mars 6, 2023 by Jamie - Legacy Tree Genealogists Researcher 4 Comments

5 Keys to Finding Scottish Ancestors with Genealogist Jamie Kay

We sat down to learn more about finding Scottish ancestors with one of our professional genealogists, Jamie Kay. Here’s what we learned about Jamie and how to research your own Scottish heritage.

The Challenges of Finding Scottish Ancestors

I grew up around the corner from Aunt Dorothy, our family genealogist, and loved to hear our stories and see the photographs she had collected. My great-grandparents came to the United States from Scotland in the 1870s, so a quarter of my heritage is Scottish.

One of the most challenging aspects of genealogical research in Scotland is the variety of religious groups. Records from Non-Conformist sects (those that broke off from the Church of England) have often been lost or destroyed by the ravages of time. Sometimes our ancestors weren’t affiliated with any religion. Because parish registers are the only source of vital records before civil registration began in Scotland in 1855, records for Scottish ancestors can often hit a brick wall for those who died before that year.

Where To Find Scottish Genealogical Records Online

Scotland’s People (https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk) is a website run by the government. It is absolutely fabulous: it includes civil records of births, marriages, and deaths from 1855 onward, many parish registers and kirk session records, censuses, wills, historical photographs, maps, and government records. It is a pay-per-view site, but the charge is very reasonable.

Some digital copies of census records (1841 to 1891) and many parish registers are also available at no cost on the FamilySearch website. Microfilms at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City include many of the other records public at Scotland’s People. Still, you must search each microfilm individually, which is less efficient than a website search. The cost at Scotland’s People more than compensates for the research time.

Most records from Scotland are online at Scotland’s People, Family Search, Find My Past, and Ancestry. Only occasionally would an onsite researcher be able to find more information in Scotland, for example, to look at local churchyards for a gravestone or to locate living descendants of ancestors through local phonebooks or family lore.

Genealogical Research In Scotland: Church of Scotland Parish Registers

Parish registers, as mentioned above, are generally available for those who belong to the Church of Scotland and are a huge help in finding Scottish ancestors. However, some Non-Conformist registers have yet to be digitized, or they are not available at all. The earliest parish registers in Scotland began in 1553, and most Church of Scotland registers began by 1600. Suppose the person of interest died in Scotland after 1855. In that case, chances are excellent that their death record will list their parents’ names, providing an avenue to extend the ancestry in parish registers.

Find Your Scottish Clan and How To Avoid “Scam Clans”

Highland Clans are still active in Scotland, so if your ancestor belonged to a clan, you could contact the clan leadership for more information. Warning: be sure you contact the authentic leadership. “Scam clans” abound on the internet, promising to send crests and tartans for almost any surname, even those that obviously did not originate in Scotland. Remember, too, that lowland Scots did not often affiliate with a clan, and not all surnames are represented with a clan.

(See the clan map of Scotland from Wikipedia below.)

How To Research Scottish Ancestors Who Changed Their Surname

My favorite story of finding Scottish ancestors was my own. Before my great-grandfather, Robert Logan Scott came to the United States, his father, who stayed behind, indicated the family’s “right” surname was Ferguson or Fram. Robert’s parents married his father using the surname Ferguson, and their older children were christened with the Ferguson surname.

However, on the 1861 census in Glasgow, they were Scotts. We searched for years for a baptismal record for John Ferguson, and recently, my brother took a Y-DNA test that linked us to a specific Frame family in Dalserf, Scotland, in the early 1770s. We still haven’t found paper records to link up with the Dalserf Frames, but we know they are our ancestors.

Working With Legacy Tree Genealogists

Legacy Tree Genealogists are hard-working people who care deeply about serving our clients. It may not be unique in the industry, but we often hear how pleased our clients are with our personal interaction and professionalism.

Professional genealogists know where to search for documents and the record sets available in different parts of Scotland and are expert at finding Scottish ancestors. Old handwriting is often difficult to decipher, and our experts are skilled in that aspect of research.

What I love the most about working for Legacy Tree is the people I work with, not only as colleagues but as the people we help. As I research family trees for others, I start to feel the personalities of these ancestors, and they almost become old friends.

If you’d like to schedule a consultation with Jamie or any other of our worldwide genealogists, you can fill out the form on this page here.

mars 8, 2022 by Jamie - Legacy Tree Genealogists Researcher 4 Comments

British Genealogy Brick Wall Breakthrough: A Case Study

Legacy Tree Genealogists’ researcher Jamie Kay shares a case study that demonstrates how she resolved a “brick wall” to extend the ancestry of a client’s British grandmother, who was sent to Canada in 1877. (Shared with client permission.)

A client recently asked for assistance in extending the ancestry of her grandmother, Helen Lilley, who was sent to Canada in 1877 from an orphanage in Glasgow by her maternal grandmother, Helen Gray. Helen’s father had passed away and it was said that her mother was “leading an immoral life.”

The client was an experienced researcher and had already documented the 1849 birth of Jessie Gray, the little girl’s mother, who was born in Tobermory, Argyll, Scotland, to master mariner Alexander Gray and his wife Helen MacLean. Copies of census records for the family were provided, including the 1871 Scotland census from Glasgow showing widowed Helen Gray with her two daughters, Jessie Lillie and Mary Gray, confirming their births were in Tobermory.

The “orphan” girl had left written recollections of her life in Scotland for her descendants. These included information about her father, Henry Lilley, who was a circus performer with Cooke’s Circus, who died when she was five. The orphanage record indicated young Helen was born on 2 November 1871 and that her grandmother was going to be a nurse in Broomfield and could not care for her.

Knowing the client had already searched extensively for information about her grandmother’s family, we took on this assignment as a challenge, using the following principles.

Search for all name variations.

The variation in the spelling of the Lilley/Lillie surname has already been noted between the Lilley spelling used in orphanage records and Jessie’s married name that was spelled as Lillie on the 1871 census, with other spellings phonetically possible. However, it is important to be aware of variations in given names as well.

In Scotland, the names Jessie, Jane, Jean, and Janet are interchangeable, and records using all variations must be searched. Helen could also be known as Ellen, Elly, Nell, or Nelly, to name a few. It is always a good idea to check websites or reference books on names in the area you are researching. FamilySearch Wiki entries for names in Scotland, England, and especially Ireland and Wales, can point to important resources. Names from Gaelic and Welsh can have very different variations when translated to English.

Cast a wide net when gathering documents.

Helen Gray was found on the 1881 and 1891 censuses in Glasgow, though her age and specific birthplace in Argyllshire were not consistent with each other or with earlier documents. However, her address on those censuses was listed as 73 John Street, the same home address listed on her death certificate from 1893 that was located during research for this project.

Civil registration death certificates from Scotland (after 1855) contain a wealth of information besides the name, age, death date, and cause of death. The spouse’s name and occupation as well as parents’ names of the deceased are recorded, including the mother’s maiden name. Because those two censuses were considered to possibly belong to the ancestor from the beginning, they pointed to the grandmother’s death after 1891, and her death record confirmed the documents were all for the same person.

Obtain copies of as many original records as possible about the family of interest.

Index entries and transcriptions rarely include all the information from the original documents. Copies of the original records often cost an additional fee, but they are almost always worth the investment.

Digital copies of census records from Great Britain are generally available at major genealogical websites, although original copies from Scotland are available for free at the FamilySearch site for the years between 1841 and 1891. Census returns are available from the Scotland’s People website from 1841 to 1911 for a small fee. It’s helpful to locate the family in indexed entries on other sites before paying for censuses from the websites since their index does not include the names of other household members. Early censuses from Ireland were destroyed in 1922 during the Irish Civil War. The 1901 and 1911 censuses for Ireland are available at no cost from the National Archives of Ireland.
Civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths began in England and Wales in 1837, in Scotland in 1855, and in Ireland in 1864. Some later records are not available in indexes to preserve the privacy of individuals who may still be living.
The General Register Office (GRO) of England holds these records for England and Wales and charges a fee for copies. Indexes for these records are available at major genealogical websites. Entries are organized by name, the quarter and year the event occurred, and the civil registration district where the parish was located. Mothers’ maiden names for birth records are indexed at the GRO website but are generally not available on the other sites. Death records from England and Wales contain little to no information about relatives of the deceased, although marriage records contain the fathers’ names and occupations for both bride and groom.
The government of Scotland likewise holds their civil registration records, which can be accessed at Scotland’s People. These records contain a wealth of information. Birth records often include the parents’ marriage date, marriage records list both parents’ names for both parties, and death records indicate the deceased person’s spouse and parents’ names, including the maiden names of the women.
Civil registration records for Ireland are generally available online at the Irish Genealogy website without a fee.

Exhaust all logical locations to search for records and then think outside the box.

For the Lillie research project, an exhaustive search was made for the family in Scotland with no birth record for Helen within five years of 1871, no marriage record for Jessie/Janet/Jane/Jean Gray to a Lillie (using a Soundex search), and no record for Jessie Lillie after the 1871 census with her mother in Glasgow. Cooke’s Circus was based in Glasgow, so Jessie Gray likely met her husband there.

Most families in Great Britain in the 1800s lived in the same area as their ancestors, though Helen Gray and her daughters were over 120 miles from their home in Tobermory when they were enumerated on the 1861 and 1871 censuses in Glasgow.

The next step was to research other places in Great Britain. Helen Lilley was born on 2 November 1871, according to documents from the orphanage provided by the client. The civil registration birth index for England had an entry for Ellen Lilley in the fourth quarter of 1871 in Liverpool, Lancashire, located 220 miles south of Glasgow.

Jessie Lillie was in Glasgow in the spring of 1871 for the census, so it seemed unlikely this record could have been for her daughter, but it was ordered from the GRO. The birth certificate listed the child’s parents as William Henry Lilley, a laborer, and Jessie (Gray) Lillie.

The marriage record for William Henry Lilley to Jessie Gray was the document needed to confirm the birth record was indeed for the “orphan” Helen Lilley. William worked as a gymnast and Jessie’s father was Alexander Gray, a master mariner. The couple married in 1869 in Bolton-le-Moors, Manchester, England, located about 37 miles east of Liverpool. Jessie (Gray) Lillie, therefore, traveled over two hundred miles from Glasgow to Bolton-le-Moors sometime between the 1861 census and her marriage in 1869, back to Glasgow to be enumerated with her mother and maternal grandmother in the spring of 1871 on the Scotland census, and then again to Liverpool by the birth of her daughter in November of that year.

“Orphan” Helen Lilley was born in November 1871 in Liverpool, England, more than 200 miles from her mother’s home in Glasgow in the spring of 1871, and her name was listed as Ellen on her birth record. Without taking into consideration the name variation and thinking outside the box of logical locations, her birth record might have been missed.

Gathering all available documents for the family allowed for Helen Gray’s ancestry to be extended. Census records that did not quite match known information about her were still considered, and her death record confirmed they were her census entries and listed her husband’s and parents’ names. Jessie Gray’s marriage record matched her father’s name and known occupation, and her husband’s ancestry was able to be extended using his father’s name from their marriage record. The 1875 death record for William Henry Lilley in Liverpool was witnessed by his widow, Jessie Lilley, again roughly matching information remembered by their daughter Helen/Ellen that her father Henry died when she was five years old.

Brick wall breakthroughs are always celebrated! More progress can be made using these research strategies.

Have you run into a genealogy “brick wall”? The experienced team at Legacy Tree Genealogists can help. Contact us today to request a free quote!

januar 8, 2021 by Jamie - Legacy Tree Genealogists Researcher 6 Comments

DNA to the Rescue! Solving an Irish Genealogy “Brick Wall”

A case study that demonstrates how to use document evidence in conjunction with DNA evidence to resolve an Irish genealogy “brick wall”.

*Shared with client permission

Researchers with Irish ancestors have often thrown up their hands in despair when they learn about the massive record loss on that small island. Knowing one’s birthdate or even one’s age was not an Irish cultural value until well into the 20th century, which further complicates Irish research. “Crossing the pond” to document Irish immigrants in their homeland requires careful research in records in the countries where they settled to find any possible clues to their origin. One recent case at Legacy Tree Genealogists involved extending the ancestry of Miles Jennings, said to have been born in Ireland in May 1851. His great-grandson had been gathering documents about this family for over forty years.

Tackling Irish Genealogy “Brick Walls”

The client provided a transcription of the marriage record for Miles Jennings to Catherine Murray on 19 September 1894 in Limestone, Cattaraugus County, New York, that he had obtained from St. Patrick’s Rectory at Limestone. Miles and Catherine were the parents of two daughters, Mary Margaret Jennings and Anna Catherine Jennings, born in Carrollton, Cattaraugus County, in 1895 and 1898. Their mother, Kate (Murray) Jennings, died 31 January 1899 in Carrolton; the client also provided a copy of her death certificate. Miles was said to have returned to Ireland after his wife’s death. The two Jennings girls were raised by a maternal aunt, Bridget (Murray) McDonough and her husband; they appeared on the 1910 census with them in Bradford, McKean County, Pennsylvania. A final bit of unsourced information provided at the outset of the project was that Miles Jennings had a sister named Mary, born in Ireland in 1865, who also came to New York and married a man named James T. Burke. Together they had children Miles, James, and Anna Burke, though no marriage record for the parents or birth information for their children was included.

Combining Traditional Genealogy Research with DNA

Research began by verifying the information provided by the client. The only possible document found for Miles Jennings was the 1892 New York State Census in Carrollton, though that man was 20 years old on that record, so he was not born in May 1851. However, he was listed after the entries for James T. and Mary “Burk” with their probable son Thomas. Further down the page was an entry for the family of James and Bridget Murray with Katy Murray, age 22. The 1892 state census did not include relationships between the individuals listed, but this document seemed promising, as it was a possible match for the target ancestor living near the Burkes and the Murrays.

1892 New York State Census, Carrollton, Cattaraugus, E.D. 2, James T. Burk family, Miles Jennings, John Murray family, James Murray family, https://ancestry.com, subscription database, accessed July 2020.

With little to go on using traditional research, a search of the client’s DNA matches was conducted.

One of the DNA matches was a great-granddaughter of Mary (Jennings) Burke, shown in later research to have been the same person as on the 1892 New York State Census. Based on family trees of the client and this match, she would be a third cousin to the client, supported by the amount of DNA they share. Additional research on Mary (Jennings) Burke conducted for this project showed she was born in Ireland in March 1865 and was buried in Chautauqua County, New York, in 1942.
Another DNA match was to a great-grandchild of a Bridget (Jennings) Murray, not previously identified as a relative to Miles Jennings. Bridget’s death certificate from Philadelphia indicated she was born in Ireland about 1876, based on her age at death. Her descendants were identified forward in time to a daughter who married a man with the surname listed for this match, substantiating the DNA evidence with a document trail.

The birth record for Myles Jennings on 2 June 1869 in Cool Lodge townland, Castlebar district in County Mayo seemed to be good match for the age of the Miles Jennings on the 1892 census in Carrollton, New York. He was the son of Patrick Jennings and Margaret Mullen.

Ireland Civil Births (image), birth record for Myles Jennings, 2 June 1869, no. 106, Cool Lodge, Castlebar district, County Mayo, https://irishgenealogy.ie, accessed July 2020.

If this was the birth record for the ancestor, he should have had sisters named Mary and Bridget. Such was the case. Mary Jennings was born 13 March 1864 and Bridget Jennings was born 13 February 1873, both to Patrick Jennings and Margaret Mullen at Cool Lodge townland. Another child of this couple, Betty Jennings, was born 21 August 1867 at Cool Lodge, and may have also come to the United States.

Ireland Civil Births (image), birth record for Mary Jennings, 13 March 1864, no. 31, Cool Lodge, Castlebar district, County Mayo, https://irishgenealogy.ie, accessed July 2020.

Ireland Civil Births (image), birth record for Bridget Jennings, 13 February 1873, no. 97, Cool Lodge, Castlebar district, County Mayo, https://irishgenealogy.ie, accessed July 2020.

Ireland Civil Births (image), birth record for Betty Jennings, 21 August 1867, no. 100, Cool Lodge, Castlebar district, County Mayo, https://irishgenealogy.ie, accessed July 2020.

According to her death certificate, Elizabeth Jennings was born in Ireland on 4 August 1881 to Patrick Jennings and Margaret Mullin and died in Philadelphia on 27 June 1941. She never married. Margaret McDonald served as informant; Bridget (Jennings) Murray had a granddaughter of that name. There were no indexed births for children of the ancestral couple in 1881, but again, it was not an Irish cultural value to know one’s age in the 1800s, and the informant on Elizabeth’s death certificate was likely her grand-niece who may have guessed at the birthdate of the deceased. It is possible the birth record for Betty Jennings and the death record for Elizabeth Jennings were not for the same person, though the parents’ names on both records matched.

Without DNA matches to the client, it is likely the parents of Miles Jennings would never have been identified. There were so few records about him in the United States, and only the 1892 New York State Census gave an indication of his age. DNA research bridges the gaps in documents. It can be complicated, but Legacy Tree Genealogists has a host of specialists ready to assist if you have some DNA matches we can work with.

Do you have a genealogy “brick wall”? At Legacy Tree Genealogists, we look at all possible sources of evidence, both document and DNA, to find answers for our clients. If you’re ready to make progress on your family history mystery, contact us today to get started!

mai 8, 2020 by Jamie - Legacy Tree Genealogists Researcher 12 Comments

Genealogical Giggles – Finding Humor in Genealogy Documents

As genealogists, we occasionally encounter funny genealogy records that makes us giggle. Here’s a collection of some of our favorites!

Most researchers have felt the thrill of discovering a little-known document that connects the dots on a family tree, but generally a lot of time is spent slogging through pages of records with little to show for the effort. However, researchers who spend copious amounts of time in censuses, wills, and land records are often rewarded with a few giggles to make the journey more enjoyable. The gems in this article were collected by researchers from Legacy Tree Genealogists.

Funny Genealogy Records: Unusual Occupations

The occupation of J.F. Brown was listed on the 1880 census as “whorehouse pimp,” and the occupation of his wife Maude was “whore.” It is unknown whether these jobs were self-reported or if the census taker used other means of ascertaining their employment.

1880 census entry for J.F. and Maude Brown, Rockport, Atchison County, Missouri. Ancestry.com

Oliver Butts worked as a “pettifogger” on the 1860 census ,and his presumed son Eli Butts, age 23, was “running around.” Merriam-Webster defines a pettifogger as a lawyer whose methods are petty, underhanded or disreputable.

1860 census entry for Oliver and Eli Butts, Franklin, Delaware County, New York. Ancestry.com

Charles V. Stewart, the census enumerator in Clifton, Mason County, West Virginia, in 1880 listed the occupations of several young children as “idle.” He apparently had high expectations for the work ethic of children under 10.

Miserable Monikers

In American colonial times, names often reflected qualities or characteristics that parents wanted their children to emulate, like Charity, Patience, or Virtue. Preserved was a name associated with salvation – preserved from sin, death, or destruction. However, Thomas and Mercy Fish should probably have given a little more thought to the burden their son would be forced to bear when they named him Preserved Fish.

Birth record for Preserved Fish, 6 November 1731, Dartmouth, Massachusetts. Ancestry.com

There is no direct evidence that the name Pleasant Bottoms inspired its bearer to become a soldier, but it could have easily been a contributing factor in the decision. His father Turner claimed land in Illinois awarded to his deceased son Pleasant Bottoms in 1852 as a result of his military service in the war with Mexico.

funny genealogy records

1852 Illinois land grant to Pleasant Bottoms claimed by his father, Turner Bottoms. Glorecords.blm.gov.

Doctor Nose, son of Solomon and Sarah Ann Nose, was born 15 April 1853 in Taylor County, West Virginia. Confirming that he used this name throughout his life was his will, written 2 October 1906 and proved in Etam, Preston County, West Virginia.

Birth record for Doctor Nose, 15 April 1853, Taylor County, West Virginia. wvculture.org

The Kay Hollis family of Lamar County, Alabama, chose similar-sounding names for their children. Between 1907 and 1930, they had daughters named Destie, Lestie, Bessie, Sessie, Essie, and Effie, along with sons Girlie, Earlie, Jonnie, and Gurty. It’s a given that the children would have been called by the wrong names from time to time.

1920 census entry for Kay Hollis household, Beat 3, Lamar County, West Virginia. Ancestry.com

1930 census entry for Kay Hollis household, Beat 3, Lamar County, West Virginia. Ancestry.com

Other examples of laughter-inspiring entries abound and are sure to brighten a monotonous research session. What “genealogical giggles” have you encountered in your family history research?

We’d love to help you with your family history, whether we’re breaking down brick wall mysteries, finding your biological parents, or just starting from scratch finding the stories about your ancestors. We may even find a few “genealogical gigles” in your family history! Contact us today for a free consultation.

november 1, 2019 by Jamie - Legacy Tree Genealogists Researcher 4 Comments

Tips for Navigating Civil Registration Records from England and Wales

Unlike parish records which may often be found online, the British government controls access to civil registration records. Learn tips and tricks for accessing these vital documents.

Before 1837, births, marriages, and deaths in England and Wales were only recorded by the local Anglican Parish. Beginning in 1837, however, the British government required civil registration as well. While many parish registers are available on microfilm or online, the British government controls access to the civil registration records. Fees for copies are not astronomical but ordering the right record can be a little tricky. These tips can help ensure money is not wasted ordering the wrong record.

Understand that online indexes do not contain complete information

Civil registration records are indexed by the year and quarter the events occurred and are organized by registration district rather than by parish. It is common to see entries in family trees like “John Smith was born Jan-Feb-Mar 1853 in Huddersfield district.” This format reflects the index entry rather than the original document. Most index entries for births do not contain parents’ names; marriage indexes often contain several possible spouses; and death indexes do not contain any identifying information about the deceased beyond the person’s name. The full certificate is available to order from England’s General Register Office and should always be obtained for the additional information they contain.

Become acquainted with the area of interest

Civil registration districts usually cover many parishes and can overlap parish and county boundaries. Available for free through FamilySearch, England Jurisdictions 1851 is a map of England and Wales that allows users to pinpoint which jurisdiction a particular parish fell within. Search for the parish name and then choose the appropriate parish from the list of options shown on the left of the screen. The map then scales larger to show the parish boundaries and the surrounding parishes. The following map shows the parish of Almondbury in Yorkshire along with surrounding parishes.

Almondbury parish, Yorkshire courtesy of familysearch.org

An information box also pops open which includes information about the parish, another tab with jurisdictions, and a third with options to search for nearby places or locate other information about the parish. The second tab lists the civil registration district.

Locate your family in census records if the parish is unknown

The 1841 Census of England and Wales did not include the individuals’ parish of birth, though later censuses do. Censuses are available every ten years from 1841 to 1911. Find your family in as many censuses as possible to get an idea of the family structure, including the children’s names, approximate birth years and places, addresses where the family lived, and the probable decade of family members’ deaths. Use the England Jurisdictions 1851 map to chart the corresponding civil registration districts and likely time frame for each event.

Find the pertinent index entries at the General Register Office website

The web address for the General Register Office is https://gro.gov.uk. The index is free, but does require registration with a username and password. Indexes at the GRO for births and deaths contain a little more information than popular research sites but take more time to navigate. Each search can only cover a five-year span and males and females must be searched separately. However, births and deaths can be searched by registration district, and birth records can be searched by the mother’s maiden name. Using the information gathered from the censuses, search the birth index for the family surname in the registration district and note the mother’s maiden name for the children that match your family in censuses, along with the year, district, volume and page number for each entry. Be sure to use “fuzzy matching” on all names so that misspelled or mistranscribed entries are not overlooked. Next, search for the parents’ marriage record at a general research site and again note the volume and page number. If the parents were married after 1837, there should be a matching return within a few years before the birth of their eldest child. Search the GRO death index in a similar manner, using the registration district for the person’s last known residence and age on censuses to identify possible candidates; the GRO index includes the person’s age at death from the death certificate.

Order the records

Use the information gathered from the indexes to order certificates directly from the GRO. PDF copies of birth and death records can be obtained for £7, or fully certified copies can be sent by mail for £11; marriage records must be ordered by mail. Birth records will contain the child’s name; date and place of birth, often including a specific address as well as the parish; the parents’ names, including the mother’s maiden name; and the father’s occupation. Marriage records contain the date and place of marriage; the names, marital statuses, occupations, and usual addresses of the bride and groom; the names and occupations of each party’s father; the names of the witnesses and the person who performed the marriage. Death records include the deceased’s name, age, occupation, and usual address; the date, place, and cause of death; and the name of the informant. Once the certificates arrive, double-check the information against the facts already known about the family from censuses and other documents to be sure you have the correct record. It is common to find several individuals with the same names and similar ages in death records, especially, so care must be taken to match known addresses and family members who might have served as informants.

A common saying asserts that family trees without documentation are just fairy tales. It takes time and a little expense to go beyond index entries but obtaining full dates and places for the births, marriages, and deaths in England and Wales from 1837 onward is possible – and worth the effort.

If you have British ancestry and need help locating birth, marriage and/or death information for your ancestors, or would like assistance with obtaining vital records for them, we would love to help! Contact us today to discuss your project goal(s).

mars 29, 2019 by Jamie - Legacy Tree Genealogists Researcher 2 Comments

Preserving Living Genealogy: How to Conduct a Family History Interview

Summer is coming! Anticipated vacations are being planned, and family reunions are in the works. Now is the perfect time to begin arrangements for capturing the memories and stories of older generations. Here are some suggestions for conducting a quality family history interview to preserve the stories of your loved ones.

Preparing for a Family History Interview

Set a specific time, date, and place for the interview. Plan to spend about an hour to an hour and a half, with options to meet again. Cover the basics in a written questionnaire that can be mailed to the person ahead of time. This should include names and birth and marriage dates and places for themselves, their parents, and siblings, along with any death or burial information for those who have passed on. Also include addresses they remember, schools they attended, jobs they have held, military service, hobbies, and community or church involvement. Check out our article, 9 Tips for Interviewing Family Members, for additional advice to help your prepare for the family history interview.

Recording a Family History Interview

While professional-grade video and sound equipment is the best choice, a lavalier mic that clips to their collar paired with the video recorder on your smartphone will also work–just make sure the mic cord is long enough to reach your device! An inexpensive tripod may be purchased for your mobile device to ensure the video is stable. Conduct a test run before the interview starts to be sure recording equipment is working properly. Check to see there is enough light and their voices can be heard. Before beginning, be sure the person is comfortable, with a glass of water nearby.

Conducting a Family History Interview

Come prepared with questions to keep the conversation lively. Structure queries so that they can’t be answered with a yes or no, or single words. Use the questions below as a guide and tailor others to what you already know about the person’s life.

What is one of your earliest memories about your childhood?
Describe your daily routine as a child. Which chores were yours?
Tell me your version of the story when … (you hit your brother with a croquet mallet, Grandpa killed a snake in the milk house, whatever the basis of a family story everyone knows.)
What is the worst trouble you ever got into in school? At home?
Which talents did you spend time developing? How did those serve you in later life?
What honors or awards came your way?
How did you spend your free time as a teen?
What were your responsibilities at your first paying job? How much did you make?
Tell me about your wedding day. How was the weather? Describe the place, the people who were there, the decorations, the food. Where did you go for your honeymoon?
What were the best and worst parts about raising your children?
What challenges in your life have made you stronger? Which felt that they would keep you down forever?
Where was the most memorable place you have visited? What made it memorable?
What are the biggest changes you have seen in your lifetime?

Sharing the Family History Interview with Others

Once the interview is complete, be sure that family members of all ages and technical abilities have access to this family heirloom–whether that be by saving the file to the cloud and sharing the link, sharing the files on a USB drive, posting on social media, or creating a CD. Remember to transfer the files to newer storage options as technology develops. However these memories are shared, preserving the stories of your loved ones is one of the best tributes they can receive.

At Legacy Tree Genealogists, we love to help you tell your family’s story. If you need help uncovering the stories of your ancestors or preserving your family history with a beautifully written biography, our team of experts can help! Contact us for a free quote today.

november 16, 2018 by Jamie - Legacy Tree Genealogists Researcher 2 Comments

Digging Through Name Changes: The Challenge of Dealing with Aliases in Genealogy Research

*shared with client permission

What’s in a name? Plenty, when you’re dealing with name changes in genealogy research! We share how to overcome the obstacle of aliases in your family history research!

A fascinating recent project for Legacy Tree Genealogists involved a search for the parents of William Thomas Rowe, born about 1855, probably in Baltimore, Maryland, who married Susan Cecelia O’Hagen and died in 1894 in Washington, DC. The client provided the information that William was a bricklayer, and she had found him in city directories of Washington, DC, living at 103 K Street NW (1879–1881), at 1124 N. Capital Street (1884, 1885, 1887), and at 1122 N. Capital Street (1887, 1888, 1891). William T. Rowe’s death certificate showed he died 10 September 1894 at 1122 N. Capital Street in Washington, DC.^[1] The client also referred to a possible match in the 1860 census of Washington, DC, for five-year-old William Rowe and three-year-old Mary Rowe in the household of John Schinners [sic], age 68, a fruit dealer, and Margaret Schinners, age 27, a dressmaker.^[2]

John Schinner household, 1860 U.S. Census, Washington, DC.

A quick review of the entries in the city directories for Washington, DC, showed that Frank W. Rowe, laborer; Margaret A. Rowe, dressmaker; and William T. Rowe, bricklayer, all lived at 1124 N. Capital in 1891.^[3] In 1893, Margaret Rowe, dressmaker, was the only Rowe inhabitant of the house at 1124 N. Capital.^[4] In 1898 and 1900, Margaret Rowe, widow of Frank, dressmaker, lived at 1122 N. Capital.^[5] The fact Margaret Shinners was a dressmaker in 1860 and Margaret Rowe, dressmaker, shared a home with the client’s ancestor, William T. Rowe, in 1891, pointed to the probability that Margaret was his mother. But how was Frank W. Rowe related? There were no entries for Frank Rowe in Washington, DC, death records between 1891 and 1898, when Margaret was listed as his widow.

Resolving Conflicting Information in Genealogy Research

Further research helped solve this discrepancy. Margaret A. Roue [sic] married Franklin VanValkenberg on 19 August 1863 in Washington, DC.^[6] On the 1870 census in Washington, DC, the Frank and Margaret VanValkenburg [sic] household included fifteen-year-old William R. [sic] Roe [sic] and thirteen-year-old Elizabeth Roe, both born in Maryland.^[7]

Frank VanValkenburg household, 1870 U.S. Census, Washington, DC.

Elizabeth’s age corresponded to Mary Rowe’s age on the 1860 census, though Margaret VanValkenberg would have been about 37, based on her age in 1860. William Rowe’s middle initial should have been T rather than R, but VanValkenberg is an unusual surname, so both these documents appeared to support the theory that Margaret Shinners first married a Rowe, bore two children, and subsequently married Frank VanValkenberg, who for some reason was called Frank W. Rowe in the 1891 city directory for the District of Columbia. In 1890, Frank VanValkenberg, laborer, lived at 1122 N. Capital, adding more evidence that he was “Frank Rowe” from the 1891 directory.^[8]

Using Military Records to Solve a Family History Mystery

Frank VanValkenberg, alias Charles Duane, fought with Company K of the Eleventh Connecticut Infantry and Company K of the 107th Pennsylvania Infantry during the Civil War.^[9] Margaret A. VanValkenberg filed for her widow’s pension on 19 August 1893 in the District of Columbia. The file included a transcript of the death certificate for “Francis VanValkenburg,” age 59, who died 15 December 1892 at 1122 N. Capital Street in Washington, DC. He was born in New York; had lived in Washington, DC, for thirty years; and was buried in Arlington Cemetery.^[10]

As noted on the reference to Margaret’s application for her widow’s pension, Frank VanValkenberg was also known as Charles Duane. Frank Rowe was not the first alias for this man! In fact, two men who had known the deceased soldier in New York before the Civil War testified that Frank’s real name was Charles Duane McChesney. Rufus Hewes recalled that McChesney had been arrested for breaking into a store and for passing counterfeit money and was sentenced to prison in Auburn, New York. Before his fifteen-year sentence had elapsed, McChesney escaped and went to Pennsylvania, where he assumed the name Frank VanValkenberg. He enlisted in the 107th Pennsylvania Infantry and was reportedly wounded at Gettysburg in 1863. Frank VanValkenberg came to Washington, DC, and married Margaret (Shinners) Rowe in August 1863. In 1864, he told her that he was leaving town for work. He then joined the Eleventh Connecticut Infantry under the alias Charles Duane. Rufus Hewes stated in his deposition that he believed Margaret VanValkenberg had no knowledge of her second husband’s real name or his background.

Margaret VanValkenberg, age 58, died 10 June 1900 and was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington, DC.^[11] She shares a monument engraved on the other three sides with the names John G. Shinners, who died 4 October 1864 at the age of 75; Mary Jane Shinners, who died 21 February 1859 at the age of 56; and Mary Jane Wells, who died 25 March 1916 at the age of 82.[12] They were almost certainly the parents and sister of Margaret (Shinners) Rowe VanValkenberg.

Shinners family gravestone, Mount Olivet Cemetery, Washington, D.C. courtesy of FindaGrave.com

Overcoming Name Changes in Genealogy Research

Stripping away layers of alternate names was vital to researching William Thomas Rowe. His mother’s name was listed as Margaret Schinners in 1860 in her father’s household, when she should have gone by her married surname of Rowe. Her last name was spelled Roue in her marriage record to Frank VanValkenberg in 1863. William R. Roe—not William T. Rowe—was in the Frank and Margaret VanValkenburg household in 1870, and his sister Mary in 1860 was now called Elizabeth. Despite being married to a VanValkenberg, Margaret was Margaret Rowe in city directories of Washington, DC, between 1891 and 1900, and Frank VanValkenberg went by the name Frank W. Rowe in the 1891 city directory. Margaret VanValkenberg’s application for a widow’s pension based on her husband’s service in the Civil War uncovered the fact that he also went by the name Charles Duane, and that his real name was Charles Duane McChesney.

Completing this project and identifying the mother of William Thomas Rowe has brought immense satisfaction to both the client and the research team. Persistence pays off when it comes to uncovering aliases!

Do you have a family history mystery? Whether it involves the use of aliases or an entirely different type of genealogy “brick wall”, our team of expert genealogists can help you solve the mystery and accomplish your research goals! Contact us today to request a free estimate.

[1] District of Columbia Deaths, 1874–1961 (image and transcription), death certificate for William T. Rowe, 10 September 1894, http://familysearch.org, accessed January 2018.

[2] 1860 U.S. Census (population schedule), Washington, District of Columbia, p. 128, John Schinners household, http://familysearch.org, accessed January 2018.

[3] Washington, D.C. City Directory, 1891 (image), p. 808, http://familysearch.org, accessed January 2018.

[4] U.S. City Directories, 1822–1995, Washington, District of Columbia, 1893 (image), pp. 805–06, http://ancestry.com, subscription database, accessed January 2018.

[5] U.S. City Directories, 1822–1995, Washington, District of Columbia, 1898 (image), p. 830, http://ancestry.com, subscription database, accessed January 2018. And

U.S. City Directories, 1822–1995, Washington, District of Columbia, 1900 (image), p. 858, http://ancestry.com, subscription database, accessed January 2018.

[6] District of Columbia Marriages, 1811–1950 (image and transcription), marriage of Franklin VanValkenberg and Margaret A. Roue, 19 August 1863, http://familysearch.org, accessed January 2018.

[7] 1870 U.S. Census (population schedule), 4th Ward, District of Columbia, p. 120, Frank VanValkenburg household, http://ancestry.com, subscription database, accessed January 2018.

[8] Washington, D.C. City Directory, 1890 (image), p. 871, Frank VanValkenberg, 1122 N. Capitol, http://fold3.com, subscription database, accessed January 2018.

[9] United States General Index to Pension Files, 1861–1934 (image), card for Frank VanValkenberg, alias Charles Duane, widow’s pension application no. 581674, 19 August 1893, District of Columbia, http//familsyearch.org, accessed January 2018.

[10] Health Department, District of Columbia (transcript), death certificate for Francis VanValkenburg, 15 December 1892, certificate no. 87632, National Archives, Record Group 15 (Department of Veterans Affairs), widow’s pension, application no. 581674, item 27 in the file.

[11] Find a Grave (image and transcription), Mount Olivet Cemetery, Washington, District of Columbia, headstone and memorial for Margaret Van Valkenberg, died 10 June 1900, memorial no. 180200794, http://findagrave.com, accessed January 2018.

[12] Find a Grave (image and transcription), Mount Olivet Cemetery, Washington, District of Columbia, headstone and memorial for John G. Shinners, died 4 October 1864, memorial no. 180200722, http://findagrave.com, accessed January 2018.

Find a Grave (image and transcription), Mount Olivet Cemetery, Washington, District of Columbia, headstone and memorial for Mary Jane Shinners headstone, died 21 February 1859, memorial no. 180200624, http://findagrave.com, accessed January 2018.

Find a Grave (image and transcription), Mount Olivet Cemetery, Washington, District of Columbia, headstone and memorial for Mary Jane Wells headstone, died 25 March 1916, memorial no. 175664856, http://findagrave.com, accessed January 2018.

juli 13, 2018 by Jamie - Legacy Tree Genealogists Researcher 2 Comments

Where IS That Record? Clues for Tracing Irish Ancestry

Those who have been involved in tracing their Irish ancestry are aware of the challenge of record loss during the fire at the Four Courts Building in 1922. The good news is that there are still many Irish records which survived. The challenge is to locate them! Depending on the type of record, they were kept—and indexed—using different geographical divisions. It is vital to know specifically where the ancestral family was from in order to locate them in documents of interest.

Finding Irish Records: Know Your Geographical Divisions

The smallest division in Ireland is the townland, roughly equivalent to a neighborhood in the United States. This is the most ancient land division and is often named for local landmarks like lakes, mountains, or man-made structures like churches or monuments. Townlands generally range in size from several acres to hundreds of acres or more, especially in mountainous areas. Within cities, they are often a section of a street. Whether in the town or country, the number of inhabitants in a townland is generally only ten to twenty-five families. The name of the family’s townland was usually recorded in church records of baptisms, marriages, and burials, and was often included in vital records kept by the government.
The District Electoral Divisions (DED) were established in 1838 with the passage of the Poor Law Act. Each division contains several townlands, and those living within each division were charged with the care of the poor in their area. Census records are commonly organized by the DED name, so it is important to be familiar with the place names included in the DED of interest.

Civil Parish vs. Catholic Parish

The next largest division in government records is the civil parish, established by the British government using the boundaries of the ancient parishes of the Church of Ireland. Civil parishes are usually comprised of many townlands. To complicate matters, the names and boundaries of Catholic parishes often differ from the names of the civil parishes. It is important to determine which type of parish is referenced in any particular record.

Poor Law Unions

Poor Law Unions (PLU) were also created in 1838 and united several District Electoral Divisions. These divisions later became the basis for reporting births, marriages, and deaths by the government, generally beginning in 1864, though non-Catholic marriages were registered beginning in 1845. Also called Superintendent Registrars’ Districts, their boundaries could cross parish and even county borders, and again—the names of the Poor Law Unions are different from the parish and DED names.

How to Begin Tracing Irish Ancestry

Counties in Ireland have a history stretching back to ancient times. There are thirty-two counties in Ireland, six of them in Northern Ireland. Knowing the county of origin of Irish ancestors is imperative in order to even begin research there. So where to begin? Start by discovering as much as possible about your Irish ancestors’ place of origin in church records, newspapers, and burial records. Knowing their townland or civil/church parish is ideal.

Next, become familiar with the different divisions which cover that place. A wonderful resource is Brian Mitchell’s A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland. This book contains four maps of each county in Ireland which can be laid over each other to compare boundary lines for different divisions. One page includes the civil parishes, another the Catholic or Protestant parishes, another the Poor Law Unions, and finally, the baronies and dioceses.

Locate your ancestors’ townlands on a map in the Griffith’s Valuation section at the AskAboutIreland.ie website. Search using “Griffith’s Places” on the home page, then click “Map Views.” The maps reflect the townlands in the mid-1800s, with townlands in smaller letters and civil parishes in larger letters. It is possible to toggle between the old maps and modern ones by using the slider at the top-right corner of the page or go to satellite view at the top left. Take time to become familiar with the names of nearby townlands and parishes as well as the name of the Poor Law Unions or Registration Districts where they are located. Some family records are located just over a border from where they actually lived, and familiarity with all the possible division names helps locate documents more quickly.

Search Irish Civil Registration Records

If your Irish ancestor was born, married, or died in 1864 or later, begin with the civil registration records and the name of the Poor Law Union (PLU) where your ancestor’s event would have been recorded. The records are searchable with links to digital copies of the register at the IrishAncestors.ie website. Other websites, including RootsIreland.ie, Ancestry.com, and FamilySearch.org also include indexes to civil registration, but do not have links to the original registers.

Many church registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials are searchable online using the name of the religious parish. The subscription website RootsIreland.ie contains the most complete database, though Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org contain many records as well. Once a Catholic record of interest has been located in an index, go to the free website Catholic Parish Registers at the NLI and the original records can be viewed or obtained. The IrishGenealogy.ie website can link directly from their index to parish records for the Church of Ireland in Counties Carlow and Kerry, Presbyterian records in Dublin, and Catholic records in Dublin, Kerry, and Cork & Ross. Many parish records are available on microfilm at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, if links to records are not online. Search their catalogue at FamilySearch.org.

Ireland Census Records

Census records in Ireland are only available for 1901 and 1911 and are searchable at the National Archives of Ireland. These can be searched by name and location (county, DED, and/or townland), but also by religion, occupation, relationship to head of family, literacy status, county or country of origin, and more. According to their website “you can now search for female married teachers in Co. Cork, or how many people spoke Irish in Ballyshannon, or how many Presbyterians there were in Roscommon.” Because families often stayed in the same townlands for many generations, it is often useful to look at the inhabitants of their townlands of origin in these censuses, even if your ancestors emigrated from Ireland before these censuses were taken.

Locating Irish records can be a challenge, but researchers at Legacy Tree Genealogists are available to lend their expertise as you learn more about your Irish ancestry and extend your family tree. Contact us today for a free consultation to discuss your specific project goals.