It's been a while since I have lived "at home." I still have a subscription to my hometown weekly newspaper. Frankly, it gets read more quickly than the local newspaper printed in the town where I work. It is a great way to keep up on the local happenings, particularly who died, who got married, and who reproduced. And every so often the editor prints a "letter to the editor" from someone looking for relatives who used to live in the county where I was born and raised.
Of course, large metropolitan daily papers will not publish such...
[ Next Page ] - Click Here
December 17, 2006
How Do I Know I Have the Right Family?
When families migrate from one area to another, it can be hard to determine if you have really located the same group of individuals. The difficulty is compounded if the last name and first names are relatively common. It's important to be certain that the "true" family has been located and that one has not mixed up families with similar names. Male cousins bearing the same first and last name are particularly easy to confuse.
One quick way to track families in the post-1850 era is through population census schedules. The listing of all household members facilitates the matching process, and every-name indexes make the use of these records much easier than before, especially when the residence is not known. However, the first close match on the list of results is not necessarily the correct family. All matches to the search terms should be analyzed and eliminated based upon what is known about the family. What appears to be the "right" entry must be compared in light of other records to determine if there really is consistency.
On the other hand, searches of databases must not be overly strict, as this can sometimes eliminate potential matches. I generally perform a variety of searches for individuals I am seeking, including some using Soundex and wildcard functionality. Sometimes it is easy to determine if the correct person has been found (the person has an unusual name, the person is living in the right location, names, ages, and birthplaces of family members match up, etc.). Other times it is not possible to make a definitive decision that the desired person has been located. When families are eliminated, the researcher should keep notes as to why these families were stricken from consideration.
[ Next Page ] - Click Here
One quick way to track families in the post-1850 era is through population census schedules. The listing of all household members facilitates the matching process, and every-name indexes make the use of these records much easier than before, especially when the residence is not known. However, the first close match on the list of results is not necessarily the correct family. All matches to the search terms should be analyzed and eliminated based upon what is known about the family. What appears to be the "right" entry must be compared in light of other records to determine if there really is consistency.
On the other hand, searches of databases must not be overly strict, as this can sometimes eliminate potential matches. I generally perform a variety of searches for individuals I am seeking, including some using Soundex and wildcard functionality. Sometimes it is easy to determine if the correct person has been found (the person has an unusual name, the person is living in the right location, names, ages, and birthplaces of family members match up, etc.). Other times it is not possible to make a definitive decision that the desired person has been located. When families are eliminated, the researcher should keep notes as to why these families were stricken from consideration.
[ Next Page ] - Click Here
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)