Still Seeking Ancestors Missing from the 1950 US Census

Did you locate all the US ancestors you were hoping to find in the 1950 Census?

Immediately after the release of records last year, many of us rushed to find people who were enumerated on April 1, 1950. Still, I have yet to find a couple of dozen ancestors, so I'm going to redo my Census searches again on multiple sites, focusing on this one point in time.

At top, I'll use the Ancestry hints to see what that site has already found for ancestors in my family trees. To be thorough, I won't just rely on hints--I'll also specifically search the database "1950 United States Federal Census" with creative surname spelling.

On MyHeritage, I'll search for missing ancestors in the database titled "1950 United States Federal Census." Why? Because MyHeritage and Ancestry indexed this Census differently, I have a better chance of finding "missing" ancestors if I try both sites. 

Of course, Family Search is always free to search, with the 1950 US Census available here. 

I've also been using other sources, including phone directories, newspaper mentions, and vital records, to locate these ancestors and their families in the mid-20th century. But I would like to have the Census records so I can compare with previous Census answers about age, citizenship, occupation, and so on.

With a focused search, I expect to cut the number of ancestors "missing" from this Census to only a handful! 

In Beta at Ancestry: Top Hints Feature

 In beta at Ancestry is a feature called Top Hints, which I'm exploring this week.

The leaf symbol captioned "beta" in the image above is where to click for "top hints for 10 people in your tree." Not every Ancestry member may have this new feature, but it is interesting because it calls attention to people from across the tree, people I may have not worked on recently. I know, I know, hints can be misleading or outright ridiculous. But ya just never know, so I do look now and then. This feature is like a variety-pack of hints from across the tree.

Clicking on the beta leaf brought up the list at right in the image. One name is blank here because it's a living relative. To look at the hints in more detail, click on the down arrow at right of each name. In my first list of hints, all were actual records or indexes, like Census documents, marriage/death indexes, or draft registrations, which I can evaluate individually. No ship illustrations or DNA strands, so far. 

Above, how Ancestry explains and introduces "Top Hints."

For me, Top Hints is something to check first thing in the morning before I dive into an ongoing project, or when I have a spare 10-15 minutes at any point. Take a look and see whether you have this beta feature and how well it works for you.

As you can see from the image at top, I'm also having fun with the new fan feature in Ancestry, which I learned about from a blog post by Diane Henriks. I haven't been able to change the number of generations displayed, so as she says, this feature must still be in beta. I like the suggested ancestors shown in green on the fan, hints that I can review and, mostly, reject unless there's solid evidence to investigate. 

IMHO, I'm the quality assurance person on my family trees, deciding whether to accept or reject any hint after looking at the source's credibility and relevance. Most "possible parent" hints get rejected, but occasionally those with real sources lead me in promising new directions. 

So Many Sites to Memorialize Ancestors

After 25 years of genealogy research, I've learned a lot about my ancestors--and I want to be sure this information isn't lost in the years to come.

For the past few years, I've been writing bite-sized ancestor bios and posting on key genealogy sites. The idea is to share family history more widely, and bios are also possible cousin bait. 

Above, four websites where I've posted the same bio and photo of my paternal grandmother, Henrietta "Yetta" Mahler Burk (1881-1954). 

Clockwise, from top left:

WikiTree is a free collaborative tree site that's growing fast and has the added benefits of sources and (if you wish) DNA connections. I also appreciate the ability to link to profile pages for each parent, each child, each spouse, each sibling. Plus WikiTreers are a friendly bunch!

MyHeritage.com is a subscription site that designates a place on each ancestor profile for a biography. If you want to learn more about how to post a bite-sized bio on MyHeritage, please read my article in the Knowledge Base. Bonus: MyHeritage has many nifty photo tools for enhancing/repairing/colorizing old family photos.

FamilySearch.org came online in 1999 and is the world's largest free collaborative tree site. Grandma Henrietta is well represented with photo, bio, research. A great site, and I'm glad that MyHeritage includes FamilySearch tree results when I research my ancestors.

Find a Grave, now owned by Ancestry, is another free place to post ancestor bios. I especially like that the 226 million+ memorial pages from this site are indexed and appear in search results on Ancestry, Family Search, Fold3, and more. 

Reader Diane asks whether I'm going to use Ancestry's new Storymaker Studio or MyHeritage's DeepStory for telling ancestors' stories. I tried DeepStory, and found it engaging but I do need more experimentation to refine the story and choose the right ancestor photo. It would intrigue the younger generation, but it can't be put on the bookshelf like a photobook, ready at any time for any audience. So far, I haven't yet tried Storymaker Studio but it's on my list to investigate this year.

PLUS: On Ancestry, there is a convenient space under "LifeStory" to type or paste in a full bio! I just did that for Henrietta Mahler Burk, as shown above. Another great way to share family history in narrative form.

Happy 142d birthday, Grandma Yetta, on May 9th. Your name, face, and life story are not forgotten! I'm currently creating a professional photobook about you and Grandpa Isaac, as a keepsake for your grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

LOCKSS via Find a Grave

After I join my ancestors, I don't want my family history to be forgotten or lost. That's why I've been sharing far and wide, knowing that LOCKSS - lots of copies keep stuff safe.

In addition to documenting my family tree and hubby's family tree on multiple websites, I've made Find a Grave a big part of my LOCKSS plan. Membership in Find a Grave is free: register, create a member profile (you can list surnames you're researching, great cousin bait!), and get started. 

Create memorials, link relatives, add bios

I'm steadily going through my trees and checking for Find a Grave memorials. I add a page for ancestors who have none, when I know where those people were buried (or cremated or memorialized on a cenotaph, like hubby's cousin here). Little by little, I'm also adding bite-sized bios, as shown on hubby's cousin's page.

If a memorial already exists, I link the memorial pages of ancestors who were related to each other. That way the memorial will show an ancestor's parents/spouse/children/sibling(s) as family context--and clues for other researchers. This also gives me a push to conduct a bit of research if I'm missing a date or a relationship.

Nearly all the memorial managers I've dealt with have approved my edits quickly and completely. The wonderful manager whose bio I show here holds a few ancestral memorials from my tree. He's posted all suggested edits within a day or two, and also made one transfer at my request. He is the ideal manager IMHO. I've heard so so many complaints about managers who won't transfer memorials, won't make edits, but rarely have I had a bad experience and I'm not easily deterred from my mission of LOCKSS.

Once or twice I had to explain my edits to a memorial manager by showing documentation. For instance, when there was no headstone, I proved someone's name was wrong in the cemetery's index and the manager changed the page. This doesn't happen often, but I can understand a manager striving for accuracy might want to know "how I know."

On the other hand, I disagreed with an edit suggested by a researcher trying to be helpful. The edit suggested adding "Jr" to the ancestor's name because his father was "Sr." Um, the younger guy had a different middle name than his dad AND never in his life did he use the "Jr" suffix (lots of documentation on this guy). We had a polite exchange of messages when I rejected the proposed "Jr" change, explaining my reasoning and thanking the researcher for other edits I did approve.

Find a Grave index is widely available

Now back to LOCKSS. At top is a screen shot of the Ancestry catalog entry for Find a Grave. This, this, is a big reason why I invest so much time in Find a Grave. 

See how many millions upon millions of Find a Grave memorials are indexed and searchable on Ancestry?

Anyone researching an ancestor of mine via Ancestry is highly likely to see a link to the Find a Grave memorial page. They'll fill out their tree, and may even connect with me to share info (remember my Find a Grave profile shows surnames researched). My ancestors on multiple Ancestry trees--LOCKSS.

FamilySearch also makes the Find a Grave index available on its free website. Millions of people use FamilySearch--meaning any of them could potentially notice the Find a Grave memorial I created OR a link to a relative on Find a Grave. Quite a powerful incentive to add my ancestors to Find a Grave and improve existing memorial pages!

Is Find a Grave perfect? Of course not, and there are any number of legitimate concerns. But the many pluses make it an important part of my plan for LOCKSS, which is why I'm an active member.

"Membership" is Amy Johnson Crow's genealogy prompt for week 12 of #52Ancestors. 

Put Your Genealogical Proof on Your Tree(s)

Last night, Shelley Bishop gave a terrific talk to my local genealogical society, titled "Avoiding an Ancestor ID Crisis." She suggested writing a proof statement to clarify your evidence and reasoning when trying to determine which individual is actually your ancestor.

But what about public family trees that show the wrong individual instead of the person you can now prove is the real ancestor? Or collaborative trees where someone is perpetuating incorrect info? I have some ideas, please read on!

Ask questions, answer questions

A decade ago, nearly all public family trees showed the mother of Lucinda Helen Bentley Shank as S.L. Hixon, based on an old county history book. Above is the page in question, where a sentence notes: "The first children born where those of S.L. Hixon and Wm. T. Bentley, in 1835." (See green arrow.)

Reading that source, I had questions: Why would S.L. Hixon be named that way, rather than with a given name and the surname of Bentley? Also, reading the rest of the page, it seemed clear that S.L. Hixon was male, since he had a first wife named Nancy (above the green arrow) and is mentioned in the final sentence as "Mr. Hixon."

My theory was that the book was naming only the fathers of the first two babies born among settlers in 1835. Digging deeper, I was able to locate and order a death record for Lucinda. Although only an extract was available at that time, it clearly showed Olivia Morgan as the mother's maiden name, NOT S.L. Hixon. 

Therefore, I added Olivia Morgan as a new name to my family tree, and uploaded the death cert extract as proof she was Lucinda's mother. Six other people subsequently saved the extract as source to their family trees. Later, Lucinda's actual death cert became available and I attached it as my source, as well. Even though death certs aren't necessarily completely accurate, I felt fairly confident because I found Olivia's name on another child's documents. 

On Ancestry, I posted the S.L. Hixon page on Olivia Morgan's profile (since she was, after all, the wife of Wm T. Bentley and mother of one of the first babies born to settlers). Soon afterward, someone posted a question on the "comments" section of the source page, asking how I found Olivia to be the mother. Shown above, I explained my reasoning. Happily, over time, Olivia Morgan replaced S.L. Hixon as the mother on dozens of family trees!

BUT you don't have to wait for anyone to ask a question. You can simply post your own comment about proof on a source or on your ancestor's profile. If your tree is public, any researcher can read your comment. Maybe that comment will diminish the spread of incorrect info and encourage the spread of accurate info.

Show your proof as a source

On Family Search, I posted a document and explanation to confirm that Olivia Morgan was indeed the mother of Lucinda Helen Bentley Shank. 

It's easy to do this by creating your own source on the ancestor's profile. I uploaded the death cert extract from Olivia Morgan's daughter, and wrote a sentence explaining why this source was being attached (see blue star above).

This is an easy way to share your source and reasoning with others who are researching the same ancestors--and, hopefully, persuade them to leave the facts intact based on your evidence.

UPDATE: In her comment below, Teresa Eckford recommends using the new "notes/alert" function added to FamilySearch a few months ago. Here's a link to learn more about this easy way to let others know about important research info for a particular ancestor. TY to Teresa for this excellent suggestion! 

It's October: Have You Found Your 1950 Ancestors?

It's October, Family History Month! And it's been six months since the US National Archives released the mid-century Census taken on April 1, 1950.

If you haven't yet found your ancestors in that Census, this is a good time to try again, because indexing is nearly complete! 

Plus access to the 1950 US Census is free on all the major genealogy sites. 

Below are some links to check out, including search, browsing, and extra info for background.

Tip: If you can't find your ancestor using one site, try a different one. A couple of my ancestors didn't shown up in a search on one site but were indexed and discoverable by a search on another site. 

FamilySearch.org 

• www.familysearch.org/1950census/ (current index review status, background on this US Census)

• www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/United_States_Census_1950 (release details, links to forms, lots more)

• www.familysearch.org/search/collection/4464515 (search or browse the 1950 Census)

Ancestry.com

• www.ancestry.com/c/1950-census  (search this US Census, and background on this Census) 

• https://support.ancestry.com/s/article/1950-U-S-Federal-Census (includes link to search this Census)

• https://support.ancestry.com/s/article/Census-District-Finder?language=en_US (how and why to use district finder feature, useful for browsing in an Enumeration District for FAN club members)

MyHeritage.com 

• www.myheritage.com/census/us  (tips and search link for 1950 US Census)

• www.myheritage.com/research/collection-11006/1950-united-states-federal-census (index reviewed by people)

• www.myheritage.com/research/collection-11011/1950-united-states-federal-census-ai-index (indexed by computer)

• www.myheritage.com/research/collection-11009/1950-united-states-federal-census-images (browse 1950 images by state, county, Enumeration District)

This is my entry for the Genealogy Blog Party for October, 2022.

Book Review: "Ancestry" by Simon Mawer

Anyone who has discovered conflicting or confusing genealogical records will appreciate the difficulty of constructing a plausible narrative to explain what was happening during a certain period in an ancestor's life. 

Famed novelist Simon Mawer had a variety of real-life genealogical documents in hand, plus old family photos, when he wrote his latest book, Ancestry, a blend of historical fiction and biographical fiction loosely based on his family tree. The records didn't tell one cohesive story--instead, they revealed tantalizing clues to underlying dynamics that shaped ancestors' decisions and actions from the early 1800s toward the end of the 19th century.

Flesh and blood ancestors

Mawer's interest, readers learn in the preface on page 1, is in trying to understand who these ancestors really were: "Where is the flesh and blood? Who were the people? What did they feel? Where have they gone?" Being a novelist, he used fiction as a way to explore what key ancestors thought and did during their lives, sometimes offering more than one possible explanation to fit the known facts.

In the first section, the main characters are his great-great-grandparents Abraham Block (who goes to sea and winds up missing) and Naomi Lulham (a naive seamstress striving for a better life). Mawer describes Abraham's seafaring life and Naomi's challenges at home with great attention to social and historical context, imagining their inner lives with fictional creativity.

The author quickly ties up genealogical loose ends by summarizing what happened to the descendants of these ancestors in just three pages. Having followed the fictionalized trials and tribulations of Abraham and Naomi for a number of chapters, I wished for a little more detail (factual too) about later generations.

In the second section, readers meet the author's military ancestor George Mawer and his Irish bride Ann Scanlon, who bunks with her husband in the barracks as his regiment is posted thither and yon. Again, Mawer combines solid research and creative imagination to describe what both ancestors will face, physically and emotionally, during George's military career leading up to the Crimean War, which will change the family tree forever.

Documentation combined with imagination

As a genealogy buff, my favorite parts of the book were the reproductions of the actual documents, with Mawer's interpretation of what was officially said and what was not reflected on the documents. Such as the name of a baby's father, a fact obscured on more than official birth record. I also appreciated the way the author focused on particular details to convey the feeling of everyday life in the mid-1800s. 

The Guardian's reviewer was unhappy that actual documentation interrupted the fictional flow of the creative story line (the opposite of my experience). The reviewer for the The Spectator cited the author's ability to vividly paint historical details as a particular strength of this book (as was my experience). The Financial Times reviewer especially appreciated the way Mawer created female ancestors who were "anything but ordinary" on the page (I agree, although I don't necessarily agree with the motivations ascribed to these women by the author).

My last thought: If only Mawer had included a family tree! Even a very basic tree (protecting the privacy of recent generations) would have been helpful in following along as babies were born and grew up. 

1950 US Census Hints: Filter by Name

 

In the weeks since Ancestry.com began delivering 1950 US Census hints to my family trees, I've been enjoying the convenience of reviewing and adding this information to ancestor profiles.

By now, there are LOTS of hints. The default hint arrangement is by most recent hint added to my list.

But at this point, I'm being choosier about who I want to see first.

As shown above, Blackford is a recent addition to my hint list, but a low priority because the relationship is quite distant. Maternal grandfather of husband of sister-in-law! Not a high priority.

To see more of the people I care more about, I'm going to filter my 1950 US Census hints by name (see star at top). Then I can specify the closer ancestors I want to see first (see image below).

Filter by first name or last name or both

Later, I'll go back and review the remaining hints for distant ancestors.

Hope you're having fun finding ancestors and the FAN club (friends, associates, neighbors) in the 1950 Census. 

1950 US Census: What Works?

Trying to find my ancestors in the 1950 US Census, I settled on a number of techniques that work well.

• For best results, locate the ancestor's Enumeration District. Don't know the ED but have an address? Use Ancestry's 1950 Census District Finder tool (link is on the home page). It's the fastest way to transform a street address into an ED. It also takes you to the ED maps in case you want to look for landmarks. Read Ancestry's explanation here.
• Using NARA's search interface, enter the location (state/county). Then add the ED. Read the description of the ED. In example above, I'm showing ED 60-36 for Maury County, TN. The ED description matches where I wanted to search.
• Add head of house as surname given name. In example above, this would be Hanes Bernard (his name is Bernard Hanes, but listing in Census is by surname first).
  
• This should narrow your search to a single ED and the correct page, as shown at top. Even though the automated indexing didn't correctly transcribe the given name, it did make the find for me.

What if this doesn't work? Remove the name and only search for the ED. Then browse the ED, page by page, to find your ancestor. I had to do this in more than one instance, but having the correct ED meant I browsed perhaps a dozen pages in.

Why isn't my ancestor shown in the right place?

Lots of people weren't home when the enumerator visited. April 1st was a Saturday in 1950 and some folks were out! 

If the person wasn't home, the enumerator would usually note on that address line, sending you to "sheet 71, line 3" or something similar to find the person who would ordinarily be at that address. Always check pages at the end of the ED. 

Starting with sheet 71, enumerators listed people who they interviewed on a subsequent visit. I've seen as many as 10 additional pages for callbacks in a single large ED.  Check the end of every ED if you don't find your ancestor where expected.

Download the page

Download the Census page showing your ancestor so you can study it further and even upload to your family tree. To do this, look at top right corner of the image of that page in the ED (see above example). Click on the three vertical dots and then click on the word download. 

Once the page downloads, rename that page so you know what it is. In this case, I named the file Hanes_Bernard_1950Census.jpg. Then I put it into a dedicated 1950 US Census folder on my desktop. Later, I'll copy it into my "Hanes" genealogy folder and upload it to my various family trees.

Happy hunting! I'm still looking for more ancestors and then will widen my search for FAN club members. 

PS: Here's what blogger Amanda Pape suggests: "If the ED that Ancestry's 1950 Census District Finder tool turns out to be the wrong ED (and that has happened to me a lot, particularly in large cities like Houston and Chicago), then use the Steve Morse tools (that you've blogged about before). I've also had some luck, when the Ancestry ED is wrong, just searching by state, county (or city/county), and just the surname (if unique enough) or the HOH surname & first name combo. I'll usually try that first before moving on to Steve Morse." 

Exploring New Military Pages on Fold3

 

Researching my husband's ancestors, I've stumbled across a fairly new type of page on Fold3, the Ancestry-owned website featuring military records and more. 

I access Fold3 for free via my state library and use it to look at 1812 War records, US Civil War records, World War I/II records, and military pensions, among other documents. I've also used Fold3 to make memorial pages for ancestors who served. 

Above, a Fold3 page listing key elements on the time-line of Charles H. Stout. This page was created in June, 2021 by the Fold 3 team. 

I like that the page summarizes which conflict (US Civil War), which part of the military (Union Army, Ohio Volunteer Infantry), and links to sources that support these facts.

Charles's birth year of 1843 is supported by 3 Ancestry records, which all turn out to be US Civil War records. In fact, all the records attached to Charles H. Stout are, so far, Civil War records. 

Clicking on Charles's regiment brings up this terrific page, highlighting when the Ohio 51st Volunteer Regiment was mustered into service and when it was mustered out of service--plus key battles fought by the regiment. In the past, when I was writing about my husband's US Civil War ancestors, I had to individually look up much of the info that is linked to page.

On the right side of the page, it's easy to click on the Company and see facts such as the name of the youngest person to enlist (in this case, at age 15) and the oldest man to enlist (at age 46). Other details include a list of officers and a list of soldiers. Symbols show, at a glance, who was a prisoner of war, who was wounded, and who died during the war. All excellent historical and human background for understanding the life of a Civil War ancestor.

If you haven't used Fold3 lately to research your military ancestors, I encourage you to explore the new pages and provide feedback, since these are currently in beta. 

Writing About a Civil War Ancestor to Engage Readers

Union Christian College

Researching my husband's Union Army ancestors, I'm trying to wring every detail from every source to make these brief family history profiles come alive and engage readers.

Even though my main focus is their Civil War experiences, I want to portray them as real people with real lives and show descendants how family history and American history are intertwined.

Jacob Wright Larimer's Early Years

Today I've been looking at Jacob Wright Larimer (1846-1876), who was my husband's first cousin, four times removed.

From Census documentation, land records, vital records, and newspaper research, I learned Jacob was the next-to-youngest child of Moses Larimer and Nancy Blosser Larimer. Moses was himself the son of an "Ohio fever" pioneer, going on to become an Indiana pioneer farmer.

Unfortunately, Moses died at age 53, leaving his widow Nancy with two teen sons and two teen daughters at home. Seeing a non-family "farm laborer" also in the household during the 1860 Census, I conclude that the Larimers hired someone to help Jacob and his brother work the land.

Civil War History and Family History

According to Civil War chronology, President Abraham Lincoln called for more Union recruits in December of 1864. Jacob and his brother were among the Hoosiers who responded: They enlisted in January of 1865, among the 1,013 men who formed the new regiment known as 151st Indiana Volunteer Infantry.

I consulted multiple sources to follow Jacob and learn what this Union Army regiment did during the Civil War: Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Indiana; Wikipedia; Indiana Historical Bureau; National Park Service; and Fold3 records.

Jacob and his regiment never engaged in any battles, although the 151st Indiana Infantry did serve on patrols and on garrison duty in Tennessee. Jacob was mustered out in Nashville in September of 1865.

For other ancestors who had extensive Civil War experience, I've pieced together their military actions in a way very similar to the case study provided by NARA here.

Jacob's Post-War Life

From BMD and Census records, I found that Jacob returned home and married Susanna Puterbaugh on November 25, 1866. The couple, both in their twenties, had a son and a daughter (plus a third child who didn't live to adulthood). They made their home in Peru, Indiana.

The 1870 Census showed Jacob working as a sewing machine agent. This was interesting because he came from a long line of farmers. On the other hand, sewing machines for the home were fairly new and increasingly popular, so this sounds like a good career move.

Another clue was more surprising: Through Ancestry, I found Jacob listed in the 1871-1872 yearbook for Union Christian College. UCC was a coeducational college that offered four courses of study: academic  (literature, math, history, writing), classical (Latin, Greek, related history, higher math, earth sciences), scientific  (chemistry, physiology, higher math, languages), and music (primarily piano but "vocal music is taught gratis.")


College and Civil War Pension

How did a married man with a family find the money and time to pursue an academic course of study at college? According to the yearbook, tuition for one term was $6 (worth $126 in today's dollars).

In addition, the yearbook states: "Soldiers who were disabled in the defense of our Government, during the late rebellion...are entitled to instruction free of charge."

Even though I have no record of Jacob Wright Larimer claiming invalid status, it is possible he could demonstrate to the college that he was disabled and therefore entitled to free tuition. And then there's a question about distance: Using online mapping, I calculated that the college was 180 miles from Jacob's home. Would Jacob really be able to remain away from his family for months at a time in the early 1870s, when his children were under the age of ten?

Sadly, Jacob died at the age of 29 in May of 1876. His Civil War Pension record indicates that his widow Susannah filed for his benefits. Given Jacob's early death (alas, no death cert and so far, no obit), I wonder whether some disability stemming from his military service contributed to his early death.

Soon, widow Susannah found work as a seamstress. Knowing that her late husband's occupation was sewing machine agent, perhaps she used one of his sewing machines to support her two children?

Sifting Through Hints for Cousin Bait

Use surname filtering to focus on cousin bait

If you're looking for cousin bait, you have to focus your attention on the most productive possibilities when sifting through family-tree hints on Ancestry.

At left, the hint summary for my husband's family tree on Ancestry. There are 3,200 people on this tree, so it's not surprising that I have so many total hints.

Stories and photos are often very good cousin bait, especially if you filter the hints by surname as you focus on specific ancestral lines. Then you can look at the contributor's profile and tree (if public) to see how he or she fits into your family tree. (I'm not going to talk about DNA or ThruLines in this post--topics for another time!)

Stories as Cousin Bait

In this case, I looked at all 21 of the "stories" to see what they are, who posted them, and how many were personal vs. transcribed documents or records. Most could be seen without downloading any files (which I won't do unless I know the person, just in case).

Many of the stories were summaries of family histories with footnotes leading to county histories or other books. Two were transcriptions of will/probate materials for distant ancestors. All useful in my research, but not specifically cousin bait, although of course I checked to see how the contributors might fit into the family tree.

A good number of these 21 stories were transcriptions of oral history from someone who actually knew one of my husband's ancestors! Great cousin bait. I've now invited that contributor to see my public family tree, and he has invited me to see his public family tree. There is a distant cousin connection here, and the oral history posted as stories served as effective cousin bait to reel me in.

Photos as Cousin Bait

Ineffective as cousin bait

My favorite cousin bait (to leave as bait or to follow as bait) is a personal photo of an ancestor.

With 627 photo hints to sift through, I narrowed the focus by specifying a particular surname for searching photo hints.

Within the photo hints for McClure were dozens of flags, patriotic images, DNA symbols, and other non-personal images.

These are NOT effective cousin bait. Folks like to use such images to tag certain categories of ancestors, but they don't work well for cousin bait.

On the other hand, the photo shown below is top-notch cousin bait I discovered when searching photo hints for Larimer, another of my husband's ancestral surnames.

Effective cousin bait: A personal photo with a title

Not only is it a real photo, it has a title that indicates who and what the photo is about (I masked some info for privacy). I've confirmed that the person who posted the photo is actually a cousin. He has meticulously researched his branch of the tree and we are now guests on each other's family trees, sharing info about the Larimer line.

For all the other record hints, I will filter by surname and work down the list. I don't generally check family tree hints this way, by the way. Instead, I look at them when I'm researching a particular ancestor.

Have fun with #CousinBait! 

June 1 = Backup Day

Old backup technology

Today is backup day.

After a computer glitch deleted hundreds of my photos a few years ago, I restored most of them by rummaging in my old backup CDs. Old-fashioned by 2020 standards, but they worked exactly as they were intended!

These days, I safeguard my 22 years of genealogy research with automated backups and backups of my backups.

Plus, on the first of every month, another backup ritual.

Automated:  My Mac's Time Machine backs up every day to a dedicated external hard drive. In addition, I have a BackBlaze account that backs up files and photos and letters (not applications) to the cloud on a daily basis.

Not automated: Every time I open my RootsMagic 7 genealogy software, I first sync with my multiple Ancestry trees. Then I backup these trees to my external hard drive before I close the software.

On the first day of every month, I manually download my Ancestry trees as Gedcoms and back them up on my Mac and in the cloud.

Plus I have a separate external hard drive backup just for photos, scanned images, and other genealogy data.

When I prepare a family history booklet or scan an album or some old letters, I put copies (works in progress and finished products) on this drive.

How do you backup your #FamilyHistory?

Thank You for Sharing

Handwritten note by Brice Larimer McClure, naming his ancestors

My husband's grandfather, Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970), left several scraps of paper with notes about his family tree.

As shown above left, one of these scraps begins with the sentence: "I am Brice Larimer McClure, a son of . . . " He then proceeds to name his grandparents and great-grandparents and back as far as he knows.

Are the details all correct? Maybe yes, maybe no. This note was written from memory, I suspect, reflecting what Brice was told about his ancestors as he was growing up. Even if the names and dates aren't entirely accurate, they gave me good ideas for further research.

This first-person account of McClure and Larimer genealogy was so unique, I couldn't keep it to myself. I decided to share it on a public family tree on Ancestry back in 2011. As shown above right, I attached it to eight ancestors whose names appear on the note.

Since then, a total of 99 other Ancestry members have saved it to their family trees. This is far more people than have ever saved any other single photo or document from my public trees to their trees.

By sharing, I hope to give others clues for researching names, dates, and relationships in their trees, just as I've learned from clues in unique documents and photos shared by people who attached them to their public family trees.

Thank you, everyone, for sharing. Please go ahead and use any unique photos and documents you find on my public trees to jump-start your own research. And remember--unique items like this can be excellent cousin bait! 

Backup Is Cheap, Family Trees Are Priceless

Ancestry's instructions for downloading a family tree

One big reason I use RootsMagic7 genealogy software is to be able to sync with the family trees I've created on Ancestry.

Although I back up my RootsMagic trees every month or whenever I make major changes, I also like to download my Ancestry trees periodically.

It's easy to download a tree as a gedcom, as you can see from the above Ancestry screen shot. I give each downloaded tree a distinctive name AND date, so I can distinguish the "Wood" family tree download of February, 2020 from the "Farkas" family tree download of December, 2019.**

Keeping my family history safe is a top priority. Multiple backup processes (both RootsMagic and Ancestry trees backed up, stored on two hard drives, and stored daily in the cloud) may seem like a lot of duplication, but it offers me more options for restoring my trees, if ever the need arises.

Backup drives and cloud storage are relatively cheap -- carefully researched and documented family trees are priceless and deserve protection.

**RootsMagic will also download an Ancestry tree for me, including all media attached to the individuals--very convenient! I do this as well, but also like to keep a separate gedcom downloaded directly from Ancestry in case I need to recover.

Hint, Hint--Ancestor Adventures with Hints

Once upon a time, I wished for hints, hoping for clues that would lead me to learn more about ancestors.

Be careful what you wish for!

My husband's family tree is now overflowing with hints, as you can see from the above summary.

Filtering Hints

Many of these hints are for too-distant ancestors. Many of the photos are of DNA or ships or flags.

To winnow down the avalanche of hints, I sort by last name and filter by last name. Above, an example of an ancestor I am quite interested in. He's the first of many ancestors named Work with hints waiting to be evaluated. I can see, at a glance, hints for all ancestors named Work by sorting and filtering, making my adventures in hint-land easier and more productive.

Hints for Ancestors Near and Far

Some of the hints I'm reviewing turn out to be  helpful, even if they refer to ancestors on the outskirts of the tree.

Here, for instance, is a newspaper clipping about the wife of a 2d cousin 3x removed. It led me to names of other ancestors slightly closer to those I'm actively researching.

More adventures in hint-land are in my future.

Thanks, as always, to Amy Johnson Crow for this week's #52Ancestors prompt, "adventure."

Playing Tag with My Ancestors

When I first saw Ancestry's TreeTags, I was intrigued by the categories. The idea is to indicate the research status of each ancestor.

Tag, You're It!

I like "unverified" and "hypothesis" because they are a great way to tag ancestors who I've either found on some document and been unable to verify further, or ancestors who I suspect (but can't yet prove) are related in a certain way to my tree. Extremely useful.

"Actively researching" and "brick wall" seem less useful tags for my purposes. "Verified" is, however, highly useful for situations where I've got clear, solid evidence for these ancestors and can verify how they are actually related to my family. 

What Does Complete Mean?

But after 21 years of active research, the word "complete" is not in my #genealogy vocabulary and I doubt I'll ever tag any ancestor in this way.

Ancestry defines "complete" as: "I am confident that I have executed thorough searches to help answer my questions."

As thorough as my research may be, new records become available all the time. And that's not all. DNA is also changing the research landscape.

So although I may have answered my current questions, and may even have amassed a huge amount of data through research, I don't view any ancestor as completely researched.

New Records Galore

Just this month, for instance, Family Search posted a database of 34 million U.S. obituaries from GenealogyBank, 1980-2014. Woo-hoo! I'm searching for the names of cousins, aunts, and uncles who died in the past 40 years. Maybe an obit will reveal a previously unknown spouse or challenge my knowledge of that person's life in some other way.

Family Search also posted databases of Cook County, Illinois births-marriages-deaths from the 1870s into the 20th century, as late as 1994 for the deaths. Another woo-hoo, as I search for ancestors who lived or died in Chicago. Found two already.

I may stop researching some ancestors for a while, focusing on others who I know less about or certain ancestors I have a special interest in, but I can't imagine tagging any ancestor (even my parents) as "complete."

What about you?

PS: To see the very latest collections on Family Search, go to the collections page here and sort by "last updated" (on the far right). 

Cleaning Up Online Trees, One Ancestor at a Time

One ancestor at a time. Because I use my Ancestry trees as my main tree (and sync to my RootsMagic software as backup, then backup my backup), I'm cleaning up my online trees. (Also known as a Genealogy Go-Over.)

Trying to be systematic, I'm working backward from my husband on his tree (and from me on my tree).

As shown above on hubby's grandma, my goal is to have a MyTreeTag for each ancestor AND sources attached as media for each main fact.*

My process, generation by generation, is:

• Starting with parents and grandparents, I'm adding a MyTreeTag (new Ancestry feature) to indicate that these people are verified. Ancestry defines that as "I have done my best to verify the facts of this ancestor’s life with records which are attached." All true. I'm reluctant to say "Complete" because, despite thorough research, something new is liable to pop up someday. But verified indicates I've attached proper sources and used them to support the facts in the ancestor's timeline.
• When I don't have enough records attached, I'm doing a search to turn up more records. If little shows up, I'm tagging these ancestors actively researching or, in some cases, unverified. Several are, unfortunately, still hypothesis, meaning I'm still testing whether they truly belong where I put them on the tree.
• Ancestor by ancestor, I'm taking a screen shot of each source and uploading it as media visible by anyone who wants to see my source for a given fact. This makes my sources public and viewable. At a glance, someone can click and see a birth, marriage, or death cert--and save it or download it if desired. I don't mind sharing records I've spent money on! Others have been generous enough to do this, and I'm paying it forward by sharing mine.

Another by-product of this ancestor-by-ancestor go-over is that Ancestry hints tend to pop up on people I'm looking at. Woo-hoo!

This is a good project for when I have 10 minutes here or 10 minutes there. Inch by inch, making progress.

*UPDATE: Before attaching any sources as images visible on public trees, must check that they will not violate copyright or terms of service for the site.

Trying ThruLines and MyTreeTags

The new Ancestry ThruLines feature is a step forward in understanding how DNA matches *might* fit on a family tree. This feature also suggests "potential ancestors" to add to a tree.

The key is to understand that names, dates, relationships all depend on the accuracy of other people's trees. As with any info found online or provided by someone else, it's up to me to investigate and verify or disprove each potential ancestor and possible DNA match.

Pick Your Ancestor 

ThruLines is arranged by most recent ancestor and stretches back to most distant ancestor. Above, a snippet of the 100 ancestors/"potential ancestors" on my husband's ThruLines page. That makes it easy to investigate links to specific ancestors of interest. I can be as systematic as I like in drilling down into my husband's father's side or mother's side, in a particular generation.

As shown, one of these "potential ancestors" is not marked as male or female, and is actually "private" because he or she is listed on a family tree not made public by the owner.

How Private?

Well, not that private. I blocked out the info, but it was easy to figure out exactly who this "potential ancestor" was and the gender, too, without contacting the owner of the private tree. It was listed in the "private tree" notification above.

To check, I returned to my tree and looked at the outstanding hints for this branch. One second later, I had the details from sources other than the private tree, sources more objective and verifiable. So it actually helped me get a generation back. Unfortunately, there were NO DNA matches associated with this ancestor (nor for the spouse).

And in case I wasn't sure, right next to this "private" "potential ancestor" was listed his wife, Hannah O'Killey. Just in time for St. Paddy's Day, a possible new Irish ancestor to research and confirm.

Interestingly, the person who posted Hannah O'Killey's info on a public tree is NOT a DNA match for my husband, which is a disappointment and raises the question of whether this is an actual ancestor for one or both of us. My husband has no DNA matches through Hannah, according to Ancestry. Hmm.

Finding a Match

To find an actual DNA match in ThruLines, I started at the most recent ancestor and worked my way backward to hubby's great-granddaddy, Thomas Haskell Wood. That's where I finally found two cousins previously unknown to me, each of whom had more than 20 centimorgans in common with my husband.

Although neither of these cousins had anything new on their trees, at least I now know who they are and can be in touch to share info.

For the vast majority of the 100 ancestors on hubby's ThruLines page, Ancestry shows NO DNA matches.

Check Those TreeTags

Working through the ancestors on my own ThruLines page, it quickly became clear that my "potential ancestors" were highly speculative. I noticed suggested ancestors plucked from trees I already knew were not supported by good sources.

Here's where Ancestry's other new feature, MyTreeTags, would be very, very useful.

The idea is to be able to indicate the research status of a particular person on a tree. For instance, I could note that someone is a "hypothesis" (meaning I'm testing whether someone fits, based on DNA or other evidence).

Or I could note someone is "unverified" (meaning I got the info from somewhere but have done nothing to check its accuracy).

After looking, I can see that some of the trees that appear in hints or "potential ancestor" suggestions have inaccurate info and few if any sources other than other trees.

To be helpful, I've contacted tree owners in the past to say, for example, that although my grandma is shown on their tree, it's highly unlikely that she is actually related to the people on their tree. Dates, places, names don't add up, I point out tactfully. I invite them to please look at my tree and the documented evidence that proves who she is. Of course, I can't rule out that maybe there's something I don't know about my grandma?!

Usually I hear nothing, or I get a note saying their tree is a work in progress, with hypotheticals. Or the note says the tree is being built for a friend who had a couple of clues, and my info will be passed along to the friend for consideration. Those trees are often left as is, unfortunately.

As I work on my public trees, I'm going to try to use MyTreeTags to alert others when someone is a hypothesis or unverified, in particular, as a red flag to verify before accepting anything as a fact!

Why I Use Genealogy Software (It's Not Why You Think)

RootsMagic is my genealogy software of choice for one big reason: It syncs with Ancestry, my research/tree site of choice.

But unlike most researchers, I don't do my work in the software and then upload to Ancestry.

On the contrary, I prefer to work in Ancestry (including research and uploading photos/documents) and then download to my computer, via my sync with RootsMagic.

My Technology May Not Be Their Technology

Why? My mind is constantly thinking way ahead to what happens when I someday join my ancestors.

On that faraway day, even though my Mac computer will remain on my desk, it may as well be a pile of bricks as far as my genealogy heir(s) are concerned.

I'll bet none of the next generation will be bothered to open my genealogy software, let alone learn how it works. They'll have their own technology preferences, and any specialized genealogy software on my desktop Mac is unlikely to appeal to the mobile-first younger generation. Just ask your younger relatives and see if they agree.

With this in mind, I don't think of my genealogy software as the primary place to keep my tree and media. In a sense, my computer-based software acts like a backup to my Ancestry tree.

A Family Tree Grows Online

I believe descendants and relatives (and cousins I don't yet know about) are far more likely to find my public family tree on Ancestry, if they have any interest at all.

As I wrote in my book, Planning a Future for Your Family's Past, online trees should be noted in any genealogical "will." For my part, I'm leaving my genealogical heirs a bit of money for an Ancestry subscription so they can noodle around and see how the tree works. They can use mobile or desktop devices, whatever suits their fancy.

Of course, I sync with RootsMagic very frequently so I always have the latest version of my tree on my computer, including all media. This is because I work on the Ancestry tree (multiple trees, actually) every week, sometimes every day. New documents become available, or new photos surface in the family--those are good reasons to add to my online tree and share with those who have been invited to see it. Also, I like to look at DNA hints and compare those trees with mine on Ancestry. It's just convenient to have the latest tree online.

Way in the future, my heirs can decide if they want their own genealogy software. If not, they and I can rest easy, knowing the tree and documentation are on Ancestry for the family to see at any time.