Genealogy is all about questions and answers. The more family history research you do, the better you will become at both forming questions and finding answers. We usually start because we have questions about a particular person or event in our family.
Any good beginning genealogy book will tell you some of the questions you need to ask. We usually start with the so-called “Vital Records” the two most significant events in life – birth and death, then move on to other significant events such as marriage. Looking at these “Vital Records” such as birth certificates is one way to start asking and answering more questions about your family.
Until I looked at my own birth certificate, I did not know I was born at home and did not know that I nearly died because the cord was wrapped around my neck three times! This led to more stories of family births and I learned a great deal about the strength and endurance of the women of my family in this way.
Sometimes a little bit of information can inspire unexpected results. One of the best ways to get unexpected information is by knowing what unusual information each federal census asks. Sometimes information is implied, but not stated outright. For example, the 1900 and 1910 census asks the “number of years of the present marriage. This can tell you an approximate date to search for a marriage certificate. The 1870 and 1880 census asks if married within the year, and if so, what month, so this can really narrow your search. The 1930 census asks “age at first marriage.” This may help you discover a previously unknown marriage if you have a marriage certificate, which shows the husband was 26 and the wife 24, but the census says he was 22 at his first marriage. The age of the children can help narrow your marriage search, too.
The 1900 and 1910 censuses asked the number of children born to a woman, and the number of children living. This can be significantly different, and may lead you to previously unknown children as well as some very interesting stories. Looking at the ages of the children may leave a gap in which the missing child was most likely born. If all the living children shown are quite minor then it is more probable the missing child died young. If they are in late teens, the missing child may already be married or living independently.
The other advantage to learning about these children and ordering their vital records is that they may also contain information about the parents that was not on the known children’s records (birth towns, other occupations, other addresses and such).
Use each answer you find to open your mind to more possibilities.
Columnist Nina Brawn of Dover-Foxcroft is a longtime genealogy researcher, speaker and teacher. Reader e-mails are welcome at ninabrawn@gmail.com. Her semimonthly column is sponsored by the Aroostook County Genealogical Society which meets the fourth Monday of the month except in July and December at Cary Medical Center’s Chan Education Center at 6:30 p.m. Guests are always welcome. FMI contact Edwin “J” Bullard at 492-5501.
