Step-by-Step Nebraska Research, 1880-Present

Nebraska Step-by-step research 1880--present


 * A suggested approach to genealogy research in Nebraska family history records.

Step 1. Find out everything possible from living relatives and their family records.
Every good genealogy project starts with finding all the clues that can be gathered from living relatives — both from their memories and from documents or memorabilia in their homes.

What are the best questions to ask?
In order to extend research, ask for names, dates, and places. Everything about who a relative was and when and where they lived is a clue to a new record search. For ideas, see :
 * 50 Questions to Ask Relatives About Family History


 * Creating Oral Histories

What documents should be collected or copied?
Because these records cover names, dates, places, and relationships, they are a valuable source of clues. Look for them in your home, your parents' home, and ask living grandparents to check for them.

Step 2. Find ancestors in every possible census record, 1850-1950, online.
A census is a count and description of the population of a country, state, county, or city for a given date. A census took a "snapshot" of a family on a certain day. For each person living in a household you might find (depending on the year) their name, age, birthplace, relationship to head of household, place of birth for father and mother, citizenship status, year of immigration, mother of how many children and number of children living, native language, and whether they were a veteran of the military.

Using the clues to lead to census record searches.
This obituary give clues to when and where to begin searching census records for the family and ancestors of Fred and Anna Dircksen. Fred and Anna Dircksen
 * Begin by finding Fred and Anna Dircksen in the 1930, 1940, and 1950 census records after their marriage. 
 * Look for Fred Dircksen living in his parents' home in 1900 and 1910, following them in the later census records if possible.
 * In these two census records, we find Fred and Anna Dirksen and eight of their children. By subtracting their ages from the year of the census, we can compute their year of birth.  Since both censuses are in Lincoln County, Nebraska, we might assume all the children were born there.
 * Fred is born in about 1907 in Kansas, with parents born in Germany. Those clues will help us find him living with his parents.

Parents of Fred Dircksen We find Fred living in the home of his parents, Siebold and Anna Dircksen. In 1900, we have to move to the Kansas census to find the family. We also identify 11 of his siblings.





Nebraska State Censuses
- For more information, see Nebraska Census and United States Census
 * 1860-1885 Nebraska State ($)

Step 3: Find birth, marriage, and death certificates for ancestors and their children.
States, counties, or even towns in some states recorded births, marriages, and deaths. In addition to the child's name, birth date, and place of birth, a birth certificate may give the birthplaces of the parents, their ages, and occupations. A death certificate may give the person's birth date and place, parents' names and birthplaces, and spouse's name.

Using the census clues to lead to a birth certificate.
Now, we want to try to find important birth records for the various people represented in these census records. Birth records will verify relationships and give more complete dates an places. Currently, none of the birth records for Nebraska are online or microfilmed. Sending for birth certificates for the thirty or so children we have found will be very expensive. If you do not wish to spend that much right now, we will discuss below other sources that might give you the information.

Using the census clues to lead to a marriage certificate.
One main purpose for locating records for is to establish the identity of the wives--their maiden names. Notice also that is some cases the names of the parents of the bride and groom are given. The marriage records for Lincoln County, where these families lived, are not included in the existing marriage indexes. Here is an example of what are index entry would be.

Using the census clues to lead to a death certificate.
By studying the census records, and assuming that most people lived to be 65-70 years old, you can decide the time frame where you would expect to see a death certificate. '''It is very important to send for death certificates. Even though you might feel that knowing a death date is not high priority, the death certificate is important because of all the secondary data: birth date and place of the deceased, maiden name of the wife, names of the deceased's parents, birth places of the deceased's parents.

Some of the examples shown above are index entries. That means for each of them an actual, original, full certificate exists. It is highly advisable to order the original certificate. It will contain many details not given in the index. In some cases, the image of the original is found online. Instructions are given below on obtaining the original certificate in other cases.

Step 4: Try to find additional details about ancestors in obituaries, cemetery records, and Social Security records online.
These Social Security records help confirm the parentage of Fred Dorcksen and Anna Thompson.

Obituaries

 * Try these Nebraska links:
 * Nebraska Obituaries
 * Online Nebraska Death Records &amp; Indexes
 * Nebraska Obituaries
 * — index and images

Cemeteries

 * Try these Nebraska links:
 * BillionGraves.com Cemetery Records.
 * Nebraska Cemetery Records at Interment.net.
 * Cemetery Records at Findagrave.com.
 * USGenWeb Nebraska Tombstone Transcription Project.
 * Nebraska Gravestones Search by Surnames.
 * Linkpendium
 * I Dream of Genealogy Nebraska
 * Online Nebraska Death Records &amp; Indexes
 * Nebraska Cemetery Records
 * Nebraska Cemetery Records

'''These FindAGrave records provide a wealth of information about these families. Wherever you see a blue link, it leads to an additional FindAGrave record. These usually give full birth dates and death dates. This is one less expensive way of finding these dates, but only as accurate as the records used to create them.'''

Step 5: Search military records: World War I and World War II draft cards.
There are many different types of military records: draft records, enlistment records, service records, pension records, etc. Information in military records can vary from a simple lists of name, age, and residence, to more detailed records including name, residence, age, occupation, marital status, birthplace, physical description, number of dependents, pensions received, disabled veterans, needy veterans, widows or orphans of veterans, and other information. -

World War I Draft Registration

 * One of the most helpful military records is the draft registration of 1917-1918. During three separate registrations, men born between 1873-1897 were required to register in the draft for World War I. Cards may give birth date, birth place, residence, occupation, employer, physical description, next of kin (usually the wife or mother), and number of dependents. Search for your male relatives born in this time period at.

World War II Draft Registration
Likewise, the World War II draft in 1942 may give birth date, birth place, residence, occupation, employer, and other family members as contacts. Search for your male relatives born in this time period at
 * , index and images.
 * , index and images.

Step 6: If any ancestor was an immigrant, search immigration and naturalization records online.
The census records may show that your ancestor was born in another country. It will be necessary to try to find the town or city they were born in to continue research in the country of origin. Searches of immigration records (usually passenger lists) and naturalization (citizenship) records are the next goal. Immigration refers to people coming into a country, such as the United States, and emigration refers to people leaving a country to go to another. Usually these records are passenger lists of the ships they sailed on. A typical record will show name, age, and country of origin, but in ship lists after 1906 you can find the actual town of birth, the next of kin still living in the old country and their residence, and the names of relatives in the place they are traveling to.

Immigration records
Passenger lists and border crossing lists are the most common immigration records. There are many immigration records available. Click here to see a complete list of available immigration records online. Notice that they are listed by state, but under the letter "U" there is a long list of records that cover all of the United States. Unless family information tells you the port where family arrived, you will need to search all of the United States Immigration Online Genealogy Records for the time period when your ancestors arrived.

Naturalization (Citizenship) Records
Naturalization is the process of becoming a citizen. Records can include the immigrant's declaration of intent to become a citizen, petitions for citizenship, and final certificate of naturalization. Naturalization records after 1906 can show birth date and place, spouse's name, marriage date and place, and lists of children with their birth dates.

Nebraska naturalization records could be recorded at the county court or the Federal District or Circuit Court. You must look for them in both locations. Try searching first in any county where the person lived, unless the census tells you the year they were naturalized, and you have evidence of where they lived that year. If you cannot locate them in the county records, try searching for them in the Federal courts.



Nebraska Naturalization and Citizenship Online Records

 * Nebraska, Federal Naturalization Records, 1890-1957, index & images ($)

Local histories

 * Published histories of towns, counties, and states usually contain biographies and accounts of early or prominent families.
 * Here are several websites that feature online copies of printed county histories:
 * Hathi Trust Digital Library. Don't use the keywords Nebraska; that will bring up too many hits. Just use the name of the county and "county": for example, "Hyde County"
 * Google Books. Use keywords "Nebraska" and the county name. Hits will list online readable books, lists of libraries that carry the book, and purchasing opportunities.
 * Family History Books
 * Internet Archive.Use keywords "Nebraska" and the county name.
 * Genealogy Book Links, Nebraska. Browse list; county histories are interspersed.
 * Ancestry.com, ($). In the Card Catalog search box, use Nebraska and the name of the county.


 * Local histories are extensively collected by the FamilySearch Library, public and university libraries, and state and local historical societies. If you have access to the FamilySearch Library or a FamilySearch center, you can find out about local histories the library has by checking the FamilySearch Catalog. In the "place" field, type the name of your county and select it from the drop down list, then click "Search". A list of subheadings for the county will appear. Local histories containing genealogies and biographies will be found under Biography, Genealogy, History, and History - Indexes.

Biographies
These collections of biographies can be searched online. Most have a table of contents and an index. Or use the "Find" function on a computer.


 * Western Nebraska History and Biography, ($), index
 * County and Town Histories, with biographies
 * Compendium of History Reminiscence and Biography of Western Nebraska, index/images
 * Compendium of History Reminiscence and Biography of Nebraska, index/images
 * History of Western Nebraska and It's People, Vol. III, index/images
 * "History of the State of Nebraska", 1882, index/images
 * Johnson's History of Nebraska
 * 1890 Nebraska State Gazetteer (town listings of businesses, farmers lists for each county), index/images
 * Semi-Centennial History of Nebraska, index/images
 * "History &amp; Stories of Nebraska", index/images
 * Western Nebraska History and Biography, ($), index
 * Franciscans of Nebraska, Prefaced by "Historical Sketches of Mid-Nebraska", index/images
 * Memorial and Biographical Record, index/images
 * Southeastern Nebraska, A Biographical and Genealogical History of - Vol I, index/images
 * "Nebraskans, 1854-1904", index/images
 * "Nebraskans, 1904-1914", index/images
 * "The Blue Book of Nebraska Women", index/images
 * Nebraskana, 1932 - "Biographical sketches of Nebraska men and women of achievement, index/images
 * Who's Who in Nebraska, 1940, index/images
 * 900 FAMOUS NEBRASKANS
 * Links to biography collection by county and town, NEGenWeb Project Resource Center On-Line Library. Scroll down to "Counties of Nebraska".

Step 7: Search for online wills and probate packets.
For more information, see U.S. Probate Records Class Handout.

County probate records

 * County probate records include probate proceedings, petitions, affidavits, orders for sales, reports of sales, administrators' and executors' bonds, guardianship papers, wills, and letters of administration. In a will book, usually just a transcription of the will is recorded. But all of these other records are kept in a probate packet. Administrations are probate proceedings that handled an estate if no known will existed.


 * Currently, these records are microfilmed and digitized:
 * Nebraska, Wills and Probate Records, 1806-1989, ($), index and images, incomplete.




 * Eventually more of these records may become available online.

Step 10: Contact a local historical or genealogical society.
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 * Historical societies have collections that are frequently little known and often overlooked.
 * Many have a surname file, where they have collected genealogies, newspaper clippings, old photographs, etc.
 * Many have a sort of "pioneer ancestor" program, where people can submit pedigrees to prove they are the descendants of an early resident of the area.
 * Most keep track of queries about families that once lived in the area from other distant relatives who may actually have more family memorabilia.
 * Most keep track of queries about families that once lived in the area from other distant relatives who may actually have more family memorabilia.


 * Find the society on the internet, and they may list their holdings. Or call them on the phone, find out what they have, and find out what arrangements can be made to search their collection. Frequently, one of their members can be hired to search the collection for you.

This online directory by GenealogyInc. lists historical and genealogical societies by county: Click on the map to select a county, then scroll down to the historical or genealogical society listings. Here is an example of an internet website for a local genealogical society.