Problem Solving with FANs

A christening attended, best friend’s wedding, or the same church. Examples from the written words of other people provide details on YOUR family. Marriages, births, deaths, similar jobs, military service, memberships, education, employees, and more on YOUR family. Includes ways to find these other words along with many examples filled with names of other people.

Often, when the records of family members can’t be easily found, a review of fictive kin and other connections might bring those missing individuals into view. Let’s look at some cases when broadening our focus might bring the target directly into our view.

We’ve all heard the mantra Get the Neighbors! But exactly how do we use “other people’s” information to solve problems of identity, kinship, and origin for our own ancestors? This session teaches critical skills for building networks around problem ancestors, methods for analyzing and prioritizing associations, and strategies for milking clues from the records those neighbors created. All can be developed into solutions for our toughest research problems.

Utilizing the FAN Club method, DNA, and enslaved ancestral research, Collier finally found major clues to help solve a longtime mystery – who was the previous enslaver of his great-great grandmother, Polly Partee of Panola County, Mississippi, and where did she come from? Her last enslaver was Squire Boone Partee of Panola County, and Polly had been the head cook on his plantation during and after slavery, according to oral history. According to the censuses, she was born somewhere in North Carolina and sold to Squire by 1852, but her origins had been largely unknown. Collier will present a plethora of DNA evidence, in conjunction with genealogy research and the FAN Club methodology, to uncover Polly’s North Carolina origins. Collier will also argue how a court-investigated lunatic, Alfred Alston of Fayette County, Tennessee, was most likely her previous enslaver.

Descendants of an early Ohio family had no idea of their origins. Following an associated family brought success, even after wading into foreign- language documents. This presentation shows what to do when traditional records fail to reveal an ancestor’s place of origin and how to use cluster research to break through the brick wall. Discussion will include how to determine the place of origin using records found in the United States and what to do when no records exist on your direct line.

The records we use are filled with “trivia,” bits and pieces of information that seem to have no “genealogical” value—at least not until we become more innovative in our research and analysis. Each piece of trivia in every document is an opportunity waiting to be connected to something else. Our ability to resolve problems depends upon our ability to make those connections. This class explores eighteen types of records and the kind of hidden clues each offers to help us resolve problems of identity, kinship, and origin. *** This class requires an active webinar membership to attend. ***

What if you could consult with genealogical experts each time your work slows? Together you could explore options for new paths of discovery. The right approach to a literature review allows you to do that. Other experts have encountered the same challenges that you do, and they have written about them even if not overtly. These challenges could range from beginning work in a new geography to parrying with a difficult brick wall. Learn how to conduct a targeted literature review, cull the information you need, and advance your research. A case study on the use of the FAN Club will highlight the methodology.

This Connecticut-based, indirect evidence case study will highlight techniques for researching a woman whose maiden name is known, but her parents are unknown due to deficiencies in the vital records. Techniques will be demonstrated that rely on forming hypotheses and gathering evidence to test those hypotheses. Thorough research of neighbors and associates (the FAN principle) will yield enough evidence to tie this woman back into her family. Records used include pre-1850 census records, deeds, probate, church, and court. Death records of family members provide the final clues that tie them all together.

This lecture reveals the most powerful methodology available to genealogists. Family historians often begin their genealogical quest by researching only their direct ancestors. For many reasons the direct ancestor they search for may have left few records. The records that survive may not shed light on where the ancestor came…