Background Records Blog

How to Find Adopted Family Members

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:00:00 +0000

Searching for Adopted Family Members

Learning how to find adopted family members opens up a new avenue of personal relationships, letting you connect with biological family members to enrich your life. You’ll often find the eye-opening similarites and characteristics that reaffirm your kinship, and you might even find the best friend you ever had in this person who was separated from your family for one reason or another. There are even cases where a genetic sibling or cousin becomes an organ donor or bone marrow donor, in case of serious medical issues.

There are all kinds of reasons to make contact with your adopted relatives, so take the effort to do so. I’m not going to lie to you: there is going to be effort involved, because of the nature of the adoption laws in this country.

Gather the Facts of the Adoption

Before you start, learn every fact there is to know about the adoption process. Ask family members who were adults during the adoption process if there’s anything they can remember. Get facts like birth dates, adoption dates, the name of the delivering doctor, the hospital where the baby was delivered, or the name of the adoption agency used for the adoption.

Locate the Office of Vital Records

Locate and contact the Office of Vital Records for the state the adoption took place in. The vital records office should be able to direct you to the appropriate county or state level agency, to help you continue your search. They are unlikely to give you information that is going to help you identify the adopted child, but ask for “non-identifying information”.

Non-identifying information could become important later, because it includes hair color, eye color, and other physical traits. While you’re talking the Office of Vital Records, ask the official who you should contact for child searches, because that office is different from state to state.

Join an Adoption Support Group

Find an adoption support group in your local community or online and join it. This not only gives you moral support and positive reinforcement in continuing your research, but you’ll also find it to be a treasure trove of adoption research tips and ideas. Get advice from other people who are going through what you’re going through, or have gone through the ordeal you’re going through.

Learn about Intermediary Assistance Programs

Call around in the state or county where you are going to be searching to see if the local government has a confidential intermediary assistance program. These programs assist searches of official records with the consent of the person adopted. Sometimes, these programs attach a small fee, but the price is usually nominal and worth it.

Sign Up with an Adoption Registry

Consider signing up with a Reunion Registry, such as the Soundex Adoption Reunion Registry, also known as the International Soundex Reunion Registry or ISRR.

The ISRR has been around since 1975, and it’s help to foster mutual consent reunions of family members since that time. Whether your family was separated through adoption, foster care, institutional care, abandonment, or divorce, the Soundex Adoption Registry can help you find family members.

How to Find Adopted Family Members

Learning how to find adopted family members is just part of the story. Because state and local laws are non-uniform, you’ll often find that the advice given by a knowledgeable friend in one region, doesn’t apply to your region of the country. Get ready to have surprises, both good and bad, along the way. Get ready to deal with red tape and constrictive laws and perhaps even long times where you don’t get any good news. If you’re persistent enough and you’re lost family member on the other end is receptive, you’ll be able to find your adopted family members. And if they aren’t reception, that reunion likely wasn’t going to be positive, anyway.

How Do I Learn about a Family Tree?

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:00:14 +0000

Ancestry Research 101

Knowing how to learn about a family tree lets you connect with your family’s past, establishing the bloodlines going back generations, if not whole centuries. In the Information Age, people can use the Internet to research their genealogical background, and ancestry research has become a favorite hobby in the 21st century. With all the tools online, you can learn a great deal about your family tree, often for a small cost in money and time. But you do need to know where to start.

Which Ancestry Information to Study

First, decide what it is you want to know. Once you decide what you want to learn about, you can direct your study towards learning about that part of the family tree. Ask yourself the following questions.

Do I want to construct a family tree?
Do I only want to learn about famous relatives?
Do I want to learn about family appearance through photos and portraits?
Do I want to learn only about the year of birth and year of death?
Do I want to learn my family members’ occupations?

These help you decide where best to research. Keep in mind that not everyone is descended from Napoleon or Cleopatra. Most of us came from rather obscure genetic stock, so if you’re only interested in family research as a conversation piece at parties, you’re likely to be disappointed.

That being said, your chances of being descended from less illustrious, but still important, individuals of the past is significant. There was that study that showed Barack Obama and Dick Chaney were descended from the same 17th-century French Huguenot immigrant to Maryland (Maureen Duval), making the two 9th cousins, once removed, or 8th cousins, once removed, depending on the source.

While there are a lot of people you might not know about in history, who were considered quite preeminent in their time. Even if you learn your ancestors came from obscure backgrounds, like most of the rest of us, you’re going to learn fascinating information about history, as well as your own family’s unique role in the story of our world. I’ve learned so many interesting factoids about history, researching the lesser figures of the past, that you would never learn when reading a biography of Bonaparte.

Write Down What You Know

Once you know what you want to learn, write down a list of what you already know. This should start with your current generation and work its way back into the past, as far as you know. This should include your siblinbs, your parents, their siblings, your grandparents, your grandparents’ siblings, the children at each genealogy level, and so on.

Research Family Resources

Next, look through the accumulated family photos, birth certificates, wedding announcements or licenses, obituaries, and other family information in your possession. Jot down any information you didn’t already know, because this could become important later. Make copies of any materials, so you’re not handling the originals time and again.

Talk to Your Relatives

Talk to any relatives you have about ancestry data they have. It’s likely that someone else in your extended family has researched the family history, so get a head-start by mining your relatives for their ancestry knowledge. Discuss their childhood memories and other events that happened in their lives, while focusing on what they know about relatives you might not have ever heard about. Older generation relatives are a gold mine, because they likely know about a generation or two prior to your living knowledge.

Visit the Library

Go to the library to access the microfilm archives, records databases, and other historical research tools that the public library has. Once again, this is a gold mine of information, though you’ll want to set aside blocks of time for these studies.

Visit the Ancestral Home

Wherever your family is from originally, visit the ancestral home or homeland. Your family might have come from another part of the country, or (ultimately) another country altogether. Visit these places and look up their vital records. You might be able to link up with family members and distant kinsmen in the area that you didn’t know existed.

Online Ancestry Websites

Finally, there are online ancestry sites that help in digging through your family’s genealogical records. These are likely to cost you, but buy a one-month membership and be ready to get all your searching out of the way in that month. Collect information and print it off for further study later.

How Do I Learn about a Family Tree?

So when you want to know how to learn about a family tree, you have a vast amount of ancestry resources at your disposal, most for free and most within the confines of you own family’s records. Use every tool at your disposal to get a richer picture of your family’s history. If one or more members of your family stand out as particularly interesting, I’ll also suggest you buy a book or two on the time and place they lived, to learn more about the culture mileau they lived in. Having historical context makes all this ancestry data all the more enlightening.

How to Obtain Telephone Records in a Divorce

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 07:00:52 +0000

Obtaining Phone Records for a Divorce Case

We continue our detour into the subject of marriage records with “How to Obtain Telephone Records in a Divorce“. Hopefully, this is information you never need to know. If you do, though, it’s probably pretty important you obtain the phone records you need to establish the background behind the breakup. Divorces are a train wreck and most people would just as soon avoid the discussion, but right at 50% of all marriages end in divorce, so if you’re in the middle of one of these train wrecks, learn how to establish your case.

There are several ways to obtain telephone records: discovery, subpoena and personal request. The first two are legal processes, so you’ll need to consult a lawyer before collecting phone records. Discovery is a legal order for your spouse to hand over copies of your joint phone records. Subpeona is a legal order for the phone company to hand over the phone records directly, without interaction with your spouse or his/her lawyer. The third is when you ask your spouse to hand over the records, without a legal process.

Since the legal process for requesting and obtaining telephone records vary from state to state and jurisdiction to jurisdiction, consult a lawyer before you start trying to obtain phone records during a divorce process.

Call the Phone Provider

Only call your phone provider if you name is on your spouse’s phone account. If it is, you can legally make a verbal request for phone records. If your name isn’t on his or her phone account, you’ll have to go through the divorce court, instead.

Go through the Court

When using the court to obtain telephone records, you’ll need to file a motion called “Production of Documents” with the judge. In most places, this court motion specifies a certain reasonable amount of time the other person has to turn over these phone documents. There may be specific stipulations or requirements, depending on the local laws.

Subpoena the Phone Company

If you need to collect phone records directly from the phone company, you’ll need to subpoena the court itself. When the judge grants the subpoena request, you’ll need to send a copy of this document to the telephone service provider of your spouse. They’ll need to turn over the records within a specified amount of time.

Convince the Spouse to Sign a Release

Sometimes, you can convince your spouse to sign a release, allowing you access to the phone records without a discovery or subpoena. Your spouse might be motivated to do this, in order to save on legals fees associated with court motions. It’s in both of your interests to sign releases in this case, though that isn’t always possible.

Remember, when signing a release, you need to outline exactly which records are being released. Consult with a lawyer on the release, which is cheaper than court motions. Remember to sign your full name, while having your spouse sign his or her full name. Your spouse is not legally required to comply with your request for phone records, unless you use the court system, though, so understand that not all requests are going to meet with success.

How to Obtain Telephone Records in a Divorce

That’s how to obtain telephone records in a divorce. You’re going to need to consult with an public attorney to help you with certain motions and legal documents, so this is going to cost you money out of pocket. Divorces unfortunately are costly, time-consuming, and usually heart-rending. But there are cases when you need to obtain telephone records, so consider this a part of the process.

All About Marriage Records

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 07:00:13 +0000

Finding Marriage Certificates Online

In posts stretching over the better part of a year, I’ve written all about marriage records, including how to find marriage certificates, how to obtain divorce records, and a general overview of finding not only marriage certificates, but also vital records of all sorts. Like I occasionally try to do, I like to collect blog posts on similar subjects and link to them from a blog post, making it easier for people searching this blog to find what they need.

So today, I’m posting “All About Marriage Records“, which should help people wanting to find data on marriages and, unfortunately in many cases, divorces. From here, you should be able to find how-to guides on looking up wedding records, then learn where to find vital statistics from last year or a hundred years ago. I hope you find what you’re looking for.

How to Find Marriage Records – Yesterday’s post gives you a simple guide to finding marriage certificates online and in person. Once you know where to look, it’s as easy as can be.

Public Record Divorce – In this strangely titled post about divorce records, I give you a how-to guide for finding public records of divorce proceedings. Not all marriages last a lifetime, alas.

Free Public Marriage Records – Another post on finding and obtaining wedding records and marriage certificates, with another title that seems to have been created by a random blog title generator.

How to Find People Using Their Maiden Name – While this post isn’t necessarily about weddings and all that that implies, it occurred to me that people searching the marriage archives might want to find a woman using her maiden name.

Divorce Records – An early post on divorce proceedings, with a few more suggestions on how to find divorce records, if you can’t find them immediately.

Vital Records Databases

If you’re looking for vital records in the United States of America, Canada, or England, there’s a pretty good chance a link off of one of the following three articles can help you with your search. I’ve taken the time to find the online vital records archives for the interested government office in each country, which should at least help you find the physical address of where you need to go or contact, if not the ability to obtain the record over the Internet.

U.S.A. Vital Records – Our big one-stop list of links to U.S. state databases and archives for vital records of all sorts, including marriage records. Includes a link to the official vital records provider for all 50 U.S. states.
Canada Birth Records – While this post focuses mainly on links to Canadian birth certificate information, the links provided often take you to official Canadian provinces’ archives of vital statistics, including marriage certificates.
UK Vital Records – Information for people searching the public records in the United Kingdom, since the process is a little bit different across the Atlantic.

All About Marriage Records

Once you know all about marriage records in the government archives, along with a few manuals for researching vital records to find marriage certificates, you should be able to obtain the official documentation you’re looking for in no time.

How to Find Marriage Records

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 02:49:52 +0000

Finding Marriage Certificates

Marriage documents are public records, so it’s easy to learn how to find marriage records. If you have the names of the bride and groom and their date of marriage, you can find weddings information online quite easily, which can help you with genealogical resource, a family history, or just a background check on someone you just met.

Get the Names Right

Be certain that you have the right name information of the two spouses, including the bride’s maiden name. If you know the approximate or exact date of the wedding, that helps, too. Get as much marriage data as you can, because you never know what the required information for vital statistics inquiries are going to be in your jurisdiction of research.

Search Marriage Records Online

Go to the official website of the county where the marriage took place. If you can find the county recorder’s official page or even official site, this is the likeliest place to get the documentation you want. Don’t pay for the information, unless the official government website requires a small fee for vital records.

Sometimes, a simple Google search can help you turn up the information you want, such as a local newspaper’s wedding announcement or an online periodical from the area. Even a person’s personal website might have the information you’re looking for, if you don’t need official verification.

Research at the County Offices

If you can’t find what you’re looking for on the Internet, or if you need your hands on a physical copy of the marriage record, go to the County Recorder’s Office and fill out forms to view and/or obtain a copy of a marriage certificate. Look up the recorder’s office address to know where to go. Once again, you’ll need the proper name and date information to fill out the forms right.

Request a copy of the marriage certificate. You’ll probably have to pay a small fee for this record – either a bureaucratic fee or payment for the copy itself. In other cases, you’ll find you can lookup the record, take notes on your own, and return the marriage records to the archives for free. Ask the local clerk what records policies are.

How to Find Marriage Records

Learning how to find marriage records is a snap. To obtain a copy of a marriage certificate yourself, you may want to drive to the physical location of the county offices, though you can order copies of marriage records from the state you live in.

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How to Obtain a Copy of a Business License

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 23:26:01 +0000

Obtaining Business License Documentation

I’ve received a question or two lately about how to obtain a copy of a business license. I’ve touched on this subject before, but I wanted to answer lingering questions with a complete answer. Business licenses are a matter of public record, so you should be able to find a business license or certificate of the people you’re doing business with pretty easily, if you wish. If you can’t, that’s a bad sign.

What Is a Business License?

A business license is required by state, local and federal authorites for companies and merchants who want to operate a business. This licensing comes in the form of a paper document, and most legitimate businesses display their license to operate somewhere in their main office or sales floor. If you want to find a copy of a business license, you need to contact the state government offices for the Secretary of Commerce or Secretary of State (for that state), or the county clerk for a particular county.

Either the local county, city, or municipality issue business licenses, which are then stored in file form with that local government, as well as state and federal authorities. Not only does this give proof of certification, but also helps organize for tax collection and other forms of oversight.

Get the Name Right

Before searching for a business license, make sure you’re searching under the correct and official name of the business, which can be tricky to learn, in certain cases. You might encounter a “Doing Business As” or DBA set-up, where the business doesn’t operate under the name of the actual owner.

If you have the business’s Employee Tax Identification number, this can help with finding a business license. The IRS has this number on file, and helps with filing federal taxes.

Verify the Industry and Location

Learn what the business type or sector the company is involved in, essentially what goods or services the company markets. Depending on the industry, this helps you know which level of government to search under: state, local, or federal.

Also learn which city, county and state this business is located in. This helps in your search in several different ways.

Visit the City or County Website

Next, visit the official government site of the city or county in question, and go through their public records page to see what public information they have about this business. Some small town don’t have this information available on the Internet, so adjust expectations accordingly. If you can get this information on the web, you may have to visit their offices in person.

Find the State Licensing Agency

Study the public records website for the licensing information of this business. Again, this might be the state’s Secretary of State (not the U.S. Secretary of State) or the state’s commerce department.

The above information is about this company’s licensing. If you want to perform an additional background check on this business, start by visiting the Better Business Bureau and see whether this company has any complaints filed against them with the BBB.

How to Obtain a Copy of a Business License

Keep in mind when studying how to obtain a copy of a business license, if a company does not have a business license, it is operating illegally. Never go into business with such a commercial entity. Never invest in such a business. It’s probably even a good idea to avoid buying goods or services from this unlicensed business.

Genealogy and Census Information

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 03:01:47 +0000

The U.S. Census and Ancestry Research

People who have researched family ancestry understand how useful census information is to a genealogy study. While there are other resources for people wanting to learn about their family tree (immigration records, church records, vital records), the census information from the 19th century lets you narrow down birth years and household information, while deducing when people came and went from the “nuclear family”. Those new to family research might not know the importance of the census data, so here’s basic information on genealogy and census information.

United States Census Information

Ever since 1790, the federal government of the United States of America has conducted a nationwide census every 10 years. These periodic censuses gave the government an idea about the demographic makeup and poplation of the country by region.

This allowed government officials to decide on the electoral percentages of each state, which meant that the number of seats in the U.S. Congress changed according to census information. But it also let the government know what the tax base of the country was, effectively knowing what the government’s revenues were likely to be, and how much money they could or should draw in taxes from each citizen.

In other words, the U.S. census was serious business.

U.S. Census Data – Genealogical Information

The census data helps genealogists, because it lets them create a time line of who was in which family, about what year people were born into that family, and other key life events or vital statistics associated with the family. If a person didn’t show up in the 1840 census, but did in the 1850 census, you knew they were born between 1840 and 1850. If they disappeared from a household between 1860 and 1870, you knew they either died, ran away, or (more likely) got married and started their own family unit.

Early US Census Information

From 1790 to 1850, the U.S. Census recorded information on the male heads of households, because they were the voters, and therefore most important for electoral reasons. The information included was palce of residence and selected household members.

From 1860 to 1930, the U.S. Census listed all members of the household, including their age, birthplace, parents’ birthplace, occupations, marital status, marital date, and immigration information. As you might imagine, census records from 1860-on are much more useful for ancestry researchers, often filling in the blanks left by the dearth of information in the earlier census records.

U.S. Census Information After 1930

The U.S. Census places a 72-year restriction on census information, so the information from the 1940 United States Census becomes public record in 2012. Also, because of a fire that once occurred at the U.S. Department of Commerce, the census records for the 1890 Census are a great deal more limited than other censuses in the late-19th and 20th centuries.

Genealogy and Census Information

That being said, any genealogy and census information is good to have, and it is useful for genealogists and amateur ancestral researchers going all the way back to the 18th century. If you’re starting to research your family history, you’re almost certain to use census data at some point.

How to Make Out a Will

admin — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 04:38:11 +0000

Making Out a Last Will and Testament

Know how to make out a will, if you don’t want to hire a lawyer to handle your last will and testament. Dwelling on the thought of your own death is one of the last things most people want to do. But even those of us in our prime should consider how our deaths might affect our loved ones and family members, so we don’t put them in a bind if we were to pass on. Filling out a will doesn’t mean you’re near death, but it does mean you’re taking precautions in case some manner of accident happens.

List Your Possessions

Make a list of the items and money you possess and that you want to pass on. Consider everything in your possession, including cars, houses, and other property: furniture, appliances, CDs, DVDs, books, computers, and clothes. Remember to stipulate who gets the savings you’ve amassed.

List the Inheritors

Make a list of the people you want to inherit items from you. Most wills focus on family members for inheritance, including children, spouses, or even favorite nieces and nephews. Some wills include friends, though. Remember that when spouses are left out of a will, that laws in many jurisdictions can override the will. Also, if you have a child you don’t want to inherit your possessions, state in the will that you don’t want that child to inherit. You do this to avoid complaints over accidental disinheritance.

Name the Executor

Name an executor for your will. The executor executes the will, and is given a position of important responsibility. For this reason, make sure your executor is a responsible person, both capable and fair-minded.

Choose a Guardian for Your Children

If your children are minors, name a guardian for them. The guardian is going to take care of your children until they reach adulthood. The guardian is also likely to have control of the finances you release in the will for the upkeep and education of your children. Therefore, be quite certain the guardian you name is going to raise your children and see to their best interests.

Split the Property among Inheritors

Now that you have an executor, a list of properties and a list of inheritors, make certain to split your funds and properties among them, according to reasonable preferences. Stipulate one who gets your home (husband or wife, usually) and who gets the rest of your property (often children), or your funds (often split, or left to the spouse).

Sign the Will

Once you have completed your will, sign the will in front of witnesses. Signing the will in front of your lawyer and your executor is best. You want to make certain that there is no question about whether this living will is truly your wishes.

How to Make Out a Will

Not that you know how to make out a will, you should be able to set out your dying wishes and have your will avoid the inside of a court room. It might be better to hire an inheritance lawyer to cross the T’s and dot the I’s, but a well-considered will written by you and attested by responsible, trustworthy people should be able to hold up in court.

Irish Genealogy Records

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 00:08:44 +0000

Ireland Ancestry Studies

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about Irish genealogy records, so I wanted to review the latest updates on ancestry resources for Ireland. So many Americans have Irish bloodlines, because of the tragic state of Ireland under British rule in the middle of the 19th century, when the waves of immigration really began to come to the United States. So Americans searching for Irish genealogy resources are legion.

Luckily, you’ll be able to find a number of Ireland-specific family history research tools to help you in your search.

Irish Genealogy

IrishGenealogy.com allows you to search by US state or by the counties in Ireland. Also included are links to Irish libraries, archives, genealogical centers, and museums. You can even find a discussion of Irish history all the way back to the Neolithic period (though I suppose that’s pre-history). New updates give valuable photographs of the places you’re likely to be searching, on both sides of the Atlantic.

Irish Genealogy – Explore Your Family History

IrishGenealogy.ie has an easy, step-by-step layout for researching your Irish lineage. This site is mainly for searching Irish church records. You can search through church records or even get tips for planning your trip to Ireland, if you want to take that extra step in connecting to your heritage.

Irish Genealogical Society

The Irish Genealogical Society or IGSI is a community of Irish family archivists and ancestry researchers which spans the globe. The organization is based out of St. Paul, Minnesota, but the membership spans all 50 states and 10 different countries worldwide. Their site has information on the society, research resources, an online bookstore, and a members list.

Irish Family History Research

Trace your ancestors online with at the Irish Family History Research site with a database from circa 1500 up to 1910, as well as prerogative wills from 1536 up to 1810. Also included are biographies, family histories, pedigrees, and other Irish family notes.

Fianna Guide to Irish Ancestry

Fianna has over 500 pages of genealogical information, tips, and other help. Resource links include by county, by surname, and a search function. Other interesting background includes a small Irish music index and links to similar websites.

Ulster Historical Foundation

The Ulster Historical Foundation was established in 1956 and has over 2,000,000 online historical documents. You can find genealogy books, history studies, and personal ancestral research tools at the foundation’s site.

Irish Genealogy Records

You should have no trouble finding Irish genealogy records, between the church resources back on Eire and the U.S. immigration archives here in the States. The links above are just a few of the vast collection of sites online you can use in your continuing search of your Irish family history.

How to Write Dates in Genealogy Research

admin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 05:04:41 +0000

Writing Dates in Ancestry Records

You may have noticed in your ancestry studies that historical dates in records is not uniform, which can cause confusion when trying to decipher dates of birth and death. Learn how to writes dates in genealogical research, so your notes don’t confuse the next person in your family who is interested in piling through your genealogical notes. Keep in mind you won’t be the last person in your family’s history to be interested in relatives and ancestors.

Most important is to have a system and stick with the system when compiling your ancestral notes and information. Make sure your dates are easy to read. In fact, you might makes notes about how to read the dates as you write them down. Keep an eye to posterity and make the next person’s job as easy as possible, because you want your future audience as interested as can be.

Record Dates Unambiguously

Some countries record dates by day-month-year, while others record dates by month-day-year. There’s no telling how an immigration official or a census bureaucrat of the 19th century recorded dates, so there is going to be a certain amount of confusion when studying ancestry records. Make sure your records are unambiguous, though.

Consider writing the month out, such as 11-August-2010, instead of the ambiguous 11-8-2010 or 8-11-2010. If you’re used to one way of writing down dates, then add a key at the beginning of your work, with a simple note telling people how to read your dates. The most important thing is to be consistent.

Note Estimated Dates

When you aren’t for certain the exact date of birth or death, make certain to record the date as estimated, not certain. If you aren’t certain someone was born in 1848, then don’t write “born 1848″. Write “born about 1848″. If you have more specific information, such as somewhere between 1845 and 1850, write “born between 1845 and 1850″.

Calculate Birth Dates when the Record Lets You

Some death records give the exact age when deceased. So if your cousin was “63 years, 4 months, and 21 days” old when he died, but you don’t know his date of birth, then work back from that date to learn his birthday. For instance, if he died on November 27, 1907, then you’ll know he was born on June 6, 1844. When making this kind of calculations, remember to record the birth dates as “estimated”.

Don’t Make Your Own Calendar Calculations

I’ve seen some amateur genealogists try to make conversions from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar dates. This is a mistake that makes information less accurate for future family scholars searching through your records. Instead, record the date as it appears on the document you found the birth date on.

The Julian calender was adopted by Julius Caesar in Ancient Rome and used throughout Europe during the Middle Ages. But a slight discrepancy in the calculation of leap year meant that the calendar was roughly 10 days out of alignment with the proper seasons by the 16th century. Pope Gregory XIII therefore promulgated the Gregorian calendar in 1582. Most Catholic countries of the time soon adopted this reform. Protestant countries were slower to adopt the new calendar (The British Empire did so in 1752, when the English skipped ahead 12 days in 1 day during September of that year), while Eastern European countries (mostly Orthodox) often didn’t adopt the calender until even later. Tsarist Russia, for example, never adopted the Gregorian calendar, and Russia didn’t make up the discrepency until 1918, after the Communists had come to power.

The point being, since different countries adopted the Gregorian calendar at different times, you shouldn’t try to guess whether a date of birth, marriage or death happened on a date according to the Julian or Gregorian calendar. Instead, write down what you find on the record, and let future ancestry researchers make calculations for themselves. That’s what the proper historian would do.

How to Write Dates in Genealogy Research

Learning how to write dates in genealogy research mainly involves being accurate, clear, and trying to make the job of your readers and future family genealogists as easy as possible. Be accurate and clear, giving them full notice when you aren’t certain of a date, and you’ll be providing the benefit of the most accurate genealogy research files you can pass down.

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