Anyone have any success you wish to share? A brick wall you finally broke down. How did you do it?

Anyone have a brick wall you need help breaking down? Give us the basics and we'll see if we can help.

I recently found a piece of information I'd been trying to find for a long time -- a naturalization year for a great-grandfather.

I found it at Footnote.com, which was cool because I was starting to think that the only way I'd ever find this year was by paying for official copies of the documents at the local courthouse (something I didn't really want to do).

Of course, Footnote.com doesn't offer official copies of documents -- just images -- but the site did provide me with the year I was looking for, and that's really all I needed.

So this wasn't a "brick wall" really, but it was a small-ish piece of information I was quite happy to finally locate (...for free!).

Ah, I think I've broken down a *real* brick wall this time.

My Dad had a Great Aunt he always called by a certain name. But in my research, I couldn't find this person. I found families with all the other names, but never hers. Very frustrating!

And then, just today, I was talking to him on the phone and he casually mentioned that this Great Aunt was a twin -- a very important clue I was sort of mad he hadn't mentioned before.

In any case... one of the families I'd been zeroing in on did indeed have a set of twins -- but the birth name of one twin was correct, while the other was not (the "incorrect" should have corresponded to this particularly tricky Great Aunt).

So I checked the first census I could find that would account for her. And in it, she's listed under the "wrong" name.

I tried the next. Still the "wrong" name.

But the third census? A new name -- the one I'm looking for!

She must have decided to change her name in her late teens or early 20s. I don't know what the story behind that is -- and there's no one left to ask, really -- but this was definitely the lady I was looking for.

How exciting Nancy! Unforunately for me - I'm very annoyed that the ancestry database subscription doesn't seem to include ancestry.ireland !

Nancy, that's great to use the census that way. I recently found a sister in law so I got the wife's maiden name. I make a point to check every census to find family members that might be living with them, or like you, a difference in name, or a baby that died early.

Not tried Footnote much yet. Do you find it useful. Not really familiar with it, need to research that site more.

I am working on this family and the lady said she gave me "everything" she knew. I kept hitting brick walls. then I called her and she all of a sudden gave me more info. And, she had written down her mom was Christy, but now she says no her name is Charity... So always followup to see if they recall more.

Hopefully Ancestry will putmore Irish links on available to all subscribers. I have Crums and McAnnally's that I"d like to research more on.

Tina

Hi Tina,

Footnote totally helped me find one particular thing -- a naturalization form -- but after that, I haven't found it all that helpful.

It seems to me that the site is a fantastic resource if you're looking for specific types of documents (e.g. naturalization-related stuff, military stuff), but not too useful for other things. (At least so far -- perhaps they'll add more?)

Thanks... I'll have to try to find time to review Footnote.

I wish there were more hours in a day. Can't do all I want to do.

Tina

Some success for today...

One thing I've been trying to do is trace each of my parents' families back until I discover exactly which ancestor crossed the Atlantic and when.

As of today, I'm halfway to my goal: I've got the names and dates of all the people on my mom's side (in my direct line) who first came from Italy.

It's not a humongous success, as her family immigrated pretty recently. (Much more recently that the folks on the other side, anyway.) But still it's still really cool to be making progress.

You can get a copy of the naturalization papers, most likely from the regional NARA involved. Are you near one of those? On the Declaration of Intent obtained from the regional NARA in Chicago, city where he applied, I have for my husband's father he stated the name of the ship he came on, where it sailed from and the date, his "foreign residence," his date of birth, his physical description, his occupation, etc. -- a lot of useful information.

Hi,

I've been doing geneaology since 2000, but always had interest in researching my family history. Im trying to work on my fathers side... COLLINS. They were from Tennessee and cant seem to get out of TN to go further back. My grandfather said his father died when he was 12 so he didnt remember much about his father. I was curious about his father, mother and his siblings. When I started researching the COLLINS line in 2000, I ordered a death certificate and it said that my grandfathers father died in a mental hospital. No wonder my grandfather wouldnt talk about it. It was a disgrace and embarrasment to his family. I'm still trying to go back further, but having a heck of a time with the COLLINS line. I swear, they probably went to Russia and had two more kids... Vodka and Tom COLLINS-lol.

Anyways, any suggestions how I can break the brick wall?

Thanks,

Julie