Daily AncestorPractice, a few minutes at a time
Short rounds, no timer. Every answer explains why, so you remember it the next time you meet it in a real record.
The census taker's ear
Listen to a name and pick the spelling a Soundex search would also find. This is why your ancestor is "missing" from the index.
Case fileWhat killed Seth Hobbs?
Seth Hobbs, a private in Company G, 18th Indiana Volunteers, died in St. Louis in the first autumn of the Civil War. His widowed mother, Mary, asked for a pension, and her file holds four papers about his death. His mother never says what disease it was, and one government office says it has no proof he died at all. Read all four and decide what you can say.
Case fileWhich William Barnes died?
Two loose Family Record pages from a Barnes family Bible, now at the Indiana State Library, name two men called William Barnes: one who married in 1833 and one born in 1838. Years later someone wrote in purple ink that "William Barnes" died, and added an age in faint pencil. The year is hard to read, and no Sr. or Jr. is given. Which William was it?
Case fileHow old was Henry Bogardus?
On September 14, 1832, Henry Bogardus of Manlius, New York, a Revolutionary War private wounded at Johnstown, stood in court to ask for a pension. On that one day he was 69 by his own declaration and 68 by the word of two neighbors. His family Bible gives the year, and in smaller writing, a day. Weigh the four papers from his pension file and decide when he was born.
Case fileMcGahan or McGann?
In November 1865 Ann McGahan, a widow in New York City, asked for a pension for her son Edward, a private in the 174th New York Volunteers who died of illness in the war. Ann signed with her mark. The Army twice said it had no Edward McGahan on its rolls, yet it did have an Edward McGann. Read the four papers from her pension file and decide whether the soldier on the rolls was her son.
Case fileTwo Reuben Champions?
In 1819 Reuben Champion of Lyme, Connecticut, swore that he had enlisted in December 1775 in Capt. Christopher Darrow's company of Col. Samuel Holden Parsons' regiment, and he drew a pension. In 1896 John N. Champion of New Haven wrote to the Pension Bureau about a Reuben Champion of Parsons' regiment, and then about a "Dr Reuben Champion" who died in the war. Read four papers from the pension file and decide whether they are the same man.
Rounds of 10
Abbreviations
Jno., Wm., inst., ult. and the rest of the shorthand.
211 cardsOld occupations
What did a cordwainer, a chandler or an ostler do all day?
114 cardsOld causes of death
Read death records like a 19th century doctor.
90 cardsLatin in records
Natus, obiit, filius: church registers made easy.
82 cardsLegal and land terms
Bequeath, dower, metes and bounds.
37 cardsRelationship words
Relict, consort, and why "in-law" meant stepchild.
40 cardsDates and calendars
Double dates, Old Style and feast days.