Archive for the 'Tips & Tricks' Category

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your help in compiling a list of Who’s Who among Leonard researchers! You’re forever immortalized in the article over there on the right… called, uh, “Who’s Who.” If you’re not there, it’s because you didn’t speak up! Drop me a line and I’ll add you to the list.

I can’t say that I’ve been any more productive along Leonard lines this month than I was last. I have, in fact, been pursuing my wife’s family for the past several weeks. I’ve met some new researchers in that pursuit, and I’ve been reminded of the importance of genealogical sources.

I stumbled into my wife’s family history directly from my Family Tree Maker software. I had entered her parents’ and grandparents’ names as a matter of course and, in a moment of weakness, clicked the Search Web Resources button. If you’re not familiar, it’s a button that connects FTM directly to Ancestry.com and automatically searches for information matching what you’ve already entered. It’s a double-edged sword.

I’ve been a member of Ancestry.com for a number of years and I truly appreciate the ease with which I can search federal, state, and local census reports anywhere in the country. And I love the birth-death-marriage records they make available online. In fact, there are dozens of databases available for inspection. That’s the good stuff. What I’m not so crazy about, are the user-submitted family trees.

There are way too many family trees on Ancestry that are simply copied from another family tree on Ancestry, without regard to accuracy. That’s not to suggest the people who submit are in any way dishonest or careless, because they’re not. But they may not be aware of the significance an error can have. For example…

I had a great aunt, fantastic lady and awesome story-teller. Unfortunately, she was a bit sensitive about her own age. Her birth records were destroyed in a fire and she had “fudged” her age for so long and in so many places that when it came time to collect Social Security, she couldn’t prove she was eligible!

Here’s another, more recent example… I submitted a family tree, years ago, before I had any real training or experience at family history. That tree included an error in my great-grandmother’s birth date. She, too, had “fudged” her age in a few places. I finally got it right, and fixed my online tree, but it was too late. My error had been copied out to at least a dozen other sites.

Here’s the question…. How many times does an error get repeated before it becomes a “fact?” Don’t laugh. Here’s my last example… Who said, “Play it again, Sam?” If you answered “Humphrey Bogart in the movie Casablanca”, you would be wrong. The line was never uttered. A reviewer, years after the movie came out, erroneously cited “Play it again” as a classic line and to this very day… we believe it.

My point is this, there’s this thing called the Genealogical Proof Standard and it’s very specific about what’s good genealogical evidence and what’s not. I fully intended to spell out some of the details of the GPS in this article, but I’ve already wasted enough of your time. You’ll find a nice summary on About.com, or you can pick up a copy of Christine Rose’s excellent primer on the GPS at Amazon.com for between 5-10 bucks. It’s called, uh, Genealogical Proof Standard.

And worth every penny.

Cheers!
Rick

I should say, “Do you recognize this photograph?” Looking for duplicates is just one of the techniques I use to help identify the people in an old photo.

This photo, courtesy of cousin Shannon, bears an inscription on the back that reads simply, “Mr. Leonard.” That’s a nice start. It tells us that he is, most likely, a distant relative of ours. The BIG question is… which one? (Go ahead, mouse-over the image for a closer look.)

Spend enough time researching your family history and you’re sure to come across your own “mystery photos.” So, how do you go about unraveling the mystery? Why, the same way a detective would… by looking for clues.

The first, and possibly most important clue, is knowing where the picture was found. Shannon’s Dad remembers this one hanging above his grandfather’s roll-top desk. Since the picture isn’t a photo of his grandfather, it might Shannon’s great-great-grandfather. Or someone even older. Whoa! We could be talkin’ about someone born in the first half of the 1800s!

Next step, trying to determine when this photo might’ve been taken. There are several approaches. The first is to look for a photographer’s imprint. Handwritten tags, embossed labels, rubber-stamped indentifiers were all used, at one time or another, to identify the photographer who took the photo. That, in turn, can lead us to city directories which might tell us when he was in business. Alas, this photo had no such marks.

Next, we look at the type of photograph. This one is printed on paper, mounted on a cardboard backing. It measures roughly 8 inches tall by 3 1/4 wide, making it what’s known as a “cabinet card” popular between 1860 and 1920. That’s a wide date range, but we know it was probably taken no later than 1920. (For more on the different types of photographs and their usage, see David Mishkin’s article “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Your Family Photographs.”)

What’s the first thing that strikes you about the clothing? The hat? The plantation tie? The vest? They’re all clues to when the photo was taken. In this case, they all point to a period between 1910 and 1920. Now we’re getting somewhere! (There are lots of great books and web sites on clothing styles and their eras, but you might try “Dating Portraits - Clothing Styles” for starters.)

There are other things to look for, like the props (the hay at his feet and the straw in his hand), the background (”erased” in the darkroom), and the style of the pose. But the bottom line is this… 1910-1920 is as close as we’re going to come on the date. Shannon took the photo to an expert and he concurs. Now what?

We know, by comparing the man in the picture to others in our collections, that he is a Leonard. Even if the name weren’t written on the back, the similarity of his distinctive features make it a virtual certainty. Knowing that it’s not Shannon’s great-grandfather (sometimes knowing who it’s not is as important as knowing who it is), we can assume that it’s either her great-great-grandfather or her g-g-great-grandfather!

The first would’ve been 58 years old in 1910. The second would’ve been 73 (and he did live that long). So which is it? Great-great-grandfather Leonard? Or great-great-GREAT-grandfather Leonard? Ag-g-g-g-h! I can’t tell, can you?

And that’s why we’re asking… do you recognize this man/photograph? Maybe your copy has his full name on the back! Some day. Some day, we’ll find the answer. But, like all things genealogical, it will take some patience.

Cheers,
Rick!