NOTES FOR YOUTUBE.COM VIDEO: Breaking Through Genealogy Brick Walls

KEY QUESTIONS TO ASK:

  1. What Do I Know? Names/places/dates/relationships
  2. How Do I Know It? Documents/Family Stories/Online Trees/Best Guess
  3. What Do I Want to Know? List a specific goal: example – Who were the parents of my great-grandfather?
  • Where could I find this information?

BEGIN with a study of what records are available in your geographical area / time period

  • Use Wiki or Card Catalog in your genealogical search engine (FamilySearch or Ancestry) to determine where records might exist

PROCESS

  1. Back up a generation and review everything you know

•Have you collected ALL the information on this family?

•Have you collected information about ALL the members of this family?

  1. Create a timeline of important dates and places in the lives of the family

•Create a table or spreadsheet to record date/place/event and data conflicts

•Include important dates in history

•Note where records were found

•Note records you still need to locate

  1. Identify possible gaps or questionable areas to research more intensely
  2. Start with census records – list each census year that might include your “brick wall” ancestor. Add birth/marriage records, WWI or WWII draft cards, Death records
  3. Look for other family members living with them or around them (on same page, same last name). Check same records for siblings to see if they contain info you need. Check for tax records in periods between moves to see where they were

REMINDER: For Ancestry.com, hints noted by “shaky leaf” include only those considered most reliable – it doesn’t mean there isn’t more information you can search for

More information:

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Facebook: Ancestry.com facebook page includes live stream mini webinars

BRICK WALL WORKSHEET

What do you know and how do you know it?

DATE / PLACE / EVENT / CONFLICTS? / Where Records Found / Records Still Need to Locate

Example Worksheet – Looking for parents of great grandfather born ABOUT 1872; married ABOUT 1894 in Missouri or Oklahoma; died 1967 in Arkansas

DATE / PLACE / EVENT / CONFLICTS? / Where Records Found / Records Still Need to Locate
US Census 1870
US Census 1880
Missouri? / If born 1872, should be 8 yoa
Col for parent’s place of birth
US Census 1890
MISSING
Is there a state census in the 1890s? / Missouri or Oklahoma / Should be ~18 / Marriage record
US Census 1900
Missouri or OK / Should be ~ 28
& married 6 yrs
Ck census for # yrs married
Ck census for parent’s place of birth
US Census 1910 / Should be ~38
Col for # yrs married
Col for parent’s place of birth / WW I draft record ? If so, lists specific birth date, place
US Census 1920 / Should be ~48
Col for parent’s place of birth
US Census 1930 / Should be ~58
Col for parent’s place of birth
US Census 1940 / Should be ~68
DEATH 1967
Arkansas / Should be ~95 / State death index?
Soc Sec record?
Tombstone or Obit?

CLUES FROM US CENSUS RECORDS

Date /Place of Birth

  • 1850-1880 and 1910-1940 indicate person’s age (search for birth records within a year on either side)
  • 1900 census (column 7) provides month & year of birth for each person
  • 1850-1940 census – indicates person’s state or country of birth (narrows your geographic scope of search)
  • 1870 (columns 11-12) have check marks for father/mother if they were foreign born
  • 1880 (col 25-26); 1900 (col 14-15), 1910 (col 13-14), 1920 (col 21 & 23), 1930 (col 19-20) – birthplace (state or country) of each person’s mother/father

Marriage /Children

  • married “within the past year” means between June 1 of previous year & May 31 of census year
  • 1850 (column 10)
  • 1860 (column 11)
  • 1870 (column 14)
  • 1880 (column 12)
  • 1900 (column 10) and 1910 (column 9) specifies # of years married at time of census and age “at first marriage”
  • 1900 (column 11) & 1910 (column 10) - # children (living or dead) born
  • 1900 (column 12) & 1910 (column 11) - # children still living (narrows search for missing family members)

Immigration

  • 1900 (col 16), 1910 (col 15), 1920 (col 13), 1930 (col 22) – year of immigration to US for each person
  • Helps locate ship / passenger list records

Naturalization

  • 1870 (col 19) – check mark for “male citizen of US of age 21 or older” - if foreign born, they have been naturalized by this time
  • 1900 (col 18); 1910 (col 16), 1920 (col 14), 1930 (col 23) – naturalization status

(ie Al = alien, Pa= first papers filed, Na = naturalized)

Occupation

  • 1850, 1860, 1870 (column 7) and 1880 (column 13)
  • If “farmer” also check agricultural census schedules for 1860-1880
  • If “manufacturing” (such as saw or grist miller, cheese maker) check manufacturing census schedules

Military Service

  • 1910 (col 30) – indicates whether person was a “survivor of the Union or Confederate Army or Navy” (UA=Union army, UN=Union navy, CA=Confederate army, CN = Confederate navy).
  • 1930 (col 31) – “CW=Civil War veterans, “SP=Spanish-American War”, “Phil = Philippine Insurrection”, “Box = Boxer Rebellion”, “Mex=Mexican Expedition”, “WW = World War I”

Real property (Land – home or farm) – check County Recorder’s office for deed/tax records

  • 1850, 1860, 1870 (column 8) - value of land owned by each person
  • 1900 (column 25), 1910 (column 26), 1920 & 1930 (column 7) –own or rent
  • 1900 (column 26), 1910 (column 27), 1920 (column 8) – mortgaged or paid for
  • 1930 (column 8) – value of home if owned or monthly rental, if rented