We are sometimes advised that when we run into one of those so-called “brick walls,” we should take a break from it and work on another line. Good advice, but also remember to periodically go back and take a whack at it. There have been significant additions to what is available online and you may find that recent additions have carved a hole in that wall. Dust off one of those challenging family lines and see what you can dig up. You’ll be amazed at what a fresh perspective and new resources can do for you!
Â
This is so true, I have even reviewed some of my bricks walls, and then get a new thought/idea and continue on from there. I have had pretty good luck by “taking a break/time out”.
This definitely helped me! One of the men I was looking for was “Charles Smith.” I knew he had homesteaded with his brother (my great grandfather) out in North Dakota, but between 1900 and 1910, he disappeared.
Family lore said he had gone to Canada and died there, but no one knew where or what had happened to the rest of the family.
Once in awhile, I’d try something different, but nothing worked. In 2003, I tried something I do from time to time…a Google search! I entered his name in quotes, “Charles W Smith” and the town where he lived, Minnewaukan, and got a hit! Russell Spooner, unrelated to me, had posted a whole website on his Spooner family, and one of the items he had posted was a bunch of excerpts from a North Dakota town jubilee book. One of the remembrances was penned by Charley’s son in law (and I had his name in my files). Charley ended up in Burdett, Alberta, and I have continued digging up HUGE numbers of cousins there, in British Columbia, and Washington State from this one clue. Try a google search! Even if your names are common, you can still find all sorts of miracles!
One of those brickwalls for me has been the Immigration and Naturalization office(s). I found Census records of the four brothers of my grandfather who came to the US between 1875 and 1900 but want to find out when and where they were naturalized.
This is of particular importance because first names, who were passed on from generation to generation and across branches of my family, make birth/marriage/death/naturalization dates extremely important as they will allow me to pinpoint descendants’ affiliation with a particular family tree.
Add to this that I am a novice in genealogy…..
Regards,
When will Ancestry.com have another Free search of records like you did in Nov & Dec with United Kingdom records? I run into so many road blocks because it says I have to buy a subscription to their search process.
Last news paper is 5 february. After date no mor? Way. Thanks Roswitha Schwulst
the hardest time to cover is between 1880 and 1900, the twenty lost years of census and history. Good thing the states still kept records.