It’s Not All Ancient History

First, for those who were concerned:  Irene passed by and blew down leaves and some branches. Some of those branches were really BIG ones but most of Myrtle Beach is unscathed. Thanks to all for their concern and prayers.

I received an e-mail from Ancestry.com letting me know that there were some record matches in my on-line tree. I perused the names and didn’t think much about it, since I keep my tree on my computer and only use the online tree for quick reference and hints like the one I received. I knew that I had accurate information for these people since I knew them and they had passed in the 1990’s.

This morning, though, I decided to click on each of the hints, just to see what the computers at Ancestry.com had decided to pick up. There were a number of census records which I already had but I was surprised to see some Federal record links and even college yearbooks.  The Federal records had interim addresses (between the census years) that can be great hints for where other records might be located. The college yearbooks had pictures for years when most people don’t have pictures. Once someone leaves high school the photographic records only seem to mark milestones but the college yearbook yields annual pictures for the young adult and also list activities and membership information.

So today’s lesson is two-fold.

1.      Don’t ignore hints

2.     Don’t just search for information for those long departed relatives: look in the recent past, also.

Happy Hunting!