Include All Information in Research Requests

Often due to distance or limited access to records, we must request research help from others. For example, you may choose to hire a professional genealogist to find information for you. Or, as is the case with the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, you may not be allowed to search through the archives yourself. You may have to fill out a form, and then volunteers will do their best to dig through the records in search of the information you need.

In both instances, it's absolutely critical to provide as much information as you can so that the chances of success are greatly increased.  A thoughtful genealogy query is just as important as other steps in the research process such as determining your objective and identifying key sources of information.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I learned from church marriage records the names of my 4th great-grandparents. Church records are an invaluable resource in genealogy research, since they often provide parent names and the town where an ancestor lived before coming to the U.S. By providing all of the information I knew, a wonderful volunteer found the answers I needed.

My research goal was to learn: 1) where my 3rd great-grandparents, Peter & Barbara Steimer Klein, lived in Germany, and 2) the names of their parents. I knew that they were Catholic and hoped that church records would have the answers. For the archive volunteers to find what I needed, it was important that I provide clues as to which parish they may have belonged.

I knew when and where their first child was born (which helps narrow the range of their marriage year) and that the family later lived in the South Side neighborhood of Pittsburgh. If I would have stopped with that information when I filled out the research request form, I would have learned only half of the answers. The research report showed that Peter & Barbara did in fact get married at St. Michael's on the South Side of Pittsburgh, and it provided the names of their parents. So my 4th great-grandparents are Peter Klein & Eva Dani and Clemens Steimer & Barbara Eid.

However, on the research form, I also provided information about Barbara's brothers. My hope was that, if her marriage record couldn't be located or if it wasn't detailed, the brothers' records might be more helpful. Bingo! Barbara's brother, Jacob, was married in McKeesport, and his church marriage record confirmed that their parents were Clemens & Barbara Eid Steimer. But it also showed that Jacob was born in Wiesbach, Germany. Therefore, I now know where some of my ancestors were living during at least one key event of their lives.

Even if you think a detail is unimportant, it's definitely better to include too much information than not enough. It may make a huge difference in discovering more about your ancestors.

Related Posts:

• Family Immigration: Peter Klein in 1854
• Gather Clues from Geneanet

5 Habits for Successful Genealogy Research

There are lots of habits you can develop for success in your genealogy research. Here are five that I'm highlighting:

1. Have a plan - There are so many branches in our family trees that it's easy to get overwhelmed or get off-track while doing genealogy research. Try focusing on one ancestor and making a list of the questions you have. Prioritize these questions and then work on finding the available resources that may lead you to the answers.
2. Put an ancestor’s life in chronological order - By compiling a timeline of your ancestor's life, you'll be able to organize the details you already know. But more importantly, it will help you identify gaps and make it easier to see what additional research is needed. For example, an ancestor may be living with their parents in the 1900 census and then you may have the birth record of his/her first child in 1906. This will remind you that you still need to track down the marriage record, which could lead you to unknown details about parents or residence.
3. Put aside difficult issues - At some point, you may need to take a break from your brick wall ancestor. When you eventually return to it, you may be surprised to see that you have a new perspective on the issue. Just be sure to keep good notes so you don't duplicate any work that you had previously done.
4. Learn from others - Even if you've been researching your family history for decades, you can always learn something new from others. There are a lot of great genealogy blogs out there that can give you ideas that can be applied to your own research. I use Feedly to read almost 200 blogs, and I've definitely learned a lot from them.
5. Keep track of new and updated databases - Websites are constantly adding new databases and updating others. Don’t just search websites once and never return. A great resource for keeping track of the changes to online resources is GenealogyInTime Magazine.

What other habits do you think are critical for building your family tree?

Sadly, Research Doesn't Find All Answers

It's disturbing that a search of Pennsylvania death certificates on Ancestry.com shows that close to 5,000 people who died between 1906 and 1944 were not identified. Simply listed as "Unknown Man" or "Unknown Female," they basically disappeared.

Here are some examples:

• Unknown man, about 75 years old, died in Philadelphia of heart disease on March 12, 1916
• Unknown woman, about 50 years old, died in Wilkes-Barre of acute alcoholism on January 31, 1930
• Unknown male child, found along the river in Harrisburg, February 20, 1920
• Unknown foreigner, died in Uniontown Hospital after lower limbs were crushed by a streetcar, September 14, 1907

Their family at the time probably never knew what happened, and those searching for them today will never know. It's heartbreaking.