September 1783, in which Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States of America. (See Figure 4-4.)
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FIGURE 4-4 Signatures on one of two original copies of the Treaty of Paris, signed on 3 September 1783
In another treaty, signed on 30 April 1803, the United States successfully completed the negotiations for the Louisiana Purchase from France at a price of about $27 million. The area comprised more than 800,000 square miles extending from the Mississippi River in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west. In addition to the impact of this on North America, the French also occupied Spain in the early 19th century. The occupation severed commerce between Spain and its colonies in Central and South America. Between 1808 and 1826, the Spanish lost all of Latin America, with the exception of Cuba and Puerto Rico. Emulating the example of their neighbors to the north in the new United States, the Spanish colonies rebelled and ultimately claimed their independence.
Another important event in France in the late 1780s was the formation of a group, the Société des Amis des Noirs (Society of the Friends of the Blacks), who met in Paris in early 1788 to campaign against the French slave trade. On 4 February 1794, slavery was abolished in the French colonies. The news spread across the Atlantic and slaves were freed in those colonies. The action did not go unnoticed in the United States and elsewhere. By 1807, the slave trade in all British colonies was abolished and, in that same year, the United States Congress passed legislation prohibiting the importation of slaves into the country and its territories. Slave smuggling persisted through 1862 until President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation abolished all forms of slavery in the Southern states, effective on 1 January 1863. The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed by Congress on 31 January 1865 and adopted on 6 December of that year, ending slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States and greatly expanding the civil rights of Americans.
As you can see, events on a national level had far-reaching and enduring impacts elsewhere. That is why it is important to study history and to consider how all world events may have impacted your ancestors and their contemporaries. The French actions described above can be applied to persons of French, Spanish, English, North American, South American, and African descent. You will find that it is imperative to learn something about the history of both the place where your ancestors originally lived and the places to which they immigrated. There definitely is a push-pull influence involved that, if you take the time to explore histories, may provide a much clearer understanding and appreciation of your heritage.
Use Maps to Locate the Right Place to Research
Maps, like the one shown in Figure 4-5, are an essential part of our everyday life. We consult them to plot travel routes as we move from place to place, check them to determine correct postal codes, and use them in a wide variety of other ways. We find maps today printed on paper, on the Internet, and in computer software programs, and the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology is becoming more widespread.
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FIGURE 4-5 Historical Ordnance Survey map of Oxford, England, from the early 20th century
Throughout history, maps have changed again and again. Boundaries have moved, towns have come under different jurisdictions, place names have changed, and some places have ceased to exist for countless reasons. Therefore, we cannot simply use contemporary maps as references for locating records. We must use a number of types of historical maps in our genealogical research. In order to determine the right place to look for records and other evidence, it is essential to understand the geographical history of an area. Many genealogists hit “dead ends” and waste inordinate amounts of time because either they fail to understand the importance of properly using maps in their research or they don’t possess the skills to use them.
Avoid Wasted Time and Energy
Imagine the frustration of having planned a vacation that included research at a courthouse in a particular area, only to discover when you arrived that the information you were seeking was actually located in another county’s courthouse. It happens all too frequently, especially when a person fails to determine beforehand where his or her ancestors lived and which county had jurisdiction over the area at that time.
Perhaps expending the time and expense of a research trip is an extreme example, but it does happen. However, there are many other ways we can waste time and money researching the wrong materials. You want to avoid the following types of errors:
Worse yet, you could actually be researching the wrong ancestors! When your family has a common name and there are people of the same name in the area, it is entirely possible to latch onto the records of one individual whose details seem “almost right.” You might then spend a great deal of time tracing that person’s records until you encounter names, places, dates, and other evidence that definitively tell you that you’ve been on a wild goose chase. Don’t think it can’t happen to you; it happens to the best of us.
Use Maps for Multiple Purposes
Maps are a necessity in our genealogical research. They help us locate landmarks, waterways, roads and streets, towns, cities, counties, parishes, states, provinces, territories, countries, oceans, continents, islands, and more. Contemporary and historical maps, such as the one shown in Figure 4-6, help us determine the geopolitical jurisdictions in place at a specific time. They provide a visual representation of the geographic spatial relationships between physical locations, and can help us place our ancestors’ physical location into perspective. This can help us better understand where they might have been in relationship to events occurring around them.
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FIGURE 4-6 Map of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, circa 1770
I happen to use historical maps of and from the 16th to 19th centuries to plot the possible migration paths followed by my own ancestors in the American colonies. This means having studied the history of migration routes north and south as well as across the Appalachian Mountains. The investment in that research has allowed me to plot the potential migration routes for ancestors between two points and to anticipate what their journey entailed at that time. Then, using colored markers, I draw the probable routes on a map and begin researching the interim stops they may have made and the records that may have been created and left behind. The process has been remarkably successful, and I’d like to share it with you.
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Because boundaries change frequently over time, using historical maps enables you to find the boundaries that existed at the times your ancestors lived in specific places. It is important for you to know which government had jurisdiction in the area and created official documents. The documents of the period will have remained with the old governmental entity even if the boundaries changed. Check in the offices of the government that had responsibility for the area at the time your ancestor lived there.
Use a Methodology That Works
I have worked with maps for many years and have found a practical methodology for working with maps and other related resources that can improve your success at locating the right place to search for records.
Step 1: Start with a Contemporary Map
Obtain a good current map of the area where you believe your ancestors lived in the past. There are many excellent map resources available, including bound atlases, printed individual maps for areas, and maps available from motoring associations such as the American Automobile Association (AAA) and their counterparts in other countries. In addition, highway department maps at a local, county, or other administrative area level provide excellent detail, including secondary and tertiary roads, natural landmarks, churches and cemeteries, and other features. Whatever maps you use should include contemporary boundary lines.
You probably won’t want to use cheap maps and atlases because they seldom contain as much detail as you would like, and they sometimes contain errors or omit important features. Maps on the Internet services also are sometimes less than accurate, and seldom contain the detail you need, especially boundaries. Beware of driving directions from these sites, and always compare two sets of driving instructions for conflicting information. Consider the creator of the map, their authority and expertise, the purpose of the map, and the accuracy.
On your good contemporary map, follow this progression and make notes as you proceed:
  1. Locate the place you seek.
  2. Note the name of the specific county or province in which it is located today.
  3. Make specific note of the location within the contemporary boundaries.
  4. Note surrounding towns or cities and their direction from your site.
  5. Make note of other surrounding geographic features such as waterways, mountains, and shorelines, and their physical position in relation to the place you located.
It is possible that the place you are searching for isn’t listed on the map. Perhaps it is too small or is an unincorporated area, or perhaps the place has been renamed or no longer exists. What do you do? Never fear, there are other resources available to you. Local histories are invaluable in helping locate these places. However, one of the best tools you can use is a gazetteer, also referred to as a place name dictionary. There are many of these available for different parts of the world, both printed and Web-based. For United States research, I have become addicted to using the book American Place Names of Long Ago by Gilbert S. Bahn. The work is based on a portion of Cram’s Unrivaled Atlas of the World, published in 1898, and whose U.S. information was based on the 1890 U.S. federal census returns.
Among the best Internet-based gazetteers are the following:
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FIGURE 4-7 GNIS in Google Maps (Satellite view) showing Woodland Cemetery in Madison, Rockingham County, North Carolina
If you are seeking an online gazetteer facility for another country or locale, you can always use your favorite web browser and enter search terms like the ones shown here:
gazetteer insert country/province name here
You may be rewarded with search results that you can explore.
You also should consider using the reference resources available to you in libraries of all types. Reference librarians at public and academic libraries are trained to respond to research inquiries from patrons and can direct you to map collections, atlases, and gazetteers. State and national libraries and archives are another resource, and many of them handle reference question requests via telephone and email.
Step 2: Locate and Examine Historical Maps
Your next step is to determine the time period during which your ancestors lived in the area. Locate an historical map of that area from that time period. (See Figure 4-8.) If you are researching your ancestors in the United States, you might want to consult the Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790–1920, by William Thorndale and William Dollarhide. This book provides maps of every state for each of the decennial censuses taken between 1790 and 1920. Each map shows the current counties and their boundaries and the counties in existence at the time of the census and their boundaries. This is an excellent tool for a high-level comparison between the contemporary and historical geopolitical boundaries in the United States. You can follow up with a search for and consultation of a detailed historical map of the period. This is the procedure you should follow for other countries and locales as well.
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FIGURE 4-8 Historical map of Washington, DC, dated 1822
Locate the place you found on your contemporary map in Step 1. Compare it to historical maps from before and after the dates in which your ancestors lived in the area. Make note of the surrounding towns and landmarks you found on your contemporary map and locate these on the historical map. This can be crucial when you are looking for places that changed names or disappeared. More important, though, is to carefully note the administrative boundaries, such as state, parish, or province. If the place you are researching was located in another county at the time your ancestors were there, for instance, you will be seeking to locate records in that governmental division’s records and not in that of the current governmental unit’s repositories. There are some rare cases in which records are transferred to new jurisdictions, such as when new counties are created. It is therefore important to keep this in mind when asking about the availability of records in and from the original government offices.
Step 3: Fine-tune Your Search Location
The examination of maps is an important factor in locating the right place to research records, but there is another step you should perform. While the Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790–1920 is an excellent reference work, it provides detail only at the ten-year intervals at which the federal censuses were taken. You may need to determine a more concise date for when the administrative area was formed. Let’s look at two examples.
The Pennsylvania county of Wyoming (see Figure 4-9), for instance, was formed in 1842 from Luzerne County. If you were looking for marriage records of your ancestors from 1840, you would seek them in Luzerne County, while if they were married in 1843, you would look in Wyoming County. I was able to determine the county formation dates through use of The Family Tree Sourcebook: The Essential Guide to American County and Town Sources, published by the editors of Family Tree Magazine. I might also search the Internet for information concerning the formation of Wyoming County and its parent county.
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FIGURE 4-9 Historical map of Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, dated 1791
Geopolitical boundaries across Europe have changed time and time again. Poland provides perhaps the most vivid example of boundary changes. The country was partitioned between Austria, Prussia, and Russia in 1772 and each country annexed a portion of Poland. In 1793, Russia and Prussia signed a Second Partition Treaty and more of Poland was seized. In 1795, Russia effected yet a third partition and obtained part of the remainder of Poland. While some of the records from these periods may still exist in Polish archives, others would have been created by the three other national governments. And, since the Kingdom of Prussia no longer exists, what would have happened to all of those records? Jumping forward to 20th-century Poland, the invasion by the German army on 1 September 1939 began yet another period of division. The Germans and the Russians partitioned and divided Poland yet again. As you can see, your research of Polish ancestral records would be dependent on the historical time period, the partitioning of the country, and the governmental jurisdiction at the time, as well as a number of other factors.
Step 4: Identify the Records Created and Their Current Location
It is important to read about the types of records created at the time and their purpose. You also will need to determine if they still exist and where they are located. The type of record often dictates its ultimate fate. Some records are of such a temporary nature that, once they have served their purpose, they are discarded or destroyed. Others are of such perpetual importance that they are maintained permanently or for an extended period of time.
The Family Tree Sourcebook gives detailed descriptions of record types created in each of the United States, the dates when record-keeping for various record types began, and where these records are most likely to be housed today. I say “most likely” because there is the possibility that records may have been relocated for any number of reasons.
When researching in England, you will want to learn about The National Archives in Kew, Richmond, Surrey, and at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk. The General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) in Edinburgh, and at www.gro-scotland.gov.uk, is your starting point to learn what is available there, while the General Register Office in Roscommon, Ireland, at www.groireland.ie, provides the same type of information for Ireland. The combined Library and Archives Canada site, at www.collectionscanada.gc.ca, is accessible in both English and French. It offers excellent, well-organized information about available records. The National Archives of Australia site at www.naa.gov.au likewise presents information about its record-keeping and details about available resources.
Please note that, as mentioned in Chapter 1, the GROS website says “From 1 April 2011, the General Register Office for Scotland merged with the National Archives of Scotland to become the National Records of Scotland (NRS). This website will remain active until it is replaced in due course by a new website for NRS.” The website of the new entity is www.nrscotland.gov.uk.
In addition to all of the places previously mentioned, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), whose members are often referred to as “Mormons,” has the largest genealogical library in the world. Their website at www.familysearch.org is filled with interesting resources.
Step 5: Contact the Repository to Obtain Copies of Records
Once you have determined the right place to search for records, make contact with the facility. The Family Tree Sourcebook provides excellent contact information for facilities in U.S. states and counties/parishes that can help you locate existing records. Materials sometimes are relocated, are stored off-site in another location, have limited or prohibited access due to legislation or governmental restrictions, or have been lost or destroyed. It is therefore a good idea to make contact with the repository of record to determine what they really have, how accessible the materials are, and how to access or obtain copies. This is especially important if you are planning a research visit. You will want to learn the days and hours of operation, what personal access is permitted, and costs. If records are in off-site storage, you will want to determine how you can gain access to them. This may require filing a special request for retrieval of older archived records so that you can work with them when you arrive.
Whenever you make contact with a facility, you can avoid some dead-ends by being prepared and by asking open-ended questions. Over the years, I’ve found that preparing a written set of the questions I want to ask is a way to make certain that I cover everything necessary and all the contingencies. Try this method yourself and I’m certain you will find it helpful.
Begin by performing some advance research so that you know the names of the persons for whom you are seeking records, what type of records you want, and the correct time period. You should include nicknames and any other names by which a person may have been known. Be certain to use the maiden name of a woman if you are seeking marriage records or other documents created before her wedding date. One distant cousin I always knew to be called “Sudie” actually was born Susan Elizabeth Wilson. It was under her nickname, however, that I found her in some records, and under her birth name that I found her in others.
Open-ended questions are those that require more than a “yes” or “no” answer. For example, if you ask a clerk if their facility has the marriage records from 1902 and he or she responds in the negative, what do you do? Your next question should be, “Can you tell me if the records exist and, if so, where I might be able to locate them?” Otherwise, the clerk may or may not volunteer that information.
Maps Can Equal Success
Libraries, archives, courthouses, records offices, government offices, museums, churches, other physical repositories, and the Internet can all be used to obtain maps. As you can see, this methodology for effectively locating and using maps will substantially improve your chances for success in locating the right place for finding your ancestors’ records and other evidence. With this in mind, let’s proceed to learn about locating some official documents.
Locate Birth, Marriage, and Death Records
The most basic and yet most important records you can locate for your ancestors are ones that record their birth, marriage, and death information. (See Figure 4-10.) These are generally referred to as “vital records” because they record the vital life events. One of my English friends refers to these as the “hatch, match, and dispatch” records. What makes these records so important is that they not only confirm your ancestor or family member in a specific place at a given point in time, but also potentially connect the person to other family members.
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FIGURE 4-10 Certificate of Registry of Birth from the United Kingdom, dated 18 October 1897
The originals or copies of these records may be in your family’s possession, and you just need to ask family members for access to them. However, in many instances and especially in cases of older births, marriages, and deaths, you will have to determine if the records were commonly created at the time and, if so, where they are located. You then will have to expend effort to obtain copies of them, either by mail, email, telephone, or personal visit to the repository where they are held. Some records may have been digitized and made available online in subscription databases or at government websites.
It is important to recognize right away that you may not be able to obtain copies of some records. Creation of a birth certificate, for example, may not have been required at the time your ancestor was born. In the United States, for instance, you may find that some of the counties in a particular state began creating official birth records earlier than others. Kentucky counties, for instance, began creating birth records as early as 1852. In contrast, the North Carolina legislature did not pass legislation requiring counties to create birth and death records until 10 March 1913, and it was not until 1920 that all counties were in full compliance with the law.
Civil registration was implemented in England and Wales in 1837 and required the registration of births, marriages, and deaths. Some people resisted registration for some years, however. Civil registration legislation was not passed in Scotland until 1854. In Ireland, compulsory civil registration of non–Roman Catholic marriages began on 1 April 1845. The registration of births, deaths, and all marriages began on 1 January 1864. Civil registration began in Canada in the mid-1800s but its implementation varied by province and territory. In Australia, the government of each colony or state implemented civil registration independently. Tasmania was the first area to start, beginning to keep records in 1838, and the Australian Capital Territory was the last to implement it, beginning in 1911.
In some cases, laws may limit access to originals or copies of birth records to the individual for whose birth the document was created and/or his or her parents. Certain information on death certificates may also be masked when copies are created, in order to preserve the privacy of the surviving family members and to prevent the release of information that might be used to steal an identity.
Keep in mind that these three types of records—birth, marriage, and death records—can be used to establish the location of your ancestor or family member at a specific place at a point in time. By extension, that helps you begin locating other records created in the same vicinity, which can expand your knowledge of that person and his or her extended family. When official birth, marriage, and death records are not available for whatever reason, you will need to consider locating alternative record sources to establish the same or similar information. We will discuss this later in the chapter.
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Birth, marriage, and death records are referred to in the United States as vital records or vital statistics. In the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, they are referred to as civil records or civil registration records.
Locate Birth Certificates
The first document created for many people was a birth certificate such as the one shown in Figure 4-11. We all have had parents and the vast majority of us were probably born with the benefit of some medical attention. And typically there was a record made of the birth in the form of a birth certificate and/or a hospital or other medical record. A birth certificate is an important document because it is used to verify identity. From a genealogist’s perspective, it can be the basis for beginning research in a specific geographic area for other family members and a wide variety of other records.
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FIGURE 4-11 Blank birth certificate form from South Dakota
You will need to determine where the person was born in order to determine if there is a birth certificate from that time. The methodology for using maps to locate the right place to search for records is especially helpful.
The Family Tree Sourcebook, for example, can be used to determine for the United States, state by state, and county by county, when official birth records began to be kept by the government offices in those areas, as well as where to seek them.
Birth certificates come in many formats, with different titles, and contain different amounts of information. At a minimum, you can expect to find the name of the child, the parents’ names, the child’s date of birth, the child’s gender, the location where the birth occurred (or was registered), the name of the attending physician or midwife, and the signature of the registrar. Other information likely to be found on birth records includes the child’s birth weight and length, the precise time of birth, and the parents’ racial or ethnic background and their occupations. More recent birth certificates may include the child’s footprints and perhaps even a photograph. You will find a number of examples of birth certificates in the graphics throughout this chapter. Figure 4-12, for example, shows a certificate issued by a government office in 1942 that confirms a birth entry in the official files dating to 1875. Birth records in different parts of the world may look different and contain different levels of detail, but their intent was to formally record a birth. The Dutch birth certificate shown in Figure 4-13 is a good example of this.
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FIGURE 4-12 Certificate issued in 1942 attesting to a Canadian birth entry in Ontario in 1875
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FIGURE 4-13 An original Dutch birth certificate dated 1886
You may come across an amended birth certificate from time to time. These are used to change or correct information entered on the original birth certificate. A typical reason for the issuance of an amended certificate is to change or correct the name of the child or its parents. Amended birth certificates are also used in cases of adoption. At the time of the legal adoption, particularly that of an infant or small child, a magistrate orders the creation of an amended birth certificate. This document includes the names of the adopting parents and replaces the original birth certificate in all file locations. The original, which lists the natural or birth parents, is typically removed in U.S. locations and placed in a court file with the adoption records. In most cases, these records are sealed by the court and require a judicial order to access them. The amended birth certificate is clearly marked to indicate that it is amended and, in the case of adoption, that there was an adoption that caused its creation.
Birth civil registration forms provide a space for the later addition of a child’s name. The name might not be selected until the time of christening, for example. The child’s forename may therefore be added to the original document or an amended birth certificate may be issued at a later date.
Delayed birth certificates are not uncommon. Governments, in lieu of an original birth certificate, issue these. In cases in which birth records were not created at the time of a person’s birth, or where the original records have been lost or destroyed, the governmental office will issue a substitute document. Typically, the applicant needs proof of birth for identification purposes in order to obtain a passport or a visa, or to apply for pension benefits. The person completes an application and presents him- or herself in a governmental facility, and supplies several alternative forms of proof. These might include a family Bible, school enrollment records, church records, military service records, employment records, and affidavits from other people who were alive at the time of the applicant’s birth and who can confirm that the applicant is indeed the correct person. These alternative proofs, all of which are usually sources of secondary information, are reviewed. If they are deemed sufficient, a delayed birth certificate is issued and is considered the legal equivalent of an original birth record. An example of a delayed birth certificate is shown in Figure 4-14.
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FIGURE 4-14 A delayed birth certificate is often issued when no original was created. Alternate proofs are presented to the government for review.
Alternative records can, of course, be used as evidence of the birth. Remember that you must use your critical thinking skills to evaluate these materials and determine whether they contain primary vs. secondary information, or are original vs. derivative sources. You need to determine whether these materials are sufficient to prove the fact in question, in this case, a birth. Some of the many types of alternative records you might be able to use include the following:
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FIGURE 4-15 Certificate of Baptism and Confirmation from Wyoming
Another part of your investigative process also involves using your knowledge of history, geography, and your family, and coupling that with your creative thinking to consider what other types of record and materials might provide evidence of the event.
Find Marriage Licenses and Certificates
Marriage records are among some of the oldest records kept. The earliest ones are found in religious institutions, but others can be found among the many places where civil registration records are located. They are often indexed for easy reference, both in groom and bride sequence by surname and then given name.
In some places, such as U.S. courthouses, you will find large ledgers containing copies of marriage license or marriage certificate documents, maintained in chronological sequence. The older ones are handwritten entries made by a clerk (who may also have been known by the title of “ordinary”) that indicate the authorization of a couple to be married. The actual license or certificate was then taken to a member of the clergy, a judge, or a justice of the peace, and the ceremony was performed. The original document was then returned to the courthouse, where the clerk transcribed information about the date of the wedding and the name of the officiating individual. As a result, these entries are often referred to as “marriage returns.” Figure 4-16 shows an example of a marriage return from the State of Indiana.
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FIGURE 4-16 This 1860 marriage license from Indiana was returned to the county clerk after the ceremony for registration and filing.
In other places, there are civil offices or civil registration offices at which the license to wed was issued. In the United Kingdom, the completed marriage document ultimately was sent to the General Register Office (GRO), where it was recorded and filed. Quarterly indexes were compiled by groom’s name and bride’s name, along with the civil register book number or letter and the page number on which the marriage was recorded. By locating this information, you can order online from the GRO a certificate containing the information inscribed on the original marriage document on file.
In some cases, you may find the original documents in a government office, or you may obtain a copy of the document or a certified document, such as the one shown in Figure 4-17, attesting to the content of the marriage entry.
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FIGURE 4-17 This Certified Copy of an Entry of Marriage was issued in Gloucester, England, in 1919 as legal documentation of the marriage.
Marriage laws have varied over time in different places. The legal age at which an individual could enter into a marriage contract may have been 16, 18, or some other age. Exceptions to these laws may have been made with the express permission of one or both of the parents of a minor. In addition, laws dictating the permissibility of marriage between couples who shared a certain consanguinity, or blood relationship, were generally closely adhered to. For example, a person might not be permitted by law to marry his or her sibling, first cousin, uncle or aunt, or another close relative.
Marriage licenses are common across the world. What differs, however, are the formats and the amount of information contained on them. The typical marriage record will include the name of the groom, the name of the bride, the date and location, the name or signature of the person who officiated, and the names or signatures of at least two witnesses. Other records may include far more details, such as the ages or even the dates of birth of the bride and groom, the names of their parents, the filing date and location, and the name or signature of the clerk or ordinary. English marriage registrations even include the addresses of the bride and groom. Others may include the occupation of the fathers of the couple.
The elaborate marriage certificate shown in Figure 4-18 appears to have been issued by the church rather than by a governmental office as there is no registration information on it. The couple’s names are Germanic, and the bride’s name, Adolphine M. Reeb, is followed by the notation, “geb. Kleinknecht.” The “geb.” is an abbreviation for the German word geborene, which is the feminine of the German word for born or, in this context, née. This notation indicates that Kleinknecht was the bride’s maiden name, and that she had been married before. Also note that another member of her family, Theodor (or Theador), signed the document as one of the witnesses.
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FIGURE 4-18 This elaborate marriage certificate, dated 20 April 1881, was probably issued by a church.
The earliest marriage documents recorded royal or noble marriages. Over time, marriage documents became more common and were issued and recorded by churches. These were all handwritten, often in florid script or calligraphy. Later ones used standardized forms. Still others can be found that are extremely ornate, with elaborate artwork, gold or silver leaf, wax or metallic seals, and affixed with ribbons.
There are other records that can be used to help prove a marriage or the intent to marry. The following list includes a number, but certainly not all, of the kinds of alternative record types you might use to help document a marriage:
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FIGURE 4-19 Marriage banns were announced or published on several successive Sundays to make public a couple’s intention to wed.
Marriage records can be helpful in a number of ways. First, they are sources of primary information for the marriage. They place a couple in a specific place on a particular date. Using the name of the person officiating at the ceremony, you may be able to refer to a city directory of the time and connect him (or her) with a specific religious institution. That may lead you to individual and family records for the bride and perhaps even for the groom. Membership records may then point you to previous and subsequent places of residence in the form of entries in church minutes where transfers of membership were noted. Names of parents and witnesses may connect you with other family members, friends, and collateral relatives, too. These are examples of how to use your critical thinking skills and creativity to identify other potentially helpful records.
Research Divorce Records
Records of a divorce are far less numerous than marriage records, and so you would think they would be easier to locate. Unfortunately, though, that is not always true. Some courthouses, record offices, and government facilities have done an excellent job indexing the divorces by the names of the husband and wife. In other places, the divorce documentation may be filed only under the name of the plaintiff—the person who sued for divorce. Others, however, may simply have filed divorce petitions and decrees in chronological sequence. This can make your job problematic and may require you to spend hours paging through sheaves of papers. Even if the courthouse or clerks have not been as organized or diligent in their filing, there are other possibilities.
Make certain before you undertake a search for divorce records that you determine which court would have handled the process for the period in time when the divorce likely occurred. For example, in one place and time a divorce might have been handled by a civil court, while in another place the hearings may have been held and the dissolution of the marriage may have been finalized in a family court, a high court of justice in the family division, a superior court, a chancery court, or some other judicial division. Figure 4-20 shows an example of a bill of divorce handed down by a chancery court in 1846. Knowing in advance what the laws were at the time and the court of law that handled marriage dissolutions at the time can be crucial to your success.
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FIGURE 4-20 Simple bill of divorce dated 5 March 1846 found in chancery court records
Contact the court that would have handled the divorce petition or suit before you make a trip there. If an index of documents does not exist, request a search of the minutes of the appropriate court. The minute books are well indexed to facilitate location of pertinent documentation, reference to previous court hearings and actions, and the expeditious handling of cases by the magistrate. You may have greater success by obtaining the dates of the filings and hearings in the court minutes, and then going directly to the records filed in chronological sequence.
Early records were handwritten, and reading the clerk’s penmanship may be a challenge. Later records are typewritten and easier to read.
Locate Death Certificates
The sheer volume of records created as a result of a contemporary individual’s death can be enormous. However, you may find that records from earlier times may be nonexistent. The creation and existence of these records will depend on a number of factors. Did the government require them to be kept? Who was responsible for creating them: the government or the church, or both? What information was to be included? Where were these records stored and for what duration? Were there natural or manmade catastrophes that caused records to be lost or destroyed? How will you find out what is and is not available?
A common death record is the death certificate. While a death registration was common in England and Wales from 1837, in the United States the issuance of an official, government-issued death certificate was not required until much later. In fact, a death certificate was not required in many states until the first two decades of the 20th century. Again, The Family Tree Sourcebook can help you determine when records were kept in a specific U.S. state and where they may be found. Please remember that a death certificate is a source for primary information about the death itself but is decidedly a source for secondary information about the birth and other facts. This other information should be corroborated with other primary evidence.
Death records come in many forms. The form familiar to most people in the United States is the death certificate, and the format and amount of information included varies by location and time period. Other documents, however, serve a similar or identical purpose for genealogists because they are, after all, official documentation of a death. These might include a coroner’s report, an autopsy, the final report of an inquest into the cause of death, or a ruling on evidence of an actual or assumed death presented to a judge or jury. This latter situation would include, among others, a case in which a person has disappeared and, after some period of time, is declared dead by a court of law. You also may encounter or obtain a document that acts as a certified copy of an original death certificate or that certifies the official death entry in the government’s records. Figure 4-21 shows an example of a certified copy of a death entry document from the United Kingdom.
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FIGURE 4-21 Certified Copy of an Entry of Death document from Staffordshire, England, for 1875
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Death certificates aren’t necessarily 100 percent accurate. Death certificates in the United States contain both primary and secondary information. Information about the date of death is probably quite accurate because the document was created at or near the time of the event. The name of the mortuary or funeral home and intended place of interment are also likely to be correct. Some person (an informant), however, provided other information, and he or she may not have known correct details about the decedent’s date of birth, parents’ names, and other data. Always use that data as clues but locate other original sources of primary information and personally verify the correct information.
You will remember from our discussion of sources that a death certificate can be a source of both primary and secondary information. Since a death certificate is an official record of a person’s death, it is usually created at or very near the time of death in order to record the event. There also are instances of amended death certificates being issued in order to correct or add to information entered on the original document.
The veracity of the information on a death certificate will depend on where the information originated. Information about the identity of the decedent and the death itself are usually obtained from medical, law enforcement, forensic, and other professional persons. It is their job to gather and report the correct information. You would therefore place a significant amount of credence in their data and, if placed on a certificate created at or very near the time of death, consider it to be good primary information. The name of the mortuary is generally accurate, and the intended place of interment or disposition of cremains is an excellent clue for more documentary information.
Other information found on a death certificate may not be as reliable as that gathered by the professionals. Someone who supposedly knew something about the deceased may have provided the other details included on a death certificate. Another family member or friend is usually solicited to provide the information, and he or she is referred to as the “informant.” The informant may or may not know the answers to all the questions that are asked and, on the spur of the moment, may provide what he or she “thinks” is correct. As a result, there are many errors entered on death certificates. Unless the informant has direct, first-hand, and accurate knowledge of facts, the information provided can only be assumed to be secondary in nature. Everything should therefore be verified or corroborated with other sources before you accept those items of information as fact.
As an example, let’s examine the death certificate presented in Figure 4-22. The name of the person may or may not be correct, depending on the source of the information. The informant provided information concerning the decedent’s date and place of birth, parents’ names, marital status, name of spouse, occupation, place of residence, and other data.
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FIGURE 4-22 Certified copy of a death certificate for the author’s great-grandmother from Floyd County, Georgia, issued in 1935
When you request a copy of a death certificate, you may receive an exact copy of the original document, such as a photocopy. However, it is altogether likely that the official office from which you order a copy will issue a certified document attesting to be information correctly copied from the original death registration document. Figures 4-21, 4-22, and 4-23 are examples of certified copies, the first from the GRO in the United Kingdom and the other two from the United States. These copies commonly contain far less information than the original document. Remember that an exact copy of the original is your better resource, and that transcription errors might be made despite all caution. If you order a copy of a marriage or death record, request an exact copy of the original rather than a transcribed certified copy, if possible.
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FIGURE 4-23 Certified copy of a death record from New Jersey, issued in 1961
Other source materials for determining date of death and other family details include newspaper obituaries (a veritable wealth of clues!), burial permits, transit permits, medical records, family Bibles, tombstones and other cemetery markers, cemetery/sexton records, religious records, mortuary and funeral home records, and wills and probate records, just to name a few.
We’ve covered a great deal of territory in this chapter. By now, you have a well-grounded feel for how to conduct scholarly research and some excellent methodologies to help ensure your success. Chapter 5 will take you into a thorough examination of census records, which in turn can lead you to a wealth of other records.