Do you ever attend conferences? I love them. I am attending one in San Antonio this weekend. Speakers will present on many topics. I just know I will learn something new.

When I was looking for my grandfather's brother, after I learned he existed, I found a marriage record for him. I duly recorded all the information and wen on to research other ancestors. When I found all three brothers and their marriages in Cameron County, I started in looking for their children. I found a few and decided to leave those ancestors for another time and instead I started researching another family with ties to Mexico. As I was researching in the Mexico church records, I came across a name exactly like this brother that I mentioned. I looked it up and read it. Well, he was the same brother married a second time. This record had much more information than the record from

Have you accessed the yearbook collection on ancestry? I downloaded the photos of my older sisters and brother. I also downloaded pictures of me in the various grades in high school since we didn't always buy them. And that reminded me of school. So I called my local high school and requested my school records. They were very accommodating and sent them to me for one dollar. I have a nice little collection for my grandchildren's books that I'm working on of my memories. I'm also including pictures of my Senior Prom.

I know I've covered this topic before, but I can't stress this enough. When doing Hispanic research, also search for the wife using her maiden name. In the 1870 census, I found my g-g-grandmother with her maiden name. Listed under her name, my great grandfather was listed with ditto marks for his surname. This was wrong. If I had been looking for him with his father's surname, I wouldn't have found him. I surmised that gggrandfather had died before the this census. I found him in the mortality schedule in 1869.

The 1900 and 1910 Census indicate how many children were born to each woman and also how many were still living. Using your form, compare the two. For example, in 1900 the woman claimed that she had three children and all three were living. Then in 1910, she claimed that she had three children and two living, Then search for a death certificate for the child between 1900 and 1910. If, however, in the 1900 census, she claimed that she had three children and only two living, she needs to look for a death record between the time she married and 1900. You might not always find a certificate or obituary, but look for death indexes as well.

Don't forget that the instructions for the census taker to indicate that a couple married "within the year" meant that they married before the official census day. That would mean that in 1850 the date fell between June 1, 1849 and May 31, 1850. In the 1860 census, the dates fell between June 1, 1859 and May 31, 1860.

I was researching my husband's family again and decided to revisit the census. I'm really trying to figure out where to look for John Olsson as it seems he was a ship's captain. Well, as I searched the 1900 census again, I was able to see that (using XnView to ligthten it) the column of "mother of how many children" and "number of these children living." I had never noticed it before. I knew John Olsson was the father of 2 children and their names. Now I knew that he was the father of three. I could only surmise that he/she had died. I started searching and found that his first son John had died as an infant. I haven't found any information on John as a ship's captain, but I was able

As you use your tracking form for a particular family, and if you can't find the parents after a census, look for the children one at a time. You might find either the father or mother living with a child.

By now, you know that I love the census. I have written before about finding a widow by her maiden name instead of her married name. If you don't find her, what then? Why, look for her children. Look for the marriages of her children. If some of her children were male, they would bear the surname of the father. If some of her children were female, they might be married and so the search for a marriage certificate. You might find the mother living with either one. In the case of the daughter, you might find her listed with the surname of the son-in-law.

You know, when you research you think that everybody knows what you know and where to search. Did you know that there are records that you can browse for in Ancestry just as you can in Familysearch.org? These are records that have not been indexed yet. Just log in to Ancestry and then go to tab "search", then "card catalog". When that comes up, type in wherever you might want to search. I typed in "Mexico" and then up came the states. Then I looked for a city in Nuevo Leon. I was able to browse for baptisms in Lampazos. I have also looked for Texas and New York records and other states in Mexico.

Well, coming back from a hiatus, left me a little lost. Where was I in my research? What was I looking for? This is what research logs are for. I consulted my research log and studied it for a little while and remembered where I was in my research and who and what I was looking for. It's a good thing that I don't file my research logs with the person I'm doing research on. I file them in a binder, with the most recent one first. Sometimes I peruse all of them and might come across another source I can try with the current research.