** This post from my website posted originally on Mar 31, 2014**
I have just had a huge break thru on my great grandfather, James Harve Smith…aka, Harve. For several years I have had the wrong parents for him. I have had his death certificate. It gave his name as James Harve Smith born in Tennessee and it gave his parents names as George Smith and Emily Barker. I could never place grandpa Harve Smith with them in the correct census after his birth year, I had found another George with a James Smith and “placed” him there. However, the dates just didn’t match. Boy, that is the wrong thing to do and I know better. I always tell people, follow the clues such as birth, death, marriage certificates….etc. I stress to people , NEVER copy what someone else has in their family trees, which I do NOT. So Today, BAM, a light goes off…. I went back and looked over grandpa Harve’s (that’s what my dad always called him) death certificate and followed the clues. I started a new tree on ancestry and added what the death certificate says and “whoaaaa” it is all clicking into place. I have found the correct census and his parents marriage record.
So, just to make sure, ALWAYS check your records and follow the trail of the census, birth, death and marriage records. And don’t forget wills and land records. Now I need to get back on it because I will not be able to leave my laptop today!!!
~Trish~
I have just had a huge break thru on my great grandfather, James Harve Smith…aka, Harve. For several years I have had the wrong parents for him. I have had his death certificate. It gave his name as James Harve Smith born in Tennessee and it gave his parents names as George Smith and Emily Barker. I could never place grandpa Harve Smith with them in the correct census after his birth year, I had found another George with a James Smith and “placed” him there. However, the dates just didn’t match. Boy, that is the wrong thing to do and I know better. I always tell people, follow the clues such as birth, death, marriage certificates….etc. I stress to people , NEVER copy what someone else has in their family trees, which I do NOT. So Today, BAM, a light goes off…. I went back and looked over grandpa Harve’s (that’s what my dad always called him) death certificate and followed the clues. I started a new tree on ancestry and added what the death certificate says and “whoaaaa” it is all clicking into place. I have found the correct census and his parents marriage record.
So, just to make sure, ALWAYS check your records and follow the trail of the census, birth, death and marriage records. And don’t forget wills and land records. Now I need to get back on it because I will not be able to leave my laptop today!!!
~Trish~
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