Tuesday’s Tip: Explore those Ancestry hints

I had no focus last night but I still wanted to work on my Still family. While exploring various hints on Ancestry.com, I came across one for Agnes Armstrong Still. She was the wife of my 4x great grandfather’s brother David. Her hints however took me to a Civil War soldier who fought in the Colored Troops.

Her first hint took me to the Romansville United Methodist Church in Chester County (on Find A Grave) where I knew her to be buried. She died in 1860. Her husband – my 4x great uncle David Still – remarried and lived until 1907. That led me to a hint from the Gerberich Collection which confirmed her burial on 24 February 1860 at Romansville.

The Gerberich Collection is a collection of old Pennsylvania church records. She was included under the Romansville Methodist Episcopal Church. I still need to confirm if these are two separate churches or if there was a name/denomination change at some point during the years. Her entry notes that Agnes Still was the wife of David. She was 41 and was buried on 24 February 1860. She is one of only two Stills included.

The other is Osborn Still. His undated entry reads “Co. C, 22 U.S.C.T.” USCT stands for United States Colored Troops. I have never seen that combination of letters together for anything else and since it also notes his company, I have no reason to think it means anything other.

So then who is Osborn? And is he related?

I will see what I can dig up on him for next Monday’s Military Monday post. In the meantime, today’s hint is simply … explore those Ancestry hints and see where it takes you.

I personally print out or bookmark or transcribe information like this find so that I can come back and follow the breadcrumb at a later time. It may not lead anywhere or it may open doors I never imagined existed.

Have YOU followed a hint and ended up in a different direction? What did YOU find?

Tuesday’s Tip is a genealogical prompt of GeneaBloggers.

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