Elusive Ancestors Part 2

A few months ago when I first started digitizing the records Mom had collected, I really didn't have any plan to add to her work. But as I copied her information into the computer I started asking some questions.

What motivated my great, great grandparents to pack up and move with six small children from Iowa to Kansas? This was around 1872. Moving a household wasn't as easy then and it is today. 

Did they just pack up and move on a chance for free land? 

So, I started doing some of my own research. Google can be a genealogists best friend at times. I googled the pioneers of the county where my great, great grandparents settled in Kansas. Imagine my surprise when I clicked on a few familiar names. No, not the names of my g, g grandparents, but names I've heard all my life. One of those names turned out to be my g, g grandmother's sister and husband. Another name was of a family that came from the same county in Iowa my g, g grandparents came from.

Then it hit me. This little fact of life that I hadn't even thought about. As a rule, our ancestors did not migrate by themselves. They had a support group with them or already in the new area. 

Pay attention to the surnames that you keep seeing when you research your elusive ancestors. Sometimes if you find that surname in an area, you'll find your own ancestors. 

Public records are great tools, too. Marriage records, tax records, death records, burial records, birth records. It depends on the state and year the record was made as to what information it provides, but I found an intent to marry record from 1843. That's when I learn my g, g, g, g grandfather couldn't read or write. He had to take an oath regarding the age of the bride and groom that they were of age. He signed it with his mark. I really hadn't thought about him not being able to read or write. 

Death records, especially if you can find the actual death certificate have a ton of information on it. I was able to find the death certificate of my g, g grandfather's youngest sister. It lists her father on that record. That's a link to proving who my g, g grandfather's father really was. 

Another aspect I hadn't even considered until yesterday was paying attention to the geography for the time frame when your ancestor lived. Get a copy of the location where you knew your ancestor happened to live at one time and where you think your ancestor may have gone. Think about the method of travel used during that time frame. Did your ancestor start close to a major river? Did they end up near a major river? Rivers were common modes of travel in days gone by. Look at all the roads that run next to a river. Why do you think those roads are there today? Because our ancestors went from traveling on the water to beside the water. 

What appeared to be a hard trip all of a sudden looks doable and realistic when one pictures their ancestor traveling on the river. 

And lastly, the most important thing to remember, don't discard a name because it's misspelled. If a person couldn't read or write, the one recording the information could only guess at how to spell your ancestors name. 

Speaking of names, did your ancestors leave you a trail of how they named their children? In one case, I suspect I have a fourth brother. If I've followed the other three brothers correctly, they have a tendency to name their sons after the brothers' father and after their other brothers. If my hypothesis is correct, I can narrow my search for the missing fourth brother to two names, based on how the brothers named their sons. 

Even with all that, I may never find the missing brother. 

Why do I even want to find him? Because the more family members we can locate the greater our chance is at finding the family who has the family Bible which were usually full of information. Of course, that is all dependent on when your lineage learned to read and write. 

If you loved Perry Mason, you'll love genealogy. There are so many ways to search for the elusive ancestor, even ways that I haven't considered, so please leave a message if you have tried a way that I haven't included. Happy hunting.