Genealogy Research Check List
It seems that as I get older my mind runs on a single track and narrow gauge at that. I first noticed this back in the beginning stages of my genealogy research while I was still in college. I had a time keeping up with what I had found and what I was looking for each person in my research. Of course, this was before computers, before copy machines and for me before microfilm readers. You see I’ve been at it a long time, over fifty years.
The solution I came to early on was to develop a “Genealogy Research Check List”. I learned to keep this on each person in the file. I was able to have a bunch of them mimeographed to have on hand. Yes, I said mimeographed since we did not have copiers. There were five different types of information that I wanted to trace out for each individual in my family history and each is listed below.
Number 1 – FAMILY RECORDS: This would include the following items:
Family Bibles – Family Traditions/Oral Traditions – Journals, Diaries, Letters – Scrapbooks/Memorabilia – Photographs/Albums – Military Files – Citizenship Papers – Account Books – Birth Certificates – Marriage Certificates – Death Certificates – Adoption Papers – Divorce Papers – School Records i.e. Elementary, High School, College, or Private School – Insurance Papers.
Number 2 – VITAL STATISTICS: Including: Birth Record/Court House – Death Records/Court House – Marriage Records/Court House or Church Records, i.e.. In older records such as banns, permission forms, bonds, license, returns by ministers, etc. – Divorce Records – Adoption Records – Land Records/ check Grantee/Grantor Index in Court House – Patents/ Grants Records – Deeds – Surveys – Wills – Inventories/Settlement – Guardianship.
Number 3 – COURT RECORDS: There are many files in the Court House records that most do not ever check. These are just some of those where interesting facts might be found:
Dockets – Minutes – Orders/Decrees – Sheriff/Police – Jury – Justice of Peace.
Number 4 – CENSUS: Not every census will apply to every individual so select the ones that might be of interest: 1790 – 1800 – 1810 – 1820 – 1830 – 1840 – 1850 – 1860 – 1870 – 1880 – 1890 [yes some have survived and especially the summaries have been published] – 1900 – 1910 – 1920 – 1930 – Indexes like the Soundex for some later Census – Mortality Schedules for 1850 – 1860 – 1870 and 1880 – Agriculture Schedules for 1850 – 1860 – 1870 and 1880 – Revolutionary War Records – Military Service Records – Civil War Service Records – Pension Records – Bounty Awards – Discharge Records – Muster Rolls.
Number 5 – MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS: These are the records most often misplaced as they are not in any formal system or organization. Printed Sources as Family Histories or Local Histories – Genealogical Periodicals – Tax Records – Immigration Records – Cemetery Records – Church Records – Newspapers – Legal Notices from Newspapers – City directories – WPA Projects [Differs from State to State] – Mortuary Records – Library or Newspaper Morgues – Local Mill/Store Account Books.
Not all information is of equal weight, but each little fact is a piece of the puzzle which when finished gives you a good picture of the person in question. Since 90% of the families did not leave a family biography, you have to fill in the blanks. Each little piece of the puzzle gives a little more of their personality other than “hatch/match/dispatch” of the individual. Far too many researchers want just the birth, marriage and death dates, but this does not tell us much of a story.
If you keep track of your genealogy research, you will not go back over and over the same information each time you set out on your journey into the past. There is so precious little time, we need to constantly be plowing new ground and discovering new pieces to the puzzle.
Happy Hunting!