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Researching the branches of your
family tree can be a complex and time-consuming process.
Sometimes you may feel like you have reached a dead end
and not know where else you can look. That's when it's
time to think like your ancestors and look for them in
unexpected places. Perhaps they were a member of a church,
a professional organization, or a civic organization.
These organizations often create and store records of
their own, in which you might find vital information on
your family members.
Your ancestors, like most Americans, were most likely
members of a church of synagogue, which might still have
records of baptisms, first communions, confirmation, bar
or bas mitzvahs, marriages, or deaths of their members.
Organizations within the church may also have kept their
own records that you can research. Baptism records may
provide evidence of your ancestors' parents, their
residence at the time, their date of birth, and the names
of friends or relatives who acted as their Godparents.
Confirmation records, which are usually kept for adults,
may provide clues to childhood activities or spouses.
Burial records may have information on spouses and direct
descendants and act as a supplement for or in lieu of a
death certificate. Marriage records vary in detail,
possibly containing the names, ages, residences, and
parentage of a couple in addition to their occupations,
educational history, and the name and locations of their
witnesses. In order to find church records, you must first
find the congregations of which your ancestors were a
member. Be careful not to assume that all family members
went to the same church. Different family members can be
different religions. Also some denominations have changed
their names over time. Memorabilia, such as family bibles;
newspaper articles and obituaries; death certificates and
funeral home records; marriage records; and census records
could provide you with clues to your ancestor's church
membership. Once you locate the church, check their
records first, if they have any. Later you can solicit
information about records from church or clergy members or
at local history libraries. Churches that no longer exist
may have records at affiliated churches nearby, in the
church denomination's archives, or in local libraries or
museums
School and universities also may keep
records, such as enrollment records and transcripts, and
the local or state government may keep records on students
as well for tax or census purposes. Different college keep
records differently, however, and, for the sake of
privacy, most make it difficult, if not impossible, to
obtain transcripts for students within the past seventy
years. Depending on the state, if you request a transcript
for an ancestor who attended school there great than
seventy years ago and can prove that you are related, you
might not have a problem, though. Besides transcripts, you
could also look in alumni association or university
archives for student directories, yearbooks, literary
journals, newspapers, and scrapbooks. Sororities and
fraternities, honor societies, and other service
organizations may also keep their own records. Public
libraries and museums may keep yearbooks or other school
publication, particularly for school that closed down.
Finally, local newspapers may contain information on
students or school events.
After school is thoroughly searched, comes work, and if
you can identify your ancestor's occupation using other
records, such as census records, you can usually find
employee records of unions and other organizations.
Employment records for early railroad workers and early
employees of the federal government are available in
publications in history libraries. Different organizations
also exist for businessmen and other professionals, such
as engineers, teachers, doctors, and even dairymen and
morticians. These organizations often have their own
publications, which may contain biographical information,
such as birth date, education, residence, and death date.
Publications about members of the clergy can also be found
in church archives.
Finally, if you can identify and civic or fraternal
organizations to which your relatives belonged, you can
seek out any records they may have kept. The Mason, for
example, keep very good records. Libraries, archives and
museums may also contain organizational records. The
Smithsonian, specifically the National Museum of American
History, possesses extensive archives containing
manuscripts and publications of professional
organizations. If your great-grandpa worked in
advertising, for example, their collection of advertising
materials may be the place to look.
Also try the Ancient order of Hibernians
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