Research tips

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I have come across this in a client's tree. I couldn't find a birth record for a woman. I had her marriage and death records. She was listed on census records with her parents as a child. It turned out that her mother was married twice. The father on the census was her step father, the mother's second husband. She took her step father's surname and that was the surname on her marriage record. Look to see if the mother was married more than once.

Borders of counties, states, and countries have changed tremendously over the centuries. This is why I study historical geography.

Case in point: My great grandparents came to America from Hungary in 1905. All of the American records for my great grandfather stated he was born in Neuberg, Hungary. That place doesn't exist. 

He was actually born in Ujhegy, Vas, Hungary, which is now known as Neuberg, Burgenland, Austria. When the Austro Hungarian Empire fell apart in 1918, the German speaking part of Hungary on the Austrian border became part of Burgenland, Austria.

I could never find an obituary for my 3x great grandfather, Daniel B Grant. I did eventually find it, but it wasn't online. It was on microfiche at a library in the city where his son lived, which was one county across the state line from where Daniel lived. There are so many newspapers that are not digitized. Go to the library.

A lot of people changed or dropped surnames for various reasons. The changing of the surnames of immigrants at Ellis Island is a myth. Officials there used the ship manifest that was written in the country the ship's passengers came from. 

Case in point: My 2x great grandfather, Thomas Peterson. The only records I could find for him were his children's birth records. Those records stated that he was born in Finland. How did I find what his dropped surname was? I found a newspaper article in which Thomas's wife sued a man name Andrew Peterson on behalf of Thomas's estate. I researched Andrew and found his marriage record. His parents and place of birth in Finland were listed. Thomas and Andrew were  brothers. The dropped surname was Pulkkinen.

The birth and parental information on death certificates only comes from one person, the informant. Sometimes, the informant doesn't know or tries to guess. I prefer birth and marriage records for that information over death certificates for that reason.

When you find a ship manifest for an ancestor, be sure to open the image and read the whole line for your ancestor. A ship manifest can contain valuable information such as the place of birth, the last residence in the country your ancestor immigrated from, a relative in the country your ancestor came from, a relative in the country your ancestor is going to, and a destination in that country. Keep in mind that while many manifests give that information, some do not.