Daughters of this and that

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by SoCalGirl

For all you who are in the societies or heavily into family research. Do you find it's more common for people to be more involved if they have an uncommon surname? Like, are there many Jones, Smith, Johnson types? I was completely not feeling work today and was messing around with familysearch.com and I think I would shoot myself if I had to research my surname beyond my grandfather. It's not quite "Jones" but it's almost there. Plus common first names, like John, were ever so popular for the guys.

First, yes and no - some of it depends on how exact you want to be. I'd rather have the right person than someone who may be my ancestor, so I get nitpicky. I know people in the DAR with Smith or Jones as their Patriot's name, and let's not forget that there can be over 20 ways of spelling the same name! I'd suggest that you find something that can make your lineage stand out a bit from others - no matter how small.

On my mother's side, there is a John & William CommonName in EVERY generation. Once we realized that there were two families in identical years, in the same county, with the same name, we literally had to do both lineages. Just to make it interesting, there are at least four people on the RootsWeb, Ancestory.com etc sites who live nowhere near the county in question, but insist that either these two lineages are the same or that there's a different Mrs. CommonName born in 1737. No matter how many times you try to tell them to "look at the church records!!," they won't change their minds! ACK!!

What I've done, and others have, also, is to give each a nickname - but never, ever Junior or Senior. I'm talking "John the bell ringer" and "William the shopkeeper" as opposed to "John the farmer" and "William the soldier" in the same generation.

Also, to make sure your search is miserable, ( ) make sure that you use Soundex, and don't stay married to Smythe, instead of Smith (Brown/Browne, Johnson/Johston, etc). Spelling was only as good as the listener (census taker, pastor, undertaker) heard, and you could find yourself down the wrong road. This is a great Soundex Generator, especially if you're mostly researching online. FWIW, I put every one of our names into it, alphabetized the list, and printed it out for when I research. There are other fun gadgets to help with this sort of problem at Fun Stuff For Genealogists.com. I especially appreciate their "Cite your Sources!" Sticky-notes - sticky notes to put on the back of each piece of your research, so you know where to return (or NOT return!). Some societies insist on the information that's on them, so they can be a godsend.



Last (for now!), don't forget that the lineages found online are only as good as the persons who entered them. I usually start off an email conversation with a nicer way of "what are your sources?" before I take one seriously.

[SoCalGirl]

Originally Posted by honeychile

Just to make it interesting, there are at least four people on the RootsWeb, Ancestory.com etc sites who live nowhere near the county in question, but insist that either these two lineages are the same or that there's a different Mrs. CommonName born in 1737. No matter how many times you try to tell them to "look at the church records!!," they won't change their minds! ACK!!

In your experience, how accurate is familysearch.com? I want to trust the LDS records because they've been doing it for so long but I have my doubts. My great great grandfather has unique first and last name. He first lived in MO then IL after he imigrated. But they also have same first/last name w/ a middle initial who moved to NY after IL. There's a 16 year age difference but the birth place listed for the middle initial guy is where I know my g-g-grandpa was born. Tiny town, impossible to spell or say, in Bavaria. I can't decide if it's a likely cousin or inputer error. It's annoying!

[Beryana]

Originally Posted by SoCalGirl

In your experience, how accurate is familysearch.com? I want to trust the LDS records because they've been doing it for so long but I have my doubts. My great great grandfather has unique first and last name. He first lived in MO then IL after he imigrated. But they also have same first/last name w/ a middle initial who moved to NY after IL. There's a 16 year age difference but the birth place listed for the middle initial guy is where I know my g-g-grandpa was born. Tiny town, impossible to spell or say, in Bavaria. I can't decide if it's a likely cousin or inputer error. It's annoying!

While the LDS church has been collecting genealogies for many years, they do not require any sources before data is published. Familysearch.org is a good starting place (it's where I found my great-grandmother's name and most names in my line). HOWEVER you will want to do further research (census records, vital records, etc) to verify the data listed on the site. Even ancestry.com has data that needs to be taken with a grain of salt as members can submit lineages without including any sources (and most sources listed usually refer back to the LDS collection).

I like using heritagequest.com (through my local library) to search books for ancestors as well as getting copies of Rev War pension applications.

[ForeverRoses]

For some reason, the Fort Wayne, Indiana library has a huge geneology section. My Dad takes groups of people from his geneology class from the senior center in Ohio to Fort Wayne a few times a year so they can do research. So if you are ever in Indiana, try and visit the Fort Wayne library!

Oh and my Dad has told me that the LDS records are a good start, but he has found lots of errors in the information that they have and it is very hard to get them to correct it (even with proof that it is wrong). Especially if they have already done a proxy baptism on the person (my grandfather was raised by his aunt & uncle after his mother died, but according to LDS records, there are two cousins with the same name- so they have made my grandfather into two people).