Tuesday, December 10, 2013

HOW I FOLLOW A TRAIL OF RECORDS & ANALYZE WHAT I FIND–HENRY HART FAMILY - PART 1


Hart collage

MY GOAL:  CAN I PROVE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MY 2ND GREAT GRANDFATHER & A REPORTED FIRST WIFE?  SOMEONE HE IS SAID TO HAVE MARRIED & HAD 4 CHILDREN WITH, PRIOR TO MARRYING MY 2ND GREAT GRANDMOTHER.

I WILL SHARE WITH YOU, IN THIS POST AND UPCOMING POSTS, HOW I FOLLOW THE LEADS AND WHAT I FIND.

Here’s how it began today
I wanted to find out more information about a first wife for my 2nd great grandfather, Henry HART.  According to some online trees at Ancestry.com and information I have rec’d from a descendant of the first wife, her name was Sally “Sarah” SUMNER. 
I knew that, according to this information, Henry & Sally had four children, Lucy A., Hiram Harper, Benjamin Tyler and Nancy Malinda.  

What I have:  This is the typed family group sheet I received from my cousin, Judy.  There is a lot of information on this page.  HOWEVER – no sources are included.   
NOTE:  There are very specific dates on this sheet, so you have to assume they came from somewhere.  The question is:  WHERE?

Hart_Henry-typed Family Group Sheet from Judy in Texas_ENHANCED
What I don’t have:
  • Proof of the marriage of Henry HART & Sally SUMNER
  • Birth records for any of the four children
What I need:
  • Records that will provide the information listed above
  • Records that will link any of the children to their parents, such as marriage records listing the parent’s names or death records listing the parent’s names, census records with children living with the parents, cemetery records, probate records.
  • It would be nice to have more than one source that provides evidence of the family bond.
How I proceeded:

I began with the first child I had listed.  Lucy A. Hart  born 5 Sep 1816 (this date comes from information from a cousin named Judy, and has not been verified or sourced). Further reference to this source will just say "cousin Judy.”
  • I looked on familysearch.org for any record of Lucy A. Hart.  I searched using many criteria beginning with what I knew, her name, her date of birth (I only entered the day), her probably place of birth, Canada, and her parents names.  During the process of the search I added & deleted many different criteria, like first names, places and even dates.
 TIP:  By doing this you are broadening your search and increasing your chance of finding what you are looking for.

Results for this search – Nothing that matched.  Now what?

Let’s go over to my tree on Ancestry and see what I have for her.  Are there any new hints on the tree?

Here is a screen shot of my entry for Lucy and the hints attached.
Hart_Lucy_Ancestry hint screen

As you can see I only have her name & date given to me by cousin Judy.  The only hints given are several Ancestry Family Trees (which I’ve already reviewed and have nothing more to offer) and the exact same typed family sheet I already have.
I conducted a search on Ancestry and did not find anything new for Lucy.

TIP:  Since I have 3 other children listed for this couple, my time can be better spent by moving on to the next child, for whom I have more information.   I can come back to Lucy later.  Maybe in researching her siblings I will find more information on her too.

In the next post of this series, I will move on to the second child, Hiram Harper Hart.  I have a lot more information to begin my research on him.

Until then, keep searching,
Michigan Girl


Copyright © 2013    Diane Gould Hall

5 comments:

  1. Interesting post - how do you record and keep track of fact that you looked at ancestry trees on this person and they had no useful information (so you don't reinvent the wheel). Thanks so much.

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    Replies
    1. Tessa - Good question. I try to keep track of those kinds of things in my research notes for each individual. Am I 100% faithful to that. Unfortunately not. Which, of course, means that I do reinvent the wheel. However, I do make a LOT of notes when I am researching.
      With comments from readers, like you, on this blog though, I can tell you I am being asked some great questions. You are all going to help me be a better researcher.
      There is a method for tracking that is built into the Legacy program. I've used the program extensively for 7+ years and can honestly say that is one portion of the program I have not used.
      If you use a software program, perhaps yours also has a method for tracking.
      Thanks for visiting my blog and for the great question.

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    2. I have just discovered your blog, what little of it that I have seen in wonderful. Thank you for it.

      I also use Legacy, V9 now, and have never heard of "There is a method for tracking that is built into the Legacy program"
      I have searched thru the help section and cannot find anything, maybe I am using the wrong wording. How do I find it, please? I am very disorganized with everything except my files systerms. Coming from a database background, I understand the importance of consistancy. I have used a system almost identicle to yours forever, and it had saved me many a time, however, my fingers are stiff now and sometimes when dragging & dropping, files end up in the wrong place, so a tracking devise would help me. Thank you, Kimmer

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    3. Hi. Unfortunately, I've never used that feature in Legacy. This is a post from 5 yrs. ago, so what I was referring to, I'm not sure. There is a To Do list in Legacy that allows you to keep track of what you've looked at. I use my Research Notes for that purpose instead of the To Do list.
      Thanks for stopping by.

      Delete
  2. Thank you for your response. kimmr

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I look forward to reading your comments. If you have any connection to the people mentioned in this blog, please let me know. I write about mine and my husband's ancestors and would welcome new information or meeting a new cousin or two. Thanks for visiting and come back soon.