I happened to be at a genealogy meeting a couple of years ago, where Thomas
W. Jones, Ph.D., CG(sm) CGL(SM) was the guest speaker. His topic of the night
was Solving the Mystery of the Disappearing Ancestor. I wrote Mr. Jones to
get his permission to share this with you, and he was more than happy to give
me his permission. You may want to put this on your site. If so, Just give
Mr. Jones credit. tom.jones(a)gallundet.edu
Introduction
Genealogist may be frustrated by not finding ancestors in the records and
places where they logically expect them to be. This presentation will
explain seven reasons why such ancestors seem to have disappeared, provide
examples of each from actual case studies and suggest strategies for finding
elusive ancestors.
Reason
1. You don't know where to look.
Examples
Ancestor's origin is unknown
Suggested Solutions
Make an exhaustive search for all pertinent records.\ Search the
records
thoroughly for clues
2. Reason
You have been misled by erroneous information.
Examples
Incorrect names./ Incorrect places of birth or origin./ Incorrect
dates./
incorrect parentage./ Incorrect relationships
Suggested Solutions
Backtrack your research to verify each "fact"./ Judge the quality of
your
evidence./ Corroborate home and published sources with multiiple
original
records.
3. Reason
The name is different from what you expect.
Examples
Surname changes or spelling variations./ Given-name variations and
nick-
names./ Child has mother's maiden name./ Child is known by a name
othen than his father's surname.
Suggested Solutions
Study all individuals with the same surname./ Correlate evidence from
a
variety of sourses./ Study associates to identify previously unknown
relatives with different surnames./ Consider all of the
possibilities.
4. Reason
You are not looking in the right place.
Examples
The county was sub-divided./ The county or state boundary was moved.
The family moved to another jurisdiction./ The family transacted
business
in a jurisdiction different form their residence.
Suggested Solutions
Study the history of boundary changes in the area you are
researching.
Search in adjoining jurisdictions./ Study collateral kin and
associates
to learn where your ancestors moved from and to.
5. Reason
You are not looking in the right time period.
Examples
The document was recorded later than you expected./ The age of one or
more principals was different from what you expected./ The calender
changed from Old Style to New Style.
Suggested Solutions
Expand the time frame of your search./ Corroborate ages with a variety
of
records./ Study the laws of the time to ascertain the legal ages
required to
transact various type of business.
6. Reason
The record is not as complete as you expected it to be.
Examples
Children not named in Census./ Children not named in will.
Suggested Solutions.
Assume that any record can have missing information./ Corroborate with
other records.
7. Reason
Some combination of the above.
Examples
The name is different from what you expect, and you are not looking
in the right locale
Suggested solutions
See above, no 6.
Concluding Suggestions
Consider all possibilities.
Always be skekptical, especially of information from uncorroborated
sources.
Corroborate your findings before changing the focus of your search