Checking Out the Last Known Address

Now you’ve found it: your ancestor’s last known address. But what do you do with this information? After all the work you did locating the ancestor’s death records, perhaps through the Social Security Death Index or some alternative way, now you have this new information but aren’t sure what clues it can provide.

In the days before computers, the last known address would have meant a trip, perhaps coast-to-coast by train or car. Now, with the simple click of a mouse, you can not only travel to the address, you can find out what has been on the property in just about any year- like a business or boarding house or private residence. Even the names of neighbors taken during the census or by town clerks are available online.

Was it a very distant ancestor or one simply a generation away? A lot of what you will do with the last known address is determined by the length of time that has passed, but no matter if it is one year or five hundred years, the address is a very important piece of information to have.

If it is simply a generation or two away, there may be old-timers in the area who remember the person. There may be school records; church records; military records; any number of things available right in that town’s record room. And, if it is a very distant ancestor, there are still property deeds, wills, perhaps burial plots and other official records in the recorded town or towns nearby.

There is a good possibility some of your relatives (you probably don’t know exist) live in the area surrounding the discovery of an ancestor. Long distance information, which was once provided town-by-town, is now as easy as dialing 411 in the U.S. and many systems abroad.

Online telephone directories; maps; local newspapers; chambers of commerce; fraternal organizations- any of which may have been a part of your ancestor’s life – are now all within reach by computer, telephone and other quick communication devices.

Because of these and other new inventions that have together made the world a much smaller place, finding the last known address of an ancestor during a genealogy search may yield priceless information from people whose lives – or whose ancestors’ lives – are in some way directly connected to yours.

Whether your ancestor’s last known address turns up a paper trail of documentation or actual people with whom you can swap stories and information – getting that address in hand is a wealth of knowledge just waiting to be mined