January 2012
31 posts
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“One person’s mess is merely another person’s filing system.”
– Margo Kaufman
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Ask Ancestry Anne: Children mysteriously appearing
Question: While researching my family at the turn of the century, I’ve come across an interesting discrepancy. I’ve found my great-great-grandparents in both the 1900 and 1910 censuses, but the 1910 census includes three teenage sons who were not included on the 1900 census. I can think of several theories as to why this might be—they might be orphaned nephews taken in by their aunt and uncle,...
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“Every man’s life is a fairy tale written by God’s finger.”
– Hans Christian Anderson
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Ask Ancestry Anne: How do I know what records I...
Question: How do I know what records I can find for my ancestor? Answer: When searching for information on your ancestors in the US, it is important to remember that each state recorded information differently, and the way they record information and what they recorded tended to change over time. One of the best places to start investigating what any state might have recorded over the years is in...
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Ask Ancestry Anne: What does WFT mean?
Question: What does the letters WFT mean, I see them next to death dates on ancestry public family trees.
— Richard
Answer: I admit it, I had to do a little looking to find this one. World Family Tree was a product created by Broderbund and sold on CD’s which had family trees on it. They would estimate dates for vital events and mark them as WFT est.
Happy Searching!
Ancestry...
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Ask Ancestry Anne: Finding Parents before 1850
Question: I have found my husband’s great-great-grandfather in the 1850, 1860 and 1870 censuses in Virginia. But because the 1840 census only lists head of household – and because I don’t know his father’s name – I am stuck. My great-great-great-grandfather is George Johnston; he was born July 13, 1805 in Prince William County, Virginia. He died on March 8, 1874 in Page County,...
December 2011
29 posts
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Happy Holidays from Ancestry.com
With the holidays in full swing, and Christmas only a day away, I’m sure everyone is preparing their home for a festive holiday, or possibly traveling to spend time with friends and family afar. Either way, the holidays are a time when we think of family, how important they are in our to us, and cherish the time we get to spend with everyone.
At Ancestry.com, we want to wish you and your...
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Elopement
I had searched the UK records, without success, for the marriage of my great grandfather Samuel Drew to Jane Harris. My father, uncle, aunt could throw no light on the matter. Great grandfather’s stepmother had written in the family “register” that “Samuel Drew left for a ferran land 7th April 1867”. The ship leaving that day for America was the North American,...
Ned Kelly and the 'mssing' James Babington
I thought you might like to know of my ‘discovery’ of a ‘missing’ brother (James Babington) of my Irish great grandfather George Babington (1826-1901) thanks to this James Babington’s dealings with the Victoria, Australia bush-ranger Ned Kelly. The story in my Babington family is that my great grandfather George and a brother named James had planned to go to Australia...
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From Belgium to the US and back
I’ve being searching for my ancestors now for 31 years, and with the help of Ancestry. the past 4-5 years. A cousin in Moline IL found me searching the family in the US and Can. She never knew what she was in for. Here in Belgium most people get back in history to Napoleon years, then it stops. Well I did got a little bit further. My root father and here mothers line of the family,was...
My great grandfather's mystery solved
Someone posted my great grandfather’s death certificate on ancestry.com a couple of months ago. I have been to Arkansas and Baton Rouge trying to find information on him after he divorced my great grandmother in 1904. Still not sure if he had other descendents but this is great info!
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Grandparents marriage
I never knew exactly when my paternal grandparents were married. All I had ever seen was 1906 in San Francisco, CA. I knew that my dad had been born 7/15/1907 in San Francisco, CA, but never had a birth certificate for him.
Last year my sons got my husband and I round trip tickets and a weeks accomodations in San Francisco for my 65th birthday. We went this past April and I started searching...
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Ask Ancestry Anne: Just Because It Looks Wrong,...
I was doing a bit of research for a friend on an ancestor named Amos Owens. He was born in Rutherford, North Carolina, about 1821, and he died there in 1906. All of his census records are in Rutherford, but I couldn’t find one for him there in 1880.
One result did pop up for him, but the residence, was Albany, New York. It just didn’t seem right. But a negative fine is just as...
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Ask Ancestry Anne: What is a relict?
Question: One of my ancestor’s obituaries lists her as a “relict” possibly of my gggrandfather. What does this mean? Thanks
Answer: A relict is a widow who has not remarried.
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Fearlessness and Forged Signatures
My late grandmother Eleanor Agnes Fazzone Stanton, she of the bird legs and long nose I inherited, was born on December 7, 1914. A day that would eventually live in infamy. Today marks the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day, when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt exhorted Americans that they had nothing to fear but fear itself.
Nana encouraged a similar fearlessness in me, particularly in the...
My Dad, Whit Criswell Bryan, was proud of his service in the Navy. A Chief Petty Officer (HMC), he was a veteran of three wars and a Pearl Harbor survivor. Dad was a pharmacist mate stationed at Mobile Naval Hospital #2 about 800 feet above Pearl Harbor on Aiea Heights. He arrived at the Mobile Naval Hospital #2 on December 1, 1941 where all of the medical staff was charged with building the...
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My Dad, Jack
Jackson Parker Centers, my dad, was born in 1918, and joined the US Navy in 1937. He was first assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, and was still aboard when the ship was tied at Pearl. Dad didn’t speak much about the attack because he lost many friends aboard, but what he did say, enhanced by news articles and military records speak much about the man who was my father.
He had just...
