Legacy9UnlockedPDF PDF

LEGACY FAMILY TREE 9 –
UNLOCKED!
TECHNIQUES, TIPS AND
STEP-BY-STEPS FOR USING
LEGACY FAMILY TREE
TO RECORD YOUR GENEALOGY
BASED ON THE POPULAR

WATCH GEOFF LIVE!
WEBINAR SERIES
Geoffrey D. Rasmussen
2016
Middleton, Idaho
Copyright © 2016
Geoff Rasmussen
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this work may be reproduced in
any form or by any means, including
electronic and Internet reproduction, without
permission of the copyright holder, except for
brief passages.
Legacy® is a registered trademark of Millennia Corporation
Other names and products not mentioned above

may be registered trademarks or trademarks of
their respective companies.
PUBLISHED BY
Geoff Rasmussen
Middleton, Idaho 83644
ISBN 978-0-9864094-4-8
About the author
Geoffrey D. Rasmussen is the father of four budding

genealogists. He graduated with a degree in Genealogy
and Family History from Brigham Young University and
has served as director and vice-president of the Utah
Genealogical Association. He is a dynamic genealogy
speaker on all forms of genealogy technology, and as
host of the Legacy Family Tree webinar series, has
spoken virtually to nearly 100 different countries. He
received RootsTech’s Distinguished Presenter Award in
Salt Lake City. He has authored books, videos, articles,
and websites, and develops the Legacy Family Tree
software program. On a personal note, Geoff enjoys
playing the piano, organ, cello and basketball. His
favorite places are cemeteries, the ocean, and hanging out with other genealogists.
He met and proposed to his wife in a Family History Center.
Contact Geoff at Geoff@LegacyFamilyTree.com.

Contents at a Glance
Preface .................................................................................................................................................... 11
Chapter 1 – Your First Few Legacy Tips ......................................................................................... 27
Chapter 2 – Adding an Online Document ...................................................................................... 35
Chapter 3 – Adding a Census Record .............................................................................................. 67
Chapter 4 – Adding Estate/Probate Records ...............................................................................113
Chapter 5 – Adding an Obituary .....................................................................................................139
Chapter 6 – Adding a Death Certificate .........................................................................................159
Chapter 7 – Adding Email Correspondence .................................................................................183
Chapter 8 – The Smoking Gun .......................................................................................................205
Chapter 9 – Adding an Entry from an Online Database ............................................................217
Chapter 10 – What Now? .................................................................................................................239
Appendix .............................................................................................................................................259
Contents
Preface ........................................................................................................................................................ 11
The Genealogy Diary ............................................................................................................................... 17
What you’ll learn from this book ............................................................................................................ 21
The Comparison Table ............................................................................................................................ 22
Chapter 1 – Your First Few Legacy Goodies ................................................................................................ 27
Chapter 2 – Adding an Online Document ................................................................................................... 35
Step 1 – Create the To Do item and perform the research. ................................................................... 36
Step 2 – Set up the source clipboard. ..................................................................................................... 41
Step 3 – Analyze and add the new data, sourcing as you go .................................................................. 49
Step 4 – Add the digital image to the event. .......................................................................................... 57
Step 5 – Close/Complete the To Do item................................................................................................ 61
Step 6 – Plan for future research ............................................................................................................ 62
Step 7 – File the paper document, if applicable ..................................................................................... 65
Chapter 3 – Adding a Census Record .......................................................................................................... 67
Step 1 – Create the To Do item and perform the research .................................................................... 68
Step 2 – Set up the source clipboard ...................................................................................................... 72
Step 3 – Analyze and add the new data, including the census event, share the event with the other
individuals, and source as you go ........................................................................................................... 80
Step 4 – Close/complete the To Do item .............................................................................................. 100
Step 5 – Plan for future research .......................................................................................................... 100
Step 6 – File the paper document, if applicable. .................................................................................. 101
1870, 1875, 1880, 1892 censuses (and some killer Legacy tips too!) ................................................... 102
Chapter 4 – Adding Estate/Probate Records ............................................................................................ 113
Step 1 – Create the To Do item and perform the research. ................................................................. 114
Step 2 – Set up the source clipboard .................................................................................................... 121
Step 3 – Analyze and add the new data, sourcing as you go ................................................................ 128
Step 6 – File the paper document, if applicable ................................................................................... 137
Chapter 5 – Adding an Obituary ............................................................................................................... 139
Step 1 – Create the To Do item and perform the research .................................................................. 139
Step 3 – Analyze and add the new data, creating the custom “obituary” event, and sourcing as you go
.............................................................................................................................................................. 149
Chapter 6 – Adding a Death Certificate .................................................................................................... 159
Step 4 - Add the digital image to the death event ................................................................................ 175
Chapter 7 – Adding Email Correspondence .............................................................................................. 183
Chapter 8 – The Smoking Gun .................................................................................................................. 205
Chapter 9 – Adding an Entry from an Online Database ............................................................................ 217
Step 3 – Analyze and add the new data, and source as you go ............................................................ 227
Step 4 – Close/complete to To Do item ................................................................................................ 228
Find A Grave Tool .................................................................................................................................. 232
Chapter 10 – What Now? .......................................................................................................................... 239
Media Files ............................................................................................................................................ 239
#Hashtags# ............................................................................................................................................ 245
Publish your findings ............................................................................................................................. 255
Future Research .................................................................................................................................... 260
Appendix ................................................................................................................................................... 269
Download and restore the backup ....................................................................................................... 269
How to set the preferred startup family ............................................................................................... 270
How to set the bookmarks .................................................................................................................... 271
11
Preface
Never had a document struck me as much as this one had.
After months of searching, careful analysis, and following up on promising leads, the
obituary stared at me from my 28” wide-screen, high-definition computer monitor. It began
as the moment I have dreamed of for so long – I was finally going to solve the mystery! It
concluded with the feeling of a virtual dagger piercing my soul – as if a fully-inflated balloon
had expanded beyond its capacity and burst – as if I had been inches from the top of Mt.
Everest and fell – all the way down. Only now after several months of genealogical grieving
am I able to write about it.
Published in the July 26, 1926 edition of The New York Times, Elizabeth Williams’ obituary
looked like any other obituary. But to me, it forever altered the course I would take in
solving the case of the parents of my great-great-great-grandfather – John Williams.
Nearly everything lined up, so well, and for so long. So well that in my early years of
genealogy research I may have considered accepting that I had found the right person. But
the fifth line in the obituary put a stop to everything:
the late John O. Williams.
It was just 1926. John wasn’t supposed to be “late” yet. Without that phrase – “the late” – I
nearly concluded that I had finally identified John’s parents to be this John and Eleanor
Williams.
Yet, in spite of the devastating find, I averted the greater genealogical tragedy – that of
misidentifying this John and Eleanor Williams to be my John’s parents.
12 Legacy Family Tree 9 – Unlocked!
In the beginning…
…wait…
…that sounded a little too much like how a different book began. Let’s try this again.
When I began researching John Williams I was a young, enthusiastic college student. I had
yet to grow any gray hair. John’s parents had eluded our family’s best researchers. This was
our biggest brick wall. Yet I had just enrolled in the first courses of my four-year degree in
Genealogy and Family History. I was going to be the one to crack the case. It started off
well.
I quickly learned that we should begin researching an ancestor by looking at the records
created at the end of their life, and then work backwards. So I found his death certificate. He
died January 11, 1935 in Maywood Township, Benton County, Minnesota. Piece of cake. It
verified his name, his wife’s name, told me when and where he was born (September 29,
1854 in Brooklyn, New York) and exactly how long he lived (80 years, 3 months, 12 days). It
even gave the names and birth places of his parents: John Williams Sr. and Margareta, both
born in England. Eureka!
Minnesota Division of Vital Statistics, death certificate 910 (1935), John Williams;
Minnesota Department of Health, Minneapolis.
Preface 13
The next find was another easy one. His obituary was
printed in the January 16, 1935 edition of the Foley
Independent. It verified his name, his death date and place,
told who his six children were, and gave the exact
number of grandchildren and even his great-
grandchildren. I learned that his wife died several years
ago, and got a list of the relatives from out of town.
Only one thing differed from his death certificate. Here
his birth was listed as September 26, 1854 (3 days
earlier) and in New York City (instead of Brooklyn). I
figured there must have been two different people filling
out the information so did not get hung up on these
discrepancies. I was off to a great start. This was going
to be easy!
Next I learned about and turned to the census records. I

found him in the 1930, 1920, 1910, 1900, 1890 (yep, you
read that correctly), and the 1880 censuses. And I heard
that some people thought that genealogy was difficult.
Sheesh.
"Williams Rites Occur Monday," Foley

Independent, 16 January 1935, p. 5.
It kept getting better. I found John in the 1905, 1895, 1885, and 1875 state census records.
He was everywhere!
The 1890 census was the first record to really test my inexperience. As you may know, most
of the 1890 U.S. census was destroyed/damaged by fire back in 1921. While less than 1% of
the population schedules survived, a good number of the Veterans’ Schedules (officially
called the Special Schedules of the Eleventh Census (1890) Enumerating Union Veterans
and Widows of Union Veterans of the Civil War) also survived.
Take a look.
Williams John alias

Riley Edward!!
Preface 15
I figured this to be the right John Williams since he was living in the right place, and his
future son-in-law’s father was listed just beneath him. But “alias Edward Riley” – who was
that?
The more I learned about John Williams, the cloudier his research became. In addition to the
now six possible birth dates and three possible birth places, I now had another name for him
– Edward Riley! Here’s what it looked like:
Names
John Williams
John J. Williams
John Williams Jr.
Jack Williams
Edward Riley
Birth Dates
abt 1845
September 29, 1851
abt 1852
abt 1853
September 26, 1854
September 29, 1854
Birth Places
Brooklyn, New York
New York City, New York
Minnesota
Combine this with 1) the fact that I had two common names – both John and Williams, 2)
that his father was also a John Williams, 3) he was born in New York City, and 4) the oral
tradition that had been passed down stated John “was orphaned at age 10, and was shifted
around until he was 16” – and I discovered my first gray hair and a held up the white flag. It
was too much for me. I moved on to a different line to research.
While our lives moved on and we created some descendants of our own, John Williams
continued to rest in history as he had since his passing in 1935. I graduated with my degree
in Genealogy and Family History, managed the research department of a Salt Lake City-
based genealogy company, toured the country teaching others how to find their ancestors,
and founded the Legacy Family Tree webinar series. Through it all, I’ve gained experience,
grown in knowledge, and have even played a bit with genealogy serendipity.
Nearly fifteen years later, and having just concluded writing Kindred Voices: Listening for our
Ancestors, I was lying in bed one night pondering about which ancestor I should seek next.
I’ve had many experiences where it seemed that my ancestors wanted to be found just as
much as I wanted to find them. John Williams’ name kept coming to my mind.
Remembering my struggles with him, but recognizing that I’ve grown up genealogically since
then, I thought,
“Let’s give John another chance.”
Then I thought,
“Or is it Jack?”
“Or is it Edward?”
I decided to pick it up again.

Preface 17
The Genealogy Diary

I can barely remember what I ate for breakfast let alone who and what I researched fifteen
years ago. Yet, with my John Williams research, I was able to pick up right where I left off.
In fact, I am able to do this with nearly any of my ancestors’ research – because of a
technique I use when researching.
When I left off, John’s Research Report was 43 pages, singled-spaced, 12-point font which
included:
 My goal statement,
 The known information at the start of the research,
 A detailed thought-by-thought process of what I found and what I did not find,
 An active To Do List of where to research next and why.
My original goal was:
“To learn about John and Margaret Williams family and ancestry.”
That was pretty vague, although I am proud of myself for having written down anything.
Next in the report, I included a paragraph of what I knew about John and his ancestry.
The next 40 or so pages acted as my genealogy diary. I recorded what I searched, why I
searched it, what I hoped to learn from the search, what I found or did not find, and my
thoughts and conclusions. As I wrote, new ideas came to me about where to look next. I
immediately added them to the To Do List section at the bottom of the document.
Reviewing these To Do items today I wish I would have written a little more context around
each item, such as why the task was significant and what I expected to learn from each one.
But after reviewing the complete text, most of them made sense and I did not have to re-
think these again.
Regardless of whether the techniques or analysis of the research were sound, the Research
Report (although I like the sound of “Genealogy Diary” better) provides these benefits:
 Helps us more easily pick up where we left off.

 When we get stuck, we can let someone else read what we have done. Maybe they
will notice something that we overlooked. They might notice an error in my analysis.
 Can serve as the “proof summary” – the detailed explanation of how we know what
we know about a relationship.
 If we get to the point where we could benefit from the expertise of a professional,
they will want to know about our previous research, and this report provides that.
Do I write a Research Report for every one of my ancestors? No? Should I? Maybe. At the
very least, each of our end-of-line ancestors (the brick walls) deserves such attention. They
will often be the most difficult problems to solve, and as a natural consequence, you will be
learning more about them than most others. We will need to record information about the
Preface 19
history of where they lived, the laws of the area, the religion, the geography, and so much
more – all of which are vital to helping us solve the case.
Where should the Research Report be stored? The short answer is somewhere. Anywhere! But
it should be stored so even after a fifteen year absence, you, or the family researcher that
follows you, can easily find it. I started John’s report in Microsoft Word and stored the
document where I store all of my scanned photographs and other genealogy digital images in
my c:\Genealogy Photos Pictures directory. Doing it in Word has its advantages – it is
simple. It is easy to add tables and even screenshots. But I have to remember where I saved
the document. And if I ever upgrade to a new computer, I need to make sure to migrate it
properly. Using a cloud-based word processor like Google Docs or Evernote would solve
that problem, but I would still need to ensure that it will be preserved and passed on if
necessary.
Since I use Legacy every day, and Legacy already has John Williams’ information, sources,
and pictures, using its Research Notes area would be ideal. However, these Note areas are
not as complex as a full word processor (lacks ability to have tables, scanned images, and
screenshots).
So here’s what I do. I keep the active report in my word processor, and every once in a while
I do a Control-A, Control-C, another Control-A, and a Control-V. Got it? If not, here’s what
I mean.
1. In the word processor, select everything in the document by pressing Control-A.

2. Then copy everything by pressing Control-C.
3. Then in Legacy, open the Research Notes for the person and select everything by
pressing Control-A.
4. Then paste the text by pressing Control-V, thus replacing the existing contents of the
Research Notes.
This will replace any existing research notes for the person, yet will keep the report up-to-
date in Legacy. Now the report is in at least two different places and the likelihood of me or
someone else locating it after fifteen years is much higher. At the very least, email yourself
(or someone else) a copy of the report every once in a while. These are the same principles
and practices you would take with backing up your other genealogy data. Why not do the
same with your analysis of it?
Before continuing on, add a check in the checkmark box below signifying that you agree to
keep a research report for at least your end-of-line ancestral research.
I will keep a genealogy diary (or at least I will consider it) for each of my genealogy
research problems.
Why all this? I’ve found it to be indespensible in helping to solve my difficult research
problems. I know it will help you too. Another tool that is just as important is the Timeline
and the Comparison Table which we will discuss throughout this book. In fact, this book is
like an expanded version of my diary for John Williams PLUS it is full of practical genealogy
and Legacy-specific tips and tricks.
Preface 21
What you’ll learn from this book

I intend for this book to serve as a guide that you can apply to your own research and use of
Legacy Family Tree. Not only will you learn about different types of records, how to analyze
them, but you will also learn how how to properly add them to your Legacy software. Along
the way you will also learn tips, tricks, and best practices about:
 Shared Events
 Sources, SourceWriter, and the Source Clipboard
 To Do List
 Chronology View, Chronology Comparison Report
 Digital pictures and other media
 Why and how to add unlinked individuals
 Family Mapping
 Quick Access Toolbar
 Brand new Find A Grave tool!
 Media Relinker
 The hidden FamilySearch Export button
 Lots of shortcuts and other tips
I’ve even provided you with a link to see the actual Legacy family file if you want to study it
closer. It’s in the Appendix, but don’t look now or you’ll spoil the surprise.
The rest of the book illustrates the actual research process I undertook to try to locate John’s
parents. It is written in the “Watch Geoff Live” style, meaning, it is what I was thinking and
doing as the research happened. And while researching with a solid plan is often ideal, I try
to be flexible enough to follow new leads when they present themselves and see where they
take me. So while I am certain there are many paths to discovering what I did, what you will
read is how I actually performed the research – right or wrong – and will present you with
new techniques and methodologies that can you apply to your research and to your use of
your Legacy Family Tree software. By the end of the book, you’ll have dozens of new tools
to use and you’ll have a good model to refer to when recording your facts and citations.
After my 15-year-absense, before I resumed John’s research, I did the following:
 Reviewed the research report to catch up on where I left off.

 Took another look at every document I previously found, both for a review, and
because I might notice something different this time around. And I did in a big way!
 Remembered that I have developed new research skills and now have lots of
experience under my belt. I’m a much better researcher today!
 Remembered that access to records is waaaay better today.
Then I tried to narrow my focus. I had many angles I could take. I could…
1. Follow up with the family’s oral tradition of “was orphaned at age 10, and was shifted
around until he was 16” and look for adoption, guardianship, and death records of
his parents.
2. Begin looking for John Williams in New York. There are lots…and lots…and lots of
them.
3. Search for Edward Riley in New York. There probably aren’t as many of that name.
4. Keep going with the To Do tasks I previously recorded.
I decided to start by taking another look at the records I previously located. But this time, I
tried to keep in mind that John Williams and Edward Riley could be the same person.
The Comparison Table

The key to my success in differentiating my John Williams from others with the same name
is the comparison table. This table makes it easy to visualize if the person who I think is the
right person could be the right person. And the key to using the table is to remember that a
person usually did not reside in two different places at the same time.
The comparison table can be created using a number of tools. Here I will describe three of
them and let you choose which works best for your way of thinking. Keep in mind that this
is just another tool for your genealogy toolbox – you will not need it for every ancestor you
seek, but it is there when you need it. I use it when I am trying to differentiate two
individuals of the same name and since this contributes to the storyline of discovering (or
disproving) John’s parents, it deserves the attention I will give it here.
Whether you use 1) the word processor, the 2) spreadsheet, or 3) Legacy’s Chronology
Comparison Report, the layout of each tool is similar and the purpose of each is the same.
Two timelines are created and displayed side-by-side. The filled-in timeline for the known
ancestor is on the left and a blank corresponding timeline for the ancestor we are researching
is on the right. As we research the possible ancestor and learn where they lived on a specific
date, that information gets added to the timeline on the right. As long as the date and place
of the events in the timeline on the right do not conflict with the dates and places on the left
– we can continue to research the possible ancestor. But the moment that the events begin
Preface 23
to conflict with each other is the moment when we might discover that the two persons
cannot be the same.
For example, according to the timeline of my known John Williams, he was living in
Maywood, Benton County, Minnesota at the time of the 1900 census. If my research of the
possible John Williams finds that he was living anywhere else at the same time, then we have
a conflict. Although it’s possible that the two are the same person, it’s not usually probable.
This will become clear through this story.
Below are examples of these three tools at the beginning of my research.
Word Processor (2 tables side-by-side)
The left shows what is known about my John Williams. The right is the blank table to record
the results of the possible John Williams.
Spreadsheet
Same story as above, but this time in spreadsheet form.

Preface 25
Chronology Comparison Report (Legacy 9 or later)
And this is the same information, but produced using the Chronology Comparison Report in
Legacy 9 (or later). In Legacy, go to Reports > Other Reports > Chronology Comparison
Report. Using this report eliminates the duplication of re-typing and updating the
information into a word processor or a spreadsheet. Here is page 1 of 3:
Legacy also analyzes the information. Below is the zoomed-in legend:
Which of these three tools you use is up to you. I like the simplicity of the spreadsheet, yet
like the additional analysis of Legacy’s report.
In its simplest form, my goal is to find John Williams Jr.’s parents and potential siblings,
teach you how to better utilize Legacy Family Tree, and while doing all this, I promise to
provide you with a good story too.
And so with that … off we go!

27
Chapter 1 – Your First Few Legacy

Goodies
Ancestry.com, "New York, Civil War Muster Roll Abstracts, 1861-1900," database and images, Ancestry.com
(http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 28 Dec 2015); Edward Reily, page 1752; citing New York State Archives, Cultural
Education Center, Albany, New York; New York Civil War Muster Roll Abstracts, 1861-1900; Archive Collection #: 13775-83; Box
#: 377; Roll #: 21.
And so I start this book about John Williams and how to best use Legacy Family Tree by
showing a document about none other than … Edward Reily. How great is that! I think this
demonstrates that you never know what you will find when you begin the ancestral hunt.
In this case, I resumed my hunt by taking another look at John’s military records.
Years ago from the 1930 U.S. federal census I found my first clue that John
served in the Civil War. Column 30 (shown on the right) gave information about
the person’s military service.
Since these column headings are sometimes difficult to read, you will want to
become familiar with Legacy’s Forms Center.
Blank census forms are available for all of the U.S. federal censai (plural for census?) plus
some other countries. Select the desired census form and zoom in.
Chapter 1 ⟡ Your First Few Legacy Goodies 29
How’s that for the first Legacy tip?
This new knowledge led me to the infamous 1890 veteran’s schedule. Because of my use of
Legacy’s Chronology View, it was pretty easy to know where to look for John. On both sides
of 1890 John was living in Benton County, Minnesota.
This Chronology View is, in my opinion, Legacy’s most powerful tool. Since it shows an
ancestor’s dates and locations in chronological order, it helps the researcher know where to
look for more records. I hope that by the end of this book you will fall in love with this tool.
It’s easy to access, just click on the Chronology tab.
Now that I knew where he was probably living in 1890, I hoped that Minnesota’s schedules
were among one of the surviving 34 states. Sure enough, it was, as all states from Kentucky
(well, part of Kentucky) through Wyoming did survive.
In addition to learning that John used the alias of Edward Riley (you didn’t skip the book’s
introduction did you?), the record gave information about the unit in which he served. John
served as a private in New York’s 90th infantry, company K.
With the regimental information I could now locate the gold mine of all records – the Civil
War pension files. I’ve personally handled thousands of these files at the National Archives
in Washington D.C. I’ve seen some of them contain more than 500 pages of original
documents – photographs, torn-out pages from the family bible, affidavits and so much
more. And now that I knew which regiment John served in, I could eliminate 2,908 of the
2,909 John Williams entries in the index.
Or so I thought.
Of all 2,909 John Williams in the pension index, not one of them served in New York’s 90th.
But remember by other terrific clue? John was also linked to the name of Edward Riley.
Anytime I don’t find John under the name of John Williams, I could also look for him as
Edward Riley. There were only 222 of this name in the index, but again, not one of them
served in New York’s 90th.
So John/Edward didn’t have a pension, but since he served, he would be listed in the service
records. While there were no service records for a John Williams in this unit, there was an
Edward Riley in the index!! Eureka! And so I sent for the records and impatiently waited
next to my mailbox.
Written on a post-it on the top of the pile of photocopies was this comment written by the
National Archives’ staff:
“We have never seen a larger service records file.”
The file was indeed large and in addition to the comings and goings of his time in the
service, it also contained information about his age, birth place, occupation, and physical
description. It had nothing about his parents and not much information I didn’t already have
– thought the inexperienced and newly-married genealogist. In addition to my lack of
genealogical experience, I must have had other things on my mind, like raising two young
boys, trying to graduate from college, and getting my first job. I tell you this because these
were my last memories of searching for John before I concluded his research diary and
moved on. Yet before I finished, I made sure to add his new alias name to Legacy.
How to record alternate names
Any time you discover a nickname, an alternate spelling, or even an alias name, be sure to
record it in the person’s Alternate Names list. This is accessed on the Individual’s
Information screen by clicking on the Alternate Names icon. Record every variation you
find, and of course, add the source/citation of where you found it. In the image below, the
“S” indicates there is a source. Too bad I didn’t do this for the “John J.” entry – I’d sure like
to know where I found that middle initial.
Recording these names here has benefits elsewhere. First, these additional names will appear
in the Index View. A ~ symbol precedes these names. This makes it easier to locate a person
if you know them by their nickname or by some other name you have recorded. Just be sure
that there is a checkmark next to the “Include Alternate Names” option on the Options
button.
Even Edward Riley appears a bit further up in the list.

Also, look for the “Alternate given and surnames” option on the Include tab of the Report
Options for most reports.
With this checked, these names will appear in your reports, and will serve as a reminder for
you to also look for these name variations when searching for your ancestor.
35
Chapter 2 – Adding an Online Document
Ancestry.com, "New York, Civil War Muster Roll Abstracts, 1861-1900," database and images, Ancestry.com
(http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 28 Dec 2015); Edward Reily, page 1752; citing New York State Archives, Cultural
Education Center, Albany, New York; New York Civil War Muster Roll Abstracts, 1861-1900; Archive Collection #: 13775-83; Box
#: 377; Roll #: 21.
So now I’ve set the stage. You’ve learned a little of the history of my initial research
experience with John. And you’ve already picked up a couple of Legacy tips. Hopefully
you’re a little more curious about the Chronology View and the comparison reports.
Now is where it starts to get really good.
Refer to the steps below serve as the outline of what to do when you find a document
online.
Summary of Steps
1. Create the To Do item and perform the research.

2. Set up the source clipboard.
3. Analyze and add the new data, sourcing as you go.
4. Add the digital image to the event.
5. Close/complete the To Do item.
6. Plan for future research.
7. File the paper document, if applicable.
Step 1 – Create the To Do item and perform the research.

Normally I would start a research project by first creating a To Do item in Legacy and then
performing the research. This time I just started surfing the genealogical web. First stop –
Ancestry.com of course, where I thought I would see if they had any other military records
for John. I was not disappointed.
John, I mean, Edward, who was John, but listed as Edward, had a page in the “New York
Civil War Muster Roll Abstracts 1861-1900” database which I’ve included above. This looks
like a summary of his service and includes his name (another new spelling), enlistment and
transfer dates, his birth place (Brooklyn, NY), his age at enlistment, his physical description,
and his occupation at enlistment. His occupation! Ten years ago this was no big deal to me,
but today, knowing John’s occupation will help me differentiate this John Williams from
others of the same name. This is exciting stuff!
Chapter 2 ⟡ Adding an Online Document 37
Yet, before really analyzing the record (that’s step 3), let’s record our search as a new To Do
item in Legacy (step 1). In Legacy’s Family View, click on the To Do List icon.
This really is not just a To Do List, but a combined list of 1) tasks I have previously
completed (status of “C” for Closed) and 2) tasks that I still have to do (status of “O” for
Open). This list serves as a reminder of where I’ve been and where I’m going.
To add a new task, click the Add button and fill in the fields.
On the Results tab record your thoughts or new findings.
And always add the Repository.

Click Save and the task now appears in the list.
IMPORTANT – any time an idea comes to mind about what to do next for an ancestor,
open up their To Do List and create a new task. You don’t have to work on it right away,
but recording the task ensures that you will not forget about it. I’ve got quite a few of these
that are several years old. But because I added the repository to the task, when I’m ready to
make a visit to the repository (the library or the courthouse), all I have to do is click the Print
button, select “Tasks with Specific Repositories”, select the repository, and click Print.
I create this report for tasks that I need to do when I finally make it back to the Family
History Library in Salt Lake City. The now-36-page report provides the specific details, and
in many cases, the call/film numbers that I’ll need when I get there. No more trying to
remember what I need to do and for whom! The To Do List is my second favorite tool in
Legacy.
OK, back to John.
Armed with a digital image of this military record, it’s time for the fun part – the analysis of
the document and adding the new information to Legacy.
Step 2 – Set up the source clipboard.

Since “genealogy without documentation is mythology,” adding the source to each
piece of information we add or verify is important. There are two ways of adding
the source – the long way and the short way. The short way employs the use of
Legacy’s Source Clipboard, and in this book I am going to go straight to it. If you
are not yet comfortable with the concept of the Master Source versus the Source
Detail, I recommend viewing these concepts in Legacy’s help file, manual, or
training video first. Here, I will skip straight to the step-by-steps – after all, this is Legacy
Unlocked, right?
1. In the Individual’s Information screen, click on the blue triangle (these four buttons
shown above make up the source clipboard).
2. On the Source Clipboard screen, click on the “Click here to select the master source to
cite.” link.
3. If the Master Source is already in the list, scroll and select it. If not, click on the Add
button to add the new Master Source. Here, I’ve clicked on Add.
4. Select the type of source from the list, answer the questions, and then click on the Go To
Step 2 button. In the Military category nothing really matched the record I found so I
selected the “Online database & images” medium within the “Add a generic source here”
type.
In fact, if you are ever not sure which type to select, select one of the nine choices in the
“Add a generic source here” type. These nine media will cover every type of record. AND,
any time you are citing a digital image you located online, you can use this same medium if
you want. Its template will have all of the fields for you to fill in. If you can locate the
specific type in the list (like books, census records, etc.) then use it instead because the
template will have fields specific to the type.
5. Fill in the fields as best you can, keeping in mind that just because there is a field it does
not mean you have to put something in it.
With all the fields filled in, click on the Save button in the upper right. The new Master
Source appears highlighted in the Master Source List.
6. Click on the Select button and fill in the fields for the Detail information,
Text/Comments, and Media.
Detail Information tab:
Text/Comments tab:
And the Media tab:
When you are finished setting up the Source Clipboard, click the Save button in the upper
right. You will be taken to the Individual’s Information screen where you can begin adding
and documenting the new information.
Step 3 – Analyze and add the new data, sourcing as you go

You might print the muster roll abstract (beginning of chapter) so you can follow along here.
Starting at the top of the record, the first thing I noticed was a new spelling for Edward. I
guess this would be a variant spelling for John’s variant name. Remembering to search for
both Edward Riley (already recorded) and for this new variation of Edward Reily will be
important so let’s be sure to record and document it in the Alternate Names screen. Click on
the Alternate Names icon, click the Add button, fill in the new name, and click Save.
Edward Reily appears at the top of the list, but without an “S” in the Source column.
Because we took the time to set up the Source Clipboard, adding the source (sometimes
referred to as the citation) takes just one click. Make sure that the new name is highlighted,
and then click on the second button of the Source Clipboard:
Because I did not have the Source Clipboard’s “prompt for detail” option checked, the
source detail screen did not appear, which is fine in this case because I will not be changing
the detail information. To verify that the source from the clipboard is now linked to this new
name, click on the blue source button.
The Assigned Sources screen appears, along with the new source:
The next few sections of the document give details about his enlistment. Since I previously
created an event in the Events/Facts section called “Military” let’s just click on its Edit
button…
… and add the new information there. Here is what I had:

I’ve updated the date field, the place field, and the notes:
Finally, click on the Source Clipboard’s paste button to properly add the citation.
Clicking on the Source button shows that now I have five citations for John/Edward’s
Military event. While there will never be a set number as to how many different sources you
should have to prove a fact, the more the merrier. Then I can analyze, corroborate, and
strengthen my findings.
The last two lines of this document are the most exciting. First, it confirms his birthplace as
Brooklyn, yet of the two Brooklyn birth events in his record, neither has an accompanying
birth year to match the age of 21 as listed on this document. Was “age 21 years” his age at
enlistment or was it when his service had concluded?
Since it is not specifically stated in the document, I am going to create another “Alt Birth”
event:
Obviously, John/Edward could not have been born this many times, but using the Alt. Birth
field is the best place to record the conflicting data. Eventually, I hope to end up with just
one solid birth event, but until then, this helps keep everything organized. When I can
disprove one of the events, I change the name of the event to “Alt. Birth” to “Disproven
Birth” and in the event’s notes I record why I have disproven it. Still, do not delete the event
because you will need it to help differentiate your ancestor from another of the same name.
The thing that began to unlock this case, or at least steered me in the direction I went, was
the occupation.
John/Edward was a hatter! Whatever that was. And with a name like John Williams, any
additional piece of information that can help differentiate him from others of the same name
is crucial.
So I went to my genealogy bookshelf and opened one of my favorite resources, A to Zax: a

Comprehensive Dictionary for Genealogists & Historians by Barbara Jean Events.
It explained that a hatter was 1) a person who makes hats, 2) a seller of hats, or 3) one who
cleans and repairs hats. So now in the enormous sea of individuals with the name of John
Williams, mine was:
 Probably born in Brooklyn

 Born between 1840-1854
 Orphaned at the age of 10, shifted around until he was 16
 A private in New York’s 90th infantry, companies K and A
 Also known as Edward Riley or Reily
 And a Hatter!
We’re going to find him!
Here’s our reminder of the seven steps. We’ve just completed number three.
Summary of Steps

4. Add the digital image to the event.
Step 4 – Add the digital image to the event.

We have previously added the digital image of the muster roll to the Media section of the
Source Details. This makes it convenient to review the digital image when working with
John’s sources. I also prefer to add the same picture to the event so it will conveniently
appear in John’s media gallery. In other words, I do a little bit of extra work in the
beginning, but later on, it becomes even more convenient to view his images because I can
look in either his Media Gallery or in his sources area.
With his Individual’s Information screen open, click on the Media button:
Now select the Military field from the drop down list so we can associate the digital image of
the muster roll abstract with the military event. Won’t it be cool to have all of his digitized
military records in one place?
Next, click on the Add Media button and select Picture.
This next part may be the most difficult, that is, unless you remember where you saved the
digital image. I navigated to the C:\Genealogy Photos Pictures\Locations\USA\New
York\Kings County\Brooklyn folder where I previously saved the digital image of the
muster roll abstract, and double-clicked on the image, which brings up this screen:
Since my personal digital organizational system is already set up the way I like it, I will select
the second option, to “Leave this file where it is and link to it there”.
After clicking OK I have the option to fill in the caption, date, and any additional
description.
Finally, clicking the Close button displays the updated Media Gallery for this event:
Notice that the Media Gallery it is currently filtered to show only those images linked to the
Military event. To view all of the images in John’s Media Gallery, change from the Military
event to the All Media selection.
Step 5 – Close/Complete the To Do item

In step 1 we created the To Do item. Now that we’ve searched for, evaluated, and cited the
muster roll abstract, we should record our results. Do this whether or not the search was
successful. Click on the To Do icon:
Click once on the appropriate To Do item.
After clicking the Edit button, add any additional information to the Results tab, change the
status from “open” to “closed”, and click the Save button.
Step 6 – Plan for future research

Before doing anything else, we should make a plan for future research. Do this before eating,
exercising, or sleeping because the train of thought you had while doing the analysis and data
entry stages can easily leave.
This reminded me of the Brooklyn City Directories. Wow do I ever love city directories!
Years ago I reviewed and extracted all J. and John Williams in these directories from 1860
(just before John’s enlistment in the Civil War) to 1867 (after the war) and added them to
John’s research report. Like a modern telephone book (you’ll know what that is unless you
were born in the past two decades), city directories list the names of the town’s residents,
their address, sometimes their spouse’s name, and often their occupation. I wondered if, in
the year of John’s enlistment, at which time he would have been a hatter, if there were any
listings of a John Williams with the occupation of a hatter?
Of the dozens and dozens of J. or John Williams entries, only one was listed with an
occupation that resembled that of a hatter:
J. D. Williams!
Could this be my John?
With my heart beating a little faster now, I checked the next year’s directory.
In 1862, living at the same residential address of 86 Cranberry, was … Joseph D. Williams.
Too bad. But how exciting to find someone with the right surname and the right occupation!
It was enough to keep pursuing this path.
I next turned to the 1860 U.S. federal census to locate this Joseph D. Williams family and
found them living in Brooklyn’s 3rd ward, district 1.
1860 U.S. census, Kings County, New York, population schedule, Brooklyn, ward 3, district 1, p. 523, dwelling 127, family 523,
Joseph D. Williams household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 Jan 2016); citing National
Archives and Records Administration microfilm M653, roll 764.
Not only was Joseph in the hats business, but he was a master hatter with $20,000 personal
estate. According to the inflation calculator at www.westegg.com/inflation, that’s more than
half a million dollars in today’s currency. AND he had two servants living at home. Now I’m
really hoping my family is related.
While there is no indication of my John/Edward the hatter, I wondered if this might be a

family business, and if so, did John live nearby in Brooklyn’s 3rd ward, district 1?
According to Ancestry’s index, there were 75 John Williams in Brooklyn in the 1860 census.
But living in Brooklyn’s 3rd ward, district 1, there was only one John Williams who had a
John Williams as a father, and where both parents were listed as being from England or
Wales.
That’s right. Just one. Mostly.
Deep breath.
Let’s hurry up and finish step 6 (plan for future research) now, because it keeps getting
better and better from here. In John’s Individual’s Information screen, open up the To Do
List and add the following:
Done.
Step 7 – File the paper document, if applicable

Finally, if you printed a paper copy of the muster roll abstract, like I did, it is time to file it
away. I like to have at least one digital copy and one paper copy, just in case something
happens to either. A good paper filing system is one that you can file and retrieve your
document in less than a minute. Many filing systems work well with Legacy like Mary Hill’s
color-coding system at http://familytreewebinars.com/download.php?webinar_id=192 or
Karen Clifford’s FileYourPapers.com system. Other organizational systems and tips are
described on our Legacy News blog.
67
Chapter 3 – Adding a Census Record
1860 U.S. census, Kings County, New York, population schedule, Brooklyn, Ward 3, District 1, p. 432, dwelling 18, family 31,
John Williams household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 Jan 2016); citing National
Of all the John Williams in Brooklyn in 1860, only one had the combination in the census
where:
 the parents were from Wales and/or England,

 the father was John Williams,
 and they lived in the 1st district of the 3rd ward.
And while the mother’s name is different (Ellen) than the mother listed on John’s death
certificate (Margareta) I’m not too concerned. The information on the death certificate was
filled in in 1935 and the name could either be a nickname or entirely wrong. The evidence
was suggesting that this family was important to study.
Here’s your outline of steps to follow when adding a census record to Legacy Family Tree.
Summary of Steps
1. Create the To Do item and perform the research

2. Set up the source clipboard
3. Analyze and add the new data, including the census event, share the event with the
other individuals, and source as you go
4. Close/complete the To Do item
5. Plan for future research
6. File the paper document, if applicable
Step 1 – Create the To Do item and perform the research

Since we created the To Do item in step 6 of the previous chapter, we are ready to continue
the research. I located the potential John Williams family at Ancestry.com and clicked on the
“Save to your computer” link. The image downloaded to my computer and was shown in my
web browser with the file name of 4235932_00004.jpg.
Chapter 3 ⟡ Adding a Census Record 69
Before anything else, we need to rename the image and make sure it is stored in my digital
filing system correctly. My computer is set up to automatically store any downloaded images
in the Downloads folder.
This is shown in the Quick Access section of my “File Explorer”. I used the shortcut of
+E
to open this. Then I located the file I just downloaded and pressed Control + X to “cut” the
file. Cut means I’m going to move it somewhere else.
Next, I navigated to the correct Locations folder (on my computer it is: C:\Genealogy
Photos Pictures\Locations\USA\New York\Kings County\Brooklyn), and pressed
Control+V to “paste” (or move to) the file. After moving it, I renamed the digital image to
something that better identifies the document. To rename a file, right-click on it, select
Rename, and type the new name. And since I’m still uncertain of whether this document has
my John Williams in it, as part of the file name I’ve included the phrase “possible relative”.
This is important just in case this ends up not being my guy.
Add Unlinked
This 1860 census record contains a family that I think and hope is mine, but I’m not yet
certain about this. Because of this uncertainty, I should not add its information to the
proven John Williams family in Legacy. Thankfully it is easy to add a separate, unlinked
family in Legacy. To start, go to Add > Add Unlinked > Add Male.
For now, I’m going to fill in the name of the head of the household, John Williams, and click
Save.
Notice, now, that this person is all alone – no spouse, parents, or children in the Family
View. Not even a relationship above his name. This John Williams is now in his own tree. He
is not linked or related to anyone else in my now-23,516 person family file. This is good.
Because he is separate, I can now research his family and add any new information and
relationships as I go. At some point, if I determine that this John is the same as my John, I
can use Legacy’s Merge tool to combine the records. But until that time, this John and his
family will be in their own tree. This is a key research and analysis tool as you will see as we
continue on.
Step 2 – Set up the source clipboard

Now that our digital image is in place, and we’ve created the new tree, we can now prepare
to add the new information and cite the source by first setting up the Source Clipboard.
1. In the Individual’s Information screen, click on the blue triangle
cite.” link.
3. If the census’s master source is already in the list, scroll and select it. If not, click on the
Add button to add the new Master Source.
4. Select the type of source from the list (Census records), answer the questions,
then click on the Go To Step 2 button.
While several of these fields were automatically filled in by Legacy, the only one I really had
to think about was the Publish Date field. I added the year 2009 because in the “Source
Information” section of the record at Ancestry it listed the database’s publication year as
2009.
With all the fields filled in, click on the Save button in the upper right.
The new Master Source appears highlighted in the Master Source List.
Isn’t it neat to see how the Master Source List is evolving? Because of how I utilize the
“Source List Name” field in the Master Source, the list is turning into a mini-catalog,
arranged either geographically or by major surname, of the sources I have consulted.
6. Click on the Select button and fill in the fields for the Detail Information,
Text/Comments, and Media. If you are using Ancestry, you can find all of the information
from either the record or the image. If you are using FamilySearch to access the census, you
might need to turn to Steve Morse’s Microfilm Roll Numbers for the 1790-1940 Census database
at http://stevemorse.org/census/reelframes.html to find the Roll number.
The last important thought here is that for the “ID of Person” field, I prefer to add the word
“household” after the name of the person. This prevents me from needing to change the
“ID of Person” field when I paste this citation on the other individuals listed in the
household. Here’s what it looks like all filled in:
I don’t usually do anything with the fields in the “Optional” section.

Next, the transcription of the census goes on the Text/Comments tab. Transcribe every
word – you never know what might be important later on.
To add the media, on the Media tab, click on the Add Media button.
Then click on the Add Media button and select the Picture option.
Navigate to and click on the file name.
And click Open.

I will select the second option to leave this file where it is and link to it there.
Type any caption, date, and description (I usually just leave the description blank) and click
OK.
Then click Close. The image now appears in the Media Gallery so click Close.
Finally, click Save. The Source Clipboard is now completely set up so click Save.
Step 3 – Analyze and add the new data, including the census event, share the
event with the other individuals, and source as you go
Usually, the first step of this phase is to create the Census event and then to share the event
with everyone in the household, but because the people in this census record are not already
in Legacy, let’s do that first.
In the Family View, use the Add menu to add the names of each person.
As the 1860 census does not display the relationship of each person to the head of the
household, I’m just estimating the relationships for now. As further research proceeds we
can adjust these if necessary. The only person that does not show up here is Mary Siddens –
it’s really unclear how she fits into the family so for now, I’ve added her as an unlinked
person (Add > Add Unlinked > Add Female). Adding her at this point is necessary so I can
also share the census event with her. And who knows? Maybe she’s a sister (how’s that for a
little foreshadowing?).
Now that the family structure is in Legacy, we can continue.
1) The first step of this phase is to create the Census event. Doing so will begin to develop
John’s chronology – the most valuable tool in the research analysis. In John Sr.’s Individual’s
Information screen, click on the Add button.
Next fill in the Event/Fact, Date, Place, and Notes fields. I copied the notes from the
Text/Comments tab of the Source Clipboard (highlight all the text, right-click, and select
Copy) and pasted (Control-V on your keyboard) into the Notes field. For the sake of adding
clarity in the Chronology View, I also added numbers at the beginning of each person’s
entry, added a blank space at the top, and replaced the semi-colons with periods. I
know…lots of little things, and to be honest, you do not need to follow what I suggest with
exactness. These are just the little formatting issues that I’ve come to enjoy over the years.
We’ll look at the results in a bit.
2) Paste the source from the clipboard.

3) Add the digital image to the event by clicking on the Picture icon, the Add Media button,
the picture option, browse to and locate the image, click OK, add the caption and date, click
Close and click Close. Its thumbnail now appears in the lower right of the Event screen.
4) Share the event with the others in the household. Click on the Share Event button. Click
on the “Add one or more people…” button and select the first option.
Next, select the other individuals by clicking in the checkbox to the left of their name:
Now click the Select button. The list of individuals who now also share this event with John
is shown in the list with the role of Household Member. Great!
Click Close then click Save. Let’s see what happened now.
John’s events section now includes the new census event. Notice the tiny Shared Event
icon? When you hover the cursor over it, it shows the number of people that also share this
event.
If we look at the others, this event will show up in their Events/Facts section too, but with
the little blue arrow at the beginning of the Event name which designates that this is an
event being shared, originating with someone else. Here is Ellen’s updated screen:
And here is John Jr’s (my hopeful John/Edward) updated Chronology View.
It will look a lot more filled in once we continue with the analysis and additional data entry
of the information contained in the census record. Now that the census event has been
created, cited, and shared, let’s do just that.
We first learn that John Sr.’s name is John Williams. So, we must tell Legacy where we found
this information. Just click in either the given or the surname field, and then paste the source
from the clipboard.
Did you notice that the Given and Surname labels turned red? This is your visual indication
that these fields have a citation linked to them. Clicking on the Source icon clearly shows
that now we have added a citation to both the name and the census fields.
Remember, for every piece of new information you add, paste the source from the
clipboard. Have I said that enough yet? You will thank me later. I know you will because I’ve
literally received hundreds of emails from readers of Unlocked 1! expressing their thanks for
Legacy’s sourcing system. Although I never think you can have enough encouragement
about sourcing, I’m going to cool it down now a little and expect that you will remember.
Next, the census gave John Sr.’s age as 45, so let’s pull out the date calculator by clicking on
the calendar icon.
Enter the census year in the “Second Date” field, the age in the “Years” field, and click
Calculate.
Clicking “Select” will add the “Cal 1815” date to John’s birth date field. Then paste the
source from the clipboard.
It also gave us the occupation of Coppersmith. I like to add this to an event called
“Occupation” by clicking on the Add button in the Events section.
I’ve added the occupation to the event’s notes, but you could also type it into the
Description field which would give this as the event’s sentence which looks nice:
He worked as a Coppersmith on 11 Jun 1860 in Brooklyn, Kings, New York, United

States.
Next, seeing that John only has personal property (no real estate) suggests that I probably
would not find him in the land/deed records, and that he is likely renting his home. If there
were a number in the real estate column, I would immediately add a new To Do item to
search for these records.
Next, the census gives the place of his birth as Wales, so let’s add that to the birth place
field.
Finally, John’s death date was inferred so let’s add that to his death date field. Since John was
alive to be recorded in this census, we know that he died after the date of the census. You
might need to read the specific enumerator instructions to learn which date you should
record, but I’ll usually just enter the date that is listed on the top of the page. In this case,
I’ve entered John Sr.’s death date as:
aft 11 Jun 1860
This will serve as a reminder that he was alive as of this date, so if I discover a collection of
death records, I shouldn’t ever need to look before this date for this person. This helps us
differentiate our ancestor from another of the same name. Update this date each time you
learn that he was alive on a later date.
Here’s John Sr.’s updated Chronology View:

Immediately after I add new information for an ancestor, I quickly turn to their Chronology
View to see the changes. I make sure that things still make sense. For example, suppose I
accidentally entered Brooklyn, Minnesota instead of Brooklyn, New York as a new place. If
I’ve got a whole bunch of New York places in the chronology, and all of a sudden I’ve got a
Minnesota place, the mistake might stand out a little better. I will also click on the “Map
Family” button in the My Toolbar tab to make sure that the places make sense there too:
So far so good.
Next I will carefully study and do the data entry (including pasting the source from the
clipboard…) for the remaining individuals in the household.
Here’s the updated family view…

And here’s John Sr.’s updated chronology view…
Now that this 1860 census has been located, analyzed, and data-entered, it’s time for the
moment of truth. Remember, I’m hoping that the John Jr. in this record is my John Jr. – the
guy who was born in Brooklyn, fought in the Civil War, and afterwards made his way to
Minnesota where he married, had children, and died. It’s time to compare this John to my
John.
As you learned in the preface, this comparison can be done by creating a side-by-side
comparison chart using either Word, Excel, or Legacy’s Chronology Comparison Report.
Because my Legacy family file has the information for both my John Williams Jr. and the
possible John Williams Jr., it is easiest to use the Chronology Comparison Report to compare.
This report is accessible two different ways:
1. Chronology View > Options button (lower right) > Compare Two People
2. Reports tab > Other Reports > Chronology Comparison Report
Because we will use this report so often, I’m going to add it to my Quick Access toolbar that
is always visible in the far upper left of the screen. Doing so, I won’t have to remember how
to find it with the instructions above – its shortcut will always available with just one click.
Here’s how to add this.
In the far upper right of Legacy, go to Design > Toolbars > Quick Access Toolbar.
Locate the Chron Compare button, drag it, and drop it in the Quick Access Toolbar part of
this screen.
Then click OK. The shortcut is now always visible in the far upper left.
On the Chronology Comparison screen, using the “Select Left Person” and “Select Right
Person” buttons, select the two individuals that you want to compare.
Then click the Preview button.
Here, the John on the left is my John. The one on the right is the possible John. The main
purpose of this report is to help us determine if the two are the same. The key factor in this
decision is this – usually a person was not living in two different places at the same time. The
moment we see that they are is the moment that we should begin to believe that the two
candidates may not be the same person.
For example, we just located the possible John in the 1860 census in Brooklyn, New York.
This is shown in the table on the right. If the table on the left shows a different place for his
1860 residence, then this comparison chart infers that the two might not be the same. In this
case, the left side does not have anything, including an 1860 census entry, and the right side
does have this. This is good news! So far, the two timelines are consistent and complimentary.
They do not contradict each other.
The colors also serve to help with the analysis.
Most of the time we hope to only see yellow. Yellow would indicate that either the data we
are comparing is not exactly the same, or more importantly, the data is only available on one
side. We don’t want to have an 1865 Minnesota residence on the left and an 1865 New York
residence on the right. If that were the case, the corresponding events would probably turn
red, suggesting they simply are not compatible – the same John can’t be living in both places
at the same time. Yet, in this example, the births are red, but a careful analysis of John’s birth
events on the left show that he has a date range of 1840-1856 for his birth, so the color red,
in this case, is not alarming.
We’re going to view this Chronology Comparison report after each new event we type in.
This will help us determine whether the two Johns are the same person.
So far, so good.
Step 4 – Close/complete the To Do item
Before moving on, let’s get some closure on this 1860 census. Edit the To Do item we
created in Step 1, and on the Results tab summarize what we have learned. This won’t really
take the place of the detailed analysis in my genealogy journal, but will serve as a quickly
accessible reminder of what we have accomplished. After clicking on the “Closed” option,
the date will automatically populate the “Close Date” field.

If I don’t do this step now, the next time I have time to return to my research, I won’t
remember what should come next. What I’d like to do is continue to follow this possible
family in the census records, starting next with the 1870 census in Brooklyn. It’s just ten
years later, but so much has happened in the country during that time that I’m really not sure
what to expect. And remember, there’s the theory that John was orphaned, so these parents
(John and Ellen) may no longer be around, or maybe they were the adopted parents. And
according to my John’s chronology view, he had migrated to Minnesota sometime in 1870.

We will never know until we continue the search. And isn’t that what makes genealogy so
exciting?!?!
This time I’m going to add the To Do item to the possible John Williams Sr.
Step 6 – File the paper document, if applicable.

Done. That was fast.
1870, 1875, 1880, 1892 censuses (and some killer Legacy tips too!)
Steps 1 through 6, above, will work for any census record. Follow these procedures enough
times and you’ll find yourself not having to come back to this book as often. To spare you
reading through the same procedures for the 1870, 1875, 1880, and 1892 censuses, I’m going
to do the data entry and documentation on my own, but I’ll be sure to include the main
highlights, and especially the updated Chronology Comparison charts below.
1870 Census
1870 U.S. census, Kings County, New York, population schedule, Brooklyn, ward 21, p. 374A, dwelling 1100, family 2202,
John Williams household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 Feb 2016); citing National
Well…John Jr. was still living at home, which is fine for now. It’d better be the very last time
I find him in any census record in New York though. According to the 1905 Minnesota state
census, taken in April 1870, my John had been a resident of Minnesota for 35 years and 2
months. That would calculate his immigration into Minnesota in the month of February
1870. Because this information was recorded some 35 years after the fact, I am not too
concerned that the possible John showed up in Brooklyn, New York in the 1870 census.
After all, he was not listed in the Minnesota census of 1870.
In addition to a new “Alt. Birth” event I added for a few of the household members, I also
changed each family member’s death date to “after 8 Aug 1870”. Here’s a shortcut you’ll
enjoy:
Instead of manually typing “after 8 Aug 1870” each time, I simply clicked once on the
“Died” label:
I then received this message:
Clicking Yes replaces the contents of the death date field with the death date I entered for
the previous person. This would also work well if you need to repeat the last place you
entered. Just click on the “in” label next to the place field and it will replace the existing field.
While I’m in the tip-giving mood, here’s another one you’ll like. Instead of left-clicking on
the “in” label, try right-clicking on it. This will pull up the last ten locations you’ve entered.
Just click on the one you want and you’re done. Looking at the list below, I have no idea
what “Mother” means. Maybe I was playing around…
Another cool thing I noticed in the Family View was the new Potential Problem symbol next
to James’ name.
Hovering over this red warning symbol gives me this warning.

I had not noticed until now that there really was a five year gap between the births of John
and James. I’ll now be on the lookout for a potential death of a young child or two. Thank
goodness I use Legacy Family Tree software!
OK, now for the Chronology Comparison test. Will it continue to suggest that my John and
this John could be the same person?
It does start to add a little bit of cloudiness here as my John is shown to be in Minnesota in
April, and the possible John was still in New York in August. But remember my explanation
above that the migration date could have been off a little. This is not enough to convince me
to discontinue the research on this possible John Williams family.
Let’s keep following this family! My ultimate hope is that by following this Williams family
from Brooklyn that it will lead me to some record that will link this family to the John
Williams Jr. family of Brooklyn, Minnesota.
Next, I will search the 1875 Brooklyn, New York census and hope and pray that John Jr. is
not there, AND I will start thinking about finding John Sr.’s death record. Maybe it will give
a clue as to where each of his children ended up. Maybe his obituary or probate will state
“…and his son, John Williams Jr., of Brooklyn, Minnesota…”. I stay awake at night thinking
about these possibilities. Really! What will the record say when I eventually find it? I’m sure
you’ve been there too!
1875 Census
This is the big one! If John Jr. is living with this family in Brooklyn, New York in 1875, then
our whole case is shattered, for in 1875, just one month after he was married in Minneapolis,
Minnesota, he was enumerated with his wife in Brooklyn, Minnesota.
1875 State Census, Kings County, New York, population schedule, Brooklyn, p. 31, dwelling 181, family 293, line 20, John Williams
household; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 1 Feb 2016);
citing p. 31, line 21, State Library, Albany; FHL microfilm 1,930,223.
Hallelujah! No John Jr. in the house! We can continue with this family.
I learned two other key bits of information from this census. Further to the right (not shown
above) in column 17 it indicates that John Sr. was naturalized. Although I don’t have the
date of his naturalization, now I know to not look after this date for naturalization records.
Well, I’ll remember that if I add this to a new Naturalization event. Here’s what John Sr.’s
Event/Fact section looks like now:
Hopefully these little analysis items give you a few ideas you can apply to your own research
and analysis….
The other interesting piece of information was Mary Sedden’s relationship. I think her
relationship is listed as the Aunt to John Sr., although she is 19 years younger than John.
Combining this relationship with the fact that she is listed as being single suggests that
John’s mother’s maiden name could be Sedden, Sidney, or Siddens (the three ways it’s been
listed in the census records so far). Let’s go add that to John Sr.’s Research Notes lest we
forget:
Let’s take a look at the updated comparison chart. Wait, nothing was updated in the chart.
Since the possible John Jr. was not at home in Brooklyn, New York we did not add anything
for him for this census. Notice how the two sides compare now. The left shows him in the
1875 census, the right does not. This is perfect if we believe these two to be the same!
1880 Census
Let’s keep trying to locate this family in every possible census record, beginning next with
the 1880 census. Again, we’ll hope that John Jr. is not in Brooklyn, New York since I’ve
already found him living in Brooklyn, Minnesota, this time with his wife and three young
children.
1880 U.S. census, Kings County, New York, population schedule, Brooklyn, enumeration district (ED) 213, p. 403D,
dwelling 101, family 158, John Williams household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 2 Feb
2016); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T9, roll 854.
The entire family is still together, minus John Jr.
As a reminder, for each of these census records, I’m following these same steps (although
I’m really only explaining a little about step 3 in these subsequent records):

3. Analyze and add the new data, including the census event, share the event with the
other individuals, and source as you go
For the first time in a census record, in this 1880 census, we have an address (cut off in the
image above, but on the left side of the page in the original). They were living at 231
Walworth Street in Brooklyn. I did a quick Google Earth and saw that their home was now a
slab of concrete in between other apartment buildings. I added this address to the new
census event at the top. This is how this event appears in John Sr.’s Chronology View.
In addition to updating everyone’s death date to “after 4 Jun 1880” I also noticed Mary
Sedden, still with the family, had the relationship of “sister-in-law”. Compared to what we
found in the 1875 census, this relationship makes much more sense than the previous “aunt”
relationship. And isn’t that another great thing about genealogy? The more we learn the
closer to the truth we get. I’m now going to update John Sr.’s Research Notes to indicate
that it’s likely his wife and father-in-law that have the surname of Siddens/Sedden/Sidney.
And there’s nothing new to see in the Chronology Comparison chart between my John Jr.
and the possible John Jr. so let’s move on.
This is where it starts to get really exciting!
1892 and 1900 censuses
1892 state census, Kings County, New York, population schedule, Brooklyn, p. 13, line 17, John Williams household; digital
images, Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 2 Feb 2016); citing citing Brooklyn, Ward 23, E.D. 16,
county offices, New York; FHL microfilm 1,930,242.
Beginning with the 1892 state census, the family begins to get smaller and smaller. First, in
1892, both Ellen and Mary are missing. And from what I saw (or didn’t see) in the 1900
census, John Sr. was missing. While Ellen and her probable sister could have moved out, the
more likely scenario is that sometime between 1880 and 1892 they had reached the end of
their mortal life. Similarly for John Sr. – sometime between 1892 and 1900 he passed on.
Here’s how to properly/officially record a “between” date:
Isn’t it wonderful that we’ve been updating this death date field each time we found the
person alive? Now we’ve narrowed down Ellen’s death to a 12-year period. Of all the Ellen
Williams who died in New York, there were only a handful of Ellen Williams in the database
at italiangen.org/records-search/deaths.php, and just one whose age made sense:
There was also a good match in the “New York, New York, Death Index, 1862-1948”
database at Ancestry.com:
E Williams, born abt 1819, died 27 Apr 1891, death place: Kings
So I’ll add the task of “request death record” to Ellen’s To Do List.

And here’s what John Sr.’s updated Family View looks like:
Can you imagine if I tried to find John Sr.’s death record without having done all of this
previous research? A quick search of the name of John Williams at FamilySearch just now
gave me 4,030,823 hits. But since we’ve taken the time to flesh out his timeline, we only need
to search in one place for an 8-year period. And I hope, hope, hope that his death record, his
will, or whatever I will find, will have this statement somewhere about his son:
“John Williams Jr., of Brooklyn, Minnesota”
If so…case closed. I have the right family.

113
Chapter 4 – Adding Estate/Probate

Records
OK. This is it. This is where I will find evidence linking John Jr. of Brooklyn, New York to
John Jr. of Brooklyn, Minnesota. I’ve dreamt about what I would find. Well, maybe not
dreamt about it, but I’ve thought about it long and hard and have anticipated finally getting
to this point. I’m so close!
Searching for John Sr.’s will seems to be the next best step. Remember, in the census records
he was listed as having a large value of both real and personal estate. That estate had to be
passed on somehow – either in a will or in an intestate case (no will). So I’m very hopeful
that we will find him, and that when we do, the records will somehow tie my John (living in
Minnesota between 1892 and 1900) to this possible family.
I’m even more hopeful that locating these probate papers will be simple because of the
recent addition of the “Kings County Estate File, 1866-1923” database at FamilySearch. Not
only are the 1,610,840 images online, but they are also indexed!
Oops, I’d better slow down here. I’m getting a little excited. I’d better list the outline of the
steps that we will take when planning, looking for, analyzing, and recording the results from
probate records.
Summary of Steps

Step 1 – Create the To Do item and perform the research.

Here’s the To Do item I created.
Creating the To Do item at the beginning is helpful to 1) keep me on task and 2) to remind
me of what I was thinking, and why the task was important in case I have to leave my
research behind for a period of time. Now let’s perform the research.
At FamilySearch.org, go to Search > Records.

Chapter 4 ⟡ Adding Estate/Probate Records 115
Look for the “Browse all published collections” link and give it a click.
In the Filter box, type the location of the place you are searching.
Here’s the collection:
Next, enter the search criteria. Be sure to not restrict your results too much by filling in every
possible field. Here, I searched for all John Williams who would have died between 1892 and
1900.
Of the eight results, the first two looked most promising:

I’m going to start with the second entry first (to provide a little more anticipation).
This packet contained 21 documents, including the will of a John Williams. Here are the
main points and relationships.
 Name of deceased: John Williams

 Wife of deceased: Mary Ann Williams
 Date of death: December 16, 1893
 Residence at death: 224 Park Place, Brooklyn, NY
 Heirs/next of kin: Margaret Bolten (daughter), Valentine Williams (son), Elizabeth
Smith (daughter), Gertrude Mann (daughter)
So far it’s not looking like the same family we’ve been researching, is it?
If you didn’t guess it already, the first entry does look pretty good.
Here are the main points and relationships:
 Name of deceased: John Williams

 Wife of deceased: not stated
 Date of death: December 16, 1893
 Residence at death: 226 Macon Street, Brooklyn
 Heirs/next of kin: Richard T. Williams (son), John O. Williams (son), James P.
Williams (son), Elizabeth E. Williams (daughter)
So it’s definitely the right John Williams Sr. AND it includes a very important clue about
John Jr. This is the very first time that we’ve seen a clue to this John Jr.’s middle name –
“O”. But before we get to that, take a look at the irony by comparing the information from
the two probate packets side-by-side.
John Williams (1st link) John Williams (2nd link)

Name of deceased: John Williams John Williams
Wife of deceased: Mary Ann Williams
Date of death: December 16, 1893 December 16, 1893
Residence at death: 226 Macon Street, Brooklyn 224 Park Place, Brooklyn
Heirs/next of kin: Richard T., John O., James Margaret, Valentine,
P., Elizabeth E. Elizabeth, Gertrude
And if these two identical death dates weren’t enough irony for you, check this out:
John Williams (1st link) John Williams (2nd link)

Age at death: 83 82
Almost unbelievable, isn’t it? How easy it would be to mix the two. Good thing we’re being
thorough and careful in our research and analysis.
Regardless of these similarities, I’m really hoping now that as we study the packet’s seven
pages, we will find something that states “John O. Williams, of Minnesota”. If we do, case
closed.
Have I provided enough build-up? Are you ready for this? OK. Here’s everything it had on
John O. Williams:
No residence listed for him. We only know that on January 4, 1894, he was in town for the
proceedings. So no case-solving smoking guns yet. But what we have learned is very
important to the case, so let’s continue with the data entry phrase of our research.

1. In John Williams, Sr.’s Individual’s Information screen, click on the blue triangle
cite.” link.
3. If the probate record’s master source is already in the list, scroll and select it. If not, click
on the Add button to add the new Master Source.
4. Select the type of source from the list (Probate records), answer the questions,
With the fields filled in, click on the Save button in the upper right.
Here’s what it looks like all filled in:
Next, the transcription of the papers goes on the Text/Comments tab. I know I said before
to transcribe every word, because you never know what might be important later on. You
should still do this, but for right now, I’m going to bypass it for the sole reason that my
airplane is leaving for RootsTech in a few hours. I’ll come back later and do this.
Then click on the Add Media button and select the Picture option.
Navigate to the first file (I downloaded each page as a separate image).
And click Open.

I will select the second option to leave this file where it is and link to it there.
OK.
Then click Close. The first of the seven images now appears in the Media Gallery. Repeat
the above steps to add all seven pages. Here’s what it looks like completed:
The really great thing above doing all of this up-front leg work is that every time you click on
the Source Clipboard’s Paste button, all images will be attached to the citation for each
event. This makes it really easy to locate and review the documents in the future. Finally,
click Close, and then Save. The Source Clipboard is now completely set up.
First we learn of Richard’s most accurate name and that he was living at 226 Macon Street.
Let’s open Richard’s Alternate Names screen, click on the Source Clipboard’s Paste button,
and then click on the “Swap Alternate Name with Main Name” button.
The middle initial of “T” that we discovered in the 1860, 1870, and 1875 census records has
now been verified in this probate packet. Clicking on this Swap button exchanges this AKA
name with the main name. It also swaps all of the citations too. Great! We’re getting closer
to the “truth” of Richard’s full name now.
To record his address as of the date of the probate proceedings, let’s create a new
“Residence” event as shown below.
The little red warning symbol that appears to the right of the Residence Date is an indicator
that this date is “out of range”. Looking at Richard’s death date of “aft 16 Feb 1892”
explains the reason for the symbol. So now that we know he was alive as of 10 Jan 1894, we
can now update his death date to “aft 10 Jan 1894”.
Great! No warning symbol anymore.
I’m also going to create a “Father’s Estate” event so that I will always remember that as of
10 Jan 1894, Richard was involved in the estate proceedings. This will serve as another
reminder that he was in Brooklyn, New York on this date.
His events list is coming along quite nicely. Remember, it is this list of events that builds the
person’s Chronology View, which in turn suggests to the researcher where to look for
records to document their life.
Next we learn of the all-important death date of John Williams, Sr. Important because now
we’ll be able to search for a death certificate, an obituary, and anything else that might tell us
about his family.
Here, I’ve now updated his death date and place, and pasted the source from the clipboard.
It’s so fun to confidently record information like this! In fact, if we click on the blue Source
icon, we can now see that there are six sources for John’s death event. The first five
suggested that he died “after” a certain date, and finally the last source gave the good
evidence. How many sources does it take to prove a fact? There is no number, but rather the
good analysis and correlation of a number of different sources work together to form a
conclusion.
The next page gave information about John Sr.’s children, and for the first time, we have a
middle initial for John Jr.
I’ve gone ahead and pasted the citation to each of the children’s names, as well as added the
“O” to John’s.
Each remaining child can also now have their death date updated to “after 10 Jan 1894”.
Next, do you remember John O. Williams’ document that did not say anything about him
being or not being in Minnesota?
This shows that as of the 4th of January, 1894 he was at the very least a part of the probate
proceedings in Kings County, New York, so let’s add a new event to his timeline. This is big,
because now we have something new for the Chronology Comparison chart. Let’s take a
look. (As a reminder, MY John Williams, Jr. is shown on the left, and this possible John
Williams Jr. is shown on the right.)
Remember that the purpose of this report is to help us determine if there are any
catastrophic conflicts, like, is the person on the left living in a different place than the person
on the right at the exact same time? If they are, then we can probably lean towards the
conclusion that they cannot be the same person. Looking at this chart, we start to see a
conflict between the two. In January 1894, the possible John Jr. is in Kings County, New
York, while the known John Jr. on the left is in Benton County, Minnesota on both sides of
this year. Still, though, I’m not ready to give up on this possibility because John may have
heard of his father’s death and came to New York to be part of the proceedings. This
conflict in the comparison chart could be easily explained by a brief visit to New York.
We’re going to have to find another document because this one does not clearly prove or
disprove our hypothesis.
Finally, and maybe I should have done this very first, I’m going to add the “Estate” event to
John Sr.’s Events/Facts section.
At the very least, this serves as a visual reminder to me that I found John’s estate records.

Here you go:

If I determine that this family is indeed my family, I will do step 6. For now, the digital
images of these records will suffice.
139
Chapter 5 – Adding an Obituary

Obituaries are one of my favorite genealogical sources. Whenever possible I try to obtain
one, even if I already have all of the genealogical information. They help me learn more
about the ancestor. Sometimes I get lucky and discover their photograph too. In this case, I
am hoping that John Williams, Sr.’s obituary will list his survivors and their residences. Will it
say, “and his son, John O. Williams, of Benton County, Minnesota”????
Summary of Steps

3. Analyze and add the new data, creating the custom “obituary” event, and sourcing as
you go

We created the To Do item in step 5 of the probate section so we are ready to perform the
research.
When I think of obituaries in America I first think of GenealogyBank.com. This

subscription-based site is always growing with content and is very simple to use. Searching
for “John Williams” returned 477,501 results, 24,325 of those in New York newspapers. Yet
this time it didn’t work out for it does not appear that they have either the New York Times or
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle in their collection.
The next site to check on my newspaper checklist is Chronicling America at

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, a part of the Library of Congress. There, newspapers
from across the country between the years 1836-1922 have been digitized, indexed, and are
free of charge. But once again, neither newspaper was part of their online holdings.
Next up was Google, which led me to the site of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle at
https://bklyn.newspapers.com. Here, I was able to narrow the scope to just search
December 1893 for all John Williams. Since John Sr. died on the 16th I started then, and
found a John Williams who died on this day:
WILLIAMS – This morning, December 16, 1893, at 1:20 A.M., JOHN WILLIAMS
of Park place, aged, 83 years.
Thanks to our previous estate records research, I knew that this John could not be mine, for
mine resided at 226 Macon St. It could have been so easy – automatic even – to accept this
entry as my John’s. This is reason number 1,235,431 to conduct a reasonably exhaustive
search.
My John Sr’s (I mean…my possible John Sr’s) death notice was published the next day, on
December 17, 1893, on page 7:
WILLIAMS – On Saturday evening, December 16, at his residence, 226 Macon st,
JOHN WILLIAMS, aged 80 years.
Notice of funeral hereafter.
So…the death notice didn’t tell us about his survivors, but death notices rarely do. As the
notice infers, more information was to come. So here’s your next expert hint – always hunt
for additional articles about the person’s death. There will often be 1) a death notice, 2) a
funeral notice, and 3) an obituary to look for.
More was listed in the December 18 edition:
WILLIAMS – On Saturday, December 16, 1893, JOHN WILLIAMS, aged 80 years.
Funeral from his late residence, 226 Macon st, Brooklyn, on Tuesday, the 19th inst., at
11 o’clock A.M.
Now we knew when the funeral was, but still no mention of survivors. And a further search
of the days following turned up nothing more. That’s okay, we’ll continue our search for
them later, but first we need to add the obituary information to Legacy. Here’s how:
Chapter 5 ⟡ Adding an Obituary 141

As in previous chapters, now that we have the document, it is time to set up the
source clipboard.
1. In the Individual’s Information screen, click on the blue triangle.
2. On the Source Clipboard screen, click on the “Click here to select the master
source to cite.” link.
3. If this specific newspaper title is already in the list, scroll and select it. If not, click on the
4. Select the type of source from the list (Newspapers), answer the questions,

Notice that I did not type anything into the Location City field. Its suggestion (the light gray
text in the field) stated, “Type the city or lowest jurisdiction if it’s not a part of the title.” Since
“Brooklyn” is part of the title, I left this field blank. Otherwise, there would be unnecessary
duplication in the resulting citation.
Hint: sometimes the field’s suggestion is longer than can be displayed. To view the entire
suggestion, hover your cursor over the field’s label and the entire suggestion will be
displayed in the yellow tool-tip:
With all the fields filled in, click on the Save button in the upper right. The new Master
Source appears highlighted in the Master Source List.
6. Click on the Select button and fill in the fields for the Detail information,
With an obituary, there is often no indication of who the author of the article was, so just
leave those fields blank. I also left the “Collection” field blank because on the website it
appeared that the newspaper was part of the collection which was just the website, which
I’ve already entered. If you are not able to fill in a field because you cannot determine exactly
what belongs, do not let that stop you from citing your sources. Anything is better than
nothing!
Text/Comments tab:
And the Media tab:
Then click on the Add Media button and select the Document option. The Document
option is the right option to attach files such as .pdfs.
Navigate to the file.
And click Open.
Once again, I will select the second option to leave this file where it is and link to it there.
Click OK.
OK.
The PDF now appears in the Media Gallery so click Close.
Finally, click Save. The Source Clipboard is now completely set up (I know…takes a bit of
time to do it all correctly, but by now you can see how it saves you lots of time later) so click
Save.
Step 3 – Analyze and add the new data, creating the custom “obituary” event,
and sourcing as you go
Great! Now for the fun part…
WILLIAMS – On Saturday evening, December 16, at his residence, 226 Macon st,
JOHN WILLIAMS, aged 80 years.
Notice of funeral hereafter.
The very first thing I do with an obituary is create the Obituary event. Although not
technically an “event”, it helps me easily visualize if an ancestor has an obituary or not. More
on this later.
In the Individual’s Information screen, click on the Add button:
Then fill in the information as follows:

Notice that I have added the transcription of the obituary to the event’s notes, even though I
already added it to the Text area of the Source Detail. So…it is available in both places
which means a little inconvenience right now (a little extra work – copying and pasting) but
it could prove to be helpful later on. Later, in a book, I may opt to include my citations (with
the transcription) but not the person’s events. Since the text is in both places, there’s nothing
else I would need to do to make this happen. Or, I may choose to include events AND
sources in a GEDCOM I send to someone else. If they are not accustomed to digging
through the citations to location the transcriptions, but they are used to looking at an event
with its accompanying notes, it will be easier for them then. In summary, I do not mind
having the information in both places.
Next, click on the clipboard’s paste button to add the citation to the event. Doing so
changed the event’s labels to red, meaning that the event has a source linked to it. The
Source icon is also colored – another indication that the event has a source.
Finally, add the picture to the event using the same steps we used to add the picture to the
source clipboard described earlier. Once again, the picture will be linked to both the source
and to the event for the same reasons – convenience later on. Now both the Source and the
Media icon are colored:
Click the Save button and the new event appears in the Events/Facts section, automatically
sorted to the correct position.
Since the death notice is very brief, there won’t be much to the analysis phase of this third
step, but let’s take it phrase by phrase.
Phrase 1: On Saturday evening, December 16
This confirms when John died. To add its citation, first click in the death date field and then
click on the Source Clipboard’s Paste button. Clicking on his Source icon, we can see the list
of citations for his death event growing.
Whenever you want to quickly see what data was contained within the source, just click on
the Text/Comments tab below and here you have the access to the complete transcription.
Phrase 2: at his residence, 226 Macon st
This phrase confirms where he died (we already added this citation to the death field) but it
also gave us his residence. To be sure we remember where he was living in December 1893,
let’s create a new residence event by clicking on the Add button in the Events/Facts section:
I love it! The closer we get to knowing where the person was living each year of their life the
more likely we will find the additional records we seek.
Phrase 3: JOHN WILLIAMS
The obituary gave evidence of John’s name, so let’s click in either the Given or the Surname
field and paste the source from the clipboard. We now have at least six sources where we
located evidence of his name:
Phrase 4: aged 80 years
Finally, the death notice said that he was 80 years old, which conflicts a bit with the other
birth years we’ve previously recorded (1814, 1815, or 1816). Using Legacy’s Date Calculator,
according to his obituary, he may have been born around 1813. Let’s add a new “Alt. Birth”
event to record this. Hopefully we’ll eventually learn of his exact birth date. We when do, we
can change the inaccurate “Alt. Birth” events to instead read “Disproven Birth”.
Here’s John Sr.’s updated Individual’s Information screen:
And here’s the lower half of his updated Chronology View:

Now that we’ve concluded analyzing and doing the data entry for this death notice, we
should do the same thing for the funeral notice found in the December 18 edition of The
Brooklyn Daily Eagle. I’m going to forgo that for now, but the exact same steps would apply.
Once you understand the steps and the reasons behind the steps you can apply these
techniques to nearly any document you encounter.

Done….:) Not much else to be said here. I opened John’s To Do List, located the “Search
for Obituary” task that I previously entered, added some notes to the Results tab, and
changed its status to Closed.

I’ve found John Sr.’s estate papers and death notice, yet still do not know of the residences
of his children at the time of his death. Maybe there would be clues in John’s cemetery
records. But first we’d need to know where John was buried. Let’s go after his death
certificate next.
Isn’t the To Do List great? Now that I’ve recorded my thought process and my next steps, I
can go on vacation AND remember what I was doing when I return home.

Filed. That was easy.
If you didn’t read about this step in the previous chapters, you should. Now. Filed behind
tab #9069.
159
Chapter 6 – Adding a Death Certificate

Finding John Williams Sr.’s death certificate was the next big step in this case. Even though I
already knew when and where he died, I hoped to learn where he was buried so I could next
go after any possible cemetery records. You never know what you will find in cemetery
records – if you find any at all.
Summary of Steps

3. Analyze and add the new data, sourcing as you go
4. Add the digital image to the death event

Since we created the To Do item in the last step of the previous chapter, let’s get on with the
fun stuff. I first consulted www.deathindexes.com to learn if there were any Brooklyn death
indexes or records online. It once again pointed me to the Italian Genealogical Group’s
index at www.italiangen.org. Here I searched for:
- John Williams
- Died in Kings
- Between 1893 and 1893
and found these hits:
Last Name Given Name Age Date Year CertNbr Town/County

Williams John 49 y Apr 2 1893 5551 Kings
Williams John 8m Jul 14 1893 11619 Kings
Williams John 82 y Dec 16 1893 20155 Kings
Williams John 83 y Dec 16 1893 20239 Kings
Calculating the birth years from the age we get:
- 1844
- 1892
- 1811
- 1810
While all of these birth years fall out of the range of what we’ve learned (between 1813-
1816) the last two were close enough AND they matched the December 16 death dates
we’ve previously found for the two Johns who both died on the same day. I’m certain one of
the last two is our guy.
Scouring the Internet and learning that the actual images of the death records are not yet
online, I next turned to the holdings of the Family History Library by using its catalog at
https://familysearch.org/catalog/search.
Chapter 6 ⟡ Adding a Death Certificate 161
Thankfully these certificates were on microfilm.
Certificates 20155 and 20239 would be found on film #1323911.
Unfortunately, the icons on the right of this entry did not yet include the coveted camera
icon:
This icon would indicate that the actual images are online at FamilySearch. In lieu of that,
I’m happy that my sister still lives near Salt Lake City, knows how to retrieve a microfilm reel
from the cabinets, and has a good digital camera. She quickly found and snapped a picture of
both certificates. Number 20239 was our guy. How do we know? It listed 226 Macon St as
the address.
Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, (Municipal Archives, New York City), death certificate no. 20239 (1893), John Williams;
FHL Film 1323911.
In fact, the only reason we know for sure that this death certificate is for the John Williams
we have been researching is because of the address which we first obtained by locating the
estate records (which had his children listed) which led to his death notice, which led to this
certificate.
And how’s this for a cool little chart? I used Legacy’s Charting to create it. Legacy’s not just
for genealogy anymore. 

Hopefully by now you’ve got the hang of this process. Yet, to reinforce what
you’ve learned, I’ll continue to add the exact step-by-step instructions below – this
time for a death certificate.
1. In the Individual’s Information screen, click on the blue triangle.
button to add the new Master Source.
4. Select the type of source from the list (Death records), answer the questions,

With all the appropriate fields filled in, click on the Save button in the upper right. The new
Master Source appears highlighted in the Master Source List.
Text/Comments tab:
Media tab:
When you are finished setting up the Source Clipboard, click the Save button in the upper
right. You will be taken to the Individual’s Information screen where you can begin adding
and documenting the new information.

This death certificate – both sides – is jam-packed with good information – much that we
already knew, and some, including the name of the cemetery, that was new. To not drag this
out too long, I’ll first mention that for every piece of information that we already knew
about, I clicked in its corresponding field in Legacy and pasted the source from the
clipboard.
I did create another Alt. Birth event – this time for the year “abt 1810”. So now this John Sr.
was born sometime between 1810 and 1816 in Wales.
Line five showed that John was a widower, meaning that Ellen died sometime before 16 Dec
1893. Looking at her data entry screen, I already had her date of death as between 4 Jun
1880 and 16 Feb 1892, so there was no need to update this.
I entered both causes of death on the Medical tab of John’s Notes.
You’ll then notice that this cause of death is now visible in the Family View.
I sure am glad that my sister scrolled to the next image of the microfilm where she snapped a
digital photo of the back side of the certificate.
Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, (Municipal Archives, New York City), death certificate no. 20239 (1893), John Williams;
FHL Film 1323911.
Line number 17 showed that John was buried in Greenwood Cemetery and line 18 showed
he was buried on December 19, 1893.
In Legacy I entered the date and the geographical location in the burial fields, and pasted the
source from the clipboard.
Then I clicked on the Plus sign on the right, and selected the Burial Address option.
Before typing in the cemetery’s name, I clicked on the Address List button in the upper right
to see if I’ve previously added this cemetery to the Master Event Address list. I had, so I
clicked on it and it showed me a nice map of the area.
But look at what happened when I clicked on the Bird’s eye link:
This appears to be a gigantic cemetery – one that I’d love to go visit. Well, let’s click on the
Select button and then the Save button. The burial Plus sign is now blue, indicating that
there’s something there and the Burial Address option now has a checkmark next to it.
If you ever want a list of everyone buried in a cemetery go back to the Master Event Address
List, click on the Cemetery name, and click on the Show List button. Invaluable for your
research!
Step 4 - Add the digital image to the death event

We have previously added the digital images of the death certificate to the Media section of
the Source Detail. This makes it convenient to review the digital image when working with
John’s sources. I also prefer to add the same picture to the death event so it will easily appear
in John’s gallery. Again, I do a little bit of extra work in the beginning, but later on, it
becomes even more convenient to view his images because I can look in either his Media
Gallery or in his sources area.
With his Individual’s Information screen open, click on the Media button:
Now select the Death field from the drop down list so we can associate the death certificate
with the death event.
Next, click on the Add Media button and select Picture.

I navigated to the C:\Genealogy Photos Pictures\Locations\USA\New York\Kings

County\Brooklyn directory where I previously saved the digital images of the death
certificate. Clicking on the file name shows a preview of the image on the right.
After clicking OK I have the option to fill in the caption, date, and any additional
description.
Finally, clicking the Close button displays John’s Media Gallery:

Now I need to do the same thing for the second image, the back side, of the death
certificate.
Notice that the Media Gallery is currently filtered to show only those images linked to the
death event. To view all of the images in John’s Media Gallery, change from the Death event
to the All Media selection.
His collection is starting to look really good, isn’t it?

In step 1 we created the To Do item. Now that we’ve searched for the death certificate, we
should record our results. Do this whether or not the search was successful. Click on the To
Do icon:
Click once on the appropriate To Do item and then click the Edit button. On the Results
tab, record your results. Then change the status from “open” to “closed”.
Finally, click the Save button.


Now that we have the name of the cemetery, we should look for the possibility of any
cemetery records. It looks like the cemetery has its own website, so I’ll make a note of that in
the To Do item.

Finally, if you printed a paper copy of the death certificate, like I did, it is time to file it away.
Regardless of if this person is related to me or not, I need a place to keep everything
organized. The FileYourPapers.com system that works well with Legacy explains how I
organize my papers. In this case, the death certificate photocopies will be filed behind tab
number 9069.
183
Chapter 7 – Adding Email

Correspondence
If you’ve read this far, I hope that the momentum and anticipation of this story has been
building as you have learned and applied these principles. What I’m about to tell you in this
chapter will not only help you learn how to properly cite your email correspondence, but
we’re almost ready to prove our hypothesis! If the Greenwood Cemetery’s records show that
John Williams Sr.’s son, John, was either not “in town” or was “of Minnesota” then we
know that this family is the same as my John Williams family that I started with. I’m ready to
break down the brick wall!
Summary of Steps

3. Analyze and add the new data, sourcing as you go

Thanks to the last step of our previous research, we don’t have to try to remember where we
left off. Get that yet? 
Greenwood Cemetery’s website is amazing. At www.green-wood.com, their Genealogy

section contains a searchable interment database. They explained that the database is not
complete, and those who were interred in the earliest years of the cemetery may be missing
from it, but they “do have complete records at the cemetery, so please contact us if you need
further assistance.” Wow.
Here’s the search I did:
This returned zero results. Oops – gotta spell the name right. Here’s the second search I did:
Of the thousands that must be in the database, only three were listed in the search results:
The burial date of the first entry matched the death certificate’s burial date, so I’m pretty
certain this is the right guy. The plus sign at the end indicated that there was more
information. Clicking on it showed “Grave: 2”. Hmm…I wonder what this means.
Chapter 7 ⟡ Adding Email Correspondence 185
Looking a bit further down the page was this link:
Click here to learn more about Green-Wood’s genealogy services.
I clicked and learned that there are more than 560,000 burials in Green-wood dating back to
1840. Another – wow! They wrote, “Green-Wood estimates that its genealogical information
relates to over 20 million individuals alive today. That translates to a massive volume of
unique genealogical resources.” And I love this, “It’s why we don’t just call our services
genealogy; we call it “Green-ealogy.” I really like these guys!
The site explains that I should first fill out the form, and then they conduct an initial review
and send me a research proposal for locating the archival cemetery records that relate to my
research. I quickly filled out the form and then eagerly anticipated their reply.
Ten days later – an eternity when waiting for something as potentially exciting as this – I
received the email. Here’s a screenshot of the first part of it.
Did you see what I saw? EXACT BURIAL DATES FOR JOHN SR AND THREE OF
HIS CHILDREN!
I’m not angry as the ALL CAPS would imply. It’s just hard to express the jump-up-and-
down emotions with a keyboard! Besides these dates, there was one more exciting thing:
THERE WAS NO JOHN WILLIAMS, JR.!
Usually we get excited when we find an ancestor. In this case, I’m thrilled beyond belief that
John Jr. was NOT buried with the family. My John Williams Jr. was buried in 1935 in
Minnesota. Had he been buried in lot 23773, the case would be over, and this wouldn’t be
my family.
Since none of the records we’ve looked at provided information about the whereabouts of
John Jr., maybe we could learn about him from the obituaries or death records of his
siblings. Let’s start with the first of the “Williams” entries of the email by going after
Elizabeth E. Williams. But now I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s first get these new burial
dates entered into Legacy, and then make plans to continue the research.

While an email should not usually be considered a reliable, primary source, the
clues I received in this email about the burial dates are definitely worth adding to
and citing in Legacy. Doing so will help us organize and extend our research.
1. In Elizabeth’s Individual’s Information screen, click on the blue triangle.
button to add the new Master Source.
4. Select the type of source from the list (E-mail), answer the questions,
then click on the Go To Step 2 button. Notice that there are two choices in the “How do
you want to group this source?” question. Select the “grouped by correspondent” if you
have lots of back and forth correspondence and wish to have only one source listed in the
Master Source List. Select the “grouped by each individual e-mail” if you may have only one
or two e-mails between each other. Selecting the second option will result in having separate
master sources in the list. Either is okay with me, but in this case I’ve selected the second
option.
All of the fields to fill in for this type of a master source are self-explanatory and don’t
require any further explanation. Notice that the citation that Legacy generated is such that it
will protect the person’s privacy.
It’s important to look closely at what I’ve entered in the “Source List Name” field. This
name is not printed as part of the citation, but rather, helps to identify and sort the source
within your Master Source List. Because I entered “Email” at the beginning of this field, all
Email-type sources will be grouped together in the Master Source List. This is helpful later
on when scrolling through the list.
Next, because the master source is only referring to this one email on February 4, 2014, the
contents of the email should now be added to the Text/Comments tab.
Here I simply copied and pasted the entire contents of the email into the Text/Comments
section. However, contents of the email like graphics (including the screenshot she sent of
the 5 database entry results) don’t get saved in this area. This is why adding a copy of the
email to the Media tab is so important.
Media tab:
Although the email is not in the form of a digital image or a pdf file, if I want to ensure that
it is preserved throughout the ages, I really need to convert it into one of these formats. My
preferred method is to print the email – not to my printer – but to a PDF file. Look at the
choices that appeared when I clicked on the Print option in my email program (Gmail):
I selected the Save as PDF file and then instead of printing to paper, I was able to save to
this PDF. If you do not see a PDF option, just do an Internet search for “PDF printer
driver” and you’ll find lots of them that you can install and then use in this manner.
Now click Save and the new Master Source appears in the Master Source List.
That one was easy – no fields to fill out. It was all done as part of the master source. Same
thing with the Text/Comments and Media tabs. Because everything, in the case of this email,
belongs in the Master Source, nothing is needed in the Source Details.
Finally, close this screen and then click on the Save button in the upper right. You will be
taken to the Individual’s Information screen where you can begin adding and documenting
the new information.

The only things we need to do in step 3 is add and cite the burials of the four Williams
individuals. In a later email from Greenwood Cemetery they mentioned that Ann Robinson
appeared to not be related to the family, so for now, in this book, we’ll just concentrate on
John Sr. and his three children.
Elizabeth
Here we found evidence of her name, so let’s click in one of her two name fields, and paste
the source. Done.
Next, we can add the burial date and place, and paste the source.
Notice, now, that we can update the death date from “After 10 Jan 1894” to “Jul 1926”.
We still don’t have her death place, so we’ll leave it blank for now. We also now know the
burial address so let’s click on the Plus sign and click on Burial Address.
Now click on the Address List button, select the correct Greenwood Cemetery address from
the list,
and click Save. As expected, the Plus sign turns blue, indicating that there is now something
there (the burial address).
Next, let’s record the lot number in the Burial Notes. This, too, is found on the Plus sign.
Here’s the data entry:

Elizabeth’s Individual’s Information screen is beginning to fill out quite nicely now.
I wonder what her middle initial stands for. Could it be “Ellen” after her mother?
Next, I’m going to follow the same steps as above to record the information for the others
in the burial record.
We’ve linked Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn to several individuals now. Next, I’ll show
how to create a list of everyone in a specific cemetery. This would come in handy when
visiting a town and wanting to visit the graves of those ancestors you know are buried there.
Go to View > Master Lists > Address Lists > Event
Then click on the desired cemetery…

…and click on the Show List button.
How great is that?! Click on the Print button and you’ve created a custom report.
Back in the Family View we see that the life spans for each individual in this family are
becoming more and more complete.
While we still have not positively linked this John Williams family of Brooklyn, New York to
the the John Williams Jr. family of Minnesota, our case has strengthened. But good
genealogists must never be satisfied until a reasonably exhaustive search has been performed,
and we’re not quite there yet.

I opened the To Do item we created in step one and added the following to the Results tab.
See how John Williams Sr’s Research Log is filling in?


Elizabeth was first in the list of burials in this email, so why not start with her?
Since I have described what I need to do next, why I need to do it, and what I expect to
find, I can continue the research at any time. Even if years go by, because I’ve mapped out
my course already, I can resume it quickly.

I’ve now printed out a copy of the email and filed it behind John Williams Sr’s MRIN tab of
9069. And since it is also digitally catalogued AND archived in my email, I’ve got a good
backup collection of this email.
205
Chapter 8 – The Smoking Gun

At this point, my heart rate has literally elevated. Everything I’ve done in the past several
months has led up to this point. Either I’m going to prove that this family I’ve been
following is mine or not. The John O. Williams Jr. in Brooklyn, New York is my guy, or he’s
not. I’ve now got three terrific new leads – the exact burial dates of his siblings:
 Elizabeth E. Williams, buried 26 Jul 1926

 James P. Williams, buried 4 Dec 1895
 Richard T. Williams, buried 10 Jul 1916
In one of their obituaries, it’s going to list the residences of all of their siblings. I just know
it. In one of them, the text will read:
“…and brother John Williams of Benton County, Minnesota…”
At least, this is my hope. My hypothesis.
As a reminder, my John Williams Jr. died 11 Jan 1935 in Oak Park, Benton County,
Minnesota.
Through experience, I’ve learned that the later obituaries provide more information than the
earlier ones. For instance, just today, I received a copy of an obituary in the mail that I
requested for one of my John Williams’ children. Here was the complete text:
“John Williams’ family mourn the loss of their infant son.”
This was published in the May 10, 1887 edition of the Sauk Rapids Sentinel.
Since Elizabeth E. died last, her potential 1926 obituary would probably provide the most
information about her family. Let’s go after hers first.
At http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=50000 (looking at the URL, this is

interesting that this is Ancestry.com’s 50,000th database, a delightful number for what I’m
about to discover) I entered the following and clicked Search.
Of the 851 results, these two looked most promising. Could one be Elizabeth’s death notice
and the second be her funeral notice?
Chapter 8 ⟡ The Smoking Gun 207
Heart pounding…
I clicked on the second link first. And then I fainted.
Never had a document struck me as much as this one had.
After months of searching, careful analysis, and following up on promising leads, the
obituary stared at me from my 28” wide-screen, high-definition computer monitor. It began
as the moment I have dreamed of for so long – I was finally going to solve the mystery. It
concluded with the feeling of a virtual dagger piercing my soul – as if a fully-inflated balloon
had expanded beyond its capacity and burst – as if I had been inches from the top of Mt.
Everest and fell – all the way down. Only now after several months of genealogical grieving
am I able to write about it.
Published in the July 26, 1926 edition of The New York Times, Elizabeth Williams’ obituary
looked like any other obituary. But to me, it forever altered the course I would take in
solving the case of the parents of my great-great-great-grandfather – John Williams.
Nearly everything lined up, so well, and for so long. So well that in my early years of
genealogy research I may have considered accepting that I had found the right person. But
the fifth line in the obituary put a stop to everything:
the late John O. Williams.

It was just 1926. John wasn’t supposed to be “late” yet. Without that phrase – “the late” – I
nearly concluded that I had finally identified John’s parents to be this John and Eleanor
Williams.
Yet, in spite of the devastating find, I averted the greater genealogical tragedy – that of
misidentifying this John and Eleanor Williams to be my John’s parents.
Does that sound familiar? If you read the preface, this really shouldn’t have been a surprise.
Yet, this is what it is. This John Williams family of Brooklyn is someone else’s family. Oh
how thankful I am that I continued researching for further evidence. Having said that, I
cannot base such a large conclusion on a secondary source such as this. We have to
corroborate it with other evidence.
But first, I’m going to do the data entry of Elizabeth’s obituary and see how it has affected
the Comparison Report.
Several minutes pass…
OK, done. And wow was that ever hard to begin to accept.
Going to Reports > Other Reports > Chronology Comparison Report we now see the
biggest conflict yet:
My John Williams Jr. died January 11, 1935.
This other John Williams Jr. died between January 10, 1894 and July 24, 1926.
Since the two death dates/ranges are not compatible with each other, this proves that the
two Johns are not the same person.
But, in genealogy research, there is always hope. Maybe “the late” meant something different
or referred to someone else. Before wrapping up this phase of research, we should find
some corroborating evidence – something else that proves John O. Williams died before July
24, 1926.
John O.’s brother, James P. Williams, was buried December 4, 1895. Doing a quick search
for his obituary I didn’t come up with anything, but I did find him in the Kings County,
New York Estate Files collection at FamilySearch. Here it listed James’ next of kin as
Richard T. Williams, John O. Williams, and Elizabeth E. Williams.
Kings County, New York, County Estate Files, 1866-1923, images 49-53, James Pringle Williams administration, 1897; digital
images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 27 Feb 2016).
In preparation for the data entry of the new information from this estate case, I need to set
up the source clipboard, but since we’ve previously used this “source” (the Kings County
Estate Files) for James’ father, John, I’m going to show you an advanced Legacy tip. Instead
of 1) going to the source clipboard, 2) selecting the master source to cite and 3) filling in the
detail information, we’re going to use the “Copy Source to Clipboard” feature to save a little
bit of time. Only read about this tip if you are now comfortable with the source clipboard…
I’m going to navigate to John Williams Sr.’s Individual’s Information screen and open his
Assigned Sources screen. Next, I’ll click on the Estate event that I previously entered.
Finally, let’s click on the Copy Source to Clipboard button in the lower left.
Since the Source Clipboard is already filled out from the last project we worked on, let’s click
on the Copy/Overwrite Existing button to replace what’s there.
The Source Clipboard is now populated with the Kings County Estate Files master source,
and the details from John Sr.’s citation. So let’s click on the Triangle button of the Source
Clipboard to modify the details.
Here I’ve modified the contents of the Detail Information tab, unlinked the existing media
from the Media tab, and added the five images I downloaded of James’ estate files to the
Media tab. I can now proceed to analyze, data enter, and cite the information from these
papers according to the instructions in the Estate Records chapter. Since we’ve already
covered this process there, I’m going to go work on it on my own right now, and I’ll be back
with my new conclusions in a few minutes.
…a few minutes later…

Wow were these papers full of information! They contained details like:
- James’ middle name of Pringle

- James’ place of death as Passaic, New Jersey where he was “temporarily sojourning”
- The residences of Richard, John, and Elizabeth
Most importantly, we learned that John O. Williams was alive and living at 284 Gates
Avenue in Brooklyn on the date of the administration of these papers (February 4, 1897).
This means that we can update his death date from:
Between 10 Jan 1894 and 24 Jul 1926
to:
Between 4 Feb 1897 and 24 Jul 1926
This has now eliminated all John Williams’ deaths from 10 Jan 1894 through 4 Feb 1897 –
just over 3 years’ worth of possible matches are now gone! Hopefully this shows the value of
how we’ve been utilizing the “before” “after” and “between” dates in the death date field.
Now that we know where John O. was living on 4 Feb 1897, we can add a new residence
event…
…and then take a look at the updated Chronology Comparison Report:
This comparison makes it even clearer that the John O. on the right and living in New York
in 1897, and the John on the left and living in Minnesota from at least 1896-1900 could not
possibly be the same person. He could not have been living in both places at the same time.
Wow, what a tool this report is!
So…let’s get some closure and find out who John O. Williams really was and where he
ended up.
217
Chapter 9 – Adding an Entry from an

Online Database
Summary of Steps for an Online Database

3. Analyze and add the new data, and source as you go
We know that John O. Williams, who was born in either 1845 or 1846, died sometime
between February 4, 1897 and July 24, 1926. We also know that in 1897 he was living in
Brooklyn, New York. Nothing is known after that. A few records we could try include:
- Brooklyn city directories at http://www.bklynlibrary.org/citydir/

o 1897/1899/1902 all have him living at 284 Gates Avenue (his address as
shown in his brother’s estate papers) and working at 365 Greenwich st.
- 1900 federal census
o Knowing the address, 284 Gates Avenue, should make it easier to differentiate
between the 16 John Williams matches living in Brooklyn in 1900
- New York City Death Index 1898-1948 at http://italiangen.org/records-
search/deaths.php
- Brooklyn Daily Eagle for an obituary at https://bklyn.newspapers.com/
Great! Now that I’ve written down a potential plan, I can go on vacation, and when I return,
I will know exactly where I left off.
Of these four suggestions, I started first with the death index to see if I could get lucky by
finding a John Williams with the middle initial of “O”.

Here’s the To Do item I created:
Chapter 9 ⟡ Adding an Entry from an Online Database 219
Here’s what I filled in at http://italiangen.org/records-search/deaths.php:
Of the 104 results, only one had a middle initial of “O” AND he was listed as 76 years old
when he died on April 9, 1922.
Williams John O, age 76, died Apr 9, 1922, certificate 8420, Kings County
This would make his year of birth as 1846. Of course, John may have died somewhere else
and this entry could be unrelated, but it’s still worth checking out.
Not wanting to wait to call my sister to see if she can find the death certificate at the Family
History Library, I quickly searched the Brooklyn Daily Eagle website for the obituary of this
John Williams and found this article in the April 10, 1922 edition:
JOHN OWEN WILLIAMS, MERCHANT, CLUBMAN, DIES
John Owen Williams, 76 years old, of 284 Gates ave., prominent for years in the iron
and steel trade as a member of the firm of Vought & Williams, 365 Greenwich st.,
Manhattan, died Sunday night at his home after a year’s illness. He had been in failing
health since he was struck by an ambulance while watching a parade two years ago. Mr.
Williams was born in New York City and had lived 40 years in Brooklyn. He was a
member of the Classon Avenue Presbyterian Church, Acanthus Lodge No. 719, F. & A.
M.; Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, Merchants’ Association in Manhattan, Brooklyn
Club and Arkwright Club in Manhattan. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Barbara
Ashcroft Williams; two daughters, the Misses Florence and Maybelle Williams, and a
sister, Miss Elizabeth Williams.
Because of our previous exhaustive research, it was a piece of cake to determine that this
John Williams was the guy we’ve been researching. Everything in bold in the transcription
above matches evidence we’ve previously found.
And…wow…getting hit by an ambulance while watching a parade? How tragic!
Back to learning Legacy now. Because we’ve already covered how to enter an obituary, I’m
going to now cover the step-by-steps of how to cite the online database, and I’ll do the
obituary data entry on my own.
Normally, you would not cite an index as a source. An index is usually a tool rather than a
record. Elizabeth Shown Mills, in her Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to
Cyberspace explains that indexes are used as a temporary step in an ongoing research process:
“In the course of our research, we may access a microfilmed index or an electronic
database to a record set, while the records themselves are not immediately available. In
such cases, we take our notes from that index and we cite that index as the source of
those notes. As a rule, this is a policy for our working files only. Our pursuit of reliable
evidence dictates that we proceed to use the actual records rather than make judgements
on the basis of index details that the compiler has presented out of context. Once we
examine the actual record set, we report our findings from that search and cite the actual
records.” (Evidence Explained, 2.12)
So, 1) with this as background, and 2) now that because of the obituary I know that the John
O. Williams entry in the death index is the right person, and 3) because I don’t yet have the
actual death certificate, but 4) I want to record where I initially found John’s death date, I am
going to cite and use this database as a source in Legacy. Here we go.

The steps that follow work well for any database or index you find online. However, if the
database has accompanying digital images, you would want to cite the actual record type (like
a death record) instead of the database.
1. In the Individual’s Information screen, click on the blue triangle
cite.” link.
3. If the index’s master source is already in the list, scroll and select it. If not, click on the
4. Select the type of source from the list (Internet), answer the questions,

Text/Comments tab:
Media Tab:
Since there is no media (digital image) associated with this database entry, there’s nothing to
add here. However, it’s entirely possible that this website becomes defunct in the future, so
you might want to create a screenshot of the database entry, save it, and then link the
resulting digital image to the Media tab. Just an idea.
Finally, click Save. The Source Clipboard is now completely set up so click Save.
Step 3 – Analyze and add the new data, and source as you go
As a reminder, here’s the data from the index entry:
Williams John O, age 76, died Apr 9, 1922, certificate 8420, Kings County
There’s not a whole lot to do here. Since we already have “John O. Williams” as his name,
just click once in the name field, then paste the source from the clipboard. Done.
Next, his age at death suggests that he was born abt 1846. Click in the birth date field, then
paste the source from the clipboard. Done.
The next one’s the big one. This time, replace the contents of the death date field with the
new death date. Also, add the place of death to the death place field. Then paste the source
from the clipboard. Again, done.
Here’s what his updated Individual’s Information screen looks like (before adding the
obituary, which I’ll do next):
This leads us to the final dagger in my case’s coffin – the updated Chronology Comparison
Chart (Reports > Other Reports > Chronology Comparison Report):
Step 4 – Close/complete to To Do item


Although the database was online, printing a copy of the results would be a good idea here.
Then file in your paper filing system.
John’s obituary
I mentioned that I would analyze, add the information, and cite the source of John’s obituary
on my own. I’ve done that now, and although I’ve proven this to be someone else’s John
Williams, I feel a kinship with him now – especially after learning about the circumstances of
the last years of his life.
…which explains why I couldn’t just stop with adding his obituary to Legacy. I also found
his marriage record at FamilySearch, and his wife’s memorial up at FindAGrave.com.
While adding the marriage record to Legacy I learned of John Jr.’s mother’s maiden name.
Previously I suspected that it was “Sedden” and the marriage record confirmed this. To
record the source of the confirmed link between John and his parents I opened John’s
“Parents List” by clicking on the icon in the Family View:
Then, I clicked in the “Relationship to Father” field and pasted the source from the
clipboard.
The relationship labels turned red, meaning, there is now a source for these fields. Often it
takes a lot of different sources to prove a generational linkage like this and that is what the
genealogy journal or the proof report is for. But in this case since there was direct evidence
of this relationship, adding the citation to the parent-child relationship fields is good.
Find A Grave Tool

Before showing you the final comparison report, I’d love for you to know about the Find A
Grave tool. Since Find A Grave (www.findagrave.com) is one of the top genealogy resources
in the world, you’re going to want to link your ancestor in Legacy to their online memorial.
First, make sure that the Find A Grave button is visible on your My Toolbar tab.
If it’s not there, you’ll need to be running Legacy 9. (And if you’re reading this before Legacy
9 was introduced then you’re hopefully enjoying this preview of what’s ahead.) Second, it
may not be there because you haven’t yet added it to your My Toolbar tab. Here’s how:
In the far lower right of the My Toolbar tab is a small arrow. Click on it.
Scroll down, click on the Find A Grave button, drag it to the My Toolbar area, and then
click OK. The button should now appear in your My Toolbar tab.
Next, click on the Find A Grave button. If you haven’t already recorded the person’s
memorial number, then click on the first option, “Search Find a Grave for current person”
to search for them.
Once found, highlight the memorial number, right-click, and select Copy. Then, open the
person’s Individual’s Information screen in Legacy, right-click in the FindAGrave ID field,
and click Paste.
Their record in Legacy is now linked to their Find A Grave memorial page. Now, if you ever
want to quickly jump to their page, go to the Find A Grave button and click on the first
option – “Go to Find a Grave memorial for current person”. How great is that!?!
And just to see how thorough Legacy’s programmers were, I thought I’d see if they added a
hidden shortcut for even quicker access. And guess what, they did! Just click on the
FindAGrave label and you’ll be taken directly to their page.
Brilliant!
Since you’ll want to do this for others in your Legacy family file, Legacy’s made it easy to
know who you haven’t yet linked to Find A Grave. Just click on the “Create list of people
without Find a Grave memorials” option.
Legacy will display the list of everyone for whom you do not yet have a memorial number
entered.
If a Find A Grave memorial does not yet exist for your ancestor, and you know where they
were buried, I encourage you to create their memorial. Just visit www.findagrave.com, click
on the “Add burial records” link, and follow the instructions.
Where do we end?
One of my biggest challenges is determining when to stop the research. I could keep going
and going with this Williams family, but I think I will let someone else fill in the rest of their
details. So to gain some closure on this research, below I will show a few of the final charts
of this Williams family of Brooklyn, New York.
The final Family View (well, for now anyways):

John Owen Williams’ final Family View:
John Owen Williams’ final pedigree chart:

And MY John Williams’ pedigree chart:
Now if I could have just started out with John Owen Williams’ pedigree chart, it would have
been easy to know he wasn’t my ancestor, but genealogy just doesn’t work that way. There
were many similarities and evidence suggesting that the two John Jr.s could have been the
same person, but in the end, through the use of the Chronology Comparison report and
thorough, exhaustive research, we’ve conclusively separated the two identities. And although
I haven’t made “Pedigree Chart Progress” (seeing new names on my pedigree) I have made
significant progress towards learning the true identity of my John Williams in New York –
significant because now I have eliminated one of the original 75 John Williams from the
1860 census.
239
Chapter 10 – What Now?

If there is such a thing as the Genealogical Grieving Process, I think I’ve experienced every
step of it with this project. I must be close to the last step, or have even graduated from this
grieving process, as I am now just as energized to continue this quest as I was before that
virtual dagger pierced my heart. And so the research process begins again, this time with a
new hypothesis, and one less John Williams to get in my way. In case it’s a while before I
actually begin the next project, I will now practice what I preach by listing several
hypotheses. And my guess is, even in the conclusion of this book, I’ll still throw in a helpful
tip or two.
Media Files
Before moving on, however, I’ve got a little bit of cleanup, and even publishing to do.
Remember how when I downloaded and saved the digital files I added the phrase “possible
relative” to the file names? If not, here’s what my Brooklyn digital files look like now:
Because I added this phrase, I can easily differentiate the digital files that belong to the
unrelated John Williams from those that belong to my family. The only file in the above list
that actually belongs to my family is the “Williams, John – Civil War Muster Roll
Abstract.jpg” that I referenced in the beginning.
Do I keep or delete these files? Do I keep or delete the research I did on this Williams family
of Brooklyn? The easy answer is keep everything! My wife’s never too thrilled about my
desire to keep everything, but she doesn’t look at my computer that often.  I’m going to
keep everything I’ve researched about this non-related Williams family so when I come
across other John Williams in my research, I will be able to benefit from and more easily
differentiate them because I’ve got everything documented and organized here. Although
this family is still in my Legacy family file, they’re not going to get in the way of anything –
they’re in there as an unrelated tree and won’t appear in my personal pedigree chart.
Having said this, if you do have a desire to, at the very least, move the unrelated family’s
documents out of your normal digital filing system, I’ll give you a couple of ideas here.
Chapter 10 ⟡ What Now? 241
In your Windows Explorer, select each of the files that contain the “possible relative” in the
file name. To select multiple files, press the Control button on your keyboard, hold it down,
and click on each file.
Notice how they are each highlighted now? Next, press Control+X to “cut” these files in
preparation for moving them elsewhere. Next, I’m going to create a new folder within this
Brooklyn folder called “John Owen Williams, 1846-1922”. Next, I’ll open this folder and
press Control+V to “paste” or move the files to this new folder. My Brooklyn folder now
looks a bit lonely:
OK. So we’ve moved the files to their own out-of-the-way folder, but this has also had an
effect on these files in Legacy. We’ve previously manually linked each of these digital files to
source citations and events and by moving them to a new location, we’ve broken the links.
Legacy knows where the files were, but those links are no longer valid. So instead of
displaying thumbnails of the digital images, Legacy now displays question marks in their
place.
Question marks appear for one of two reasons – 1) when you move a digital file that you’ve
previously linked or 2) you rename the file itself. Don’t ever do number 2 – Legacy will
never be able to find it again unless you delete the link and re-add the digital image. If you’ve
moved a digital file, Legacy’s media relinker will come to your rescue.
When you try to open (double-click) one of these question marks, this screen appears:
Just click on the “Start the Legacy Media Relinker” button and Legacy will search your
computer for the new location of this file. On the next screen, click on the Relink My Media
button, and Legacy will attempt to locate and automatically relink all of these missing links.
Notice how all of John’s media’s thumbnails are now viewable.
The Media Relinker tool is also available from the Tools tab:
Give it a try – you might be surprised at what you find.
#Hashtags#
Although we have kept the unrelated family in the family file, we do not want someone else
coming along, noticing them, and thinking that they really are related. They might do an
accidental match/merge or attempt other unforeseen processes that could compromise
relationships. To prevent the unknown, we should make some effort to explain, or visually
clear up potential confusion.
This is where Legacy 9’s new hashtags come in nicely. Hashtags are a way to create groups
of individuals with some kind of common connection. They can be thought of as keywords
or areas of interest. They can be used for whatever and whomever you want and for any
reason. If you are familiar with Legacy’s tagging system, where you can assign up to nine
numbered tags to each person, then think of hashtags as an extension of tagging. Now you
can create as many as you want and each one has a name making them much easier to
understand and use.
To help differentiate this John Williams family from my John Williams family, I am going to
add a hashtag to at least John Owen and his parents. Since Legacy provides the flexibility to
name these hashtags anything I want, ideas for their names include:
- “Not Related”
- “Not My John Williams”
- “Disproven”
- “Disproven Relationship”
To add a hashtag, click on the person’s hashtag button:
If the desired hashtag is already in the list, just add a checkmark next to it.
My list is empty, so I’ll click on the Add button.
After clicking Save, make sure there is a checkmark next to the desired hashtag.
Notice that John’s hashtag icon is now blue, and when hovering over it with the cursor, it
displays their list of hashtags.
How great is that!?
I’ve also gone ahead and manually hashtagged (there’s no way that’s a word, but you know
what I mean, right?) his parents.
Now that you have mastered how to manually add a hashtag to a person, there will be
occasions when you will want to add a hashtag to a group of persons. For example, suppose,
using Legacy’s Search tool at Search > Find you created a list of everyone in your family file
who was born in New York.
After clicking on the Create List button, the Search List appears:
To quickly add a hashtag to everyone in this list, click on the Options button at the bottom,
then click on “Add Hashtag to Everyone in List”.
Next, click once on the desired Hashtag (or first add a new one), and click on the Assign
button. All 229 individuals in this Search List now have the “Born in New York” hashtag
linked to them. John Owen now has two hashtags assigned to him:
Cool beans.
There are lots of other uses for hashtags, including gaining quick access to the groups of
individuals. On the Search tag, click on the Search Hashtags button.
This displays all of the hashtags, their descriptions, and the number of individuals who are
linked to the hashtag.
Next, click on the Create List button and your custom report is ready to print.
“Writing out loud” here, other hashtags I might create include:
- Immigrant ancestor
- Occupation: farmer
- Revolutionary War ancestor
- Descendant of Civil War solider
- Black Sheep
- DNA tested
One of my favorite uses for hashtags is in the Pedigree Chart report. Highlighted in the
following chart are those ancestors of mine who have the “Born in New York” hashtag.
Here’s how I did this:
- Go to Reports > Pedigree Chart.

- Click on the Color Text and Boxes button.
- Click on the “Color all text and boxes the same” option and set the box color.
- Add a checkmark to the “Only color individuals with Hashtag:” option.
- Click on the button with the three dots on the right and select the hashtag.
- Click Save and preview/print the report.
The possibilities are endless.

Publish your findings

I’ve spent a lot of time – more than 200 pages and probably that number of hours working
on this unrelated John Williams family. While it has benefitted my research (I know who my
John Williams is not), I’d love for it to benefit John Owen’s descendants. So before moving
on with my next hypothesis, I’m going to publish what I’ve researched.
FamilySearch
It’s easiest to publish to FamilySearch using Legacy’s FamilySearch tool. First, make sure that
it is turned on at Options > Customize > General Settings > 1.8 FamilySearch:
Next, click on the FamilySearch button on the My Toolbar tab.

After signing in, Legacy will search for and display any possible matches in the FamilySearch
Family Tree database. In the case below, it did find a match because prior to writing this
section I published my findings there.
If it appears that this person is the same as yours, click on the “This person is the same as
mine” button. This will create a link between your person in Legacy and the person in
FamilySearch. If it does not find a match, click on “None of these people are a match” and
then click on “Add my Legacy person to FamilySearch”.
Legacy will then search to see if there are any possible duplicates of the same person in the
FamilySearch database which you can clean up by using the Merge tool, and then present to
you the Share Data tab.
On the left is the information you have added to Legacy. The right shows the same person
and what is known about them in the FamilySearch database. Clicking on the arrows will
upload or download information from either side. Of course, sharing anything is optional,
but I figure others will benefit by my use of this tool.
Looking closely at the Family Relationships section, it appears that John Owen’s parents are
also linked to him in FamilySearch. We can easily link them to the same people in Legacy by
clicking on the arrows pointing to the left.
Next, click on the “Link to John Williams” option, and click on the Select Action button.
The father on the left now shows the blue link symbol along with the FamilySearch ID.
The “I am finished sharing data” button at the top of the Share Data tab is one of the
reasons why I love using Legacy’s FamilySearch tool.
Clicking on it changes that person’s “Sync” icon to green-green, meaning, the information in
Legacy and the information in FamilySearch Family Tree is up-to-date.
The exciting thing about this is when you come back to this person and notice that the
green-green arrows have changed to green-red like this:
This is an indication that FamilySearch now has something that you do not have. In other
words, someone else and somewhere else, has modified or added something to this person’s
record. So Legacy’s FamilySearch tool will help you know when someone else is working on
your ancestor. For more about this, view the “Legacy Family Tree and FamilySearch Family
Tree” video at http://familytreewebinars.com/download.php?webinar_id=237.
Others
In addition to FamilySearch, I will publish the findings to new trees at Ancestry.com,

MyHeritage.com, and FindMyPast.com.
So even in this book’s conclusion, you’re hopefully still learning great things about using
Legacy!
Future Research
When concluding any genealogy project like this, or even when concluding my research for
the day, I will always write about what I plan to do next. If I wait until tomorrow, I may
forget where I was headed. As I write down a few of these ideas here, I’m excited to share
with you some really powerful technology tips.
First, remember that the path we took in this book was only one of the many different
directions we could have gone. Based on the evidence, I chose to follow up on the clue of
John/Edward’s occupation (hatter). This led us to Joseph D. Williams in Brooklyn’s 3rd ward
district 1, which led us to John and Ellen Williams in the same place. So far, this clue hasn’t
panned out. I still believe the clue of his occupation is important, as it may help us
differentiate my John Williams / Edward Riley from others of the same name. I’ll keep this
in mind while exploring other ideas:
 Family tradition says that John was “orphaned at the age of 10 and was shifted
around until he was 16.” I could follow up on this clue by searching for
orphan/guardianship records in Brooklyn starting around 1855.
 The Edward Riley/Reily angle – since John was listed with the alias name of Edward
Riley in the 1890 veteran’s schedule, I could begin to research anyone of this name in
Brooklyn starting with the 1860 census.
 The 1860 census of Brooklyn – there were 75 John Williams living in this census, 74
more to go…
 The 1855 state census of Brooklyn – this census would have been closer to John’s
birth, and would probably be before John was “orphaned at the age of 10 and was
shifted around until he was 16”. In other words, John should be listed in this census
with his biological parents.
So there are a few potential angles to take in the future. And what do they say about the
future? The future is now! And it’s not too late at night so I’ve still got a little energy left.
Starting with one of my favorite links, at https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list, it

lists the 1855 New York state census as one of its collections.
I entered the above search criteria and clicked Search.

This time, as opposed to the 1860 census that we previously searched, it listed ten less
results. Great! They were shown in this format:
I could print this, try to copy and paste it into a spreadsheet, or just look at each image. I’d
sure like to be able to sort the 65 results to see if there were any in Ward 3 District 1. This
can be done if you know a little trick. The secret button is only available if you are signed in.
After signing in, this same results screen appeared but with a significant addition:
The Export Results button is now available. Currently it shows “Export Results 1-20”, so I
clicked on the “75” button next to “Number of results to show:” and got this button
instead:
Clicking it produced a file that could be opened with my spreadsheet software, Microsoft
Excel.
After cleaning it up a bit (removing blank columns, adjusting column widths), it looks a little
better.
Finally, under Data > Sort I sorted by the Residence Place column.
Which produced this:

Of all 65 entries, only one was listed in Ward 3 District 1, and looking further to the right in
the spreadsheet, it was not the same John and Ellen Williams that we’ve previously studied.
Again, I’m not too worried that the parents’ names don’t match exactly with my records, but
if their birth places are England or Wales, it’s giving me something to go on. At the far right
of the spreadsheet is the Person URL column which has clickable links that lead directly to
the image:
Clicking on this link displayed this for the parents’ birthplaces:
So…maybe now I’ll put away this book and get to work on my next hypothesis.
Yet, before I go too far with this, I’m reminded of an email I recently received from a
webinar viewer. After discussing this research in front of a live webinar audience, I received
an email with this subject line:
Fwd: Your John Williams…possible find!

With a subject line like that, can you guess what I did with the housework I was about ready
to go work on? The housework could wait, my ancestors couldn’t.
The viewer mentioned that they were searching the 1850 census in New York City for my
John Williams and found this:
 Margaret Riley (remember John’s alias of Edward Riley?)

 Margaret Williams (the name of John’s mother from his death certificate)
 John Williams, born about 1840 (a little early, but only 4 years off, for my John)
 No father in the household. This sits nicely with the oral tradition that John was
orphaned young
So there’s no father in the household which fits well with the oral tradition that John was
orphaned young, AND there’s a Riley-Williams connection. IN THE SAME
HOUSEHOLD!!! You bet I’m excited to follow up with this. And folks, that’s what
genealogy is all about. You’ve been there too. You know of the excitement that I’m feeling
right now. And regardless whether these clues lead me to another bout with Genealogy
Grief, with each John Williams I can eliminate, the closer I am to the real John Williams.
I sincerely hope that through these experiences I’ve shared, you’ve learned a few tricks you
can apply to your own genealogy research, and I hope that you’ve gained some insights into
how to get more out of your Legacy Family Tree software.
Remember, life is short, do genealogy first!

269
Appendix
Download and restore the backup
When you have a question about how I’ve entered something into Legacy and you want a
model to follow, use the guidelines in this book or take a peek in the actual Legacy family
file. I’ve made its backup file available for you to download and observe. Don’t worry, it
won’t replace your personal family file, and you can easily switch back and forth between the
two. Follow these instructions.
1. Download the backup file from http://www.geoffrasmussen.com/unlocked2.zip. Save it

to a place on your computer that you will remember.
2. In Legacy, go to File > Restore File. If you get a message to close your currently-open
family files, click Yes.
3. Navigate to and click on the unlocked2.zip file you downloaded, and click the Open
button.
4. Navigate to the Documents > Legacy Family Tree > Data folder (or check to see that you
are already there, or navigate to wherever you want the family file to be stored) click the Save
button, and then click Yes to open the restore family file.
Now you are welcome to move around and check out the events, citations, To Do Lists, and
more.
How to set the preferred startup family

Notice that John Owen Williams Jr. was the first person to appear. He and his wife Barbara
were the people that I wanted to appear first when you opened the file. You, too, can
designate, in your family file, which couple you want to appear as the default starting couple.
To set this, go to Options > Set Startup Family, and either select the “Set current Family as
Preferred Startup” button or the “Select a Family from the Name List” button to choose.
Appendix 271
How to set the bookmarks

And for your next trick (who would have thought that there’d be even more goodies in the
Appendix?) - notice, in the lower left, are the names of two different John Williams. These
are bookmarks that I’ve set. Click on the one on the left to get to the original John Williams,
and the one on the right to get to John Owen Williams.
Notice that there is room for another bookmark - #3. Just navigate to a different ancestor
and right-click in the empty space. This will add their name to the third bookmark. I usually
set #1 to be myself, and use the other two for ancestors I am currently researching. They
can be blanked out by right-clicking while pressing the keyboard’s Control button.

Legacy9UnlockedPDF PDF

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Legacy9UnlockedPDF PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

LEGACY FAMILY TREE 9 –

BASED ON THE POPULAR

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Legacy® is a registered trademark of Millennia Corporation

Other names and products not mentioned above

Geoffrey D. Rasmussen is the father of four budding

He met and proposed to his wife in a Family History Center.

Contact Geoff at Geoff@LegacyFamilyTree.com.

Chapter 1 – Your First Few Legacy Tips ......................................................................................... 27

Chapter 2 – Adding an Online Document ...................................................................................... 35

Chapter 3 – Adding a Census Record .............................................................................................. 67

Chapter 4 – Adding Estate/Probate Records ...............................................................................113

Chapter 5 – Adding an Obituary .....................................................................................................139

Chapter 6 – Adding a Death Certificate .........................................................................................159

Chapter 7 – Adding Email Correspondence .................................................................................183

Chapter 8 – The Smoking Gun .......................................................................................................205

Chapter 9 – Adding an Entry from an Online Database ............................................................217

Chapter 10 – What Now? .................................................................................................................239

the late John O. Williams.

Next I learned about and turned to the census records. I

"Williams Rites Occur Monday," Foley

Williams John alias

“Let’s give John another chance.”

I decided to pick it up again.

The Genealogy Diary

My original goal was:

 Helps us more easily pick up where we left off.

1. In the word processor, select everything in the document by pressing Control-A.

What you’ll learn from this book

After my 15-year-absense, before I resumed John’s research, I did the following:

 Reviewed the research report to catch up on where I left off.

The Comparison Table

Below are examples of these three tools at the beginning of my research.

Word Processor (2 tables side-by-side)

Same story as above, but this time in spreadsheet form.

Chronology Comparison Report (Legacy 9 or later)

Legacy also analyzes the information. Below is the zoomed-in legend:

And so with that … off we go!

Chapter 1 – Your First Few Legacy

How’s that for the first Legacy tip?

“We have never seen a larger service records file.”

How to record alternate names

Even Edward Riley appears a bit further up in the list.

Chapter 2 – Adding an Online Document

Now is where it starts to get really good.

1. Create the To Do item and perform the research.

Step 1 – Create the To Do item and perform the research.

On the Results tab record your thoughts or new findings.

And always add the Repository.

Click Save and the task now appears in the list.

OK, back to John.

Step 2 – Set up the source clipboard.

Detail Information tab:

And the Media tab:

Step 3 – Analyze and add the new data, sourcing as you go

… and add the new information there. Here is what I had:

So I went to my genealogy bookshelf and opened one of my favorite resources, A to Zax: a

 Probably born in Brooklyn

We’re going to find him!

1. Create the To Do item and perform the research.

Step 4 – Add the digital image to the event.

Next, click on the Add Media button and select Picture.

Step 5 – Close/Complete the To Do item