Today I am just going to give you a few ideas to think outside of the box. Maybe you already check these places and may be you are new and hadn't thought of it. Either way, like we discussed in a previous blog post, refresh your memory and open up your mind.
Sure - marriage records contain marriage information. But what else could contain that info? Birth of a child could tell who the two parents are, and that is a huge help to know if someone was married or if they had the child out of wedlock. Death Certificates often contain the spouse's name. Church registers often list when someone applied to get married or when they did get married. Newspapers occasionally have a list of people who applied for marriage licenses. Don't just look for the wedding announcement! Bibles, Diaries and journals are hard to come by and are frequently found sold at auctions and estate sales. There are literally hundreds for sale every week on sites like ebay. But what information can you find in Journals, bibles, and diaries? LOTS!! Besides birth, marriage and death info, many of our great grandparents would put information in that was personal. Diaries would often tell about the weather and how their daily life was adjusting. Journals would often contain information pertaining to the homestead such as crop gains and losses and occasionally about expenses. If you have one of these items, then you are a blessed soul. Family letters. I can not tell you how much I learned from some old letters written in the 1800s that my grandmother thought enough to save. If you are lucky to find some of these hang on to them. You never know when in the future you may need to recall that information for a new person you found in your family tree. She also saved letters from her courting days. This gave me a glimpse into her daily life and emotional state. I knew her on a whole other level when I read these. Phone address books. We don't even begin to keep one of these anymore. Why should we, when we have all our cell phones to keep it for us? Well guess what? I found siblings, cousins and distant relatives all in a phone book from my biological grandfather. Every time they moved, he would write a new address and phone number down and strike out the previous one. This was extremely helpful with names that were super popular! I could then narrow down exactly where they were. I currently have four old address books sitting in my personal collection from grandparents and my mom. I love looking through them. Recipe books aren't just for recipes. I kid you not, if you have an old one that has been in the family a long time, sit down and read every stuffed piece of paper in that book. These were like the hub of a household. The off hand notes written on them are priceless. The back side of clippings from newspaper recipes is amazing to read sometimes. And... well there is all that delicious stuff that we never have time to cook. One last one for you today - Sales Registers from the local mercantile! Listen, these were not public documents. A private person owned them and didn't have to save them to the archives when they closed. Those few that remained were saved by family and passed on to generations and local societies. What they do contain if you can find one is important daily information about what your family was eating, drinking and buying. If they were well off financially, they were purchasing more frivolous items such as clocks or books. If they were not, you'll see the purchase of flour and sugar (and the occasional bottle of whiskey for what ails them.) It's worth checking for, google it or call the nearest Historical Society to where your ancestor resided and see if they have seen or heard of something like it. Whatever you do, let the Adventures lead you in your Genealogy research!
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AuthorMichele is an obsessed mother of 4 residing in North Alabama. Hobbies include long walks in the woods, on the beach and in strange cemeteries and libraries. Genealogy friends need only apply. Categories
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