Do you have unsourced newspaper clippings in your files? Thanks to my grandmothers, I have quite a few. Fortunately, most of those clippings came from Kansas communities. Thus, I have been able to locate those clippings in the digitized newspapers. Somehow, buried in my Kansas clippings is one that is likely from Michigan. Mr. and …
Category: Michigan
Provenance
Do you have a family scrapbook, photo album or Bible in your possession? If so, have you documented how you obtained ownership of the item(s)? While most of the photo albums, funeral books and family Bibles were passed down to me by my grandmothers, I am encountering an issue where I need to document the …
Friday Finds
In an attempt to figure out whether I was working with one or two men named Thurston Wells, I ordered land entry records from the National Archives. As it turns out, the records I ordered were not for my ancestor, but for the 'other' Thurston Wells. The major clue to the difference is that these …
Ozias Wells
Ozias Wells was born on 15 May 1796 in Northampton, Fulton County, New York.1–4 He lived in Sullivan, Madison, New York, United States in 1820.7 He purchased rights to gypsum and plaister in the undivided sixth part of all the gypsum or plaister that can be discovered as found on the whole or any part …
Pearl
Do you ever have trouble figuring out whether females with different surnames are the same person? That's been my struggle when researching Pearl, daughter of Frederick Doolittle and his wife Ida Phelps. Fred Doolittle's obituary identifies the daughter as Mrs. Will Nysen. Fred W. DoolittleTekonsha Man Passes Away After Several Years' Illness[Special to The Citizen …
Conflicting Sources
In your genealogy research, have you encountered a tree containing a different death date for an individual in your tree that also includes a source? Most of the time when I encounter differing information, I can locate sourcing to support one set of information. However, I don't remember encountering a difference in information with sourcing …
Clayton Wells Probate
Buried in my files is another probate file. This time, it is for Clayton H. Wells of Eaton County, Michigan. State of MichiganThe Probate Court for the County of Eaton To the Probate Court for Said County: In the Matter of the Estate of Clayton H. Wells, I Anna M. Wells, respectfullyrepresent that I reside …
Benjamin F. Wells
When I first started researching my family history, the Internet did not exist. Thus, my research depended on sources available at the Kansas State Historical Society, letter writing or travel. Since my tree has deep Kansas roots, the historical society's collection of Kansas census and newspaper records were of a great help. For my earlier …
Census Sources
Do you consistently use Ancestry to access census records? Or, do you at times use FamilySearch or other sites? I have to admit that I rarely venture out of Ancestry to update my census research. However, I have heard other researchers recommend looking at a census record from different sources. While updating my source citations …