It is time to start a new research project. You are finally going to track down that elusive ancestor. What if you are unfamiliar with the town in which your ancestor lived? Before you dive in to researching specific details about your ancestor, you should consider creating a research locality guide.
What is a research locality guide?
A research locality guide is a quick reference guide that outlines background information about the locality being researched as well as what types of records are available. The document you create should contain brief information about the state, county, and town together with links to different websites and databases that contain information. You may already have links bookmarked in your browser, however, creating a specific research locality guide document will be a great way to collect all those links into one place.
A great resource to consult for step-by-step guidance on how to create a locality guide may be found in the book Research Like a Pro: A Genealogist's Guide by Diana Elder, AG® and Nicole Dyer.[1]
Why is a research locality guide important?
Having information about the town, county, or state you are researching assembled in one document will help you to research more efficiently. Creating this document in advance of the onset of your project will useful when it is time for you to create a research plan for the project. Knowing what record sets exist, what dates are covered, and what the record sets contain for a specific location will reduce the probability of negative search results. If you need to research the locality again, you can refer back to the document you already created.
What categories should be included?
Think about what events in your ancestor's life would have been documented. Who created the documentation? For what purpose was the documentation created? Where would the records be kept? Using the research locality guide template provided the book Research Like a Pro: A Genealogist's Guide will give you a good start on creating your locality guide by suggesting categories to be included. These categories can be adapted to fit the needs of the locality you are researching. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
Background Information
When was the town formed?
In what county is the town located?
When was the county formed?
What year was the state admitted to the union?
Were there any fires or natural disasters that caused a loss of records?
What major historical events occurred in the region?
Are records kept at the town, county, or state level?
In what year(s) did documentation of vital records begin?
Cemetery Records
When were cemeteries established?
What documentation exists?
Are the markers photographed?
Are transcriptions of the markers available?
Are there listings of burials for which no markers exist?
Maps
Maps are an essential component of your research locality guide.
Which towns border your subject town?
What bodies of water exist in the region?
Did the town or county borders change over time?
Did one town split from another?
Did two towns merge?
How did changes in town or county boundaries impact where records are kept?
In addition to town boundaries, detailed maps may also contain facts about the county. This image depicts detail from an 1854 map of Hampshire County, Massachusetts and lists the population of each town within the county. Information like this can be very helpful, especially for years between federal census years.
Some maps may give additional information like a listing of agricultural crops grown in the county or a listing of schools and colleges.
The names of the landowners may be indicated on the town detail. Information like this would be extremely helpful to genealogists trying to locate homes owned by their ancestors.
Local businesses may be listed or illustrated on the map.
Town and County Histories
Many researchers discount the historical value of town and county histories as they contain information that is largely unsourced. These books were typically published in the early 20th century when an interest in town origins and colonial settlers were a popular subject of study. While unsourced, these books often contain information on topics that are rarely found in other sources. Many town histories also include genealogies of the founding settlers of the town.
For example, this chapter in a book entitled A History of Hatfield, Massachusetts [2] contains many topics of great value to historians and genealogists, such as:
life of Hatfield pioneers
class distinctions
fines for extravagance in apparel
home industries
farm work and crops
social gatherings
marriage customs
funerals
drinking habits
A better understanding of the customs typically followed in the locality in which our ancestors lived will give us a better understanding of what records may have documented their life events.
Where do I find information for my research locality guide?
The first place to look for information is the "FamilySearch Research Wiki."[3] The goal is to create a handy reference guide for yourself - not to recreate the wheel. If the information you seek appears in the wiki, you can copy those links directly in to your guide. Other great sources to find information would be the card catalogs of major online repositories, such as:
American Ancestors
Ancestry
Digital Commonwealth, Massachusetts Collections Online
FamilySearch
Library of Congress
National Archives
When assembling your research locality guide, you can include as much detail as you wish. As it can be a little daunting to create your first locality guide, you may wish to set a time limit for yourself. This is a document that can grow with your research. As you find more resources, you can add them to your existing document. Once you have a good template for a locality, you can use the template for similar localities. For example, in a locality guide created for Hatfield, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, if you remove the information specific to Hatfield you now have a Hampshire County guide. If you remove the Hampshire County information, you now have a Massachusetts guide. So, you essentially have three locality guides after creating a guide at the town level.
Summary
A research locality guide is an important component of your research toolbox.
creating a locality guide will help you better understand the geographic region in which your ancestor lived
having an understanding of the types of records available for your geographic region will assist in creating a research plan for your project
knowing specifically what records are extant in the region will improve your research efficiency and reduce the probability of negative search results
the next time you research in the same locality, you can quickly start the project as much of general background research would have been completed
Before you start your next research project, consider creating a research locality guide.
For More Information
A completed research locality guide for Hatfield, Hampshire County, Massachusetts is attached to this post. You may use or adapt this guide for your personal research use only.
These podcasts from Family Locket® explain step-by-step how to conduct locality research and create a locality research guide:
"RLP 4: Locality Research Part 1," Diana Elder, AG® and Nicole Dyer, hosts, Research Like a Pro Genealogy Podcast, 11 December 2018, YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf4z6eq5gAE : accessed 6 March 2021).
"RLP 5: Locality Research Part 2," Diana Elder, AG® and Nicole Dyer, hosts, Research Like a Pro Genealogy Podcast, 11 December 2018, YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIBER5NMI1E : accessed 6 March 2021).
"RLP 18: How to Create a Locality Guide," Diana Elder, AG® and Nicole Dyer, hosts, Research Like a Pro Genealogy Podcast, 12 November 2018, Family Locket (https://familylocket.com/rlp-18-how-to-create-a-locality-guide/ : accessed 9 March 2021).
"RLP 115: Revisiting Locality Research," Diana Elder, AG® and Nicole Dyer, hosts, Research Like a Pro Genealogy Podcast, 21 September 2020, Family Locket (https://familylocket.com/rlp-115-revisiting-locality-research/ : accessed 6 March 2021).
The podcasts from Family Locket® are based on methodologies outlined in the book Research Like a Pro: A Genealogist's Guide, cited below.
Image Sources
Map Excerpts: Wm.[William] J. Barker, Map of Hampshire County, Massachusetts (Philadelphia: James D. Scott & Owen McLeran, 1854); Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3763h.la002020/ : Accessed 8 March 2021).
Hatfield Burial Ground: Daniel White Wells, Reuben Field Wells, A history of Hatfield, Massachusetts, in three parts (Springfield, Massachusetts: F.C.H. Gibbons, 1910); Google Books (https://books.google.com/ : accessed 9 March 2021), 62.
Manners and Customs: Daniel White Wells, Reuben Field Wells, A history of Hatfield, Massachusetts, in three parts (Springfield, Massachusetts: F.C.H. Gibbons, 1910); Google Books (https://books.google.com/ : accessed 9 March 2021), 139.
Sources
[1] Diana Elder, AG, Nicole Dyer, Research Like a Pro: A Genealogist's Guide, Kindle edition (Highland, Utah: Family Locket Books, 2018), Chapter 3, Appendix A.
[2] Daniel White Wells, Reuben Field Wells, A history of Hatfield, Massachusetts, in three parts (Springfield, Massachusetts: F.C.H. Gibbons, 1910); Google Books (https://books.google.com/ : accessed 9 March 2021), 139.
[3] "FamilySearch Research Wiki : A Genealogy Resource Guide," FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Main_Page : accessed 6 March 2021).
Copyright 2021 Debora Ellen Blodgett