Genealogy Vs. Family History, Giving Your Ancestors Life - Friends, Neighbors, Towns

In the first article of this series, we discussed how you can explore the siblings of your ancestors to gain a better understanding of their lives on a more personal level than merely knowing their names can give you. In this article we will explore another avenue for enriching your experiences with your ancestors, exploring friends, neighbors and town histories.

Look for Names Associated With Your Ancestors

It is often quite easy to discover the names of people who were involved with your ancestors in some way. Sometimes your ancestors were witnesses to legal documents of other people, such as a will or property sale, or other people were witnesses for your ancestors. On census records, the names of immediate neighbors and other people on the same street are listed in proximity to your ancestors. Passenger records from ships can uncover people traveling from the same locations and arriving at the same destinations. These people were often friends or family of a different name. Early colony records are a rich source for finding other people who knew your ancestors. Obituaries often mention friends and family that were not known to you. Reading histories of the towns where your ancestors lived can uncover vast nuggets of information to be used for further research.

Study The Associated Names the Same Way You Would a Direct Ancestor

Take down these names and study them just as you would your own ancestor. I have had several instances where my ancestor was mentioned in town books and family histories, giving me nice family anecdotes concerning them, that was not uncovered from a search of my ancestors themselves. For example, one of my ancestors was such a good friend of another family that a man, on his deathbed, asked my ancestor, who was present along with member's of the man's family, to please look after his wife and see that her needs were taken care of.

My Haines line began in New Jersey with the immigration of Quaker families that settled in the area of Burlington N.J. Quaker records are rich sources of vital information, such as births, deaths, marriages, and the recording of families leaving one area and settling in another. Through these records I was able to track one of my families as they moved from New Jersey to Virginia, and then in the next generation to Ohio. I happened to notice that in the New Jersey records, two other families were listed who also turned up in the Virginia records. Some of the children of all three families then made the trek to Ohio. Sure enough, further delving into this discovery uncovered the fact that they were all family, related through wives, and that they were closely knit enough to relocate together over great distances. Looking into all the family members subsequently uncovered many large and small facts I would not have known by studying only my own direct ancestors. In this same family, studying the records of the settling of the Burlington area and adjacent surrounds filled in a lot of the story of this family's experience. Don't just settle for one town account either. Read all you can. The internet is a rich source for information these days. and the inter library loan department of your local library can supply what is not available to read online. As you do your family studies, keep a running list of references, and note what families they would pertain to. Then make a trip to the library. The effort will be richly rewarding to you, and the history of your family will become much more meaningful.