It's time for this week's Ancestry Quick Tip Jamboree! Thanks to everyone who has sent in a Quick Tip. Please keep them coming so that we can keep this tradition going. You can send your tips to ADNeditor@ancestry.com

Quick Tips may be reprinted, with credit to the submitter, in other Ancestry publications, so if you do not want your tip included in a publication other than the Ancestry Daily News and Ancestry Weekly Digest, please state so clearly in your message. Have a great day!

Juliana

Finding My Father

I never knew my father, just his name and his mother's name, but that enabled me to find his obituary. I started with the SSDI and saw the last place of benefits--fortunately, he had someone to put a claim in! I then went on MapQuest and located the list of funeral homes in that city and started down the list calling to see if they had records. I hit pay-dirt with the second call. The funeral home manager was wonderful enough to call me back after going through records to say that he had found that file. We talked and confirmed this was my father, and he agreed to send me a copy of all that was in the file: death certificate, funeral card, and obituary!

I have since found &and met cousins and a sister that I had not a clue about until reading his obituary.

Thank you Ancestry!

Freddi Johnson

More on Recording Census Locations

In addition to notating year, state, area of the census record, I also note the Ancestry Image # of # as well as the date the census was taken. By doing this, I have easily gone back to the exact page if I wanted to see some other detail missed on the printout and by using the date the information was actually taken, I have narrowed down the birth date information on several family members.

Srenda Scott

CensusTools.com

Are you aware of the Excel spreadsheet checklists at CensusTools.com (http://censustools.com)? Excellent work and "free" downloads. Donations are accepted to support the site.

Ruth

Fresno, CA