What do we NALF genealogists look at in order to update our publications accurately?  What can you use to research your own family?  The record groups below summarize this very complex topic.  More detailed treatment of each group to follow as time allows.

  • Census:  Federal Census gives for 1790 – 1840 the head of household name and marks for age and gender groupings of other members of the household unit.  From 1850 on the census shows every member of the household.  Other information given varies with the decade.  Many states also enumerated every ten years at the mid point between the federal census years.  Special censuses were taken in some locations for various purposes. 
  • Cemetery:  Tombstone inscriptions, burial records, monument records give valuable birth and/or death dates and sometimes establish family relationships.
  • Military:  Pensions, rosters, pay stubs, service records, enlistment journals, draft registrations.
  • Court, Land and Probate:  Deeds, wills, surrogate court records, landlord journals, records of court actions
  • Tax, Freeman and Other Lists:  Covering various times, locations and subject matter, these lists can be used for time periods prior to 1790 and for areas where the census has been lost or destroyed.
  • Local and Family Histories, Journals, Archive Collections:  These sources show government officials, genealogies, church records, store records, farm harvests, and town celebrations, to name a few.
  • Directories and Newspapers:  Directories show a person’s residence or business presence and many times an occupation.  Newspaper obituaries provide a great source of genealogical family information, but weddings, engagements, graduation and other notices can also prove useful.  Local newspapers very often published visits by family who had moved on or relatives from the area the family was from.
  • Vital Records:  Births, Marriages and Deaths can be found in surviving church records and civil registrations after dates mandating the government keep these records.  The dates of availability for civil records vary by state.  Some towns kept records long before it was required to do so.
  • Web queries and Internet trees can be mined for clues.  Where they give credible sources they can also be used for information, provided credit is given to the original researcher.

These are the sources we NALF Genealogists use to update the society publications and you can use the same procedures in your family tree research.

What do we learn from these records?

The records found are first used to check the genealogies in our books and provide further documentation.  When we find errors, we use as many of these record groups as are needed to find the truth and make the corrections.  This is not always a linear process and we do not always find the answers we need; hence the research is ongoing and may prevent us from releasing the update. 
We will never “know it all”; in that sense the work will never be complete or totally accurate.  Our goal is to have it “substantially complete.”  This means we need to finish the first pass, record all the documentation we can find for the facts that check, and note the discrepancies encountered.  For the errors we need to either correct them or explain why we cannot.  Once this is done and the bibliographies are prepared we will release the update.  This work will contain questions remaining for the next generation’s update.  But, it will be more complete and accurate than the past work.  This is the goal of any ongoing genealogical research: to build upon and improve past work.  Each successive update culls and improves upon the work that came before.

These records provide:
1.Birth, marriage, death and burial dates and places.
2.Family migrations
3.Occupations
4.Military records

Considered all together, the records provide stories to “add flesh to the bones”, lifting our genealogies above the dry collection of names and dates.  These stories give our ancestors immortality.

Valerie LaRobardier, Webmaster
HOME
ORGANIZATION
GENEALOGY
  Reunions    & Photos
Membership & Benefits
Leavitt Store
Member Newsletter
Current Projects
Research Links & Tips
RESEARCH LINKS & TIPS
NOTE: This page content changes  periodically--visit often for new links.
GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN, BUT BEWARE - GENEALOGY IS ADDICTIVE!
RELATED LINKS:
Record Groups Used in Genealogical Research
OFFERINGS:
PLEASE ALSO VISIT  >>>
Last updated January 2012