Genealogy Research Help

[FlightlessDuck]

Anybody an expert, or at least had experience, in researching their genealogy? I've gotten to the point where I think I am stuck and don't know how to proceed. I think I've tapped out the data I can get at Ancestry.com, at least at the level that I understand.

Here's the problem:
I've been able to track one side of my family back to the point where they came to the United States, but for the most part I have had no luck finding these people on Ellis Island's website or in any immigration forms available on Ancestry.com. Are there other places to look? Is it possible that these relatives may have been "undocumented"?

Also, I am getting stuck with some maiden names. How do I research marriage data for couples married a long time ago, especially if I don't know what church the marriage would take place?

Finally, before 1850, it appears that Census data is basically useless. For example, the 1840 US Census only lists the landowner (most of the time the patriarch of the family), and that offers very little data.

In some cases, I was able to find more data from several publicly available family trees, although I'm gotten concerned about how reliable they are after I found a few trees that listed a marriage that I know didn't occur. Basically I found a few trees that linked me to John & Priscilla Alden, but when I checked Alden.org's genealogy information and found that the family trees I was using were wrong.

So, my question, basically, is how are able to research your family back any earlier than 1850 or so without relying on other people's family trees, which may or may not be accurate?

Also, are there any other websites out there that are useful in researching besides those in the Ancestry.com family or FamilySearch.org?

 

[DisMN]

I don't know why this site gets overlooked but it does for some reason. I've done an amazing amount of research at geni.com and it's a free site.

That's geni.com.

The info on all the sites is often wrong and depending on the website sometimes you can go in and make corrections so it will be accurate from there on in, especially for others who might be researching the same family history. Accuracy seems to falter when it comes to names/changed names, either through marriage or americanization of an ethnic name...those have been our biggest hurdle in finding family history.

Good luck on your hunt!

 

[dngnb8]

The Mormon Library?

My MIL is part of a Genealogical Society. Or just google for your local society

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I don't know why this site gets overlooked but it does for some reason. I've done an amazing amount of research at geni.com and it's a free site.

That's geni.com.

Actually I've been using that for site for creating my tree, and went and added the wrong information about my relative I thought came from the Alden's, and now i haven't figured out how to fix it.

Anyway, I'll check that as far as looking for other relatives. Thanks.

 

[tlbwriter]

The Moron Library?

Doesn't sound like it would be very helpful.

(sorry, couldn't resist)

 

[TaraPA]

The Moron Library?

And that would be....where exactly???

 

[peimikes]

Try Pier 21 in Halifax Nova Scotia it is compared to Ellis Island, many Immigrant ships stopped there before going on to Boston and New York. They have great records and the site has be made into a Historic site and museum.

Start by looking here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pier_21 for basic info and hope this helps.

 

[Geoff_M]

You're right that Federal Census data before 1850 is limited in its usefulness since it only mentions by name the head-of-household and then summarizes everyone else by gender and age range. Like it not, other people's research is often your best bet for going further back than that decade... and you're right, there is a fair amount of bad data out there. When determining whether to accept other people's research, I look for a couple of things:
1) Is it well sourced? Did the other researcher explain their work?
2) Is the data found in multiple trees... and more importantly does that data appear to be independently gathered (as opposed to just being cut-n-pasted all over the place).
3) Does it make sense, or can you find problems with the data?

I've recently deleted some facts from a couple of my ancestors based on coming to the realization that the facts were likely "bad". In both cases you can find these "facts" plastered all over dozens of family trees on Ancestry.com. One case was the father of one ancestor who was the first in that line to come to the US. After the son landed, the father joined him later in life. But you'll find dozens of trees that show that the father died on Long Island in 1613. The problem is that that's 7 years before the Mayflower landed! I Googled him and found the source of the confusion. There's a published record on the ancestor that runs all of his born/married/died data together with no punctuation. Somebody confused the year he was married with the year he died in their Ancestry.com tree and people have cut-n-pasting it ever since with little thought.

The other problem I found was a "Samuel" with a rather unusual surname that you'll find in lots of trees that supposedly died in 1803 in Virginia. I was leery of the date of this death because it meant that he lived to be 93. Not impossible for that era, but VERY rare. I then found some research another guy did on the "Samuel" that died in VA in 1803 that had a different wife and family listed. He's concluded that there were two "Samuels" of the same surname that were in Virgina during that period. He found the will of the one that died in 1803 and found that his wife was the executor and her name was different then "my" Samuel and his heirs had different names then "mine". I was convinced and removed the death information off of my "Samuel".

The bottom line is that Ancestry.com is great.... but nothing beats going out and getting a hold of the actual records in the field.

 

[dngnb8]

Doesn't sound like it would be very helpful.

(sorry, couldn't resist)

Wow, I did type that didnt I?


See what happens when you get to work at 530 am

 

[dngnb8]

Doesn't sound like it would be very helpful.

(sorry, couldn't resist)

And that would be....where exactly???

At the University of Course

(that is the coat of arms to Moron Univeristy) LOL Apparently, Im a graduate

 

[lil mermaid]

I am not an expert, but I have been working on my family tree for the last couple of years. I have a membership to ancestry.com, but have also found many old marriage/birth/death records on familysearch.org.

One thing I have learned is NOT to rely on other people's family trees. I have found way to many inaccuracies in them.

As far as US census data, you are correct, but there are also many states that had their own census and some of them have the names of all the members of the family.

When did your ancestors come over, and from what country? Also, what states are you looking in? I may be able to help you if I knew that info.

I have also found some good info on this site www.deathindexes.com. It is basically just a bunch of links, and not all of them relate to death records only.

 

[TaraPA]

At the University of Course

(that is the coat of arms to Moron Univeristy) LOL Apparently, Im a graduate

It's ok, we know what you meant!

 

[Crankyshank]

Genealogist here. It would help if I had a bit more specific information on what you're looking for, but...

- Ellis Island didn't open until the 1890's. Anyone who came here before that wouldn't be in their records. I also believe they are still digitizing their records. Castle Garden was the major entrance before that and I believe they have records available online.

- Depending on where your family came from and where they went to, it is likely they did not come in to NY. I only had 1 family member (Great Grandfather come through Ellis Island- everyone else went into Boston or down from Canada).

- there may not be immigration records.
- Your best bet is to check NARA (national archives) - they have records from 1820 if I remember correctly.

I am able to trace part of my family back to the 1580's without the help of other people's family trees. How? Church records, Drouin records, census records, etc... Never ever take someone else's work as correct unless they provide sources to back that info up (and always give your sources when you post your own info!)

- as far as the marriage data: check local historical societies, genealogical societies, etc... Probate records are also gems. It's not hard to locate the church because immigrants usually used the same church. (There would be a French Church in town, Polish, etc...)

 

[LIDisneyFan]

Castle Garden is castlegarden.org
internment.com has helped me a lot by finding cemetery records, and being able to sometimes tie maiden names to marriage names

If they came from England-you are in MAJOR luck. The BMD index is massively helpful.

Also-are you using the Ancestry.com international version-that opened a lot of doors.

Local cemetery records are another good source.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Genealogist here. It would help if I had a bit more specific information on what you're looking for, but...

- Ellis Island didn't open until the 1890's. Anyone who came here before that wouldn't be in their records. I also believe they are still digitizing their records. Castle Garden was the major entrance before that and I believe they have records available online.

- Depending on where your family came from and where they went to, it is likely they did not come in to NY. I only had 1 family member (Great Grandfather come through Ellis Island- everyone else went into Boston or down from Canada).

- there may not be immigration records.
- Your best bet is to check NARA (national archives) - they have records from 1820 if I remember correctly.

I am able to trace part of my family back to the 1580's without the help of other people's family trees. How? Church records, Drouin records, census records, etc... Never ever take someone else's work as correct unless they provide sources to back that info up (and always give your sources when you post your own info!)

- as far as the marriage data: check local historical societies, genealogical societies, etc... Probate records are also gems. It's not hard to locate the church because immigrants usually used the same church. (There would be a French Church in town, Polish, etc...)

I've been doing genealogy for less than a year, but I'm hooked. One of the things they taught us at a beginners' seminar that stuck with me: "Genealogy without evidence is Mythology."

 

[Muushka]

Just subscribing.....

 

[Feralpeg]

I've been able to trace the main paternal legs of both sides of my family a long way back. On my father's side, I've traced back to the 1400s. On my mother's side, I've trace back to 940 ad.

I've found a lot of good and bad info on Ancestry.com and several other ancestry sites. Fortunately for me, my family on both sides were fairly prominent in history. That has made finding accurate information much easier. I've found that finding more recent accurate info is much harder than older info.

I not only use genealogy sites. I look for book, newspaper and other periodical evidence.

OP, you are right in that there is a lot of bogus info out there. If it doesn't make sense, it can't be right. It never ceases to amaze me the number of trees that have children listed as born after the death of a parent.

Several times, I found information on findagrave.com to be very useful.

Tracing a family tree can be frustrating and very time consuming, but it can also be fascinating. Just the other night, I discovered that a distant cousin was an actor who appeared in a ton of B-western movies with the likes of John Wayne and Clark Gable. Very interesting! I've been at it for almost three years and have many years of work ahead of me. I love it!

 

[lil mermaid]

Genealogist here. It would help if I had a bit more specific information on what you're looking for, but...

- Ellis Island didn't open until the 1890's. Anyone who came here before that wouldn't be in their records. I also believe they are still digitizing their records. Castle Garden was the major entrance before that and I believe they have records available online.

- Depending on where your family came from and where they went to, it is likely they did not come in to NY. I only had 1 family member (Great Grandfather come through Ellis Island- everyone else went into Boston or down from Canada).

- there may not be immigration records.
- Your best bet is to check NARA (national archives) - they have records from 1820 if I remember correctly.

I am able to trace part of my family back to the 1580's without the help of other people's family trees. How? Church records, Drouin records, census records, etc... Never ever take someone else's work as correct unless they provide sources to back that info up (and always give your sources when you post your own info!)

- as far as the marriage data: check local historical societies, genealogical societies, etc... Probate records are also gems. It's not hard to locate the church because immigrants usually used the same church. (There would be a French Church in town, Polish, etc...)

Since you are a genealogist - do you know if there is a way to get a record of someone who was a prisoner at Deer Island, Boston MA in 1930? Either online or by requesting it in writing? My great grandfather left his wife and children and was really never heard from again about this time, and I found him at Deer Island on the 1930 census. We are all sort of wondering why he was there!!

 

[Duchie]

Genealogist here. It would help if I had a bit more specific information on what you're looking for, but...

- Ellis Island didn't open until the 1890's. Anyone who came here before that wouldn't be in their records. I also believe they are still digitizing their records. Castle Garden was the major entrance before that and I believe they have records available online.

- Depending on where your family came from and where they went to, it is likely they did not come in to NY. I only had 1 family member (Great Grandfather come through Ellis Island- everyone else went into Boston or down from Canada).

- there may not be immigration records.
- Your best bet is to check NARA (national archives) - they have records from 1820 if I remember correctly.

I am able to trace part of my family back to the 1580's without the help of other people's family trees. How? Church records, Drouin records, census records, etc... Never ever take someone else's work as correct unless they provide sources to back that info up (and always give your sources when you post your own info!)

- as far as the marriage data: check local historical societies, genealogical societies, etc... Probate records are also gems. It's not hard to locate the church because immigrants usually used the same church. (There would be a French Church in town, Polish, etc...)

I just started working on my family history about a month ago and I'm already getting stuck. Do you have any suggestions for finding church records or Drouin (what are those?) records? Many of my ancestors were in Kansas and Missouri in the mid- to late-1800s and I'm finding they didn't keep very good records. So finding parent's names and maiden names is proving extremely challenging. I did stumble across the marriage license of my great-great-grandparents accidentally which was a fun find.

 

[my3sonsagn]

I'm glad to find this thread! I've been trying to work on my family tree, but I keep getting stuck. My mother's "stock" were dirt-poor tennant farmers who moved around a lot and didn't read or write, so all census info was filled out by whatever census worker was sent out, and it seems that some of them were more accurate than others (for instance, census data gives three different birth years for my great-grandfather with a 10 year range... and none of these match up with what my grandmother has told me. His name was very uncommon, so I doubt it's just a different person. I even pulled from a site that has digital copies of the original forms, and the years are written clearly - they're just all different!) Any other sites or ideas would be very helpful (I hope)!