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, Virginia. So far I haven’t been able to find a marriage record that would give parents’ names. What should my next step be?

— Anna Marie Johnston

Answer: I think I found your George Johnston in the 1850 census, in Shenandoah, Virginia.  (If this isn’t your George, he’ll work as our example. J)

You’ll notice that there are two children, a 16-year-old and a 19-year old, listed living in the household. I would guess that George and Sarah may have been married around 1830, so George is probably in the 1840 census as well, although finding him may be a little tricky if he’s not the head of his household.

You’re right – finding a marriage certificate could help quite a bit. And it’s possible that you will be able to find one; however in the time period you are probably looking at, parents were not often included unless the people getting married were not of age. But if you can’t you may want to try to locate a death certificate instead. Ancestry.com has a great collection of these for Virginia.

Other routes you may want to pursue include:

1. Locate a Sons of the American Revolution membership packet for a family member of George or Sarah. George may not be related to a revolutionary war soldier but it is always worth a try. And it is a goldmine if you find the right one.
2. 2.  Focus on the children. It’s easier to find info the closer it is to present day. Take George and Sarah’s 1850 census and follow their children forward, locating marriage and death certificates for them, too. Any of these may hold clues that will help you find George’s marriage certificate or another useful document. 
3.  Search for Sarah. Finding her death certificate may give you her maiden name. Use this info to locate her parents in earlier censuses, before she was marriage to George. You may find that a family with her maiden name lived very close to a family of Johnstons that match the specs of George’s family (see more about this below).

Note that if you do find a marriage certificate for George and Sarah, it may lead you to the earliest census record you’ll find him listed in by name. If, however, he was married in 1830 AFTER the census was taken, you may still be searching for him and for Sarah using their parents’ name instead.

Regardless, the marriage certificate should include the name of a county – use that in the 1830 or 1820 census to search for all Johnstons (and Johnsons since I imagine the name is recorded both ways) in that county. Identify all the matching households that have a male child in 1820 that might have been born around 1805. The 1820 census has a column for males between 10 and 15, and one for males between 16 and 18.  Do the same with Sarah’s maiden name, if provided, and see if you can create a match.

Happy Searching!

Ancestry Anne