11 Key Record Groups Where Your Ancestors are Hiding ©
By Dayna Jacobs, AG®
(You are welcome to copy this for your own use, but please do not publish it online or copy for distribution to others. Thank you!)
CENSUS
- In the U.S., every ten years beginning in 1790
- State censuses in-between sometimes
- Provide information on birth, marriage, occupation, children, and more
MILITARY
- The United States has been involved in at least 15 wars and multiple Indian wars
- Even when the country was not at war men enlisted in the military
- Military records are plentiful, contain valuable genealogical information, and can be found for almost any family
LAND
- Land records are the earliest sources available to us as genealogists
- They apply to more people than any other type of record in the U.S.
- By the mid-1800’s approximately 90% of adult white males owned land
NEWSPAPERS
- Newspapers recorded events in the daily lives of our ancestors
- Besides births, marriages, and deaths, we read about their coming and going, visitors, accidents, celebrations, local government, new buildings and businesses, opinions about current events – all the things that were important in their lives
CHURCH
- Church records pre-date official government vital records
- They can be found in places where government records have been destroyed
- Churches were a central part of communities and people’s lives
- Many kinds of church records besides vital events
DIRECTORIES
- City directories give us more than names and addresses
- Other kinds of directories besides city
HISTORIES
- Always learn the history of the places where your ancestor lived
- Histories can have abstracts of other records in them, biographical sketches, and origins of the settlers
MAPS
- Maps can solve genealogy puzzles
- Geography helps us to understand our ancestors’ community life and movements
- Maps help us to know where to look for records
MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS
- Letters
- Photos
- Private papers
- Any kind of original, unpublished document
IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION
- Ship’s passenger records can provide birth data, a physical description, names of relatives and destinations
- Immigration generated other kinds of records when our ancestors wanted to become citizens
STRATEGIES FOR FINDING RECORDS
- Digitized
- Microfilmed
- Original
- Compiled