Sideways Research for People and Places

Genealogy Glossary

Sideways Research: Investigating your ancestors' brothers, sisters and extended families.

This is the tip of the day for June 5, 2011 in the Everyday Genealogy Calendar. Sideway research is the topic of many articles and genealogy presentation, but does it just pertain to people?

The majority of my paternal research takes place in Barrington, Illinois. Notice I did not mention a county. That is because the town of Barrington is divided by Cook and Lake County. Unfortunately once you get the 'lay of the land' it is easy to make asuumptions that are wrong.

Case in Point: Fred Schwemm built two houses in Lake County in the early 1900's and can be found in the 1910 through 1930 census records. He cannot be located in Lake County prior to 1900. Why? Because the original family homestead was in Cook County!

In this case "Sideways Research" means looking in neighboring counties and states if you cannot find an ancestor. In truth Barrington actually touches 5 counties, so I have become an experty on most counties in Northwestern Illinois.

What inspired this posting is the Lake County Illinois Blog. It is a wealth of history about the county and the people of Lake County (some of them may have lived in Cook County at some point!) If you click on the title of this article it will take you to their site.

Everyday Genealogy is still available at http://www.everydaygenealogy.com. If you use the promo code BLOG you will receice free standard shipping.

Have a great holiday
Pattie