If you find your ancestor in a record, it may pay off to check the surrounding records too.
Examples:
- Browsing the surrounding birth or baptismal records may show if your ancestor was a twin or triplet
- Browsing the previous and next civil registration or notarial records may show if they had the same witnesses, which suggests they were witnesses of convenience rather than people who had a personal connection to the parties.
- Checking the previous and next notarial records may show if a spouse made a will on the same day, or if multiple men entered into work contracts together.
- Checking who else became a church member on the same day may reveal family members or other people who migrated to the town at the same time.
- Browsing the previous and next sentences in court records may show accomplices to your ancestors’ crimes.
Thief at a marketplace, 1685. Credits: Jan Luyken, collection Rijksmuseum (public domain)
About Yvette Hoitink
I have found other family members being baptized on the same day by browsing the adjoining entries in the parish register 🙂