Genealogy, after all, is all about the people
When researching your family’s story, you may want to collect documents about your ancestors’ lives. Birth, marriage, and death records are called “vital records”, and each state collects them from the town in which the event occurred. Maine began collecting them in 1892. Before that, the records were haphazardly collected by the towns. Some towns kept excellent records; some kept no records. Some records were lost to fires, etc. The earlier records usually have very little information on them.
By Nina Brawn Family Searcher
Our local town clerks are very kind about checking old records, so check first with the town to see if the record you want even exists. You will need to get birth records less than 100 years old from the child or parent involved. (Most states are too security conscious to allow easy access to such records.) About 20 percent of pre-1892 birth records are online, and on microfilm at the Maine State Archives, or through the LDS church. Local historical societies and libraries may have books with early records published for various towns or counties. Remember that town/county names and boundaries have changed drastically through the years.
Once you have begun to collect family history information, you may find conflicting dates, names, or places that disagree with other facts. How do you decide which is ‘real’? My family started with the story of great-grandmother Kitty Gallagher who was said to have come over from Ireland all alone at the tender age of 13, to escape the potato famine. However, the U.S. 1880 census shows she was born in Connecticut 15 years after the famine!
Be aware that even official documents have errors on them, especially death certificates. There are many reasons. Sometimes the person giving the information may have reason to “adjust” the facts to suit, or the person taking down or copying the information may make an error. Gather as many documents as you are able, and when you are evaluating the evidence consider the source. The further you get from the original (primary) source of information, the more likely it is that errors will occur. The more sources you can find, the more reliable your conclusions will be.
You never know where you might get your next clue. That is what I love about genealogy, the people involved are so amazingly kind and helpful that it is always a great experience and it helps forge all kinds of connections to other people. Genealogy, after all, is all about the people, so until next time, enjoy and cherish ‘your’ people.
Editor’s note: This regular column is sponsored by the Aroostook County Genealogical Society. The group meets the fourth Monday of the month except in December and June at the Cary Medical Center Chan Education Center, near the entrance to the Caribou Inn & Convention Center at 6:30 p.m. Guests and prospective members are always welcome. Columnist Nina Brawn of Dover-Foxcroft has been doing genealogy for over 30 years, is a freelance genealogy researcher, speaker and teacher. Reader e-mails are welcome at ninabrawn@gmail.com.
