SHOULD YOU COLLECT SURNAMES as part of your PERSONAL FAMILY HISTORY PROJECT? : QUESTIONS FROM READERS of ANCESTRY WORSHIP - GENEALOGY

Question:

Is it ever worth it to collect families by surname?  I've been running mine on Ancestry, the popular databases, and there are dozens in many countries.  How can I connect them?

Annie

Answer from Ancestry Worship Genealogy

Probably not.

Back in the day, I met one woman, pre-databases, who had spent years documenting thousands of families with her Spanish surname.  I thought that was kind of crazy, and it's probably unlikely that she ever got that name, fairly common, back to one patriarch.  Plus that is not genealogy...

Genealogy is when you go back generation after generation, as far as you can go, documenting. In the process you might document a great number of family groups whose connections take a long time or never to prove, on the chance that they are related. However, you might document them only because they lived in the same place as a proven ancestor or have some other viable connection. For instance, if you find on Naturalization Papers a different town than the one named on a Steamship arrival to the USA, for the same person, you likely would investigate both places looking for family members.

If your surname is quite uncommon, it might be worth it to see if they are related, since an unusual surname might after all originate with a particular patriarch. HERE IS WHERE DNA COLLECTION SURNAME PROJECTS might be useful.  Once you have proven a relationship that way, you might find yourself working with others who are related to put the family story together, with their help in their other countries.

For instance, I know someone who has a Polish surname for which there are no more than 600 people alive in the world, some in the United States, Canada, France, England, as well as Poland, possibly the Ukraine and Slovakia. This is a history of people fleeing Poland as immigrants fairly recently to other countries. Because some of their members were on borders, they have had seizures of persons and properties by Russians as well as Nazi's... This surname appears, though not Jewish, in concentration camp records,  also among men killed in the forest who were soldiers, and among men taken to Siberia. The family was being liquidated.

Christine

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WHAT DOES "LONG ILLNESS" MEAN on OLD FRENCH DEATH RECORD : SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS : QUESTIONS FROM READERS of ANCESTRY WORSHIP - GENEALOGY

Question for Ancestry Worship Genealogy

I've been reading old records from a parish in or near Paris from the 1800's and the priest keeps writing in "Long Illness" in the death records.  What does this mean?

Alice

Answer from Ancestry Worship Genealogy

"Long Illness" can mean anything from cancer to TB to any other illness that takes a long time to kill a person.  It can also simply mean Old Age, and all the debilitations through the years; that a person just wasn't themselves or feeling good for a long time.  A Long Time itself is subjective.  To me a Long Illness is years on end, but to some people six months is a long time to suffer.

It's therefore a mystery illness, particularly one that was not well understood at that time and place.  You may have to be satisfied with that.  However, here are things you could check into before you write it up.

1) At that time and place were death records only kept in the village or town or only at the church?  Were the records duplicated or also kept in the Dioceses archives or perhaps sent to a larger administrative center, and kept as a civil record?  See if both records agree or one has more to say about the death.

2) Where is the person buried?  Does the cemetery have any records that might not only give you a grave location but also testify to the reason for death?  (In the USA the death certificate and burial/cemetery record usually back each other up.)

3) Was the death covered in a newspaper article or other published account, for instance if the person was a member of a club, university, team, or union, or employed with a large company, or notable as a dignitary or politician, lawyer or doctor ? Possibly their obituary will give more information.

4) At the time and place of their death were there any prevailing illnesses or plagues?  For instance, you say that the priest keeps writing "Long Illness" and that makes me think that maybe there was TB in that town.  Knowing this would not prove that your ancestry died the same way,  but it would be OK to add a paragraph about diseases of that time and place for the purposes of historical interest!

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HOW CAN I FIND OUT WHAT TOWN IN ENGLAND MY MOTHER LEFT AS A CHILD? : QUESTIONS FOR ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY

Question for ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY:

All I know about my mother's past is that she came over from England on a steamship with her mother when she was a child right after World War II.  I don't know where in England they were from.  I think they left Liverpool.  How can I find out more about my mother and grandmother, both who are now deceased?

Answer:

You probably want to start with SHIP MANIFESTS since your grandmother and mother will first show up on the United States Census in the 1950 census which won't be out for another decade.  A ship manifest may tell you where they left and where they are going to.

AND

An alternative would be to send away to the SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION for the ORIGINAL APPLICATIONS FOR SOCIAL SECURITY FOR YOUR MOTHER AND YOUR GRANDMOTHER.

A person may have APPLIED for Social Security without ever collecting it.  You can check the SOCIAL SECURITY DEATH INDEX to see if either ever collected.  They may have collected nothing but the death benefit but, if so, they should be on the Index.  Even if they are not on the index it's worth the time and money to send away for the original application.

The original application should give you their mother's maiden name as well as where she was going to work, if, like many people in the past, she only applied because she had to for employment.  Be aware that a person may not have applied if they were self employed, if they or their spouse was a doctor or if they or their spouse worked for the rail road.

As for ship manifests there are a number of independent sites such as THE SHIPS TRANSCRIBERS GUILD that have looked at original handwritten manuscripts and turned them into text on the Internet.  You can check ANCESTRY, FOLD3, or another SUBSCRIPTION genealogy research database for NEW YORK SHIP RECORDS.   My guess is that they will be listed as having left SOUTH HAMPTON, England to NEW YORK, but there were a lot of other ports open and operating in that era.  Ships from German ports and from Liverpool stopped in South Hampton.  Some people got off one ship for a few days and continued their voyage across the Atlantic on another.


PS: I did a search for British War Brides and found that the Queen Mary was used as a ship to bring brides to the United States.  

HOW CAN I FIND MY GREAT GRANDFATHER'S MEXICAN VILLAGE? : QUESTION FROM READER

Question for ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEAOLGY:

Great Grandpa walked across the border of Mexico and the United States from somewhere in Mexico and before 1920. He was alone. He was Mexican and we are now fifth generation Mexican-Americans. Eventually he worked for the same manufacturing company in Arizona for over 30 years, a company that no longer exists, so I don't think I can contact anyone there to ask about his employment or personnel records. No one seems to know what village in Mexico he left. Maybe he never said. I'm not sure he became a citizen, but I think so, especially because of his work history. I found the family on the 1920 census, and he was not a citizen. He was in his mid-twenties. Now I'm not sure of his birth date. Other than the census I haven't found anything on Ancestry, the genealogy research database. Any Suggestions? Marie C.

Answer: The personnel records might very well have this birth date and place and other information that could be useful to your genealogy research generally and finding them is an interesting idea that I think you should pursue a bit. You might check around to see if that company's records were destroyed or held in an archive or historical society or library somewhere, since the company was a big employer, instrumental to the history of the area, and around a long time.

Start with the closest public library to where the company was and also ask the local historical society. There are some company records available here and there for industrial age "Company Towns." I've found some that relate to my own research including a photo of one ancestor which was in a file.

However, I think your best bet is to search for his WORLD WAR ONE DRAFT REGISTRATION as ALL MEN, even those who were not citizens, up until about the age of 40 had to REGISTER, and your GP seems to be in the right age category. The registration asks the birth date and place as well as an address and name of the closest relative, which may or may not be your great-grandmother, but could verify their marriage. They asked such details because of the notion that unmarried and childless men would be called to serve before the married with children.

There were 3 or 4 draft registrations for the World War over about 2 years' time and up to about the age of 40. Registration is not the same as a draft or enlistment record or a military record, though they are stored under MILITARY RECORDS in the Ancestry and other genealogy databases.

I would also suggest that after you get that Mexican hometown you look for CHURCH RECORDS. I've found that church records sometimes contain interesting notes by the priest or minister in the margins besides the mostly usual names, occupations, and addresses. The Church records from Mexico may record GP's birth or baptism and could include his marriage there or in the United States by notation. I've found that in small towns the church records have comments about who has gone to America or come back for a visit, and so on.

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QUESTION : SHOULD I USE A DNA TEST TO PROVE I FOUND MY BIRTH PARENTS?

Question for ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY

After years of genealogy research, and using some public information databases,  I think I've located the couple who could be my birth parents in another city several hundred miles from where I live.  The husband and wife are very old if alive, which I think they are, and it looks like they gave me up and went on to have more children who they kept.  I'm wondering about my genetic heritage.  Maybe I'm the result of an affair?  I want to write them a letter telling them why I think this may be and suggest DNA tests.  Any opinion?   Louise

Answer:

Hi Louise,

I believe that any genealogy research leading to birth parents should be checked with DNA testing.  It's available, accurate, and the prices have come down a lot.  Why not be extra sure? 

One thing I warn against is doing these tests through the mail.  Someone - a lab tech or doctor - should be taking the sample and have good proof of ID.  Though the mail a person can send someone else's swab.

Ideally you should work with one company that can take your test in your city and your possible parents tests in their city, in each case providing an ID. 

I think you should first approach the question of birth parentage through a letter, presenting your genealogy research, and being honest about the public databases you used.  You must be sure that these people do not get the impression you're some nut whose invading their privacy, lying, or trying to ID theft them.  I would also send a recent picture of yourself.

You may find that there is an admission of parentage without the test first but many years have gone by, and these people may have made their peace with themselves about giving a baby up.

I have a fellow genealogist friend who specializes in finding birth parents and he tells me that in one case in maybe 50, the DNA did not check out with his research.  He said that people who deny parenthood seem to remember things differently once the DNA tests have been done.  He's had more luck with siblings than the parents themselves becoming open and talking about what happened way back when.

In one situation I was presented with, a child called a birth father on the phone with her birth mother on another line and said this man was her father.  He had not heard from these people in over 20 years and could have been located.  He had no idea he was a father.  When DNA testing was suggested, at my urging, they backed off and were never heard from again.  He was ready to embrace a child even in his old age but was miffed and hurt.  So I suggest that when you introduce the idea of a DNA test you present it as just wanting to be sure.

Another thing I'm warning about, because it's been in the news lately that DNA databases are being used for wrong reasons.  BE SURE THAT THE SERVICE YOU USE IS NOT GOING TO POST THE RESULTS ON ANY DATABASE.  You are paying them to test for a private reason.  This is not the same as testing to be connected to possible living DNA matches for family history/genealogy reasons.  Sadly it's been in the news that trusting people who allowed this matching service now have their personal DNA being used by unauthorized people for other reasons.

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