104 Issues of Casefile Clues for $25

We are wrapping up our second year of Casefile Clues issues--104 issues of genealogical information, advice, methodology, and "how-to" information. Casefile Clues accepts no advertising, is not trying to sell you anything and concentrates on excellence in writing and research. Normally a year of Casefile Clues is $17, but we're offering our first two years of issues as a set of $25 total. Each issue averages 8 pages.


Purchase all year 1 and year 2 issues for $25. Issues delivered via email as PDF files.

Year 1 Issue Topics

Reposting as I messed up all the navigation on the blog:

Here are Year 1 issue titles (in reverse order)

• 52--Benjamin Butler in 1880 and 1870--correlating an 1880 and 1870 census enumeration when the head of household has a different first name
• 51--Clarifying Clara--a widow's War of 1812 Bounty Land application
• 50--Special Examiner's Report--Discussion of testimony taken by a Special Examiner in a Union Civil War Pension File
• 49--Levi Rhodes' War of 1812 Pension--A discussion and and an analysis of a War of 1812 pension issued in 1871.
• 48--Determining Your Own Chain of Migration--Ways to determine the unique migration chain that your ancestor took
• 47--Finding the Ellen--Finding someone in an 1870 census when she's a child and I don't have the names of the parents. Discusses proximity searches, eliminating false matches, etc.
• 46--Ira Located--the correct marriage record for Ira Sargent was located. This issue includes the image and a complete transcription, an analysis, additional searches that were conducted, and where to go next.
• 45--Organizing My Search for Ira--discusses brainstorming to locate the parents of Ira Sargent, how and why records were prioritized, and how records would be searched.
• 44--Philip Troutfetter in the Special Collections of the Kansas State Historical Society--fraud, postal investigations, and abandoned wives--all from one relative.
• 43--Unacquiring Property--ways your ancestor might have "disposed" of his real estate.
• 42--Multiple Johns--two brothers with the exact same name--apparently.
• 41--Brick Walls from A to Z--the title says it all--ideas for breaking those brick walls
• 40--Finding John--analysis, including charts and maps, in an attempt to find a missing 1870 census enumeration.
• 39--Multiple Marias--Analyzing more than one 1893 obituary for a Swiss immigrant in Iowa.
• 38--From their Mouth to Your Screen. Discusses all the "filters" information passes through.
• 37--Pullman Car Company Employment Records. Discusses several employment records from the Pullman Car Company in Chicago. Discusses William Apgar, Thomas Frame, Louis DeMar.
• 36--Where are they in 1840? Analyzes an individual who is "missing" from an 1840 census. Includes a discussion of how he was "found" and how land records actually solved the problem. Discusses Abraham Wickiser.
• 35--A 1910 Birth. Analyzes primary and secondary sources for a date and place of birth in 1910 and how differences might not be all that different. Discusses Ida Trautvetter.
• 34--Ready to Go? Discusses some things to contemplate regarding your genealogy material before you die.
• 33--Where there is a Will there is Confusion. Analyzes an early 19th century will from Maryland and what the different bequests likely mean and what potentially brought them about. Also discusses different ways some things can be interpreted. Discusses John DeMoss.
• 32--When There is No Probate. Some things to think about when there is no probate file.
• 31--Analyzing the Mortgage. Discusses an 1870 era mortgage in Illinois. Discusses John Ufkes and Rolf Habben.
• 30--Behind the Scenes Chaos. Discusses the importance of thinking about what "caused" a record to be recorded.
• 29--Un-American Activity. Discusses an invesigation by the fore-runner of the FBI into a German-American family in World War I. Discusses the Fecht family.
• 28--Do You Ear What I Ear? Discusses things to remember about how things are heard.
• 27--Analyzing Andrew Trask. Discusses work on an Mass. native (born ca. 1814) who lived in St. Louis, southern-Illinois, and western Illinois where he died in the 1880s. Focuses on analyzing and working on later records to discern patterns, etc. Discusses Andrew Trask.
• 26--Using Google Books.
• 25--Finding Valentine. Steps in locating a man whose only real mention is in an 1870 era estate settlement. Discusses how I organized my search for him.
• 24--The Brick Wall is in Your Head. Talks about ways you may have made your own genealogical brick wall.
• 23--You Ask and I Wonder. Things that pop in my head when a person asks a certain genealogical question.
• 22--Crossing the Pond.
• 21--One Clipping Leads to More.
• 20--Organizing 1870 Census Search--thoughts on organizing online census searches.
• 19--Public Sale--Analyzing an old sale bill.
• 18--Analyzing the Biography--Charting and Organizing what You Know Using a Biography
• 17--Working with the Professional. Getting started with the professional genealogist who is performing Chicago area work for me.
• 16--A Lot from Barbara's Lot. Clues from a series of records on a small lot in a town in rural Illinois betwen 1856 and 1905.
• 15--Finding Gesche's Girls. Tracking down an "evaporating" German native who "condensed" somewhere in the United States.
• 14--Jumpstarting Your Research. Just some ideas to get you started.
• 13--Brick Walls and the Census Taker
• 12--The Heirs Complete the Homestead
• 11--Is the Wrong Name Correct?
• 10--Connecting the Iras. Working to determine if two men of the same name are the same man.
• 09--Pre-1850 Census Analysis. Analzing pre-1850 census records for a family to determine the household structure. Discusses Thomas and Sarah Sledd.
• 08--Platting Out Thomas Sledd's Heirs. Platting out the estate division of the Thomas Sledd estate in Kentucky in the 1830s. Discusses Thomas Sledd family.
• 07--Looking for Ira's Lucretia. Working on my "brick wall" Ira through his sister Lucretia. mid-to-late nineteenth century work.
• 06--The Civil War Pension file of Riley Rampley. An overview of a Union Civil War pension record.
• 05--Finding a Chicago Christening. How a 1913 era Chicago christening record was found. Discusses Anna Apgar.
• 04--Multiple Parents
• 03--Preemption Claim. The Missouri pre-emption land claim of John Lake. Discusses John Lake.
• 02--Passport Records. Discusses an early twentieth century passport application. Discusses Robert Frame.
• 01--Lessons from an Estate Record. Analyzes an 1870 era Illinois set of estate records.

Year 2 Issues Of Casefile Clues

Topics from the first 51 issues of year 2 are shown below (order them here):

• Volume 2-Number 1--Problem-Solving--a variety of techniques for breaking through those brick walls.
• Volume 2-Number 2--A 1907 Committal--An insanity record.
• Volume 2-Number 3--A 1921 Divorce--looking at a 1921 era divorce from Chicago
• Volume 2-Number 4--Leaving John's Hands: Documenting Post-Death Land Transfers
• Volume 2-Number 5--The Acquisition of John Michael Trautvetter's 228 Acres
• Volume 2-Number 6--The Original Versus the Record Copy
• Volume 2-Number 7--Multiple Marriage Mayhem:
  Starting the Search for Emma (Sargent) Pollard Ross Oades Pollard Snavly Olenbaugh
• Volume 2-Number 8--A Handful of Problem-Solving Strategies
• Volume 2-Number 9--Two-Thirds of an Acre from Uncle John: A Partition Suit Proves a Sibling Relationship
• Volume 2-Number 10--A Minimal Estate Gives Some Direction: The 1886-1888 Probate of Benjamin Butler
• Volume 2-Number 11--Signing What We Could Not Read--immigrants unable to read English sign a 1870 era document that is incorrect and a lawsuit results.
• Volume 2-Number 12--Dad Raised my Daughter--A newspaper account of a court case in the 1880s discusses an early 1870 out-of-wedlock birth.
• Volume 2-Number 13--Using the 1860 Census to Formulate a Passenger List Search Strategy
• Volume 2-Number 14--Search Strategy for Benjmamin Butler in pre-1870 Census Records--this looks at ways to find the missing 1850 and 1860 census enumerations for man who "appears" in Iowa in 1870.
• Volume 2-Number 15--Pre-1850 Census--analyzing 1810-1840 census entries for Thomas Chaney in Bedford County, Pennsylvania.
• Volume 2-Number 16--Names in the Probate--analyzing various names in a probate settlement from 1903. Nicknames and diminutives were part of the problem.
• Volume 2-Number 17--Bridging a Twenty-Year Census Gap-1870 to 1860. Showing that an 1870 Iowa, 1880 Missouri, and an 1850 Michigan enumeration are for the same man.
• Volume 2-Number 18--Four Passports and a Foreign Death: George Washington Drollette. Analyzes four early 20th century passports and a US State Department death report from 1933.
• Volume 2-Number 19--Diplomatic Employment Applications. Analyzes and summaries letters of support for employment with the US State Department between 1901-1906.
• Volume 2-Number 20--Just One Wife Who Shaves Her Age. Records hinted that a man might have had more than one wife. Despite age discrepancies and first name variations, we've likely proven that there was just one wife.
• Volume 2-Number 21--1930 Census: Primary, Secondary, Original, Derivative, Direct and Indirect. You'll never look at a census entry the same way again-also shows how in this case, New York became Kentucky
• Volume 2-Number 22--Finding the Biegers in 1850. Organizing our search and our negative search results in an attempt to find a German immigrant living in Cincinnati in 1850.
• Volume 2-Number 23--Separating Two George Butlers--working on two men born in Michigan in the same year with a father of the same name.
• Volume 2-Number 24-A Minor Naturalization
• Volume 2-Number 25-Genealogical Potpourri
• Volume 2-Number 26-Looking for Benjamin-Formulating a Census Search
• Volume 2-Number 27-An 1849 Cash Land Sale
• Volume 2-Number 28-From 1820-1870 Analyzing Enoch Tinsley's Census Entries
• Volume 2-Number 29-Middle Name Issues: Finding Henry J. Fecht in 1870 and Passenger Lists
• Volume 2-Number 30-The Master Reports--An Assignment of Homestead and Dower in the 1890s
• Volume 2-Number 31-The Parents Sell 10 Acres-an 1880 era land transaction
• Volume 2-Number 32-Clues from a Pig Murder--an 1820 era Kentucky Court Case
• Volume 2-Number 33-Civil War Pension Application-Why My Name's Different
• Volume 2-Number 34-Staying Focused on Divorces and a German Immigrant
• Volume 2-Number 35-Strategies for a 1820 New York Birth
• Volume 2-Number 36-First Appearing in an 1847 Marriage
• Volume 2-Number 37-The Chattel Property Will from Maryland
• Volume 2-Number 38-Emmar Osenbaugh Civil War Pension-Proving 6 Husbands(1st Part)
• Volume 2-Number 39-1870-1880 Era Guardianship Proves All the Children
• Volume 2-Number 40-Moving Mother-Transferring a Life Estate in 1769
• Volume 2-Number 41-War of 1812 Bounty Land Application and Surrendered Warrant
• Volume 2-Number 42--An 1875 Poor Farm Admission for the Smith Family
• Volume 2-Number 43-An 1811 Tennessee Will
• Volume 2-Number 44-More Problem-Solving
• Volume 2-Number 45-Emmar Osenbaugh's Civil War Pension Part II
• Volume 2-Number 46-Comments on 1856 Missouri Revised Statutes
• Volume 2-Number 47-A Will Denied--and Why
• Volume 2-Number 48-Blank Children and Three Completers on a Birth Record
• Volume 2-Number 49-Petitioning to Administrate an Intestate Probate in 1869
• Volume 2-Number 50-Fighting the Will of Trientje Sartorius
• Volume 2-Number 51-With Little to Probate: The Estate of Wesley Jones
• Volume 2-Number 52-Iam What I Am: An 1860 Census Enumeration