I said I'd do it, so here it is.... Overcoming Murphy when he comes to 'help' with your research.
#1 The records you need for your family history
were in the courthouse that burned.
Burned, blow up, flooded, etc. Every genealogist has had this happen, if you don't think you have look up the 1890 US Federal Census. So how to tackle this one? Try checking other local repositories. I'll use Great Grandparents Thomas and Henrietta Fitzgerald as an example. They emigrated from Pennsylvania to Michigan to a little place near Cadillac, Michigan called Hollister. According to their obituaries they were charter members of the Hollister Methodist Episcopal Church. Yay! What a great place to find family records....guess what....the original church burned down taking all those lovely records with it. So where else can I and did I look? I found their death information in the liber books at the Wexford County Clerk's office. (I had those before the obit, but this is a good example where to look). I could also look for death records at the state level for them and their children. In fact if you have Michigan ancestors who died between 1897 and 1920 you can access a huge collection of online images of state death records at seekingmichigan.org. Check some of my previous blog entries for more on Seeking Michigan. Another place I could research my great grandparents is at the local genealogy library. I could also check into the current church to see if there are any post fire records of my family. Another place to continue to look is the local newspapers. My Great Grandfather was also a members of the Hollister Grange. I wonder where those records might be.
Another source of information I found for Great Grandpa was the National Archives. Great Grandpa served during the civil war and I was able to obtain his military records. There is a fee charged for the records so make sure to check out their website for the most up to date information. (www.archives.gov).
Another source to check would be the church where they were married at in Pennsylvania.
These are just a few ideas to help you overcome. Please feel free to share additional ideas in the comments! I love to hear from my readers.
Happy Hunting!
Showing posts with label Thomas and Henrietta Fitzgerald. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thomas and Henrietta Fitzgerald. Show all posts
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Friday, March 20, 2009
Follow up on Wexford County Research
Follow up on Wexford County Research
I talked to Alice LaBar today and she told me that she found all three of my obituaries! And that there was quite an article written about my Great, Great Grandfather, Thomas Fitzgerald and there was a photo of him in the paper! A photo! I can't believe how lucky I am. I'm so excited to recieve my packet of papers from her!
Alice was such a lovely lady to talk to on the phone as well. I would definately recommend anyone to contact them if they need research done in the Cadillac Area. She and her husband are knowledgable and definately went the extra mile for me! I will definately send her a thank you note after all this for her help.
I am now thinking about and reading articles in my spare time (what little I have right now) about ou planned Genealogy vacation for May to Pennsylvnia to see about tracking down some more of my Fitzgerald Ancestors. There are many helpful articles online on different Genealogy sites. I think I printed about 8 or 10 of them. So far I've read 4, I think, and they all say about the same things. 1)Have a plan 2)Do your homework 3)know what resources are available where you are going 4)know the hours of operation for places you want to research at 5)pack appropriate clothes 6)bring adequate supplies 7)know which resources you can access from home or nearby and which ones you can only get by traveling and focus on the latter. I know there's more, but I can't think of them right now, but I think these just about covers the basics.
So off to find more contact information so I can make a million phone calls over Spring break. Thank goodness for unlimited long distance phone plans.
I talked to Alice LaBar today and she told me that she found all three of my obituaries! And that there was quite an article written about my Great, Great Grandfather, Thomas Fitzgerald and there was a photo of him in the paper! A photo! I can't believe how lucky I am. I'm so excited to recieve my packet of papers from her!
Alice was such a lovely lady to talk to on the phone as well. I would definately recommend anyone to contact them if they need research done in the Cadillac Area. She and her husband are knowledgable and definately went the extra mile for me! I will definately send her a thank you note after all this for her help.
I am now thinking about and reading articles in my spare time (what little I have right now) about ou planned Genealogy vacation for May to Pennsylvnia to see about tracking down some more of my Fitzgerald Ancestors. There are many helpful articles online on different Genealogy sites. I think I printed about 8 or 10 of them. So far I've read 4, I think, and they all say about the same things. 1)Have a plan 2)Do your homework 3)know what resources are available where you are going 4)know the hours of operation for places you want to research at 5)pack appropriate clothes 6)bring adequate supplies 7)know which resources you can access from home or nearby and which ones you can only get by traveling and focus on the latter. I know there's more, but I can't think of them right now, but I think these just about covers the basics.
So off to find more contact information so I can make a million phone calls over Spring break. Thank goodness for unlimited long distance phone plans.
Mistakes to be Made
Friday, February 20, 2009
Mistakes to be Made
I know that everyone is bound to make mistakes. After all this time I realized that I had the years wrong on the death dates of my GrGrandparents, Thomas and Henrietta Fitzgerald. Funny thing is that I would have never noticed it had I not contacted Past & Present research to help me with some of my research in hunting down obituaries. Even more interesting is the dates on Thomas' and Henrietta's headstone are not what is in the offical death record. I believe I was once told that their headstone was placed much later after their deaths so it was probably done from memory or someone had the wrong year written down. I look forward to reading everything Past & Present Research has found for me. Perhpas it will give me some clue into my brickwall ancestors.
Mistakes to be Made
I know that everyone is bound to make mistakes. After all this time I realized that I had the years wrong on the death dates of my GrGrandparents, Thomas and Henrietta Fitzgerald. Funny thing is that I would have never noticed it had I not contacted Past & Present research to help me with some of my research in hunting down obituaries. Even more interesting is the dates on Thomas' and Henrietta's headstone are not what is in the offical death record. I believe I was once told that their headstone was placed much later after their deaths so it was probably done from memory or someone had the wrong year written down. I look forward to reading everything Past & Present Research has found for me. Perhpas it will give me some clue into my brickwall ancestors.
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