Genealogical Breadcrumbs: How to Follow the Right Path

Our ancestors left us clues in the documents they created to help us with our genealogical research. You just need to follow the “genealogical breadcrumbs” to discover that next elusive generation.

However, sometimes the path they left is not so clear, and we can be deceived into jumping down rabbit holes of distracting, irrelevant, but alluring information about someone else’s ancestor.

To avoid these traps, I present a four-part strategy for analyzing the breadcrumbs left in genealogical records (see image below). To demonstrate the strategy’s utility, I contextualize it through a case study whose trail to a new generation will simply amaze you.

Breadcrumb Trail Research Strategy
While the Breadcrumb Trail Research Strategy is effective for any document, it is especially designed for census records, which are loaded with clues leading to other rich documents collectively capable of breaking down brick walls.

Often, we find an ancestor or a person of interest as an adult in a census record but cannot identify his or her parents. Although we may be tempted to search for this individual in earlier censuses, it may not be the most efficient way to accomplish the task. Without additional knowledge linking our person to another time, place, or other people, we’re more likely to be led down rabbit holes of misattributed parentage.

Permit me an additional metaphor also tied to the analogy of breadcrumbs. Like loaves of bread, we don’t (or shouldn’t) take a slice from its middle even though it’s tempting to take that larger, perfectly shaped middle slice rather than the one right behind the endpiece. Instead, we should be methodical about it or we will later end up with two slices of bread that don’t quite fit together when making a sandwich.

The first step in the Breadcrumb Trail Research Strategy is to fully evaluate the record and identify all its clues both explicitly stated and implied (see the figure below). In a census record, this may include family relationships, place of birth, year of birth, residence, immigration status, and so on. Based on available information in the record, create a list of other documents that might exist to corroborate or provide additional detail for the observations. For example, if our person of interest is married with children, then marriage and birth records for these individuals might provide additional clues to help you later and more confidentially go back an additional generation.

As part of the first step, it’s also important to understand who might have been the informant for the record and even what was likely their motive and/or ability to provide accurate information. Not taking this into account can send one down yet another rabbit hole chasing irrelevant or inaccurate facts about someone else.

The second step is to take the list of possible documents from step one and prioritize those most likely to help you with your research question. Priority should be given to documents easily located online, not behind costly paywalls, and/or ordered from a courthouse or archive with a relatively quick turnaround.

Only after the documents directly tied to the person of interest are gathered, should documents pertaining to the individual’s children or spouse be gathered. In step three, reverse genealogy can be used to locate additionally helpful records. The assumption here is that if the census record indicates or suggests a parent-child relationship, then searching for their children forward through time may be helpful in producing additional documents where the person of interest is mentioned. While our person of interest may not be mentioned in a child’s document, a stated fact such as a birth location my tie our person to another location to research. Rabbit holes are less likely to be encountered through reverse genealogy because relationships are specified on the original census record whereas parental relationships are often missing.

Traditional genealogy should only be attempted as the last step. Blindly searching through earlier census records hoping to find your person of interest with his or her parents can often result in inefficient searching, i.e., rabbit holes, unless armed with additional information gained through the first three steps such as more precise birth location information. This is especially true when researching individuals with common names or solely relying on age and unspecific birth locations to find them. In my experience, age and birth location in census records are often entirely inaccurate or inconsistent at best because the informant may not have accurate information. This information is better viewed as a possible clue, not an absolute fact.

Breadcrumb Trail Case Study
From my own research, I now present a case study into an individual named John McMasters, for whom other researchers had only located him in the 1900 census where it stated he was born 1850 in Delaware. I was interested in finding out who his parents were so I could connect him into my cousin’s family tree and help him with his research.

Spoiler alert…had I blindly searched for John McMasters in earlier censuses, I never would have found him nor identified his parents, which were my cousin’s 3x great grandparents. The image below summarizes how, in a matter of days, I followed the breadcrumb trail and solved the mystery. You won’t believe the clues, nor the variety of sources used to quickly and efficiently make the discovery. Follow the breadcrumb trail by reading on crumb by crumb.

Crumb 1. While working on my cousin’s McMasters line, I came across an interesting autosomal DNA match, which had McMasters ancestry from the Philadelphia area the same as my cousin. The match was also part of a genetic network of other known McMasters cousins,[1] but I could not connect the match’s McMasters family into my cousin’s tree.

Crumb 2. The DNA match’s earliest known ancestor as identified in the match’s tree was John McMasters, who was only found in the 1900 census, which recorded him as being born July 1850 in Delaware (see below). The 1900 census indicated that John McMasters was a cooper (barrel maker) and resided in Haddon Township, Camden County, New Jersey with his wife, Sarah, and six children.[2]

Crumb 3. Searching Newspapers.com for any mention of John McMasters in Camden County found an article indicating he died in a train accident on 5 August 1907, but it offered no other genealogically relevant information.[3] Making a broader search for this time frame found his death notice in a Philadelphia newspaper where his wife Sarah was mentioned providing initial corroborating evidence that I had the right person.[4] New Jersey death records are not available online, so I ordered it from the New Jersey State Archives.

Knowing the death record would take some time to arrive, I opted for a parallel-path research strategy (see earlier breadcrumb trail image for John McMasters). A parallel-path research strategy in this context entails ordering the death record while continuing the search using breadcrumbs knowing that the two paths would later converge enriching the ultimate outcome.

Crumb 4. I next consulted Findagrave.com. The only John McMasters found with a 1907 death date was in Fernwood Cemetery in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, which is just outside of Philadelphia.[5] Findagrave contained a photo of his headstone (see below). John’s birth year was similar to that found in the 1900 census. However, in addition to John, four other names were listed on the headstone.

Consulting the family tree of the DNA match suggested John’s wife in the 1900 census was Sarah H. Bowden. Finding Sarah H. Bowden in the 1880 census then suggested that two of the individuals on the headstone were related to Sarah.[6] In particular, Sarah E. Bowden was her mother, and Philipine Burroughs was her sister. Florence Swank appeared to be John’s daughter, Florence, as found in the 1900 census. The fourth name was for Elmira McMasters, whose identity was unknown, but her surname could not be ignored.

Crumb 5. With the additional evidence that John’s wife in the 1900 census might be Sarah H. Bowden, I went to FamilySearch.org to search for a marriage record. The located marriage record indicated they were married on 15 January 1881 in Philadelphia.[7] John’s age and birth location stated on the record indicated he was born about 1841, which contradicted the 1900 census. However, Sarah’s stated age and birth location on the record matched the 1900 census suggesting she might have been the informant in the 1900 census. John’s occupation was listed as a cooper, which was consistent with the 1900 census.

Realizing that John may have been from Philadelphia, I expanded a marriage search for both John McMasters and Elmira McMasters separately. I did not find anything for Elmira, but I did find an 18 August 1867 marriage record for John McMasters and Ellen Stackhouse (see below).[8] John was recorded as being born about 1839 in Philadelphia and was a cooper, which was consistent with John’s earlier marriage to Sarah H. Bowden. Ellen was shown to be born about 1849 in Philadelphia. Ellen’s age matched Elmira’s age on the headstone.

Crumb 6. Believing that Ellen or Elmira might be important to the breadcrumb trail, another query within FamilySearch discovered the 4 September 1878 death record for Elmira McMasters, whose information matched the headstone.[9] The record indicated she was born in Philadelphia about 1849 and resided at 50^th and Merion Avenue in Philadelphia. The birth year and birth location matched the marriage record for Ellen Stackhouse.

Crumb 7. Elmira’s address on the death record presented an opportunity to search city directories on Fold3.com for a McMasters sharing the same address. Elmira died in 1878, but no McMasters were found near that address for 1878. However, in 1876, there was a John McMasters who resided at Merion Avenue and N. 51^st, which is a block from 50^th and Merion.[10] The entry lists his occupation as a cooper, which matched the marriage record for both Ellen Stackhouse and Sarah H. Bowden.

Additional searches for John McMasters within the city directories both forward and backward from 1876 found the following entries.[11]

All addresses are within the same block and may be the same location (see map below). Addresses at this time were not consistently used by the city nor directory publishers.[12] The different occupations for this John McMasters required further investigation.

The last entry for John McMasters in this area of Philadelphia, as either a fireman or a cooper, was in 1882. According to the 1900 census presented earlier, John’s son John was born about 1881 in Pennsylvania and his son William was born about 1884 in New Jersey. His absence in city directories after 1882 is consistent with the birth location timelines for his children. Additional information was needed to sort out the fireman versus cooper occupation.

Crumb 8. Realizing that a fireman is a unique job and often written about in historical documents, Google Books were searched for the keywords “John McMasters”, “fireman”, and “Philadelphia”. The search produced several Philadelphia City documents listing the appointment and reappointment of John McMasters as a fireman in Engine Company No. 16 near 51^st and Lancaster. He is listed as a hoseman and a cooper. His age is given suggesting he was born about 1838. One of the documents from 1872 is shown below.[13]

Genealogical Treasure Chest
The genealogical breadcrumb trail had concluded, and several rabbit holes were adverted. The conclusion is that the John McMasters in the 1900 census was not born July 1850 in Delaware but rather about 1840 in Philadelphia. While several documents suggested John was born anytime from 1838 to 1841, I resolved to indicate his birth year as about 1840 as this was the average year across all documents. An additional conclusion is that Elmira (Ellen) Stackhouse was his first wife, and Sarah H. Bowden his last wife.

Following the breadcrumbs took a good part of two days, but it was 10 days later that the death record for John McMasters arrived.[14] John’s age here was consistent with the 1900 census, which is not surprising given that his wife Sarah was likely the informant in both instances. The death record listed his birth location as the U.S., which bemoans the point that Sarah was not likely sure of his birth specifics. It stated he had resided in New Jersey for 25 years, which coincided with his last entry in the Philadelphia city directory in 1882. As a bonus, John’s parents in the record were listed as John and Martha McMasters.

This is where the breadcrumbs came together as the original piece of bread John McMasters used to create his trail. My cousin, whose DNA matches led me to John McMasters (1840-1907), descends from John Wesley McMasters (1816-1861), who resided in Philadelphia. John Wesley McMasters is my cousin’s 3x great grandfather, and John Wesley McMasters had five children who reached adulthood: Harriet, John, Sarah A., Francis, and Daniel. My cousin descends Daniel McMasters.

Also helpful in putting together the breadcrumb trail was that I had previously identified a series of records in Philadelphia from 1876 to 1878. In these records, John Wesley McMasters’ children, who were alive at this time, sold their share of his father’s estate to a cousin in four separate transactions.[15] In the document where Francis McMasters sold his share, it listed John’s children as “John, Sarah A., Francis, and Daniel”, which appeared to have been listed in birth order. Harriet was not listed and is presumed dead.

Based on other research, I knew that Harriet, Francis, and Daniel McMasters were born in 1838, 1844, and 1845 in Pennsylvania, respectively.[16] Sarah’s whereabouts are still unknown. John McMasters, who was born about 1840 fits quite well within this family, and DNA evidence now supports it. In fact, descendants of Daniel and Francis were part of the same genetic network introduced at the outset of this post (crumb 1).

• Harriet McMasters (1838-?)
• John McMasters (1840-1907)
• Sarah A. McMasters
• Francis McMasters (1844-1918)
• Daniel McMasters (1845-?)

Conclusion
There are a couple key points to be taken away. First, the Breadcrumb Trail Research Strategy provides a methodology to efficiently investigate a person of interest in a census (or other records). In fact, by not rushing into ascendancy research without more facts can avoid many of the rabbit holes preventing us from solving our biggest family research questions. Sometimes to move your tree backwards, you must move it forward or at least learn more about the people you already know. Hindsight in genealogy is only 20/20 when you better understand your ancestor within the documents you already have.

Second, listing out and then prioritizing the breadcrumb clues in a document takes time, but it can save time and avoid rabbit holes in the long run. I prioritized online records first – those found on Ancestry, FamilySearch, Fold3, Findagrave, Google Books, and Newspapers.com – but also sent away for the death record to maximize my wait time. The cost of the death record was nominal and worth the time savings associated with the parallel-path research strategy. While access to Google Books, FamilySearch and Findagrave are free, the other databases are not. However, local libraries and Family History Centers often provide free access.

Finally, to best see your ancestor’s breadcrumb trail, keep reading and rereading the documents you already have. With each review, you’ll discover something new that you previously overlooked or you’ll generate new questions leading you to search for other documents not previously considered.

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Sources
[1] Genetic networks are a group of matches that the test taker shares with another match where most of the shared matches in the group have a common ancestor. Within DNA databases, they are identified via a Shared Matches (Ancestry) or In Common With (FamilyTreeDNA) filter.
[2] 1900 U.S. census, Camden County, New Jersey, population schedule, Hadden, John McMasters, p. 12, image 24 of 42; database with image, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com, accessed 15 May 2024); NARA roll 98.
[3] Courier-Post (1907, Aug. 6). Flyer Kills R.R. Employee: John McMasters, of Westmont, Meets Death at West Haddonfield. Camden, NJ, p. 9.
[4] The Philadelphia Inquirer (1907, Aug. 7). Died. McMasters. Philadelphia, PA, p. 7.
[5] Find A Grave, database with images (https://findagrave.com, accessed 15 May 2024), memorial page for John McMasters (1849-1907) memorial ID 137829297, maintained by Ron West (contributor 47389384); citing Fernwood Cemetery, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, USA.
[6] 1880 U.S. census, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Philadelphia, p. 480d image 4 of 25, Sarah E. Bowden; database with image, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com, accessed 15 May 2024); NARA microfilm publication T9, roll 1183.
[7] City of Philadelphia, marriage returns, John McMasters and Sarah H. Bowden (1881); database, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org, accessed 15 May 2024), film 1769067.
[8] City of Philadelphia, marriage returns, John McMasters and Ellen Stackhouse (1867); database with an image, image 120 of 1273, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org, accessed 15 May 2024), film 7609030.
[9] City of Philadelphia, death certificates, Elmira McMasters (1878), p. 44; database with an image, image 295 of 433, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org, accessed 15 May 2024), film 4000969.
[10] City Directories for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, John McMasters (1876), p. 1,000, James Gopsill Publishers; database with image, Fold3 (www.fold3.com, accessed 15 May 2024).
[11] City Directories for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, John McMasters (1873), p. 883, James Gopsill Publishers; database with image, Fold3 (www.fold3.com, accessed 15 May 2024). And City Directories for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, John McMasters (1874), p. 886, James Gopsill Publishers; database with image, Fold3 (www.fold3.com, accessed 15 May 2024). And City Directories for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, John McMasters (1880), p. 1,118, James Gopsill Publishers; database with image, Fold3 (www.fold3.com, accessed 15 May 2024). And City Directories for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, John McMasters (1882), p. 1,027, James Gopsill Publishers; database with image, Fold3 (www.fold3.com, accessed 15 May 2024).
[12] Williams, A.V. (1913). The Development and Growth of City Directories. Cincinnati, OH: The Williams Directory Co. Printers.
[13] City of Philadelphia (1872). Journal of Common Council of the City of Philadelphia for the Year 1872, volume 1 with Appendix. Philadelphia, PA: King & Baird Printers, p. 353.
[14] New Jersey, Bureau of Vital Statistics, certificate and record of death, John McMasters (1907, Aug. 5), Westmont, Camden County.
[15] Recorder of Deeds, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, land deed, Daniel McMasters to Varnum A. Dunbar (1876), book DHL 41, p. 527-529; database with an image (www.familysearch.org), image 158-159 of 176, film 8089054. And Recorder of Deeds, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, land deed, Francis McMasters to Neal F. Campbell (1877), book DHL 115, p. 243-247; database with an image (www.familysearch.org), image 57-59 of 217, film 8089083. And Recorder of Deeds, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, land deed, Sarah A. McMasters to Neal F. Campbell and Sarah H. King (1876), book DHL 117, p. 394-397; database with an image (www.familysearch.org), image 9-10 of 93, film 8089084. And Recorder of Deeds, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, land deed, John McMasters to Neal F. Campbell and Henry T. King (1878), book DHL 198, p. 40-42; database with an image (www.familysearch.org), image 22-23 of 222, film 8089753.
[16] 1850 U.S. census, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Philadelphia (Pine Ward), p. 298a, image 63 of 157, Harriet McMasters in Ann McMasters household; database with image, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com, accessed 16 May 2024); NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 813. And 1870 U.S. census, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Philadelphia (Ward 24, District 80, West Philadelphia), p. 542a, image 111 of 183, Daniel McMaster in John Kinkade household; database with image, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com, accessed 16 May 2024); NARA microfilm publication M93, roll 1411. And Pension Application, Charles Ramsey alias Frank McMasters, Private, Civil War, Pension Application Certificate 848.331 and Widow’s Application Certificate 886.093 (Isabella Ramsey), dated 2 May 1908, Pension Office, War Department, Washington, DC; National Archives, form 85D full pension file.

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Acknowledgment: The image used within the header at the top of the blog post was created using Microsoft’s Copilot AI-powered assistant (DALL-E 3) and added to the title slide. AI tools were not used to generate the blog’s intellectual content or provide writing assistance. The post was authored solely by me.

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