Last year I went to the funeral of a cousin in Kentucky's Knob country. It was good to recall the soft, sweet sounds of conversation I knew half century ago. And I came away understanding why family members wrote one great-grandmother's name as Courtney Spencer, while documents dictated by my unschooled relatives cite the name as "Cotney." And I realized why I had so much difficulty finding the family of another great grandmother. Her name was Angeline Orr, not the phonetic "Arrow" listed by the clerk in 1860.

Sometimes there is no better resource than the spoken word.

Thanks to David Baker of Owensboro, Kentucky, for today's Quick Tip! If you have a tip you would like to share with researchers, you can send it to ADNeditor@ancestry.com.

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