Location isn’t just important when buying a home. When trying to research our families, having the right location is important, because territories, state lines, and counties have changed over the years. Since most records are found at the county level, it is important to know the date when the county was formed. Most Family History Centers, Genealogical Libraries, and even Public Libraries have books available such as “The Red Book” and “Map Guide to the Federal Census”. But today, with so many places to look on the internet, we can find the same information there. Be careful not to get so caught up in one location where you are researching, that you forget to look in the surrounding areas. These surrounding areas may have been part of that county or state at one time. My mom was helping a patron at the Family History Center who was trying to locate her Pioneer ancestry. She was moving backwards in history looking at Census records. She had already looked at 1870, 1860, 1850 records. My mom noticed that she was standing with a puzzled look on her face and asked her if she was having a problem. The woman said, “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, but I can’t find the film for 1840 in Utah.” Then she smiled and said, “Oh yeah, they didn’t even get here until 1847!” At that point she said, “I guess I’m going to have to look someplace else.” And my mom said, “Yes, you will.” She was successful at what she had been doing, but momentarily forgot that there was a change in location. That’s why it’s important to always check the year and the location.
Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy