How to Recognize your United States Ancestor

= Build the identity of your ancestor =

As you research, your goal is to build an identity of your ancestor. This allows you to recognize him or her in the records you search. Your ancestor's identity also helps you not be sidetracked when you find other people with the same name.

As you research, you will find records that match the name, but may not be for the same person. The skill is to be able to recognize whether that person is or is not yours.

You can tell by the events of their lives which of two or more possible matches was your ancestor, or whether none of the possible matches was your ancestor.

Too many genealogists find a hopeful individual with the right surname and then try to establish a connection between that person and their known ancestors. Almost always, such attempts end up with erroneous connections. Correct connections must be built by working back from known information to the unknown.

You must develop the skill of analyzing carefully to come to good conclusions.

= Getting Started =

You have searched a record and found a person who could be a possible match for your ancestor. Recognizing a person as your ancestor is one of the true joys of genealogical research. However, there are pitfalls along the way. Sometimes researchers want so much to find a person that they ignore these pitfalls and end up making inaccurate connections. This guide will help you ask the questions which will help you decide if a person is, in fact, your ancestor.

As you compare what you already know about your ancestor against the new information you found in a record, you can decide whether you can feel reasonably sure that you have located your ancestor.

= Steps =

Once you have found a person in a record who may be your ancestor, the following 5 steps will help you determine if you have, in fact, found your ancestor.

Step 1. Review what you already know about your ancestor.
Do the following to identify your ancestor clearly:

Make a time line, listing known facts about your ancestor. On your time line, include other persons associated with your ancestor. Briefly give the source of your information. Use an analysis chart to identify and evaluate what you know. Evaluate what that information may suggest.

Step 2. Identify what you know about the person who is a possible match.
Do the following to identify this person clearly:
 * Make a time line of information given in the record of the possible match person. This time line may be quite small but will establish dates and places clearly.
 * On your time line, include other persons mentioned in the record who were associated with the possible match.
 * Use an analysis chart to identify and evaluate what you know.
 * Evaluate what that information may suggest.

To print a working copy of a time line for a specific record, click here.

For helps in making a time line, see Tip 1.

Use an Analysis Chart to help you identify what you know about the possible match person and evaluate what that information may suggest. The following chart is a sample of an analysis chart:

POSSIBLE MATCH Analysis Chart for a Single Record: Samuel Richman and others (name of person) Woodstown Methodist Church Records, Salem Co., NJ (name of record)

What Do I Know About the Possible Match? Analysis and Conclusions 1. This Samuel Richman and family members were Methodist. 1. Confirms what I suspected from the Methodist hymnal in our family artifacts. 2. This Samuel Richman "removed" from the Methodist Church in Woodstown, Salem Co., NJ in April, 1842. 2. Samuel Richman moved somewhere else. Where? 3. Samuel Richman, Sybilla Richman, Isaac Richman and Jonathan Richman were all attending the Woodstown Methodist Church between April, 1839 and April, 1842. 3. I know from our family Bible record that Sybilla Richman was the mother of Samuel Richman, and Isaac Richman was the father of Jonathan Richman. Also, I know from the 1850 census that Samuel Richmond and Jonathan Richmond were living together in Salem, Salem Co., NJ. Finding these people together in this church record points to these people being a family. 4. Samuel and Jonathan Richman both left the Woodstown Methodist Church in 1841 and 1842. 4. It is very possible that the Samuel Richmond, shoemaker, and Jonathan Richmond, shoemaker, in the 1850 census in Salem, Salem Co., NJ were these same two people and were brothers.

To print a working copy of an analysis chart for a specific record to be used with a possible match, click here.

Step 3. Analyze and compare what you know about your ancestor with what you know about the possible match.
See Tip 2 for questions to ask yourself as you compare these two time lines and analysis charts.

Step 4. Make a decision about the possible match.
To decide about the possible match person, do one of the following:

Confirm the person as your ancestor. Suspect that the person may be a relative with the same name. Eliminate that person as your possible ancestor. Decide that there is not enough information yet to confirm or eliminate this person as your ancestor. In that case, see Tip 3.

Step 5. Write a brief summary of your research findings.
After your research, write a brief summary report about your ancestor. Either you can explain what records proved your ancestor's life events and can document his or her life history, or you can explain what records did not lead you to a definite conclusion. Either way, you will have made a valuable contribution to your family's genealogical research efforts.

Be sure to include in your paragraph the title, author, and call number of the book or film of all records you have searched.

= Tips =

Tip 1. How do I make a time line?
To help you single out your ancestor, include on a time line:

Events in date order (the same order they happened in your ancestor's life). Birth, marriage, and death information for each family member. Dates of other events and the persons associated with these events, such as a neighbor purchasing land from your ancestor or a witness to the will of your ancestor. Information on events that are not yet proven but may help identify your ancestor.

A word processor is a useful tool when making a time line, because you can easily insert new information between older dates.

To print a working copy of a time line, click here.

You can also do a time line for just one specific record to help you see clearly the contents and value of that record. To print a working copy of a time line for a specific record, click here.

Tip 2. Is this my ancestor?
To answer this question, ask yourself:

2. Is this event in the right time to be within the lifetime of my ancestor?
Ask yourself these questions:

Is the possible match person too young or too old to have been my ancestor? Are names of children, associated with the possible match consistent with what I already know about the children of my ancestor? Do the ages of the children seem logical, or are they too young or too old to be my ancestor's children?

3. Is this the right spouse?
To verify the name of a wife, check marriage records, children's birth records, land records, cemetery records, church records, and probate records.

4. Are the economic conditions of this person consistent with the known family history?
It is highly unusual for a wealthy person to suddenly be farming in a poor section of the county on a small, rented acreage, or a poor person to suddenly be a noted county official, living in a mansion. The following records give a good indication of the economic condition of the family.

Census records: see the column listing property values. Tax lists: see property tax and personal property taxed. Land records: see acreage of lands owned, and number of properties owned.

5. Do the relatives and associates of your ancestor appear in records with the possible match?
Check land records of the possible match person for neighbors and witnesses of deeds to see if their names are the same people you know associated with your ancestor. Check marriage records of the possible match person and his children to see if the bondsmen and witnesses are persons who you know associated with your ancestor. Check church records of the possible match person to see if the names of members in the congregation were also associates of your ancestor. Check other records to see what the possible match person did after this record was made. Migration can be a good clue:

- If the possible match person migrated to a new location, does that eliminate him or her because you have a burial record or other proof that your ancestor remained in the old location? - If the possible match person migrated to a new location, could this be your ancestor, and you did not know he or she had moved?

6. Is the possible match person affiliated with the church you know your ancestor belonged to?
Does the possible match person appear in Presbyterian church records, but you know your ancestor was a Quaker? Is there evidence that the possible match person changed religions, such as from Quaker to Presbyterian? Was he a Quaker originally, but then married out of the faith and was disowned? Could this actually be what happened to your ancestor, and they are the same person?

7. Could the possible match person, living in a neighboring county, be my ancestor?
Check county boundary changes on a map to see if the county where you know your ancestor lived could have once been part of another county. Your ancestor could have lived in the other county for a time, without actually moving his or her residence.

For more information, see County Boundary Changes.

8. Why is the name of the possible match person spelled differently from my ancestor's name?
The name of a person was commonly spelled differently in different documents. For more information, see Name Variations.

Tip 3. If I am still not sure I have found my ancestor, what should I do next?
Choose another record which has a possible match person, and repeat the first 4 steps in this guide.

Other major records available in most places in the United States include:

Census records, both federal and state. Birth, marriage and death records, known as "Vital Records." Cemetery records. Church records. Land records. Probate records (wills, administrations, inventories).

To locate these records, see the Records Selection Table in the United States Research Outline to help you decide which records to search.

For descriptions of records available through Family History Centers or the Family History Library, click on Family History Library Catalog on the bar above.

Click on Place Search, and type the name of the state, county, or town in the Place box. When searching towns or counties, add the name of the state in the Part of (optional) box. Select from the list of topics for that place. Select from the list of titles to see descriptions of the records with the film or book call numbers. Use that information to obtain the records at a family history center or at the Family History Library.

To find birth and death records, search for state records, then for county records, and then for town records.