Analysing Clues to Help You Figure Out Where to Search Next (pt 2)

Sherri asked about her grandfather's death and I posted the first part of my answer on this blog on October 17th. Here is the second part of my answer:

I have been looking for information for about 5 years about my grandfather who is named Burrell Charles Ball first married to Doreen Roxie Morcombe (from Omemee) and then afterward I think Estelle Ball was his wife.  Burrell’s brother I know was from Emily Twp, Albert and he died a few years back and Burrell died around 1993 but I do not know when, where, how etc. 

Also Russell Charles Ball was their father and I believe he lived in Lakefield but there is little information about any of them.  I know there was a fire in Russell’s Lakefield home where he had Burrell, Albert and Barbara E. Ball (I think).  He was married to Julia Secreta Wood that I believe died when she was young.   Where can I go to find out more information?

Olive Tree Genealogy Answer:

Hello Sherri. Since you did not provide an estimated year of birth for Burell, I had to hunt on the 'net to find some mention of him.  Luckily I happened on one of your message board posts where you stated he was born circa 1920 and, best of all, that he was in WW2.

His military service is a great clue and means there are a number of steps you can now take:

Step One:
Did you know that you can send for his military file from Library and Archives Canada? This will give you lots of detail about your grandfather, and may include his death date and location.

Step Two:
Also you can search the online records of the Legion Magazine's Last Post. These are death notices for servicemen and women. Burell is found - just conduct a search under his name. His death date is given as November 14, 1992 (no location). So if he were my ancestor my next step would be to write to the Legion Magazine and ask if they have any other information on Burrell.

Step Three: 
Write to the Legion Branch (Haliburton) where Burrell was a member. Ask if anyone remembers him or if there is more information available. 

There are other steps you can take even with the few clues you have given me.

Step Four:
Send for Burrell's birth certificate from the Registrar General in Thunder Bay.  This will give you an exact date and location of birth, as well his parents' names and ages. With any luck the info found there will lead you to finding his parents in the 1911 census or in earlier records.

Step Five:
Lakefield is in Peterborough County so I would write to the Peterborough Museum & Archives and ask if they have any information on the family.

Burrell's Parents
Now, turning to Burrell's parents. You don't seem to have found the information available on Russell and his wife Julia. Ancestry.com has Ontario marriage records to 1927 online. The marriage of Russell Charles Ball age 29 to Julia Secreta [sic] Wood age 19 is found in Peterborough County 6 June 1917.  You will want to obtain this record. Julia's middle name appears to be a mistranscription of the actual name given in the image.

 Ancestry.com has very nicely shown that there are other records online for Russell and Julia - namely Russell's birth, 1891 census, 1901 census, 1911 census, Julia's birth and her death. Their places of birth and parents' names are found in the record of marriage record.

Next, since Lakefield was mentioned by you, why not search the online Lakefield Cemetery website? I did, and found Charles Russell Ball, Julia and several other Ball burials. You may be able to match some of them with whatever you find in the census records. This will give you some family groups with dates.

Summary:
Going clue by clue I've now found Russell Charles Ball's birth record, marriage record and burial. Each new bit of information was a clue I used to find another bit. I have also found his parents' names and  their deaths too. Their deaths provided me with their locations of birth.

There is much more available online but I'll leave you the fun of following the trail I started for you.

How to Analyse Clues in Genealogy Records (Pt 1)

Sherri sent a query to Ask Olive Tree about her grandfather's death:

I have been looking for information for about 5 years about my grandfather who is named Burrell Charles Ball first married to Doreen Roxie Morcombe (from Omemee) and then afterward I think Estelle Ball was his wife.  Burrell’s brother I know was from Emily Twp, Albert and he died a few years back and Burrell died around 1993 but I do not know when, where, how etc. 

Also Russell Charles Ball was their father and I believe he lived in Lakefield but there is little information about any of them.  I know there was a fire in Russell’s Lakefield home where he had Burrell, Albert and Barbara E. Ball (I think).  He was married to Julia Secreta Wood that I believe died when she was young.   Where can I go to find out more information?

Olive Tree Genealogy Answer:

Hello Sherri. Since you did not provide an estimated year of birth for Burell, I had to hunt on the 'net to find some mention of him.  Luckily I happened on one of your message board posts where you stated he was born circa 1920 and, best of all, that he was in WW2.

His military service is a great clue and means there are a number of steps you can now take:

Step One:
Did you know that you can send for his military file from Library and Archives Canada? This will give you lots of detail about your grandfather, and may include his death date and location.

Reading Old Handwriting

This document is the registered probate copy
of the nuncupative will of Elizabeth Nicolai,
dated 21 July 1723.

Thanks to Twitter follower @FPLDGenealogy for passing this link on to me!

"UkNatArchives has an amazing paleography exercise area you need to see!"

Palaeography: reading old handwriting 1500 - 1800 

It is wonderful! There are lessons in reading 15th, 16th and 17th century handwriting as well as 10 interactive lessons. I'm still on Lesson One and enjoying the challenge.

If you have early English documents you will want to give this a try.

There is also an online tutorial for reading Latin, so if, like me, you've long forgotten most of your High School Latin, this might prove helpful. When I was researching my husband's Belgian ancestors, the records were found written in Dutch, Flemish, Latin, and French. I managed to decipher the standard words but it wasn't easy! 

Finding a Yorkshire England Ancestor

Recently I discovered a goldmine of information my husband's Yorkshire Elgie ancestors. His Elgie ancestors lived in North Yorkshire, and while researching that area I discovered the North Yorkshire archives website.

A search of the North Yorkshire County Record Office online catalogue using their "Quick Catalogue Search" box resulted in 32 "hits" for the surname Elgie.

Clicking on each one in turn brings up more details, including reference numbers which are needed to order copies of the full document.

Not being able to find an online form or method of ordering documents online I wrote to the
the North Yorkshire Archives (Archives@northyorks.gov.uk) with this email:

Hello

I have found several records for my ELGIE family that I would like to order from your online index of your catalogue.

I was not able to find how to submit my request for copies. I am happy to have digital copies sent by email but I can accept them in any format you use.

There are 5 items - here is one example:

1818 papers for the opinion of the Justices relating to the petitions of John White and William Elgie insolvent debtors [2 items] [North Riding of Yorkshire Quarter Sessions. Easter Quarter Sessions. Document QSB 1818 2/14]

Can I send you a list of document numbers by email to order copies?

Thank you for any help you can offer me.

It didn't take long before I received an email from the North Yorkshire County Record Office with the following information:

If you would like to order copies, payment can be made by cheque payable to North Yorkshire County Council and sent to us at The County Record Office, Malpas Road, Northallerton, North Yorkshire DL7 8TB. We can also accept payment by credit or debit card (except American Express), but we advise that you let us know card details by post or telephone, as we cannot guarantee the security of information sent electronically.  Our telephone number is 01609 777585.

Next I mailed (old school postal) my request along with my credit card information and within a few weeks I had copies of five documents ranging from 1797 to 1822 for the Elgie ancestor of interest. The cost for those five documents was $20.00 Canadian. How amazing is that! And from the documents I learned, among other things, that my husband's 5th great-grandfather William Elgie was in debtor's prison in York when he requested a pardon so he could leave prison and repay his debts.

If you have North Yorkshire ancestors you should give this site a good look.

Help Reading 17th Century Dutch Church Records

If you have ancestors who settled in New Netherland (now New York) in the 1600s, you will undoubtably eventually find yourself struggling with Dutch words and handwriting. You may even venture into research from the Amsterdam Archives Church Records which have been microfilmed.

Amsterdam Doopregisters (Baptism Registers) follow a fairly consisent format. They show names (sometimes an occupation) of father, mother, child and sponsor(s).

You don't need to read Dutch, you only need to be able to pick out and read the names of the individuals you are interested in. But it is more difficult than it sounds. 17th century letter formations are very different than what we are used to. Dutch names and spellings are something new to many of us as well.

Example from a 17th Century Marriage record from Amsterdam

As I was struggling to learn how to read this early Dutch script, I made up a little booklet which I add to each time I figure out something new.

I use my little home-made guide to help me interpret what I am looking at in these early (1600s) records. Other researchers asked me to send them copies of my notes and examples, so I made up a mini-tutorial.

I am not an expert, I muddle along as best I can, but researchers I sent the tutorial to seemed to find it helpful, so here it is. I hope that if any of you are starting to dig into those distant records you will find this at least interesting if not helpful in some small way.

I'll add to these Blog notes as I get the pages of my little guide scanned. Remember, it's FUN and it's NEW and it can be intimidating but just keep on plowing through one step at a time.

Source of Registers: Amsterdam Doop (Baptism) Registers on Microfilm

Finding an entry on a page of records from 1621

Click on the image for a larger picture, or View larger image. You can also view a larger image here

This is a page of church baptismal records from 1621 in Amsterdam. The entry I was looking for was for Claesje the daughter of Teunis Dircks & Aefje Pieters.

This is a relatively easy page to read compared to some! The handwriting is neat and legible, the filmed record is not dark, and the size of the writing is not too small.

Reading Dutch Script: Studying the letter formations on a page of records



If you need help with Dutch names, you might find my section on New Netherland (present day New York) of some help. Anyone with ancestors from New York in the 1600s may find themselves with Dutch ancestry (which is what got me started on all this!)

It gives examples of Dutch names = English names = Shortened Dutch names (nicknames). It also explains the use of suffixes -je or -tje, -je, -tje, -ie and -ke

To learn the patronymic naming system and the suffixes used there, you might find Understanding Patronymics helpful

Reading Dutch Script: Steps to take when you find an entry of interest



Step 1: Trace the entry as it displays on the microfilm reader

Step 2: Copy the entry

Step 3: Study the letter formations. Figure out what the entry says

Reading Dutch Script: More Letter Formations



Using this same page of church records we can learn other letter shapes and names

Reading Dutch Script: Figuring out even more letter formations

Using MetaData to Make Your Computer Life Easier

 Denise Barrett Olson of Moultrie Creek Blog has given us a wonderful Moultrie Creek Guide called "Sharpen Your Digital Pencil: An Introduction to MetaData"

If you are a genealogist whose hard drive is full of photos, you need to start using MetaData to help organize your files. If you don't know what MetaData is, the official definition is "a set of data that describes and gives information about other data"

Using MetaData truly does make your digital life easier. 

10 Steps to Searching the Irish Catholic Parish Records When You Only Know a County of Origin

By now most of us with Irish Catholic ancestors have been to the awesome new database of all Irish Catholic Parish Records published online by the National Library of Ireland. (See If You Have Irish Catholic Ancestors Today's Your Lucky Day)

The records are not indexed or transcribed and thus there is no search engine where you can simply type in a name to see results. Instead you search for your parish of interest and then scroll through the images to hopefully find the record you want. 

But what about those of us who don't know the parish our Irish ancestors were in? What about those, like me, who only know a county of origin? Well, I have developed a plan for methodically and carefully searching the records in a somewhat organized fashion. 

Faded page of Parish Records

Be aware before you begin that many of the records are so faded they are illegible. Many have terrible handwriting which is cramped and difficult to read. You can use the controls provided with the images to increase or decrease the contrast, to enlarge the images and to increase the brightness. 

Step 1: Look at what you know or what family lore has indicated. In my McGinnis family we have two family stories. One branch of the family who settled in Ontario circa 1833 says the family was in Belfast. My branch also says Belfast. Another branch has a photo of their  ancestor and on the back it says Katesbridge. 

Since I don't want to just start frantically searching all of Co. Down or Armagh, I needed to find out what Parishes cover Katesbridge and Belfast.  Of course I googled it! After quite a hunt I figured out that Katesbridge, Co. Down is in the Parishes of Newry and Drumballeyroney. Belfast city has 15 different parishes so I decided to start with Newry, then Drumballeyroney

Step 2: Next stop was National Library of Ireland where I typed in the parish name (Newry) in the search field. The page that loaded gave me the list of microfilms available for Newry and the dates for the surviving records. I am searching for several baptisms ranging in years from 1807 to 1831 and one baptism circa 1844-1846. Newry had some of those years so I simply began scrolling through the online images until I finished 1825. 

List of Microfilms for Newry Parish

Step 3: When I completed Newry, I went to Drumballeyroney which I learned is also called Annaghlone. Their baptisms started in 1834 and go to 1851. 

Step 4: Use the Filter Tool! I needed to jump to 1844 so I clicked on the microfilm and immediately used the Filter Tool. (Filter Events/Dates). By choosing Event=Baptisms and Year=1844 I was taken to the exact page to start my search.
 

Filter Tool

Step 5: Both Newry and Drumballeyroney came up empty for me so I turned to Belfast. Of the 15 parishes in Belfast city only 8 have surviving records and of those 8 only 2 had records early enough for my needs. That search also had no results for me. Now came the tricky part - figuring out where to search next.

Step 6: I extended my search to parishes near Belfast and Katesbridge. To do this I used  the map found with the online parish records. Click on "Go to Map" at the top right of the screen, right beside the search engine where you can enter the parish name. 

By clicking and drilling down you can get a map of parishes. I printed this map and put a red star in Newry.  I began systematically began searching adjacent parishes.

Newry Parish and Adjacent Parishes

My goal is to search a wide range of parishes surrounding Newry, Belfast and Drumballyroney. That means I must move on to Step 7.

Step 7: Using GenUki I was able to bring up a list of adjacent towns to Katesbridge. I can do the same for Belfast. This will help me decide which might be where my McGinnis ancestors lived or worshipped. I also brought up a list of nearby churches

Step 8: I printed these lists off and created a file folder for my search plan (maps, lists of parishes, record of where I've searched and so on) as this will be a long-term project.  

Step 9: Go through each parish and eliminate them as having the records you seek. Eventually you will either have success and find your ancestor(s) or you will discover that your ancestors do not appear in the surviving parish records. 

Step 10: I suggest you create a notebook for this project and make notes as you search each set of records. My notebook lists the Parish, the film number, the dates covered and the condition of the records. As well I noted any McGinnis (Magennis) names I found in case one day I find a connection to my family.

My Research Notebook for Irish Catholic Parish Records

If you are looking for instant results you are almost certain to be disappointed. I have  finished searching 17 parishes for my McGinnis ancestors. I have written in dozens of pages in my notebook. I've found many clusters of McGinnis individuals but none are mine. I will carry on searching until I am satisfied that my ancestors are not to be found or I actually find one! Realistically this will be a long slow task possibly taking months of a few hours each day. 

But my motto is "Leave no stone (aka record) unturned!"

Creating an Ancestor Memory Book on Shutterfly - Video 2

Don't miss my second video tutorial on using Shutterfly to create a Memory Book of your ancestors. This is a fun easy project to create. Be sure to visit the Olive Tree Genealogy YouTube Channel for more video tutorials

Tutorial: What To Do When There's No One Around to Ask

Reader Katie asked Olive Tree Genealogy about finding out information on her family tree when there is no one around to verify what she has found.

I am really lost....There is really no one to verify this information.

My Father was Royden E Simms 11/23/1942-6/5/2007 Cincy, OHIO
My Grandfather was Royden E Simms 8/5/1912-3/28/1989
My Great Grandfather was William F Simms born about 1886 in West Virginia (to Frank and Kate Brannon/Brennon according to his marriage cert.)

I cannot find info about Frank and Kate. I have found some info about a man named Frank with a father named Willis, but some research I have found points away from this. Can you help???

The first thing I did was have a quick look in the Ohio census for Royden born 1912. The 1920 census on Ancestry.com confirmed that his father was William F. born W. Virginia about 1886. It also showed his parents being born in W. Virginia.

If William was born circa 1886 he should appear with his parents on the 1900 census. This is a way to confirm family groups. Sure enough, the 1900 census for Carthage, Hamilton Ohio reveals a William Simms born June 1884 in West Virginia, with his parents Frank born Aug. 1856 in Indiana and Kate born March 1861 in W. Virginia

Census Records Have Many Clues

This 1900 Census shows that Frank and Kate had a total of 7 children. This is important because you can search each of these children to find more information on their parents. For example, a birth, marriage or death record for one of the children should reveal Kate's maiden name. It may reveal more, the only way to know is to start looking.

Continue reading the step-by-step research process I used to find Kate's maiden name and much more about Frank Sims. What clues did I use to help trace Frank and Kate back in time? Find out in the article What To Do When There's No One Around to Ask

How to Read 16th & 17th Century Handwriting

These are a few samples of early (16th & 17th Century) Dutch letter formations. I found them helpful not only in my Dutch research but for figuring out other countries' changes in handwriting. 

I used these examples to assist me in my research for my series of books on New Netherland Settlers (New Netherland being present day New York)

A-G Handwriting 16th & 17th Centuries

H-Q Handwriting 16th & 17th Centuries

R-Z Handwriting 16th & 17th Centuries

Two Thumbs Up for Springpad! (A Review & Tutorial)

I've been using a nifty little free productivity program (app) called Springpad. It's similar to Evernote which I also use and really like. But I'm kind of getting Springpad and having fun with it! Springpad is designed to help you organize your daily life in an effective and visually pleasing manner. Best of all, it's free.

Springpad has plenty of templates for organizing the most common work-related tasks such as shopping, recipe planning, grocery lists and so on, but users  can easily create their own custom lists of tasks. You can also write notes and save them in folders which you name. I started a folder called "Lorine's Blogs" and in it I keep a list of blog post titles and ideas - topics I might want to write about. I also write some of my blog posts and save them on Springpad rather than compose them directly in Blogger (which is the blog format I use). This also allows hubs to proof-read my posts before I publish them.

Hubs also writes a genealogy blog (Ancestors At Rest) but he likes me to proof-read his posts before he publishes them. It wasn't working well for him to save them as drafts in Blogger, because I couldn't make changes if I wanted or needed to. So now he uses a folder in my Springpad where he writes and saves his blog posts and I go in and add suggestions or correct typos.

How does this work for genealogy?  I'm sure there are many ways I haven't thought of but here are a few I'm working on:

1. You can easily create a research to-do list in the Check List area. Then when you are at a Library or Family History Centre or even a local museum you can easily open Springpad and look to see what's on your list of items. Did I mention you can get the Springpad app for your mobile phone or iPad? That allows you to access your work from any of your devices.

2. In the Task List area you can create a "Task" for each ancestor you are currently researching. Enter some basic facts (birth, marriage, death) as well as location and time periods for that ancestor, and add a point form list of their spouse and children and you have a mini-genealogy group sheet at your fingertips.  I like to list all the census records that my ancestor was alive for - and beside each year I tick off if I have found them (and where). That allows me to very quickly determine if I need to have a search in a specific census year or years.

This is what you see after you create your free account and log in to Springpad. Various templates are available to personalize your Springpad area and so this green one is one I chose.  The "All My Stuff" folder and "Friends" folder are already there. To add a new folder you click on the large +

Inside "All My Stuff" you see Flagged Stuff (items you have flagged) and Alerts (items for which you've set a reminder). Then you see Types and under that are your choices of Notes, Tasks and Check List. Simply click on one and start writing or open a previously saved item.

The last section is Tags. This is where you will see tags (keywords) that you have added to your notes which help you find and organize what you've added. One of my Tags is "Sharing Memories" This is a tag I will add to any Sharing Memories posts I write and save in Springpad. By clicking on that tag, all my posts tagged with that phrase will display for me. I've tagged several of my notes with the words "Interviews" and "RootsTech" Clicking on either of those keywords brings up all notes or tasks for that tag.

Under each file you have created, there are tiny icons which display in bold with a pop-up one line of text to explain what each is for. One is to add tags (keywords), one toggles privacy (you can make your posts public or keep private),  one toggles the Flag status and one allows you to add the note or task to a notebook.

There's much more you can do with Springpad but let me leave you with this brief overview. As I play around with it over the next few weeks I should be able to write more about this productivity tool.

It'd be great if readers could jump in with their own ideas or uses for Springpad for genealogy.

Non-Disclaimer: I really like Springpad and receive nothing from the company for telling you about it. In fact they've never heard of me and don't even know I'm writing this review/tutorial!