Gotta date?

Dates are crucial!! Did great-grandpa Thomas Winston die on November 1, 1795? Then how come the records show he sold property two years later? And why is his daughter Nannie referred to as an infant when she is married by 1800?

Do you run into this kind of puzzle in your research?

As a novice genealogist, I used to accept the date a will was made as the date a person died. But no -- sometimes it is years earlier. This means, of course, that changes may occur before the will’s author actually dies.

If you have a copy of the will (probably as it was copied into the official register at the county seat), it will usually end something like this: “In witness hereof I have set my and hand and affixed my seal this fourteenth day of the seventh month one thousand seven hundred and ninety four.” But it may not be filed for probate until months or years later. Look for the record of the witnesses’ appearance before the court to get a better idea of the death date. Then follow up with a look at the additional papers generated as probate proceeds.

If there was no will, letters of administration will be issued, usually fairly soon after the subject had died.

Another thing to look out for, date-wise, is the assumption that a “marriage clue” indirectly derived from a record is the date the nuptials took place. When we turn to these invaluable published lists, it is easy to assume the date shown is the wedding day.

A good compiler will, of course, include references to the original documents, and it is wise to go back to those, or at least make note of what they are. If a daughter is named with a different surname in her father’s will, and a man with that surname accepts her distribution (as was often the case), it is reasonable to conclude that he is the heiress’s husband. But a list of “clues” in a book may just list the couple and the date of the will’s filing. That is helpful, but it is NOT the date they were married. (If the daughter is listed by her birth name in the will, and a different surname at the time of probate, you get some idea of the time span in which her marriage occurred, however.)

Land changes hands -- people die, but the property is still there. Court records regarding lands may continue to be created long after an early owner’s decease. A son inherits, but doesn’t come of age until several years later. Meanwhile a guardian is supposed to see that his holdings are properly managed. Eventually they appear in court, give the date of the father’s death, and state the age of the heir. I just came across the phrase “recently arrived at 21” in such a court document. Consider when the court appearance occurred, who the deceased was and when he/she died (if it is given), and any other dates that show up in the record. By the way, you can home in on a minor’s approximate date of birth in another way: if the court names a guardian for him, he is likely under 14. At that age, the general rule is that he may select one of his own choosing. (Don’t let the term”infant” throw you -- minors are customarily referred to as infants in legalese.)

The point is -- be sure you look at ALL the dates and deal with them appropriately. (And, by the way, if you are like me, you will check your math more than once!)

In the interest of full disclosure, I must say my research has centered around colonial and post-colonial Maryland and Delaware, and 19th century Indiana. Many of my conclusions are drawn from work with these documents, with reinforcement from general genealogical handbooks and dictionaries.

Spring fever

It is well and truly spring, and the garden beckons ... when will there ever be time or inclination to sit down and work on family history? When the days are beautiful and mild – like today – I am much more interested in putting on my outdoor shoes and going out to plant something. How about you?

But you know, when you are involved in these other activities, your mind can still be working on a knotty research problem. Activities that don't require total engagement, like deadheading blossoms, weeding, or feeding the potted plants, offer time for contemplation. So can waiting for an appointment, driving with the radio/music off, even lying awake in the middle of the night. I like to hang out my laundry when it's sunny, and that provides another chance to mull over ideas and consider new search strategies.

Sometimes an obvious solution to the most troublesome problem presents itself at times like these. We are removed from the scene of the crime, so to speak – away from charts and notes and the ever-present computer – and can literally step back, getting a completely different perspective.

I have been trying to connect the one heir in a relative's 20th century probate file – same surname as the relative but someone I never ever heard of before. I tried tracking this heir by the usual means with no luck. He had an unusual pair of middle names -- Durbin Kinsely -- and it occurred to me, in one of these out-of-the-office reveries, that he likely was named for a relative. Sure enough, I found a Durbin Kinsely born in 1879, died 1910, in the International Genealogical Index, or IGI. The place and date of birth led me to the 1880 census, which confirmed at least that much. Now, with the IGI's undocumented death date, I have a query in to the genealogical society in that Ohio county to see if they can locate an obituary for me. One would hope the obit might give names of other relatives, and possibly a clue to my known relative, whose surname is Thompson.

The addition of Ancestry.com to the offerings of the Sonoma County Library system has aided greatly, since they have a complete index to the 1930 census, as well as city directories, and vital records that are not readily available elsewhere. If you haven't tried that free service at the local library, you may be missing a great opportunity.

*****

NPR had a story this morning about Ancestry.com allowing free searches of its extensive files of military records, from the Revolutionary War forward. The offer stands until June 6, and is, they say, in honor of the D-Day Anniversary which falls on that date.