  Are you having a hard time searching for an ancestor, and have hit a brick wall? Have you ever considered your ancestor having a hidden identity? Follow my journey on a brick wall case I had in my family tree, years ago, for some research tips and methods I used!
Years ago, the first year I started my genealogy research, I was given a hand drawn family tree chart by my father; that's what got me started on the genealogy craze!😉In the hand drawn family tree chart, my grandmother's father was listed with the name Frank Smith. How common is that name!? I didn't know where to start with him. Because I knew where they lived at the time, I was able to find my first record. The first record I had found was the 1930 Census, in which the entire family was shown; after finding that record, the rest was like finding a needle in a haystack with that name! When I told my father that I was interested in finding out more about Frank Smith, he gave me a few records he and my uncle had gathered when they were interested teenagers. These were now the only records I had to go by; a copy of Frank Smith’s death certificate, some miscellaneous letters to the government, and now the 1930 Census. Each of these documents showed his name as Frank Smith. I was able to locate his 1900 Census, which was just him at the time, stationed in the Philippines during his military service. The only reason why I was able to ascertain that it was the correct census, with such a common name, was because it showed where he was born, his month and year of birth, not to mention it was where he was stationed during his time in the service. There were also MANY Frank Smiths stationed in the Philippines at that time, which is why I also searched specifically for a Frank Smith born in Wiesbaden (he was extremely proud of that fact, so it was an IMPORTANT search clue), and used the keyword “Carpenter” in my search, as that was his occupation (this was another fact that he was also very proud of, so it was also an IMPORTANT search clue). Other than the 1900 census, the 1930 census, the copies of the death record and the few governmental letters that were given to me, I could not find any other information on him. I hit a major brick wall! Stay tuned for part 2, you won’t want to miss it; this gets crazy! 😉 Follow my other posts on Genealogy Brick Wall: The Case of an Ancestor's Hidden Identity below, and find more brick wall research tips under the Genealogy Brick Wall Cases category : Genealogy Brick Wall the Case of an Ancestors Hidden Identity- Part 2: 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 😉 This post is a participant in the 6th Annual Genealogy Blog Party! ←Back to Genealogy Research Tips Page  My father, who had been researching for over 40 years, had never been able to locate one of my great grandfathers’ death record, and asked me to search for it. This was at the beginning of my genealogy research days, and I also had trouble finding it. My father knew the approximate year his grandfather died, and said he had passed away in Oklahoma. I could not find a death record or burial for him. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t find anything on him at all after a certain point, the point when he had separated from my great grandmother.
I searched for his known “second” wife, and found a headstone that had a first name and last name on it that matched; although, her name was all that was known by family. This person shared a headstone with someone with a different first and middle name than that of my great grandfather, but had the same last name and approximate death year as my great grandfather, and shared the headstone with a women that had the same first name as his last known wife. I then researched with that name, and found his death certificate. He had died in Missouri, not Oklahoma as thought; although, he was buried there. I knew I had the right record, due to the fact that his birth date and parents’ names matched. An unknown of daughter was the informant. I ran a search for the daughter, and found a census with my great grandfather having yet another name. I then ran a search for anyone with his last name (omitting a first name, as I do quite frequently), age and previous locations, and had then found that he had changed his first name and middle name multiple times throughout his life. Not only did I find his death record as my father had wanted, but I was also able to find a second wife (the known "second" wife was actually a third wife) who was unknown of to the family, and a daughter he had with that second wife (a new aunt for my father, whom he never knew about), not to mention the fact that he went by several names throughout his life. I’m still trying to solve the secret of why he kept changing his name. Was he hiding from something? I may never know. 😉 Find more brick wall research tips under the Genealogy Brick Wall Cases category. 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 😉 ←Back to Genealogy Research Tips Page  Do you have any ancestors that seemed to just fall off the face of the earth after a certain point in time?
A while back, I worked on a case for a client that had hit a brick wall 23 years ago, and had not been able to break through it. She never knew what had happened to her great grandfather, as did his own daughter, her grandmother. She gave me an excessive amount of information, and had also invited me to her family tree. I explained to her that I NEVER use anyone else’s research, and build my own tree with just the name, age, and known areas for the closest known direct relative to that ancestor. I will look at personal documents, if I need them, after I get to that point and find that it matches my research. My client also let me collaborate on her DNA, which was invaluable. I built my FRESH tree for the line with the brick wall, and had gotten to the point where she had hit her brick wall. Her great grandfather was nowhere to be found after he had divorced his wife, her great grandmother, in 1893. I had found a person that I suspected was a match; although, he had a different middle initial and last name, his birthdate, place of birth, and occupation matched. This person had seemed to not exist before 1896, and was in a totally different area with an entirely different family, but was strongly suspected as being the same person. My next step was to build a separate tree for the strongly suspected match. I then grouped her DNA matches, and gathered as many known matches to the person being sought, and the strongly suspected match; the descendants of each matched perfectly in a DNA mapped tree, according to their centimorgans and place in the new, combined tree. Her great grandfather and the strongly suspected match were one in the same. Her great grandfather had changed his name, moved to a totally different area, and had a whole new family. It is unknown why he left one family behind, and “hid” his past from his new family, but my client had some suspicions as to why. Through this case, not only was I able to help my client solve her 23 year mystery, but I was also able to help some descendants of the second family of her great grandfather, who had also hit a brick wall, that of his life before 1896. Have you ever thought about a name change when you’ve hit a brick wall? It’s more common than you think. 😉 Find more brick wall research tips under the Genealogy Brick Wall Cases category. 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 😉 This post is a participant in the 6th Annual Genealogy Blog Party! ←Back to Genealogy Research Tips Page |
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