Common Surnames: Finding Your Smiths

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Common Surnames: Finding Your Smiths

Juliana Szucs Smith 6 February 2014

Your Ancestor Was Unique

• Looking for the things that make your ancestor stand out and assembling the information.

• Create a search strategy.

• Zeroing in on their location with records and tools.

• Putting what you’ve found to work.

What makes your ancestor unique?• Create a profile of your ancestor

• Names (given, middle, and nicknames)

• Occupations• Birth date and place• Residence• Religious affiliation• Autograph• Family structure• Friends, neighbors, business

associates, sponsors, witnesses, etc.

• Anomalies

Create a Profile

Where do we find the details?

• Older relatives

According to Aunt Olive, “[Catherine’s] family were the

Kellys of 12th Street.”

Where do we find the details?

• Older relatives • Letters and

correspondence

Where do we find the details?

• Older relatives • Letters and

correspondence• Documents

Where do we find the details?

• Older relatives • Letters and

correspondence• Documents• Photographs (Look

for house numbers and match them to directories.)

Where do we find the details?

• Older relatives • Letters and

correspondence• Documents• Photographs• Books• Heirlooms

Records!!

Extract every single clue, every single fact, from every single record you can find on him or her.

Have a Search Strategy

• Start wide and grab low-hanging fruit with a global search.• Big 3

−Name−Residence−Age/year of birth

Putting the Details to Work with a SearchAdvanced Search Can Give You an Edge.

Advanced Search Options• Name options

Advanced Search Options• Name options

Go wild with wildcards! • * matches zero or more

characters• Kell*y matches Kelly or Kelley

• ? matches one character • Sm?th* matches Smith,

Smyth, Smythe• First letter can now be a wildcard

• Either the first or last character must be a non-wildcard character

• Names must contain at least three non-wildcard characters

Advanced Search Options

• Name options• Events

Advanced Search Options

• Name options• Events

• Don’t include death unless you’re looking for a death-related record. (Most records were created when your ancestor was alive.)

Searching With What You’ve Found• Name options• Events

• Don’t include death unless you’re looking for a death-related record.

• Estimate dates & click exact−Grandpa born 1906

-25 years = 1881+/- 5 years = 1876-1886Would include a parent aged between age 20 and 30 in 1906 when he was born.

Searching With What You’ve Found• Name options• Events

• Don’t include death unless you’re looking for a death-related record.

• Estimate dates• Include event locations

Searching With What You’ve Found• Name options• Events

• Don’t include death unless you’re looking for a death-related record.

• Estimate dates• Include event locations• Include family

members− Only those that you

expect to be living with them in the time frame you’re searching.

• Explore other fields if you think they may help.

Search Strategy, Part 2• Identify collections

your ancestor should be included in, and search directly.

Search Strategy, Part 2

Searching Directly With What You’ve Found

• Advantages• Less records

to wade through/less cluttered results

• Customized forms created for the content within

Searching Directly With What You’ve Found• Searching directly

gives you more search functionality.• 1900 census form

includes: −Marriage date

Searching Directly With What You’ve Found• Searching directly

gives you more search functionality..• 1900 census form

includes: −Marriage date−Arrival date

Searching Directly With What You’ve Found• Searching directly

gives you more search functionality.• 1900 census form

includes: −Marriage date−Arrival date−Place to specify other

family members (Censuses beginning in 1880 included relationships to head of household.)

Searching Directly With What You’ve Found• Searching directly

gives you more search functionality.• 1900 census form

includes: −Marriage date−Place to specify other

family members (Censuses beginning in 1880 included relationships to head of household)

−Marital status, relationship to HOH, gender, ethnic background

Searching Directly With What You’ve Found• Searching directly

gives you more search functionality.• 1900 census form

includes: −Marriage date−Place to specify other

family members (censuses after 1880 included relationships to head of household)

−Marital status, relationship to HOH, gender, ethnic background

−Parents’ birthplace

Dig Deep for Collections • Title searches for terms in the database title only• Keyword searches title and descriptive materials

Dig Deep for Collections • Title searches for terms in the database title only• Keyword searches title and descriptive materials

Catalog Filters• Filter by:• Record Collection• Location• Time Frame (Century or Decade)

Dig Deep for Collections • Access Place pages by

clicking on the Search tab and then selecting a location from the map.

Place Pages

Place Pages

What You Can Find

• Records of the New York Emigrant Savings Bank

New York Emigrant Savings Bank, 1850-1883, on Ancestry.com

State Pages

U.S., IRS Tax Assessment Lists, 1862-1918

• U.S., IRS Tax Assessment Lists, 1862-1918

Find Additional Identifiers in Censuses• Find birthplaces of parents on federal

censuses, 1880-1930

• Find records of your ancestor’s siblings

• Whole family research is a huge help!

1880 U.S. Federal Census, Detroit, Wayne Co., Michigan

1860 U.S. Federal Census, Kings County, New York

Where were they?• Timelines help you put the items you’ve

found into context. Noting sources helps resolve conflicts.

Finding Immigration Records

William and Mary Ann Huggins arriving in New York on the Ashburton, 29 July 1844

Huggins—alternate spellings include Huggans, Higgins, Higgans, Hugans, etc.

A Family’s Trip to America

William and Mary Ann Huggins arriving in New York on the Ashburton, 29 July 1844

A timeline showed children born to them both here and in Ireland. Where are the Irish born children?

Chain Migration• Sometimes

families didn’t travel together. One or both parents may have gone ahead and secured a place to live and sent for the children.

•On the ship Liverpool, 09 March 1849

Family and Extended Family and Friends

The names and ages of the Huggins children (listed as Higgans here) help to identify them in this passenger list.

•On the ship Liverpool, 09 March 1849

Family and Extended Family and Friends

A Biddy Murtagh is listed as Catherine Huggins sponsor in her baptismal record. Murtaghs are also living very near a related Huggins family in Griffith’s Valuation.

•On the ship Liverpool, 09 March 1849

Family and Extended Family and Friends

In 1857, a John Walsh is listed as the sponsor for another of the Huggins’ children in Brooklyn, New York Catholic Church Baptism Records, 1837-1900 (St. Paul’s R.C. Church) – available on Ancestry.com

•On the ship Liverpool, 09 March 1849

The Stories in the Manifest

Timeline• 1844 - Wm.

And Mary Ann Huggins immigrate

• 1846 - Potato famine strikes in Ireland

• 1849 – Huggins (Higgans) children immigrate

•On the ship Liverpool, 09 March 1849

The Stories in the Manifest• The Liverpool arrived in the Port of New York 09 March

1849. Since the Atlantic crossing typically took 1-2 months, they were on the Atlantic for at least most of February and possibly part of January. That would have made for a very cold crossing.

The Stories in the Manifest• Of the 416 passengers on board the Liverpool, 37

would die before reaching American shores—nearly 9 percent.

City Directories• Ancestry.com has a large collection of city

directories, but coverage varies by location. Also check Fold3.com, and other websites for online directories.

U.S. City Directories• Formulate your searches based on

availability.

U.S. City Directories

• Search Tips• Search for the

last name only. • Keywords can

help you look for certain sections of the directory (e.g., churches, index of advertisers, etc.).

• Specify the publication year.

Finding Common Threads

• Directories allow you to track year to year using occupation and residence.

New York City Directory, 1876

City Directories• Patterns emerge

Finding Common Threads• Spreadsheets can be helpful in sorting out

families.

Excel spreadsheet

Finding Common Threads• Create a copy as a back-up and then sort data

Finding Common Threads• Patterns emerge

Finding Common Threads• Patterns emerge

Using Locations in Census Years

• Seek out historical maps

• Census wards and districts a huge plus for urban residents

Historical Maps• Seek out historical maps (See Cyndi’s List

Map page)

http://alabamamaps.ua.edu/historicalmaps/us_states/michigan/Detroit.html

City Directories and Censuses• Beginning in 1880, censuses listed addresses. Use

them in conjunction with city directories to locate your ancestors in the census and sort out others who share their name

Estimating Dates and Keeping Track• Project who should be in each census and

estimate how old they would be.

Census Forms in the Learning Center

Census ChartsUse the projected ages in your chart to create a template for those censuses. (Line in yellow is a template; line in green is a close match.)

Census Charts

Trees…Use for clues, but with Caution

Working Trees• Keeping

track of who’s NOT your guy.

• “Working trees” give you a place to organize records you’ve sorted out for other families that you can reference as you continue your research.

Beyond Online• Use the tools you’ve created and go beyond

online resources.

Beyond Online• Use the tools you’ve created and go beyond

online resources.

Beyond Online• Use the tools you’ve created and go beyond

online resources.

Beyond Online• Use the tools you’ve created and go beyond

online resources.

Beyond Online• Use the tools you’ve created and go beyond

online resources.

Your Ancestor Was Interesting and Unique!