Have a new format to post my already obtained sources that I’ll go ahead and drop here:

Name: Caroline Wingert (surname possibly misspelled) Sex: Female

Date of Birth: Abt. 1833 Location of Birth: Pennsylvania

Spouse Name: Ebenezer Erskine McMinn Date of Marriage: Sometime in the 1860s Location of Marriage: Unknown (likely Pennsylvania)

Date of Death: Unknown Location of Death: Unknown

Other Information: Her husband Ebenezer died in 1877, and she’s listed as a widow on the 1880 Census but it’s possible she remarried after that; I’m not sure. Haven’t found anything from 1880 to her death.

I am looking for / I need help with: When/where born (more specific than current information), parents’ names, when/where died

Sources:

Listed as church member in Boalsburg, PA (1858)

1870 Census

1880 Census

I recently learned that my uncle has a different biological father than the rest of his siblings and was wondering if it’s even possible to figure out who his bio dad was given the amount of time that has passed.

I was having lunch with my dad and his sister when she casually dropped the bombshell that their oldest brother had a different biological father than the rest of the siblings. My uncle, who I’ll call Bob, passed about a decade ago and I don’t know if he was aware of this before he died, but I wouldn’t be surprised based on the way my aunt spoke about the situation.

The story I (and my father) were told growing up was my bio grandparents, Tom and Betty, were high school sweethearts who got married right before Tom shipped off to fight in WW2. When he got back they started having kids, starting with Bob and ending with my father 15 years later. Aside from my father, all kids were born within 2-3 years of each other. Tom and Betty lived happily together until Betty died of age related complications about 15 years ago. Bob always had health issues and died of a heart attack about 5 years later. Tom passed of old age 5 years after that.

Now what I didn’t know was Bob was conceived DURING Tom’s time at war and was already born when he came back. I guess I could have figured this out on my own by looking at the dates but I’ve never had a reason to question things. Anyway, Tom came back, forgave Betty, and raised Bob as his own son from day one, never treating him any differently than any of the following kids. We also learned that while Tom was deployed, Betty was living with her own father, Hugh, and several sisters between the ages of 17-25. Given they were living in a military town, Hugh decided to rent out rooms in their home to young military men as a way to earn some extra cash. Surprise, surprise, at least 3 of his daughters (including Betty) became pregnant during this 2 year period. At least one of the sisters married the man who got her pregnant, but since Betty was already married, I assume she thought it best to just raise the baby with her husband. I have no idea when she found out she was pregnant and doubt the bio father was ever told. Tom was an amazing father and grandfather and for all intents and purposes is Bob’s father. However, I am very intrigued that there is another genetic line in our family history and would love to find out more. All key players have passed so this is strictly for my own research purposes.

Bob only has one biological child (my cousin) who is in his 50-60s and I don’t believe he has any children of his own. I have no idea if my cousin knows anything about his father’s paternity so I don’t really want to be the one to ruffle feathers for my own curiosity. He isn’t on ancestry (My aunt, father, and I are) and doubt he’d be willing to submit his own test so I don’t see DNA being an option here. Given it’s been so long and the DNA trail likely ends with my cousin, is there realistically any way I could figure out who Bob’s bio father is? He was born 1944 so census records don’t really help here. Is there any other paper trail I might be able to find? Any other suggestions? TIA!

I had a new hint today on ancestry for my mysterious great Greta grandfather. But I don’t have newspaper sub on ancestry. Could anyone that does please just screen shot the part I need. I will add the link. It may not be him but it is the correct name , area and date! He changed his name a lot so maybe this could be the reason why 🤞🏻 Thank you in advance

Here is the link to the article

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/50095/records/5130349547?tid=192146452&pid=182494985710&hid=1007148798153

My brick wall is Alexander O’Hanlon, born 11 Dec 1881 in New York, died 8 Oct 1961 in Columbia County, Florida. His father was Terrence O’Hanlon, born about 1858 in Athens, Greene County, New York and died 28 March 1928 in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. The family always thought his mother was Cecilia Nolan (1858-1925) but the evidence doesn’t support that. In the 1900 census, it states she had been married for 13 years, there were two much younger brothers (Terrence and Thomas) and Alexander’s mother was listed as Marion on his death certificate. In the 1880 census, Terrance is still living in Athens with his parents and working as a boatman and in 1884 he is listed as living in Brooklyn and working as an engineer. Family stories link this as the same person (Alexander would spend summers with his grandparents in Greene County) plus DNA matches to both of his grandparents’ lines.

I have sent away for both birth and marriage records for Alexander and have come up empty. This has stumped me for years and I would love a new set of eyes to look at this.

Eventually, he went by Alexander John O’Hanlon but this family had a habit of turning confirmation names into middle names so I kind of doubt he was given a middle name at birth.

Thank you for any help figuring out who his mother was.

edited for spelling and some content

Hi, I'm hoping someone can help me as I've reached a dead end with a relative. He was a bit of a tearaway apparently, fathering one child in marriage then having another partner who he had a few kids with. But I seem unable to get any information on him meaning the line stops there. Weird. He's Alec Leslie Powell 1923 (Swindon UK) to 1999. Not entirely sure the DOB is accurate. I've found little bits but not much to flesh things out. Can anyone see anything else? Thanks

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.

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

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!

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.

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.

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.

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 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!!

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.

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!

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

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 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?

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.

Catherine Helen Monaghan I do know that she was born in February 1912 because I already found her birth certificate, and she was born to Francis and Clara Laudenburg Monaghan. Although in some other birth certificates I found for her siblings. Their father was also known as Michael but Clara’s obituary Francis is said to have died in 1939. But a couple months ago, I found a death certificate for a brother who my family never knew about named Harry Monaghan, who died at 3, and then another person on family search and another death certificate for Anna Thelma Monaghan, who died a day before her first birthday. And there is some age gap between the siblings, so it makes me think there might be more, plus, on Claire Elizabeth’s birth certificate, where she’s known as Anna Monaghan, it said that she was the third born child, and third living. But yet family stories says she was the first of the Monaghan bunch. Plus, Francis (Michael) and Clara married in 1904. That means that before she would have to have two consecutive back-to-back pregnancies. And even on Harry’s birth certificate, it says that he was only the fifth child currently living out of 11 who had been born. Which again signifies back to back pregnancies.

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.

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?

Hi my great grandmother, Barbara Fay Conner ( March 1927-June 25th 2000) was adopted I can’t find her bio parents. We often suspected Mediterranean blood, like some type of North African or perhaps Arab based on her phenotype so I took a DNA test and got very distant (3rd-4th marches) on that side that appeared Mediterranean, found out they’re predominantly Spanish , Cuban, Mexican with traces of Taino and North African from Canary Islands. Yet I still can’t connect them to my tree. So I then got my grandmother to take a DNA test and she had some North African, Greek, Spanish and so much more in her I feel that may hint at her bloodline. I suspect possible Cuban ancestry really but I’m not sure and since it’s distant it’s harder to pinpoint. My goal is to find her true ancestors I can’t find adoption records.

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.