Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Revise Your Search Methods

I've said it before, well, wrote it before, and I'll write it again . . . it's all in how you search when you're dancing with the ancestors.

Paternal: Mary McGee McGregor, wife of Ezekial McGregor. I had a date of birth, but not a date of death . . . which is quite common the further back you research. So, I decided to try and figure out her date of death, or rather, an approximate date of death.

What did I do? Well, I'm glad you thought of that question. Ha! What I did was . . . research census records regarding her known children and . . .

. . . yes, indeedy, I found Mary on a later census record. Woo-hoo! So, at that point, I knew she was still alive in 1870. Woo-hoo!

I hit a dead - sorry, no pun intended - after that, so I've listed her death as after 1870, which, at least for me, is better than not having a date of death.

So, when dancing with the ancestors, revise your search, check out census records involving the siblings. You just never know what you might find.

Scott

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