Have you checked your ancestor’s school records? 🏫

Published about 2 months ago • 1 min read

Hi, Reader,

Where I live, “back to school” is a little complicated.

We have traditional-calendar schools, year-round schools, modified year-round schools…basically, somebody is always going back to school.

But August still feels like back-to-school season.

And for genealogists, it’s a good reminder to ask a question we often overlook:

What records did our ancestors leave behind when they went to school?

School records can be surprisingly useful especially when you’re trying to place a family in a particular place and time or fill in the gaps between the records we usually rely on.

Depending on the time and place, you might find:

a child’s name and age
a parent or guardian
siblings attending the same school
addresses or school districts
a parent’s occupation
attendance information
clues that help track a family’s movements

In some places, you can even find school census records that function a bit like the population census records we use all the time.

I pulled together some of my favorite ways to use these records here:

→ Getting Started with School Records for Genealogy Research

Prefer to watch?

I also have a video on the topic over on my YouTube channel:

→ School Records: The Family History Resource You’re Ignoring

And don’t forget the yearbook.

Yearbooks can take you beyond names and dates.

You may find photographs, clubs, sports teams, classmates, handwritten inscriptions, and those little details that help you see your ancestor as a person rather than another name on the family tree.

→ Finding Your Ancestor’s Stories in Yearbooks

So while everyone else is thinking about backpacks, school supplies and first-day photos, genealogists and family historians have another reason to think about back-to-school season.

Go find out whether your ancestors left any school records behind.

Happy researching,
Lisa

P.S. School records are just one example of the records I turn to when the usual census and vital-record searches aren’t getting me anywhere. Here are 5 overlooked records that can help solve genealogy brick walls.

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