2015
Brick Walls Forum
Several
interesting Brick Walls were discussed. The group was
reminded of the following basic rules of genealogical
research:
1. Start with the censuses, going backward. Study each one
for a column (such as owned home--leads to deeds; how many
years married, leads to marriage record; veteran, etc.
Each lead must be pursued before going back another
decade.
Some of the most popular online sites for finding those
original records are:
ancestry.com
familysearch.org
rootsweb.org (documented trees on their trees section)
genweb: just google genweb and your state or county. LOADS
of original records and indexes on those sites.
Google.com Use all possible name possibilities, in quotes
Googlebooks.com
Googleimages.com
2. Disregard variant spellings. Spelling was
phonetic. Please review our TIPS
page if any of this is new to you.
3. Rememer, you don't even need a name to search on
Ancestry. Other relevant facts, such as birth date* and
place, year of immigration, or a keyword will
often suffice and get past the
mis-indexed surnames. *always add 1-2 years estimate
4. If you still can't find them in the census, try browse.
Is usually on the right hand side of the Ancestry screen.
Search by township or E.D. Check other censuses to get the
E.D.
5. Look for a specific record--don't do broad searches or
use Ancestry trees.
6. To find the place of marriage, if the family moved
around, look at where the eldest child was born.
7. A good resource is Meyer's Gazette for German records.
8. Quaker records can be found at Haverford College and
Swarthmore College. They will even tell you when and where
they moved.
9. For an EVERY NAME index to the Philadelphia Bulletin,
go to Temple Library Archives. Only 2 blocks off the train
stop.
10. Another 1812 resource is "Bounty Lands" by Christine
Rose, on National Archives site and Fold3.com
11. Remember you have to KNOW the names in your tree to
make use of your DNA. Thut 5-10 there are three kinds:
male line--Y, female--Mtdna, and autosomal, which includes
everyone for about 5-6 generations. Have the most
expensive one you can afford to insure good results.
12. The Rare Books collection at the Philadelphia Free
Library includes a large collection of Fracture books.
13. Remember to use the familysearch.org records which
have not yet been digitized. They have records from all
over the world. Civil, church, and much, much more and are
still on microfilm and fiche. they can be ordered and
viewed at your nearest Family History Center. (Broomall
for us).
14. If all this fails, either put that line away for a
while or start over from the beginning and redo every
search you've done. Fresh eyes.
