Writing

How to search and find ancestor writings for ancestry and genealogy research.

The writings of our ancestors hold many excellent clues and stories that can dramatically aid your genealogy research. The hard part is knowing where to search for your ancestors’ writings, and the following are a few ideas to aid your search.

Getting access to ancestors’ writings that have others. Our ancestors’ journals, letters, and writings are very precious to those who own them. The owner’s response to your request to access them depends on how well you know each other. If they know and trust you, they may allow you to take the documents on loan for a specific period—usually 24 to 48 hours—to scan or photograph the article.

How to Search for Ancestor Writings

In cases where information is a little more challenging to secure, consider the following approaches:

The insurance copy argument: If they have the original item, remind them that it could be lost or gone forever in a house fire or other disaster; by letting you copy it, the family gains a backup, security, or insurance copy.

Broker: Offer to make them a copy when you make a copy.

Trade: Offer to exchange copies of records or items that you have in return for them letting you copy their materials.

Family project: Design a family project—biography, photo collection, newsletter—for which you need to copy and use their materials. This links your request to a family cause rather than just being personal.

Purchase: If the person’s reluctance to share is because of the monetary value of the items, consider buying the material, or at least a part of it.

Take pictures: They might have an heirloom locket or Civil War uniform or other valuable items they won’t let out the door. Please take pictures of them and offer to share copies of your photos in such cases.

Searching the Internet for ancestors’ writings. The Internet is an incredible resource in finding diaries, journals, postcards, letters, and other writings, and I have found family documents on Internet sites of library collections. For example, as I was doing research for a presentation, I found thirty letters written between Thomas Jefferson and my ancestors in the Jefferson Papers and fifteen journal entries relating to my ancestors’ pioneer experiences in the Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, 1847-1868 collection.

To search the Internet for ancestral writings, enter the following information:

  •  Names of ancestors (direct and collateral lines)
  • Surnames (include various spellings)
  • Names of individuals the ancestors were known to have worked with or had relationships with
  • Places they lived and visited
  • Important events they lived during or were a part of, such as the civil war, influenza, or pioneer treks

A note about spellings

You will find that spelling was informal and inconsistent in old records. Do not dismiss the name ‘Hewes’ if you are searching for ‘Hughes.’ In an early census enumeration, census takers reportedly spelled ‘Reynolds’ differently. As you get deeper into genealogical research, you will become an expert at guessing how many ways a name may be spelled (or misspelled).

Keyword searches

  •  diar* and literature [will retrieve ‘diary’, ‘diaries’, and so on]
  • diar* and bibliography
  •  Virginia and diaries [for locating many individuals
  •  diar* and statesm*n
  • memoirs and wom*n

Subject searches

  • American diaries women authors
  • Women United States diaries
  • Women diaries
  • English diaries
  • Personal narratives [relating to individual events or periods]

Searching in libraries and archives for ancestors’ writings

I have found journals, diaries, and letters that have been preserved in local historical societies, universities, and other institutions where they are available to researchers. Some have been published as books, and increasingly many are available on the Internet. An excellent place to start is searching for writings in the areas where your family lived.

One genealogist told of an experience where she found an ancestor’s diary (who lived in Virginia) in New Mexico. The descendant who inherited the diary lived in New Mexico and gave it to a repository.

What to do when you still can’t find the written word of your ancestor

My mother passed away in 1997, and I realized there was a lot I didn’t know about her. I began to interview family and friends to gain their insights into her. To my joy, many of these people had kept letters, greeting cards, and postcards that she had sent them throughout her life. The information provided insights into her feelings about her children and her pains, joys, and desires. I was allowed to scan and photograph these documents.

Strategy 1: Your first option is to contact all of your relatives and see if they saved the writings of ancestors with whom your family may have had a relationship. Letters and diaries written by your ancestor’s relatives, friends, and neighbors may contain material about your ancestor. These letters and diaries will give you a glimpse into what your own ancestor’s life was probably like since relatives, friends, and neighbors probably came from the same socioeconomic background as your ancestor.

Several of my ancestors were Mormon pioneers in the mid- 1800s. Although there are no surviving journals from my family of this period, I have found journals of people who were part of the same wagon train or handcart company. I have been able to review these writings and better understand what my ancestor may have experienced. I found an entry about my progenitor from the Dan Jones Emigrating Company, Journal 1856 May-Dec.

September 9, 1856

Tuesday 9th[.] The remaining Waggons taken over the river [.] finished at 2 p.m. A yoke of oxen belonging to the Church was missing. Several brethren were sent to search for them, and they returned to camp with them at 4.15 p.m. Bro. Elias Jones lost two gentle Cows on Sunday last, and up to this time, they have not been found. We moved forward at 5 p.m. and camped at 8 p.m[.] traveled 7 miles along the banks of the Loup Fork.

Strategy 2: Look for writings that discuss the same period, event, etc. Circumstances similar to theirs may be available in a personal account written by another person from the same area. If you can find a relationship through bloodlines or common bonds, you’ll discover a way to understand and add depth to your family’s history. Look for similarities in lifestyle, social status, profession, or neighborhood. These can give you a good sense of how your ancestors lived and what they experienced.

Strategy 3: Place a query online or in a genealogical magazine or message board to see if some distant relative might have an ancestor’s writings. On one occasion, I had received a clue about a letter that existed from a relative in 1862. I had seen the text—a photocopy of photocopies—but I wanted to see the original. I placed a query on the message boards and, in time, received a clue of where to go. I eventually found the owner and was able to get a photograph of the letter.

Summary checklist: Where to search for ancestors’ writings. The following is a recap of where to search for writings (diaries, journals, letters, or postcards) of your ancestors:

  • Ask relatives if they possess any ancestors’ writings.
  • Put queries in genealogical magazines or message boards and online, seeking writings from distant “genealogy” cousins.
  • Write to historical societies, archives, and libraries in your ancestor’s locality to see if your ancestor’s writings were deposited there.
  • Check reference guides to help locate writings in repositories.
  • Look for published writings, including anthologies.
  • Look for the writings of your ancestor’s friends, relatives, and neighbors.
  • Look for writings of people, like your ancestor, who lived in the same geographic area during the same period and from the same socioeconomic background.

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