Ancestors: Tips and Tricks

November 2007 << Tips and Tricks

Ancestors is proud to present the best genealogical tips and tricks from genealogists around the globe. Every month, the Ancestors team selects a featured tip for you to use in your own genealogical work.

Do you have a tip or trick to submit? Just visit our tip submission page to find out how to send your favorite tips!

Here is this month's featured tip:

I have found over the years that legal documents can be misleading when looking for the county or city where my ancestors were residing. First of all, if they needed to go to a courthouse, they didn't always go to the one in their county or parish.

There were several reasons -

Many marriage certificates were filled out by a traveling minister that filed the marriage documents at the next county on his route. It could have been in almost any adjoining county.

Even the documents that were filed at a county courthouse may not have been your ancestor's county of residence.

If you look at a topographic map, you may find that a mountain or a river or a swamp separated them from their own county courthouse, whereas an adjoining courthouse may have been less than an hour away. Check those adjoining counties.

Babara Lockhart