Readers Add More Tips for Using Church Records
Grace Church, New York, 1850. (Smithsonian Open Access) Several readers commented on last week's post on finding church records , adding tips and insights that are too good not to share. My friend Barbara from Pennsylvania wrote, "Baptismal records often reveal children that were not known. I know this to be true from all the research I've done here in Pennsylvania in Catholic sacramental registers of parishes that existed long before civil records were in place. Those unknown children often died young and were 'forgotten' because families didn't discuss losing small children, no one recorded the death, cemetery records were not diligently kept, or nothing appeared in the local newspaper. If it weren't for those baptismal records, they truly would be unknown or forgotten." I was reminded by Barbara's comment that I had found the baptisms of three children I was not aware of previously in my Becker family in Catholic church records from St. ...
Such sound advice, and your idea of sending a note with sympathy is a good one. I'm sure the family will be glad to know that her years of research were valued by others!
ReplyDeleteI hope so. The fact that her book is in several libraries in the country is also a good reminder that we need to perhaps send our own research to repositories, like she did, to guarantee that it is available to future researchers.
DeleteGreat advice. We should also thank the people who leave information on trees or in books.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great point! Thanks for reading and for suggesting that.
DeleteYes, an important a reminder. I certainly wish I had done a better job staying connected to some of the people I've met through my research.
ReplyDeleteYes, we can always begin now though. Thanks for reading.
DeleteHello Nancy. « When a person dies it's like a library burning down. » This is so true ! Every ‘family columnist’ has the duty to make the stories out he/she heard from elderly people (with the agreement of those concerned of course). Finding out how our ancestors lived and making it a story for younger generations. Thank you for your last post. Greetings from Belgium. Daniel
ReplyDeleteHello Daniel! Always wonderful to hear from you. Thank you so much for reading my posts. I have an idea for you, but I'll email you. It's related to this topic. Cheers!
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