From the collection of Gena Philibert-Ortega |
Always check the neighbors
A lot of times, when we get
stuck, we go to the neighbors for help (to feed the cat, bring in the mail,
borrow a cup of sugar, take us to pick up our car at the service garage, etc.).
That happens in genealogy, too. We love the neighbors. Unlike today, our ancestors
often spent huge amounts of time with the neighbors. The neighbors were their
cousins, siblings, parents, in-laws, or just people from the old country with
whom they traveled to America.
When we get stuck in genealogy,
we might go back to an earlier census, locate the neighbors, and follow them
around the country, in hopes that our ancestors followed them too (and they
often did). Or if a stranger is buried in the plot with an ancestor, we check
that person out - it just might be Uncle Fred, whose sister was the mother we
were searching for. Or possibly the person who signed as a witness of a
document - whom would they get to swear to their allegiance to the United
States, or that they weren’t trying to cheat the government, or that they were
to be trusted to repay a loan? Why, a cousin, in-law, or other person with whom
they connected.
So sometimes the length of time
we spend searching is not actually spent looking for the known family, but for
someone who is connected to the family in one way or another. After all,
cousins have the same grandparents; second cousins have the same
great-grandparents, etc., and finding one of those relatives can lead us to just
the path we’ve needed from the start.
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