The Process Begins

In order to begin this journey I use the BCG (Board for Certification of Genealogists) guidelines to map my search. It is the secret to good genealogical research.

So based on this, I first need to define my goals for Alice:

 1. Is she related to other Foleys found on Long Island?
 2. Who were her parents?
 3. Did she have any siblings?
 4. The ultimate goal is connecting her to other Foleys on Long Island.

Then,  based on the newspaper article....what do we already know about her?

She died before  July 23, 1920.
She had at least 2 daughters – Annie and Mary.
She had at least 1 grandson – Charles L. Lellman.
She lived and/or died in or near Greenport, Suffolk County, New York.
Daughter Annie married a man with the surname “Huggler” and Annie lived in Manhattan, NY. Daughter Mary married a man with the surname “Lellman” and lived in Greenport, NY.
She left an estate worth $11,200 in 1920.
She “probably” was a widow when she died. ("Probably" because there is no husband mentioned in the estate notice.)

Now, we're ready to start searching those "reliable sources".

The first place I looked was the 1910 census since I know she died before July 23, 1920 and we find her living on Shelter Island, Suffolk County, NY. She is living alone, age 62 and a widow.



The detail from the census is:

House #67; Enumeration #69; McCarty Alice    Head of household; Female; White; age 62; widow;  2 children born; 2 children living

Born Ireland; Parents born Ireland; Speaks English; No occupation; living on small income

                        


                         Can read and write; No mortgage; Living in House (versus Farm)

We must now cite this source and the documentation for this census record would be: "Alice McCarthy - 1910 US Federal Census - Shelter Island, Suffolk, New York; Roll: T624_1083; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 1382; Image: 422; FHL Number: 1375096. (Shelter Island is about 3 m. from Greenport)"

So now we can add the following to what we know about Alice:
She was born approximately 1848
Her husband died prior to 1910
She bore 2 children and they are both living in 1910
She was living in a mortgage free house living on a small income
She speaks English and can read and write

Each one of these facts might point us in a direction to find additional information, such as the fact that she was living in a mortgage free house....property records can be a great source.

In my next post I'll discuss a little bit about documentation.



Posted November 12, 2011