Thursday, September 15, 2011

Genealogy- Confirming the location

Where were you born and when?  Do you remember any stories that your parents shared with you about your birth?  Do you have your birth and/ or baptismal certificates?

It is important that you get all the information when determining where people were born.  Remember in rural locations the family home was a common place or the local midwife.  Remember to people would go to the closest city which did not always mean in the same county, state or country.  I did research for a client who had family in Vermont and could not locate them.  They happened to live along the US Canadian border.  Guess what the family filed all their records in Canada.  
When interviewing for stories in large families remember memories are going to vary a great deal from the youngest child to the oldest.  You will get surprises from the people that you would not have felt when you started would have had the most information.  Interview everyone that is willing.
In many cases the best source for birth records prior to a civil record would be the church.  Remember that baptismal certificates often indicate the date they were baptized not the day they were born.
Tomorrow more insight into the questions.