Santa Genealogists - Beneficial Tips from the Jolly Old Elf

Genealogists need to take a tip from Santa Claus - we should be "making a list and checking it twice!"  No, not to find out who's naughty or nice, although that does make family history interesting and more entertaining to pass on to relatives.  The list making and checking is critical, especially when you acquire information from someone else.  Here's what recently happened to me...
Through this blog, I made contact with a second cousin I had never met.  He put me in contact with several other cousins and we all shared info on a brick wall ancestor to see if putting our heads together could resolve the dead end.
Three of us live far away from where the ancestor had resided; one of us lives within reasonable driving distance.  That individual had gone to the courthouse and pulled the probate records years ago.  As I reviewed the paperwork making a list of all that we had discovered, it struck me that our common ancestor would have been left an orphan.  I decided to go on FamilySearch.org to see if records were available for the area as the driving distance cousin, with family commitments and the approaching holidays, couldn't find the time to make another visit.
I must have been a good genealogist this year as oh, what a wonderful early present I found!  The probate file was now online and contained the guardianship information.  The file was 40 pages - the cousin had only 3 pages.  I'm not sure if the courthouse employee only copied the last 3 pages or my cousin only had cash for those pages but the entire packet was a gem for me because I discovered my 3rd great grandfather in another line was the appraiser.  His signature was all over the documents. 
Lesson learned - ALWAYS go back to the source to see if the information is accurate and complete.  By my making a list of what records we had found, I was able to identify other places to check.  We haven't climbed over that brick wall yet but we're getting closer! 
Have a wonderful holiday - I'll be writing again after New Year's Day.

MyHeritage SuperSearch Update

For a number of years, Ancestry.com has provided users with the ability to add their input regarding incorrect info on record indexes.  Recently, MyHeritage has devised a similar feature that will allow for corrections of spellings or transcription errors.

Simply click "Suggest Alternatives" and add your info.  You'll need to type the first and last name of the individual to be corrected, use the drop down menu to select the reason and add your two cents in the comments.  If you're like me, your ancestor's names were never recorded the same as some of them were doozy's to spell - Leininger, Bollenbacher, and even short ones like Duer seem to have been problematic for those enumerators.

Here's an additional tip - keep a list of all the many, varied and unusual surname spellings that you find as that could help you in the future when you're stuck.  I add them to an Excel spreadsheet with tabs for my preferred spelling of the surname and a column where I found the name spelled differently. Happy Hunting!

Genealogy TV Show That Can Benefit Your Family

I've been watching this season's Our American Family show and thought the style of the presentation would be an awesome way for families to record their own history.  With the holidays upon us, check out a few of the episodes, then video your family at the next gathering.  I've blogged previously about using helpful media to use and interview questions that can help get grandma talking.  Once you've got the recording, putting it together could be a wonderful present for your next year's holiday season!