These tools used to be a regular part of my genealogy arsenal. Unfortunately, my usage has been rare since returning to my genealogy research. However, I'm finding that even though these tools don't provide much interaction, they do contain a wealth of information. And I'm just 'stumbling' across it.
I recently did a simple Google search for 'Whitley genealogy Miller' in hopes of locating a family history. Granted this wasn't a well defined search and I didn't find exactly what I was looking for. However, I did find a major hint about Elizabeth Whitley Miller in an old message posted on Genealogy.com.
Since this message was dated from 2000, it is possible that the researcher is no longer active. When I searched Ancestry's Member Directory for the author, I did not find a likely match. However, when I used the Advanced Search feature for the Message Boards on Ancestry, I came up with two messages from 1998 and 2002 for the author. When I clicked on her name, I discovered that the member name is her initials and that she was logged in TODAY. Thus, I was able to send a message via Ancestry. There is no guarantee that the author on the forum on Genealogy.com is the same person as the author on Ancestry's message boards -- but I can hope that I've made a connection.
The message in the forum is just a clue -- a clue that Elizabeth Whitley Miller married Humphrey Best. Since the information about the family moving to Missouri fits with other information I've found on the grandchildren of Elizabeth, I followed that lead and found a marriage record for Elizabeth Miller and Humphrey Best in Clay County, Missouri, dated 2 Dec 1832.
Is the Elizabeth Miller who married Humphrey Best in Clay County, the widow of Jacob Miller. At this point, I don't know. However, I doubt I would have found the marriage record without the clue from the message board!
Since I haven't actively used Ancestry Message Boards in a while, I'm going to check out this video by Crista Cowen for hints on their usage.
If you haven't recently used these tools, I encourage you to re-discover the information buried in these resources.
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