10 Unusual & Overlooked Genealogy Records

Unlock the secrets of your family's past with these 10 unusual US genealogy records! From coroner's inquests to Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, we're diving deep into the hidden treasures that most researchers overlook.

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[deborahnybro-cooney]

Probate Court Records have unlocked some family mysteries for me. I have 2 family member (my great-grandmother and a great aunt) who were each committed to “asylums for the insane” around the turn of the century. One was in Michigan, the other in Minnesota. I was able to request the commitment documents for both ladies. These records told me the dates of commitment, the reasons for commitment and the people who requested that commitment as well as the conclusions of the doctors who reviewed that request and who examined my family member. These records gave me insight, not only into the “insane” family member but also some of the family dynamics at that time. It’s virtually impossible to access the medical records while they were institutionalized but, if you can substantiate your family relationship to that individual and the fact that they are long dead, you should be able to acquire these records from the county or the state.

[geneewert]

Kansas Census 1865, 1875, … 1925 had an agricultural schedule for farmers behind the “regular” census. These are AWESOME. How many crops did they plant. Harvests. How many cows, pigs, horses, sheep did they have. How many died? How many fruit trees? How many dogs? How many beehives? Like I said they are incredible.

[nunyabiznez]

I found out two of my ancestors were in the revolution when I stumbled upon their graves. I knew their names. I had no idea they were Rev. War vets. The town they lived in lost those records in a fire in the 1930s. Fire was the most common cause of a loss of records. How I found out is the American Legion had bronze flag holders marked American Revolution on them. So I contacted the local one in that town and they had journals and military records of all the town's vets going all the way back to the Indian Wars of the 1600's. that had been copied from town records by the American Legion some time around the 1920's so they could properly honor all vets in the town. I was unable to find any other records on line or elsewhere showing their participation and was able to use those records to add them to the D.A.R. database. So don't neglect to visit old cemeteries. And while on that topic, you may often find graves arranged in family groups. If your town's records have been lost you may be able to reconstruct entire family groups from grave stone inscriptions. Often 18th century headstones will include things like "Beloved Mother of John Smith Jr." I found such a grave in a 17th century cemetery in New England that identified the parents of an ancestor for which I could find no record and yes it was yet another example of town records lost in a fire.

Historical societies are a really good source of information for a lot of things. I found a museum on Cape Cod that had a whole collection of artifacts that belonged to three generations of my family and they let me go through their records and I found a ton of information I did not previously have including the name of a previously unknown ancestor.

Fun thing I found out was both of my grandfather's built the battleship USS Massachusetts. One passed away shortly before my parents met and the other never mentioned having ever met the other grandfather. Both were in a similar trade and most likely passed each other along the way and perhaps may even have known each other by first name but based on everything I learned likely had no clue their children would one day marry. Each began their employment at the beginning of the war and each ended it at the end so this employment was never mentioned in census records. I found out through careful research of town directories. One lived north of Boston and the other lived in Boston and are not likely to have ever met outside of work based on religious prejudices each held.

Finally, I have found that the most neglected record collection is the collective memories of our older living relatives. Most will love to regale you with all they know of the family history and occasionally will tell you all the dirty secrets, like how my great grandfather's family disowned him for marrying a woman "beneath his station." Ironically I can trace her ancestors back further than those of any of my four Irish great grandparents, all the way to the 1600's while the others I can barely enter the 18th century with them. Neither family was from money but his family were snobs and her family were "Irish Travelers." His family owned their home in Westmeath and hers lived in a rental hovel in Cork but were nomads of a sort. My Dad used to say we had an ancestor once who owned all of Florida. As a kid of course I believed it. When I got older I naturally was very skeptical. The older I got the more unbelievable it became to me until one day I met a fifth cousin who told a similar story. Turns out the oral history had a grain of truth to it. My great, great, great, great, great grandfather was A Spanish Floridian and one of only two heads of family who remained behind in 1763 when the British kicked out the Spanish. He was contracted to manage the affairs of most of the Spanish families who had lived in and around St. Augustine keeping in continuous communication with Cuba and Spain. As time went by his clients one by one divested themselves of their properties in La Florida and my ancestor helped himself to control of same. I don't believe he ever actually owned most of it let alone all of it but he had legal control over a little over half of the private Spanish holdings in East Florida from 1763-1783, that is the holdings that were not confiscated by the British which were admittedly not the majority of the colony. As a result of his business dealings he became the wealthiest resident of East Florida for a few years. He ended up owning a dozen businesses and several plantations between St. Augustine and the Georgia border and his children likewise all or mostly ended up quite wealthy. All the Spanish records use the honorific "Don" in front of his name and the names of his male children and "Dona" for his wives (he was an unrepentant bigamist) and his daughters. Another oral history was about an ancestress who was kidnapped by "Indians" and taken prisoner and in the process blood was spilled on a boulder. My Dad told of how that boulder has a red stain that can never be washed out implying something supernatural about the stone. Years later I found out that ancestress was indeed kidnapped shortly after being married to my ancestor and eventually escaped and made their way back. Family members were murdered on a boulder and the boulder is locally famous for having dried blood on it after all these centuries that cannot be cleaned off for any reason (no doubt a natural color of the rock). So while oral history is not absolutely reliable, never ignore it. A lot can be learned from it. My Dad used to talk about how we were descended from royalty but could not tell us how. Years after he died I found we are descended from a lot of royalty the most recent being Henry IV. Then again almost everyone with European DNA is descended from Charlemagne.

[lindakurtz]

Love these talks! Most unusual: Poorhouse records published in newspapers. (the poorhouse records were misplaced.)

[nunyabiznez]

Here is an unusual one that helped me. don't laugh. eBay. I knew my great grandfather's (different great grandfather) brother owned a general store. What I did not know is that he had postcards made advertising that store. I found them accidentally while searching for something else on eBay. Imagine my delight. I now have seven different postcards from my great grand uncle's general store but the best part is that he had photographed his entire staff in each one AND included a date of publication so now I have 7 points in time my great grandfather worked for his brother but I also have photographs (albeit somewhat small) of him all taken 1896-1922. So I now know what he looked like. I found an advertisement for shoes manufactured by my great great grandfather with photos of the shoes. This told me where his factory was located, the styles of the shoes (multiple illustrations) he made and the fact that my great grandfather (third one) was a partner which without this ad I would never have known as town records don't indicate that. That town's directory and the census records only record him as a "manager" of the shoe factory.

[ellensippel]

Very helpful. Thanks Lisa. The most unusual records I have found are court and prison records.

[nunyabiznez]

A lot of people know about church records. A baptismal record is a common substitute for a birth record. But I recently found out that the Roman Catholic church keeps records on the diocese level. Not every diocese has these but they are often useful when parish records had been destroyed. Diocese records will have confirmation records but also sometimes they will have baptism and marriage records.

I also was able to obtain my mother's elementary school records from a Catholic school she went to. This helped with her biography.

A lot of local town libraries have unusual records of local history that are of course specific to that town. This is why you should visit every town library not just in the town your ancestor was in but also the neighboring towns. That is how I found out my great grandfather was employed two miles away from his home in a factory in the town next door. That factory had been a major employer and believe it or not maintained a history and in that history or yearbook if you will, I found photos of my great grandfather thus allowing me to document his career over three decades. Sure the census had his job title and employer for three difference census years but this told me the exact year he started and the year he finished in that job and what he did.

[nathaneichenberger]

I haven't had an unusal record yet, but definitely look at the WWI &II draft records. Yesterday I saw a WWII draft card of my paternal great grandfather and I learned that he was 6 feet tall, had blue eyes, had red hair, was 180 lbs at the time, and had light skin complexion.

[heatherchambers]

City directories are amazing. Lovell directories covered Montréal and region. In the early 1970’s the directory included the head of the household, his place of employment as well as the name of the wife in parentheses. Widows through the years were identified as Mrs. Elizabeth Smith wid Frank. Coroner reports are as detailed as imagined. And as sad.

[PennySchwamb]

Very helpful are you availanie for assisting someone .if needed