I got a subscription to Family Tree Magazine for Christmas and just got the first issue this month.
The issue I got was all about the different sites, databases etc that are out their for researching family history. I found some good tips in their that I had either forgotten about or didn’t know about.
Here are some tips for you:
1. Using wildcard characters such as * or ?. This can take some playing around as you have to figure out what the resource you are using prefers as wildcards. Usually looking in the help section, can give you an answer to what wildcard characters that resource will use. I have used this method myself and has provided me with some very different spelling of a last name that would have never thought of. I did with my family name Bonazew in Ancestry and ended up finding family members having the last name spelt Bonazeau. They went from Ukrainian to French or mostly likely a spelling error or guess from the person who originally took the record. I think maybe they just wanted to pretend to French.
2. If your relatives were of different ethic background, sometimes their names were anglicized at some point. Finding a resource that given the equivalent names is a good place to look or asking a family member. Sometimes even just googling work. One good website is Behind the Name. This site covers names in many different languages and give various versions of the name when looking up a name. It also have a surname version and a name translator(only work for english into another language).
3. Knowing what name an ancestor went by can be hard especially if you are unsure of the full name. I know that for example in many cultures sons were often named after their father, so often in order to avoid confusion sons would go by a nickname or their middle name. One of my Grandpa’s actually had an uncle who was named after his father but went by a nickname of his middle name.
4. The not so reliable method is to use guessing. This is a time-consuming method and require you to have some information to start with. This does pay off, so it’s not one to discount. What I do when guessing, using information I already have and make an educated guess. For example, using my great grandpa James Alexander Smith in trying to find his parents. I’ve searched for his father using the last name, birthplace Scotland(I know from a census that James said his father was born in Scotland ), lived in Port Elgin Ontario(This is where James was born), Years I try around the 1850s as this when James was born.
5. The last tip I have is just simply asking those in your family what they know, you can be surprised by what information family members have or are willing to share. This tip working very well as a starting point if you have nothing or very little to go on. I suggest starting with basic questions such as names, dates, places. I would write done the information that you collect in order not to forget or lose it. Family gatherings are good places to ask questions I find as families like to talk about the past.
As always thanks for reading
ancestrychick
Muddling though your family's History 