Other Documentation

Basic genealogy consists of birth, marriage, and death records.  With this you can construct a basic family tree.  But as part of my genealogical research, I research all possible areas of recorded documentation.  I do this for two reasons.  (1)I like to construct a detailed biography of the ancestor in my family tree.  (2)There comes a point where every genealogical researcher hits the "dead end".  At this point, more detailed documentation on the ancestor being researched is required, or research must be redirected into family siblings to obtain information on the next ancestor's generation.  Here are a few areas that I have found useful and use regularly in my personal research. 

CHURCH RECORDS

Church records are an important area.  These records may include five categories; Marriage, Baptism, 1st Communion, Confirmation, and Death.  I am familiar due to the fact my ancestors were of Catholic origin.

Marriage Records

Church marriage records usually record the bride and groom's name, the bride and groom's parents names, date of the ceremony, minister's name who performed the ceremony, and witnesses.  I have also seen more detailed information such as the city where the bride and groom are from on select US and European records.  Witnesses of the ceremony are important because they may be immediate family or cousins.

Baptism Records

Baptism records are important to obtain the correct birth date of an ancestor.  Personally, I have come to realize that even my grandparents did not know their correct birth date.  I have seen cemetery headstones as far as two years off from the actual documented date.  I have seen birth dates that were passed down through the family were actually baptism dates.  Also, most states did not require a state birth certificate until after a certain year, such as 1907 comes to mind.  Knowing this, the baptism record now becomes critical to the researcher.  Baptism records usually record the ancestor's full name, parent's name, date of birth, date of baptism, godparents, and minister who performed the baptism.  I have seen ancestors full names being different than I expected.  Many times a person used their middle name in daily use.  As for parent's name, baptism records show the mother's maiden name.  Godparents in many circumstances are aunts, uncles, or grandparents of the baptized.  But I did find out that in Poland, mainly in large cities that most times godparents were just neighbors.  Another old Polish custom was to have beggars as godparents.  This was believed to bring good luck to the baptized.  This tradition was carried over along some family lines in the US.  Baptism records are also an excellent source to locate other children's names born into a family, but died young and in between census years.  It is not uncommon to find out that families had more children than you were aware of.

1st Communion Records

1st Communion records usually have the ancestor's name, sponsor, and date of 1st Communion.  Most times the sponsor is a close relative to the immediate family.  I have used this information to date numerous old photographs.

Confirmation Records

Confirmation records usually have the ancestor's name, sponsor, and date of Confirmation.  As with 1st Communion records, the sponsor is a close relative.

Death Records

Death records usually have the ancestors name, date of death, and cemetery name where buried.  This I have found useful in a couple instances where the state death certificate listed a generic cemetery, specifically Polish Cemetery. 

FUNERAL HOMES

Funeral Homes are a little used genealogical source that can yield a vast amount of information depending upon what records are kept and how long they are held.  There was one funeral home that recorded the hospital where he died, birth date, death date, occupation, birth place, parent's names, branch of military service, social security number, all family survivors and their city names, his religion and clergyman who performed the service, the date and time of the funeral, fraternal affiliations, singers for the funeral service and song's performed, pall bearers, and place of burial with section and lot number.

CEMETERIES

Cemeteries are sometimes visited by the genealogist and it is almost a natural thing to do and see where an ancestor is buried.  In a family owned plot, you may be surprised to find other unexpected relations buried there also.  At this time it is important to check with the cemetery office and see what records are on file.  You can do this by mail or through the Internet, as many cemeteries are online.  The cemetery should have on file who purchased the family plot, names of persons buried in the plot and locations, if there is a headstone for that individual, date of death, and date of burial.  Some cemeteries also record the person's birth and church affiliation.  With this lead, you can now be able to research church records.  You should also check for other individuals with the same surname and other found surnames buried in the family plot.  This is a good way to acquire names that may be related for future research.

CITY DIRECTORIES

If your family lived in a large city that produced a city directory, there is a wealth of information at your finger tips.  I use city directories to track down the movement of family between census years.  City directories also list occupations for the individual listed.  They also list children in the family upon reaching a certain age, usually high school.  You may also run across others with the same surname living at the same address.  This is not uncommon in early immigrant families new in the US.  With the US sponsorship laws, the most recent immigrants lived with already settled family until they were financially able to get a place of their own.  You can also pick up on the wealth of a family when you see one part having an early phone number of only four digits and another not owning a phone.

SOCIAL SECURITY APPLICATION OR THE SS5

With a search of the Social Security Death Index, one can obtain the social security number of a deceased ancestor.  This can be done online.  Rootsweb is one source that has a form letter online to request a copy of the original SS5 form.  The Social Security Administration address, where to mail your request, can also be found there.  On the original SS5 form you will find the applicant's name, date applied for, address, age, birth date and place, father's name, mother's name, sex, race, and business name with address or unemployed.

PROPERTY RECORDS

Property records can be found in the county government for each individual state.  These I have found useful in finding out if the family owned or rented a home.  With structures still standing over 100 years, I have also be able to identify the location of old photos.

MEMBERS OF CATHOLIC CHURCH ORDERS

If you have someone in your family tree, who was a priest or a nun from a Catholic church order, a unique source of documentation exists.  It pays to write that specific order to request any information that they may have on file.  You may see nothing, or in both situations for myself, you may receive a virtual goldmine of genealogical treasures.  I received photocopies of everything that was on file in both cases.  I have even heard of the original file just sent in one circumstance.  This file even contained personal effects.  Both of my requests contained high quality photos for each nun.  Both had their vocational service history.  One had an "In Memorial" article written by that order detailing her work and personality.  One had a detailed personal history prior to joining the order.  This had to be given orally and contained personal family information that was never passed down and would have remained unknown.  One of these ancestors was one of three children that immigrated with their mother, following a divorce in Poland-Germany.  There in that nun's file was the original 1889 German Divorce Custody Decree that included all of the divorce settlement and complete back round information on the mother and each of the three children.  How it ended up there is anybody's guess.  But if this request for information was never written, this vital document may never have been found.

SURNAMES- A CHANGING BREED

If you have been into genealogy for awhile, then you understand that surnames are often misspelled on just about any document.  You have to have the attitude when you are researching  a surname and think "sounds like".  I have seen so many variations within my researched surnames that it is almost hard to keep track of.  I had one surname of its European origin of Rydzkowski become Americanized into Ryckowski.  The passenger list had him listed as Rickofski, which is the phonetic spelling for the original surname.  I always laugh when I watch a documentary about Ellis Island and hear the statement that name changes never happened at Ellis Island.  This may be true because individuals did have their original foreign passports to go by after leaving Ellis Island.  But I can assure you that through the ship records held there, surnames were not changed, they were slaughtered from their proper spellings. The most accurate records in percentages that show what the correct and proper spelling of a surname that I have seen are in church records.