10 January 2023

How to Tell if a Hint is Any Good

I never cared about Ancestry hints. That why I have them turned off when I'm working on my tree in Family Tree Maker. But last year I helped out another genealogist by adding to a few research trees she had on Ancestry. That's when I saw the value of hints.

They're a real time-saver! Say you're piecing together the life of someone you don't know. If they have a bunch of documents in their hints, that's where I'd want to look first.

But you never want to accept hints blindly and add them to your family tree. Think of them as nothing more than a possible match. They could be wrong, you know. Each one is there for you to check out.

It's your job to examine each hint and figure out if it matches your family.

A Well-Timed Hint

I grew up with about ten 1st and 2nd cousins on my mom's side of the family. One of these cousins recently asked for access to my online Ancestry tree. I warned her that:

Larry died shortly after my 1st child was born in 1989. It came as a shock to me, and a terrible loss. In recent years I've tried to learn about his family, but I never had enough details to get anywhere.

When I viewed my tree online to see what my cousin was about to see, I found something new. There were a couple of green Potential Father and Potential Mother hints for Larry. In fact, there were 9 hints for him. The first was the 1950 census I'd been unable to find on my own.

Sometimes I laugh at potential parent suggestions. But this time, the hints were gold.
Sometimes I laugh at potential parent suggestions. But this time, the hints were gold.

Now that I had confirmation for a handful of Larry's facts, I started looking into his father. I soon found an unsourced family tree that had several generations of Larry's family. But was this information right?

Is This Hint Any Good?

Larry's grandparents came from Italy. That meant I could verify those unsourced names and dates. I used the online Italian vital records website, Antenati, and searched the right town.

I confirmed and added to the family's names and dates. I got the correct spelling for the family name. (See Look Past the Misspellings to Find Your Ancestors.) Plus I found many more names and dates specific to Larry's paternal line. I wouldn't have trusted any of these names or facts from a hint or a tree without seeing the documents for myself.

How to Harvest a Hint

After many years of ignoring hints, I'm now open to exploring them. When you have a lack of information, as I did for Larry's family, the right hints can push you onto the right path. But you must confirm that it's the right path by doing the research for yourself.

When you look at a hint:

  1. Make sure it doesn't contradict something you know for sure. Is the person born in a state or country that's impossible for your person? Are they the wrong age by a long-shot?
  2. Examine all the documents and see if any don't fit with the others. The one hint that referred to Larry as a lawyer was absolutely not my cousin. I know what he did for a living. Take a look at 3 Ways to Tell If That Hint is No Good.
  3. See which documents your favorite website offers you for this person. This gives you more data points to compare. Some documents may not fit in, especially when compared to those that do.

Documents are critical. ("Pics or it didn't happen!") You need to see and verify the facts for yourself. That's why you must fully research hints that come from unsourced family trees.

It's up to you to confirm whether a hint is putting you on the right path. And if it is, the race is on!

My cousin was hoping to tie a particular last name to her family. When I found her grandparents' NYC marriage certificate, I had the answer. The bride's mother had the last name we were looking for.

That's a perfect example of a fact I wouldn't believe or accept without seeing the document for myself.

I hope you find hints that set you on the right research path. Just remember, they may be way off base.

03 January 2023

Your Genealogy Mission for 2023

Which genealogy projects do you expect to work on in 2023? I was hoping to complete a big project in 2022, and I thought I had it all wrapped up. Then I found I had a bit more to do. (As of this writing, I have finished!)

I'm eager to get this piece done so I can dive into the next big thing. It's a continuation of my main theme—connecting everyone from my ancestral hometowns. In 2022 I published an inventory of every available vital record for Colle Sannita. That's my paternal grandfather's town. (See "How to Create Your Ancestral Hometown Database.") These documents are available on Italy's Antenati website, but they aren't all searchable.

Anyone searching the web for "colle sannita searchable vital records" will find my file. It shows the name of every person captured in the town's vital records. The file has links to Antenati web pages where you can see the documents for yourself. (See "How to Use the Online Italian Genealogy Archives.")

Besides that very helpful inventory of documents, I did a crazy thing last year. I connected everyone from those 38,000+ documents in my Ancestry family tree. Blood or marriage connects the whole town, with very few exceptions.

I see this as my legacy—my contribution to Italian genealogy.

On New Year's Eve, I was finishing up my inventory of vital records for my other grandfather's hometown, Baselice.

I thought I was about to finish, but I found some work still to do on 1932–42 deaths and marriages. Once I finish and publish the inventory, I'll work everyone from Baselice into my family tree, too. (Most of them are already there because of one of my first big genealogy projects. See "Why I Recorded More Than 30,000 Documents.")

Set yourself up for the most enjoyable year of genealogy!
Set yourself up for the most enjoyable year of genealogy!

This ongoing project motivates me every single day. It's my full-time job. A job I love. As I work through one town, all I can do is think about which town I want to do next!

Make Progress on More than One Track

When you have more than one big project to do, shake off any boredom by having another task to jump to. Fitting everyone from Baselice into my family tree will take a long time. I may feel bogged down at times.

I can keep up my energy by shifting to another town once in a while. Three of my other towns' vital records are almost ready to go into their own inventory spreadsheet. Two other towns of mine need me to finish renaming the files.

All my towns' vital records are on my computer, but mass-downloads don't seem to be possible anymore. I have them stored in separate folders by town, by year, and by type (birth, death, marriage). My file name format for the vital records is the full name of the person who was born or died, followed by their father's first name. For example, the first document image in the "1809 births" folder for the town of Circello is:

1 Angelo Antonio Maria Ianesso di Nicola.jpg

This is the 1809 birth record for Angelo, the son of Nicola. The word "di" means "of" in Italian. It's used to show someone's father's name. Naming conventions in many cultures lead to having a bunch of people in town at the same time with the same name. It saves confusion if you add a father's name to distinguish one Antonio Bianco from another.

The #1 in the file name is the document number in a book. That'll be very helpful if a descendant of Angelo finds his name in my published inventory some day. They'll be able to find the right document easily.

For marriage records, my file names don't include fathers' names—only the full name of the groom and bride. It would be too confusing to see a marriage document with a name like:

1 Vito Aufolisi di Giovanni & Elisabetta Cerrone di Giuseppe.jpg

That looks like it could be an image with 2 birth records or 2 death records.

Stay Open to Sudden Breakthroughs

Of course, there will always be other smaller projects to distract you from your more lofty goals. That's OK. Go with the flow! This past weekend I finally had a breakthrough on my 2nd cousin's father's family. When my cousin asked me if she could access my family tree, I was sorry to tell her that her dad's family isn't in there at all.

Then I saw an Ancestry hint that finally opened his family up to me. I'm hoping to find his grandfather's Italian birth record to give to my cousin.

Get ready for your best year of genealogy yet!
Get ready for your best year of genealogy yet!

This is Much More than a Hobby

Two weeks ago I suggested you look back at your family tree work in 2022 and see where it leads you in 2023. (See "It's Time to Wrap Up Your Genealogy Year.") You may not have a grand scheme in mind. But I'll bet you learned what works, what doesn't work, what makes you happy, and what's a total bore. Whichever projects work well and make you happy should get top priority.

Here are a few examples of smaller projects I've suggested in the past. Which ones look enjoyable to you?

  1. Trim the waste out of certain document images. See "How to Improve Your Digital Genealogy Documents."
  2. Share your tree with those who are interested. See "5+ Ways to Share Your Tree with Family."
  3. Research fallen soldiers from your town. See "Fallen Soldier Memorials Inspire a Research Project."
  4. Scan and safeguard your precious family photos. See "It's Time to Organize All Your Family Photos."
  5. Make a trivia game of your family tree. See "Share Your Family History in a Fun New Way."
  6. Fill in your Ahnentafel chart. See "3 Things to Do with Ahnentafel Numbers."
  7. Document a cemetery that means something to you. See "The Genealogy Project You Bring Home from Vacation."

I know I'll be happy, productive, and entertained by my genealogy work in 2023. Don't you agree that being productive at something you love is a big key to happiness? I used to feel that way about my job. Now that I'm retired, I'm sticking to my same schedule and working on my true passion. And I never get interrupted by stupid conference calls!

I'd love to hear from you. Where do you think 2023 will lead you in your family tree work?

27 December 2022

Top Ten Genealogy Articles of 2022

When I publish a new genealogy article each Tuesday, I try to find topics to make everyone happy. For my final article of 2022, let's take a look at the 10 most popular articles from this year.

Here are the most-read articles of 2022 in reverse order.

Number 10: Your Family Tree Checkup/Tune-up List

When I find a new document for my family tree, I follow all the steps to make sure nothing slips through the cracks.

Number 9: How to Make Your Own Genealogy Correspondence Database

Make all your past genealogy correspondence easy to find. Create a categorized database of all your messages.

Have you missed any of the top 10 articles from Fortify Your Family Tree?
Have you missed any of the top 10 articles from Fortify Your Family Tree?

Number 8: Genealogists Can Find Shocking Family Stories

My cousin never knew his grandmother's story. He only knew there were 2 boys who looked like twins. When I pulled the whole story together, it was a complete shock to him and me.

Number 7: Using Color to Understand Your Family's Last Names

Color coding lets you see right away if someone in your family tree is your direct ancestor. And you can tell which of your grandparents descends from them.

Number 6: How to Find the True Cousins in Your Family Tree

You can use the free Family Tree Analyzer tool to identify all the blood relatives in your tree. Find out how many 3rd, 4th, 5th and more distant cousins you've added.

Number 5: Why DNA Matches Appear Closer Than They Are

If your people came from small or remote towns, you may have more than one relationship to a DNA match. Multiple relationships can make them appear to be a closer cousin than they are.

Number 4: Simple Tips for Understanding Italian Marriage Records

This series of articles will help you understand Italian vital records. And you don't need to speak Italian.

Number 3: How DNA Can Help Find Your Ancestral Hometown

If your DNA matches know their ancestral hometowns or match the population there today, it's clear. Your people must have come from the same area.

Number 2: How to Make the Best of the New Antenati Website

Learn how to adapt to the latest design of the Italian Antenati website and make the very best of it. It's a treasure trove for those with Italian ancestry. Not speaking Italian shouldn't scare you away!

Number 1: 7 Days to a Better Family Tree

The next 7 days you decide to work on your family tree, pick one of these goals and work on only that one thing. No distractions allowed.

The purpose of this blog is to help you create a more professional family tree. That's why many articles are about finding errors, and improving citations and images. DNA is a popular topic. With my knowledge of Italian genealogy, Italian document articles widely read, too.

In 2023, I'll try to find new ways to engage you with tips, lists, and helpful spreadsheets. I'm open to suggestions. Just leave a comment or drop me a line. Thanks so much for reading!