  Continued from Part 2…
That was a lot of surprises and secrets I had found so far! My next step was to search the names of his parents, or for his birth in Wiesbaden, Germany, where he was from. I could not find any such records for any of them. By just googling his parents' names online together with descendants of in front, with the specific area of where they were from, I had found a tree; it was not on ancestry.com or another popular site, but on Geneanet, and in Swedish. This person had a tree with a woman with the same first and last name as my great grandfather’s mother that was married to someone with the same first name as my great grandfather’s father, from the same exact place in Germany, and married about the time that his parents may have married. The last name of her spouse did not match up though, and she had no children listed for them. This was the ONLY lead I had found at the time for his parents. I had tried contacting the owner of the tree, but she had not been on there in at least 10 years. My next step was to then build a tree with that couple and try to find all their children. I remember my father saying that his grandmother had told him that my great grandfather had multiple middle names and had remembered a few of them. I had found they had a son born to them that had six names, and a couple of those names matched up with what my great grandmother had remembered. That particular son of theirs was born the same year and on the same day as my great grandfather, but off by one month. My great grandfather was born in July, as told and recorded on his documents here in the United States, and the baptismal record for this strongly suspected person showed he was born in June. His first name did not match up either, but one of his middle names was the German form of Frank, which was the name of my great grandfather. My father didn't think I had the right person, and he had insisted that my great grandfather’s last name was Schmidt, the German form of Smith. I went by my hunch that I had indeed found the right person, not to mention that the last name of the person I had found was given to my great uncle as his middle name. It had also been told that my grandmother and her siblings had been named after her father’s siblings, in which this person had siblings with the same names. This newly found last name had now been the official search criteria, along with his name here in the states. Stayed tuned for part 4, as there are quite a few more secrets to unveil! 😉 Follow my other posts on Genealogy Brick Wall: The Case of an Ancestor's Hidden Identity below, and read about more brick wall cases in Genealogy Brick Wall Cases: Genealogy Brick Wall the Case of an Ancestors Hidden Identity- Part 1: Here Genealogy Brick Wall the Case of an Ancestors Hidden Identity- Part 2: Here Genealogy Brick Wall the Case of an Ancestors Hidden Identity- Part 4: Here P.S... My older site theme does not support the "Leave a Reply" field labels; if you'd like to leave a comment on a blog, the fields are : Name, Email, Site (if you'd like), and Comment, the standard fields 😉
3 Comments
 The best ALL IN ONE resource for German genealogy is FamilySearch.org, handsdown! With their Germany Genealogy Research Wiki, their Germany Genealogy Research Community, and their Catalog, you have everything you need right at your fingertips for German research, and it’s ALL FREE! Research Wiki: I learned about the Wiki on a trip, years back, to the Family History Library, from one of the German specialists there. The FamilySearch Wiki is a genealogy resource guide, and has by far the most comprehensive and best information out there for German Genealogy, and it’s FREE! This is kept up constantly by the German genealogy specialists at the Family History Library. They have done an amazingly, fantastic job of having German genealogy research tools and strategies all in one place! They have a plethora of records; maps; lists and printable handouts; strategies, methodologies, online classes, tutorials, and articles; links to all the top sites, databases and resources for German research; and more! They have various resources to a huge amount of records such as church records, vital records, cemetery records, census records, directories, immigration records, military records, Jewish records, obituaries, and many more types of records! Their lists and printable handouts on the provinces, letters, vocabulary, and names are invaluable. If you are a beginner in German research, their research tips and strategies, like “Getting Started with Germany Research” is a must! If you love free classes, they have so many classes and tutorials on a wide range of topics such as reading original German records, using German address books, researching the German Archives, understanding and using German census records, understanding the German calendar changes, understanding German geography, using the gazatteers, reading the handwriting, learning some of the important vocabulary, navigating and using some of the top German genealogy sites, and more!  FamilySearch Germany Genealogy Research Wiki You can find the German Genealogy Research Wiki here: Germany Genealogy Communities: I also learned about FamilySearch Communities on my last day of that trip. This is where you can ask for research help, get help in translating those German records, and so much more, from the comfort of your home!  FamilySearch Germany Genealogy Research Community You can find the German Research Community here: Germany Genealogy Research Community Catalog: In the FamilySearch catalog, you can find all the resources that the Family History Library, FamilySearch Centers, and FamilySearch has, for your specific search! You can search by name, location, topics, titles and more! These resources include records, periodicals, books, family histories and more! I also learned how to use this search feature better when I took my trip to the Family History Library. This is a much better method of finding resources for your search, than simply searching in the “record search”; you will find so much more!  FamilySearch Catalog You can find the catalog here: FamilySearch Catalog All of these are FREE with a FREE subscription to FamilySearch.org! 😊 You can sign up for a free FamilySearch account here: Create Account Learn about more resources you can use in your family history research under the Genealogy Resources category and my dedicated Genealogy Reources page. This post is a participant in the 6th Annual Genealogy Blog Party! This post is a participant in the Genealogy Blog Party: School Days (and September Holidays and Events), to help celebrate Oktoberfest! ←Back to Genealogy Resources Page  IrishGenealogy.ie is a fantastic site to help you research your Irish ancestry; it is the main site that I use for my Irish descended clients. You can search births, marriages, and deaths of the General Register Office (GRO) and church records from numerous counties. The General Register Office holds all the official records of Irish births, deaths and marriages from 1864, and of non-Catholic marriages from 1845. Birth register records from 1864 to 1920, marriage register records from 1845 to 1945, and death register records from about 1871 to 1970, are available online. They also have a large amount of church records for baptism, marriage and burial, including many that were before civil registration. They now also have the 1901 and 1911 census and more, through the National Archives of Ireland! 😊  IrishGenealogy.ie *Update 6/26/2024: As I will not be able to update this post consistently, please keep in mind that this post was originally created as of the post date. Please add 1 year, to the year end range date, for each year after the post date, for the record avalablity. More Irish Genealogy ResourcesFind more Irish genealogy resources, tips, and other info under the Irish Genealogy category and below. More Genealogy ResourcesLearn about more family history and genealogy resources under the Genealogy Resources category and on my dedicated Genealogy Resources page.
 Continued from Part 1...
My father had on the hand drawn family tree he had given me that my great grandfather, Frank Smith, and my great grandmother were married in Texas. He told me that they had met in Texas, with an entire, elaborate STORY that was told to him by my great grandmother on how they met. It was also told that they married in El Paso, Texas; this made sense, as my grandmother and her older sister were born there. My next steps were to find my grandmother’s and great aunt’s birth records, as I knew the exact dates and places they were born, and my great grandparent’s marriage record; I could find none. At the time, not all the Texas birth records were online. I had found a birth index for my grandmother, and had requested the record from the El Paso County Clerk; I was disappointed when I had given them the certificate number from the Index, along with the name and date of birth, and they said they couldn’t locate it. What??!! Instead, they sent me a “certified” birth certificate with the name, date and place I had given them, written out in paragraph form, for my $50!!! I was back to square one. I then looked for my great aunt’s birth record, and I could not find one for her either; at the time I had searched, her record should have been online for her birth year. I was so confused. I then searched taking out some identifying info such as her name and gender, and then put in her EXACT birth. I had a hit! I found a birth record for her with her exact birth, her first name, correct mother’s name, and correct mother’s place of birth; although, this Maria had a different last name, different father, and a clerical error of “male” as the gender. When I told my father and uncle, they were surprised! When my great aunt’s daughter was shown the certificate, she did not believe it was her mom’s, of course, because of the different last name and different father, not to mention the incorrect gender; it was in fact hers. Family Secret #1! I then searched for and could not find their marriage record, so I requested a search through the El Paso County Clerk for the date given, along with a few years before and after; they got back to me and said they could not locate one. What, but we had the date??!! It took me quite a while to find their marriage record, because my great grandparents were not married at the time nor in the place that my great grandmother had told my father and uncle in her stories. I decided later to go down to the county clerk’s office to look up marriage records in the county and state where they last lived, after I had exhausted all my other resources. I could not find anything within a couple of years before to a couple of years after the date that was given by my grandmother, and before my great aunt and grandmother were born. When I widened the search years of the marriage date told, I found their marriage record; it was in a totally different state than where they had said they got married, and a date after their first three children had already been born! Family Secret #2! The names of my great grandfather’s parents on his marriage certificate matched the names given by my great grandmother. I was back to square one again! These were the first family secrets of hidden identity and more for this family; stay tuned for part 3, as there are quite a few more! 😉 Follow my other posts on Genealogy Brick Wall: The Case of an Ancestor's Hidden Identity below, and read about more brick wall cases in Genealogy Brick Wall Cases: Genealogy Brick Wall the Case of an Ancestors Hidden Identity- Part 1: Here Genealogy Brick Wall the Case of an Ancestors Hidden Identity- Part 3: Here Genealogy Brick Wall the Case of an Ancestors Hidden Identity- Part 4: Here P.S... My older site theme does not support the "Leave a Reply" field labels; if you'd like to leave a comment on a blog, the fields are : Name, Email, Site (if you'd like), and Comment, the standard fields 😉 |
Categories
All
Featured
Top Posts
BlogrollEvalogue.Life, Heart of the Family, Molly's Canopy, Climbing My Family Tree, Cami Mayer, Field Genealogist, Ancestor Detective, DNA Breakthroughs, Your DNA Guide, Ancestral Findings, Genealogy Tip of the Day, Family History Daily, Genea-Musings
BlogI hope my family history and genealogy blog on genealogy research tips, resources, events, and more, along with my own genealogy journeys, will help you in your research and in building your family tree to learn more about your ancestors and family history to preserve for future generations to come! 
Come visit me at Know Who Wears the Genes in Your Family if you're interested in starting your family history journey, booking me for your next speaking event, or family history and genealogy heirloom products!
          Archives
September 2024
|
RSS Feed
HoursM-Su: 8am - 8pm
|
Know Who Wears the Genes in Your Family is dedicated to promoting family history and genealogy, while maintaining commitment to client care and professional service, and adheres to the Code of Ethics and Professional Practices put forth by the Association of Professional Genealogists.
|