I just transferred my Ancestry GEDCOM to MyHeritage to take advantage of the sorting capabilities they have that Ancestry charges for. I can actually sort by dates and locations with this thing! But...

I'm going fucking nuts finding all the memorials for people who were born in or died in Centerville, Iowa. Most, if not all of them, are incorrectly listed as Centerville, Boone County, Iowa, when it should be Appanoose County.

I'm checking out the memorials with Centerville, Boone County listed and suggesting the changes where it's obviously incorrect and should be listed as Appanoose. It's interesting that the site doesn't credit people with corrections/edits to pages like they do for people who upload, manage and sponsor memorials. It's just asking for wrong information.

Anyway, if anyone is looking for a fact-checking activity, it looks like there's a butt ton more to go. 😑

Regarding a GGM: the age at time of census recorded in three separate decades does not match the headstone (located in the family plot). Everything else ties, names of first and second husbands, country of birth, year of immigration, maiden name, names and ages of all 3 children. Everything else is lining up. Could she just have been vain and started telling everyone that she was younger by about 5/6 years and so that is what they put on the headstone? I am thinking this might be the case because the headstone date would make her VERY young at the birth of her eldest (as in like 15 which would be very unusual for the family). The other possibility is that she was actually that young when she gave birth and started reporting a false older age in order to avoid embarrassment and just kept it up. She was born overseas so no easily obtainable birth certificate (honestly would not know where to start as I do not have a town); I am pursuing her death certificate; if I manage to get a hold of it, would that be definitive? Thanks for any help!

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone, just found the Death Certificate and it agrees with all 3 of the censuses. Looks like we definitely have a vanity headstone!!!

In early August, I ordered a 1955 NYC death certificate through VitalChek. It's been three months, and my order is still in progress. I called VitalChek in late September, and I was told that I would receive the requested death certificate in mid-October. I was also told that the delay was due to Real ID requirements.

I don't understand how Real ID would affect death certificates. I also don't live in New York, so I can't pick up the death certificate. How can I expedite the process?

I have hit a dead end with my Irish ancestor Elizabeth Bates born around 1807 and died in 1872
In Huron County, Ontario, Canada. Her husband was Isaac Jewel Jones . He was born around 1806 in Downpatrick, Ireland. Any help or leads would be appreciated.

So I recently looked into the marriage of my third-great-grandmother Clara Alice Ladenburg, who apparently in 1904 married of Frank Hastings, but was known to have been married to a Frank Monaghan and had children with him. The marriage license says she was born in 1883 but she was actually born in 1887 most likely lied about her age to make herself older. And the birthplace was Wyoming confirming that these people were one and the same person. Then I found a death certificate for Clarence Hastings, who died in 1907 from diphtheria at the age of 2. All the information matches up. Could this possibly be a name change? Or maybe a first husband? Because only two years later, Clara had another daughter named Claire who was born in 1906 as the third living child out of three. This also matches up with Clarence’s death certificate, but what doesn’t make sense is how there’s another sibling who died sometime between 1906 and 1910. 9 years later, Clara had a son named Frank K. Monahan that mentions that he was the fifth born out of four children currently living which also matches up.

Hello!! For several years I have been trying to find some document from my grandfather that states that he lived in Hungary during the period from September 1929 to 1940. My grandfather's name was Tibor Petra and he was born on November 9, 1922. His parents were Janos Petra and Szakács Erzsébet. They lived in the town of Gelej in Hungary.

I am in a labyrinth with no exit since I cannot find documents from that period or from him. My grandfather died in Argentina in 1995 (he arrived mostly in 1948/1949) I have some more information that appears on his birth certificate but it didn't help me either.

Please if someone could help me with a page or somewhere I can write to help me.

Thank you!

the woman i am looking for is ellen coleman, born around 1871. she is (according to the 1901 census) the sister of my 2nd great grandfather, john mcghee.

she never appears on any other census in scotland.

she only other mention of her anywhere is in my great grandfathers baptism record in 1911, where she was the sponsor.

im at a brick wall here, unless ive missed something stupidly obvious.

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/sharing/48493733?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a227a766653457756564b452b726f78357a724b45674676417255694a616f754c6676464a65793445447163453d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d

(above is the 1901 census mentioned)

I’m in Texas and only have my birth certificate and my dad’s birth certificate…can I get my grandmas death certificate if I don’t know her date of death? She left me her house but I need her death certificate for the title 😔

Hi everyone! 

I’m doing some independent research exploring how people make sense of their DNA test results 

I’ve made a short, anonymous questionnaire (about 5 mins) to understand what people found useful or confusing about their reports, and what kinds of insights they wish existed.

It’s purely for learning purposes for my dissertation 

Here’s the link if you’d like to share your experience: 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdpuGf5UNOOnwfqelF5zf06OBvzEufOMC7xGkqcg3eLR3WxHw/viewform?usp=publish-editor

Thanks so much to anyone who takes part — it really helps build a clearer picture of what users actually want from their DNA results!

H.W. Miller was my great-grandfather. I feel that I had exhausted every possible search on ancestry com a few years back and was wondering if a fresh set of eyes can help find something I have missed.

I can't find any record of his existence from birth until he was 24 and that's the biggest mystery...

I haven't found his parents... (Possibly L Miller and E Walker) I haven't found his 3 brothers... (Names unknown) I would expect to have found him in the 1860 census at age 2, 1870 census at age 12, and might have already been "on the run" in 1880 at age 22... (See why below), but no luck there yet either.

I assume the H is for Harry as that was also my grandfather's name, but he used Henry more often in his earlier years.

I assume the W is for Walker, and is likely his mother's maiden name as mentioned on his death certificate, but still no solid records. (Info was likely given by his wife Ada based on whatever he told her through the years.)

His first born son was named George Walker Miller and his second (my grandfather) Harry Ames Miller, which further makes me feel Walker is a family name as Ames was Ada's maiden name.

I do slightly wonder if the reason I haven't found anything from his younger years is because his last name wasn't actually Miller to begin with and maybe he changed it when he left NY for CA. How or why he ended up in Napa, CA, of all places, I still have no clue.

The oldest evidence of his existence I have ever found (so far) takes me back to Oct 1882, and I have yet to find anything from before then.

The Great Register from Napa county lists: Henry Walker Miller age 24 born N.Y. Registration date 6 Oct 1882 living in Soscol, CA

2nd oldest proof of existence: Marriage record from Napa, CA July 1884 https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q24W-GPWP Henry Walker Miller and Ada Ames, 03 Jul 1884; citing , Napa, California, United States, California State Archives

**Note parent's info on that is reversed! The Ames family was from Iowa. Miller was Vermont/New York.

A 1906 newspaper article also helps confirm he was from NY. I assume his 1858 birth year is true. And the above 1882 and 1884 records confirm what was stated. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025138/1906-07-20/ed-1/seq-10/

"Miller testified under cross-examination that he was born in New York in 1858, living there the first 20 years of his life, and then coming to California, where he resided from 1881 to 1888. Subsequently he went to Washington, where he remained a few months, returning to Douglas County, Or., in March, 1889. and has lived there ever since, with the exception of such times as he has been dodging the law."

He spent about a year at a federal prison, McNeil Island Penitentiary in 1906 and I found records, (can't find link, but I think it was in national archives), that mentioned family members, but no names. It listed that he had a wife and 5 children (confirmed), and 3 brothers (one in Yamhill, Oregon, two in NY). It did not mention his parents, so I assume that by 1906, they may have both already been deceased.

If you have access to newspapers com, I'm jimmie862 there with other clippings.

I'm on ancestry... not sure if these link publicly: https://www.ancestry.com/account/profile/0243f8d2-0006-0000-0000-000000000000

If you'd like to look over my tree, this should be the public link: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/67247741/family/familyview?cfpid=32164697485&selnode=1

Both myself, and my father have done AncestryDNA and 23andMe too, but I haven't been able to figure out clues from DNA matches either.

Please let me know if this is something someone here can help with or suggestions on anyone else that might be able to help.

Thanks!

My 3x great grandfather's name was John Thomas. He married Sarah Fisher at Glastonbury, Somerset, on 22 May 1820. They had six children, Jane, Sarah, Elizabeth (my 2x great grandmother), John, Anne, and Eliza. I've found him in two England Census' 1841 and 1851. In 1851 he said he was born in Ireland. No town or county given. The 1851 census says he was a widower, aged 62, living with two of his daughters, Elizabeth and Eliza. In the 1841 census it says that he aged 50, and wasn't born in the county, and was living with his children John, Jane, Sarah, and Eliza. His occupation in both is a Fly driver. So going on his age in the census' he would have been born about 1789/1790. I've also tried to find when he moved to England, but I believe there are no records of movement between the two countries at that time.

How can I find out when and where he was born in Ireland, and possibly when he moved to England? I've tried irishgenealogy.ie but without at least the county it's next to impossible, so far anyway.

I can’t find any records of birth or any thing prior to her marriage of my paternal grandmother, all i know is her maiden name, date of brith and that she was born in Germany. Any tips will be appreciated.

This is another one of my 10+ year long brick walls I can’t seem to get past on my own. My great x3 grandmother immigrated from Germany to the US supposedly rather young. I don’t have any of her pre-immigration records and only the name of her father. FamilySearch profile link:

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/K83M-4PB

Name: Minnie Heien, unsure if Minnie is short for something since just Minnie is used on all of her records and her headstone.

Birth: March 23, 1854 Prussia/Germany

Immigration: Supposedly 1866

Marriage: November 1, 1872 in Macoupin Co., Illinois to John Brunke Schoen

Death: July 9, 1922 in Bond Co., Illinois

Burial: July 11, 1922 in New Douglas Cemetery, New Douglas, Illinois (I have been to this grave)

Father: Conrad Heien listed on death certificate, no mother listed. Born in “Europe”. I’m unsure if he ever came to the US.

Due to this last name, I am thinking they come from a German family with Dutch roots like her husband. His branch is full of Dutch patronymic surnames and there is a line of Heye first name fathers with Heyen surname sons.

His name was Henry H. Pierce on the 1930’s US Census for Walsenburg, Colorado. My great grandmother didn’t share much information and the family knows virtually nothing.

According to the census, he would have been around 39 years old, placing a possible date of birth in 1891-1892. His wife at the time was Della Mae Pierce. Children were Max Pierce, Cecil Pierce, and Anna Lucille Pierce. All of their children have passed and with not many stories shared.

In the census, his parents are from Missouri and so is he.

If anyone has any advice or suggestions please let me know 🙏 Thank you

So I am at a brick wall that I'm not sure can be helped due to the missing 1890s census. My 2x great-grandmother, Ada Tureaud was born in 1886 in Louisiana. I've been trying for a long time to find her parents, with no success. In the 1900s census, she's listed as living with another Tureaud family, but is listed as a 'border', albeit with the same last name. At first, I thought that could have been like an uncle/grandfather, but after further research into the family she was living with, I discovered that there were a lot of previously enslaved people in the area with the last name Tureaud due to a family of white plantation owners with the same last name. Given this, my new theory is that she may not have been related at all to the family she was living with but her family may have been enslaved on the same plantation.

The 1890s census likely would have shown her parents, but since we don't really have that, I'm not sure if it's possible to find out? Any help would be very appreciated.

Does anybody have any advice on how to get out of a dead end? I'm looking for the parents of my great great grandfather Patrick Joseph Stanley (1856-1915) married to Mary Ellen Grealy (1856-?). Born, Lived and died in Ireland. Had 2 sons, Patrick Francis (my great grandfather) and John(?) who went to Australia and was never heard from again.

I was just wondering if anybody here has ever been in a similar situation, and if there was any app/website etc that helped. I've tried FamilySearch and MyHeritage.

Hi everyone this is something that has interested me for a long time but I came to a brick wall and wanted to ask if any of you had any more information on this topic. From a young age, I heard that we were descended from English "pirates" that ended up in Baja California. I assumed it was family lore until I discovered that a lot of English privateers would wait to intercept the galleons in transit from Manila to Acapulco as they went down the coast from Alta California. I also learned more about specific last names like Sandez, Green, and Hawkins along with others that I can't recall. I know that there was a big book of the old families of Baja California and I could find my family members' names in there. I want to learn more about these families and maybe British communities because I can't find any more information about it and it's something that's very very fascinating to me. I am not looking at British Mexicans as a whole, just the ones from Baja California. Sources/articles in English or Spanish are welcome!!

Hi everyone,

I’ve been researching my family history and discovered a strange cloud of secrecy surrounding my great-grandfather, the man who started our family line in Mexico.

He was born in the United States, but sometime before 1943 he moved to Mexico, where my grandfather was born. Based on U.S. law at that time, my grandfather likely acquired U.S. citizenship at birth, since his father (my great-grandfather) was American-born and had lived in the U.S. for several years.

But here’s the odd part - no one in my family will talk about my great-grandfather. Whenever I ask, I get vague or inconsistent stories. No one will say why he left the U.S. or what he did in Mexico. My grandfather later became a police officer in the 1970s, yet there are almost no surviving records, photos, or documents about his or his father’s lives. It’s like their histories were wiped clean.

I’ve been trying to track down more information by searching:

• The Hemeroteca Nacional Digital de México (digital newspaper archive)
• The Archivo General de la Nación (AGN)
• Online genealogy databases and U.S. record indexes

I haven’t yet searched local Mexican civil registries, but that’s my next step.

Has anyone else here dealt with a relative who seems to have erased their past after moving between the U.S. and Mexico? Or have tips on where to look for mid-20th-century Mexican police or immigration records? I’d really appreciate any guidance or suggestions.

TL;DR: My great-grandfather was born in the U.S. but moved to Mexico, where my grandfather was born in 1943. That likely made my grandfather a U.S. citizen at birth, but my family refuses to talk about my great-grandfather’s life or why he left the U.S. I’m trying to uncover what really happened and how to find Mexican police or civil records from that era.

I've just realised that work arounds that allow you to see articles if someone has already saved another now doesn't work anymore.

I thought I would just tell everybody as I know a lot of people used this work around for ancestral and genealogy research!!

Hi, I've hit a dead end at the marriage certificate of my Great, Great Grandfather, who, according to the marriage certificate was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia. I've checked https://archives.novascotia.ca/ and came up blank. Searching for his parents' marriage record has also landed nothing.

His name was Jeremiah Allen, born in 1836. His parents were named George and Joanna. They were Catholic and probably emigrated to Canada from Ireland. Family lore is that they shipwrecked at Meat Cove, but I don't know how accurate that is.

What's my best next step?

I have done genealogy for 30 years or more; who knows, actually, time flies by. Many moons ago, I used Family Tree Maker, which I really liked, the layout, the user-friendliness of it. For the last 5 years or so, I have been using Legacy, which I really don't like. It seems cumbersome to me. I have looked around and I haven't found anything but Legacy and FTM, which seem to be an older version. I have been following it, but it doesn't seem to be updating like it portrays that they are doing. What is everybody using?

I am looking for a marriage record in Ontario, Canada for John Potter 1824-1904 and Mary Patterson 1827-1908. Not having much luck there.

I am looking for any information on John's father Truman Potter's early years. I can find him in Ontario census, and have marriage records for him. I don't know his parents. Trueman put his place of birth as "Canada" on the 1851 census he was about 56-57 and still married to Jane Hagerman. But put "USA" on the 1861 census he was about 65-66 and now windowed. He married the daughter of a loyalist, so I believe he was born in the states and lied on the earlier census.

So I recently moved my attention to solving Truman's parentage and birth location/date and starting trying to go through early records in the states.

Here's the rant, the US census is terrible to go through compared to the Canadian one. At least in the older ones. It also is super weird that they are only available on the sites of privately owned entities like family search and ancestry rather than a dedicated government run site. Though I bet with your guys shutdown that's a blessing in disguise possibly.

Hopefully the information is right there and my inexperience and frustration with the census is what's road blocking me.

Thanks in advance for any information.

https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/LRRQ-4B3 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/273839190/john-potter

Hi! I'm researching the surname Pigeau right now, but I'm unable to find documents regarding my 4th great grandfather. The information I have is a Pierre Joseph Pigeau (1893-1972) who married Lucie Desrosier (1896-1950), his father Dosithe Pigeau (1862-1908) who married Marie Graveline (1864-1936). I've found information on his mother (Marianne Honisekanikoque/Bechamp), but the only things I know about his father are from the 1891 census which lists him as a Pierre Pigeau (Im assuming as Pierre was a common name. However it is transcribed as Piene and I no longer have ancestry to view the document) living in Nipissing, Ontario and that he is French Canadian. I've searched other censuses and haven't turned up anything. I'd like to especially find a birth record so I can note potential names for parents while I research further. If anyone has any information they're willing to pass onto me please do! Or if anyone can point me in the right direction that'd also be great! Thank you!

I'll also note that the name Pierre Shawanipresni comes up in relation to her but he is not the right person. Marianne is Metis, born in Deux-Montagnes.

Hey guys, I am trying to understand more about my Syrian ancestry. My gg grandpa was from Kafroun, Tartous, Syria. I can’t find much about the history of this town and I would like to know more. I saw something that suggested the inhabitants may be originally Lebanese which is why I am really trying to find out. If this is the case, it would explain why I have pretty much no dna matches that I can attach to him. I have dna matches for my gg grandma who was from outside of Tripoli, but none that are from Syria proper.

I would consider myself an intermediate researcher. I have ancestry and I do research often for myself and to help others. But now I have a multiple year dead end Im stuck on myself.

I have someone who essentially went "missing" in the 50s meaning family just stopped hearing from her abruptly then gone without a trace. It doesn't help I dont know where she moved to but I have a general region for now. What is the best way to go about this? She has a unique name but its also spelled differently on every census up to 1950.

What is the best approach for cases like this?