|
March 08, 2001
See Rhonda's Previous
Columns
Lost Marriage Record
Q: I
am seeking information on how to find a marriage record that I know exists but
simply can't find anywhere. Joseph Park, born 1791, married Bridget Stanley,
born 1800 in West Virginia/Virginia. I cannot find Joseph's origin so I've traced
Bridget's family in census, birth, death & marriage records. By dates & places
of residence Bridget was the daughter of Thomas & Catherine (Cheuveront) who
lived in Stanley, Maryland. In 1800 they moved to Harrison County West Virginia/Virginia
then moved to Ritchie County West Virginia/Virginia and died there. Thomas appears
in the 1810, 1820, 1830, 1840 Wood County Census. He died before the 1850 census
and was buried in Ritchie County. Joseph Park appears in the 1830 Wood County
Census and does not appear in the 1840 Wood County Census but appears in the
1850, 1860 Wirt County Census. Joseph died and was buried in Wirt County, West
Virginia. Joseph's children's marriage records give Wood County West Virgina
as their birth place. So I assumed he was missed by the census taker. Since
Thomas Stanley lived in Wood County in 1819 the marriage record should be there.
I've checked all neighboring counties, even in Ohio & Pennsylvania and still
no luck. The Stanley family Bible lists their marriage as 1819. Their sons'
(Thomas & Marlin Park) biography's gives their marriage as 1819. Why can't I
find it recorded somewhere? What have I missed? -- Ann
A:
Right from the beginning it is important to mention that while we may have knowledge
of a particular event taking place, there may not be a surviving record that
gives all the proof we would like to have, such as the marriage record that
you are seeking.
It is apparent that you have done some extensive research on this lineage, having used a variety of record types already. I did not see any mention of church records though. Very often, if the civil record has not survived, through courthouse fire or simple misplacement, then the church record may be available.
In order to begin such a search, it would be necessary to either determine
the religious affiliation of the family in question, or to determine the religious
denominations in the area. Not all religious denominations will have records
that have survived and some may have been moved to an archive elsewhere.
Once you have determined the churches in the area at the time, you may want to read up on the record keeping practices and religious practices of the churches. Some, such as Baptists, do not have baptism information on children. The Quakers will have Monthly Meeting minutes. Records created in a Catholic church remain with the church. These are mentioned only as examples, and not as possible denominations that were there at the time.
In the end, you may have to accept the records that you have already uncovered. If the family Bible in question was printed before 1819, it may be a primary document for that marriage.
Information from Census
Q:
I am looking for two items of information from the 1910 Census. One from Lockport,
Niagra County, New York and the other from Fredonia, Chautaqua County, New York.
The specific information is from column 13, Year of Immigration to the US. --
Vincent
A:
Census records are available on microfilm through many repositories. Some of
the 1900 and 1850 census have been scanned and made available through subscription
services. At Genealogy Library
the 1850 census is available online. The 1900
Census is also available online at Genealogy.com
as a separate subscription. Eventually the 1910 is likely to be available online
at one of these sites in a digitized format.
In the meantime, the 1910 census is available on microfilm. You can request
the pertinent rolls of microfilm through your local Family History Center. You
may already have access to these census records via a local branch of the National
Archives. There are twelve of them. You can learn more about them by visiting
the National Archives.
If you do not have easy access through one of the above mentioned repositories,
you may be able to find someone willing to do a look up for you. Generally they
require a little more information than you have supplied in your message. Ideally,
they need to know the name of the head of the household and the page of the
census on which the information can be found in addition to the town and county
information you supplied. You might be able to find someone willing to do the
look up for you by visiting the GenForum
bulletin boards and posting a message in the New
York board.
Who
Are His Parents?
Q:
I do not know my father's parents' names. His name is Gilbert Andrew Hostetler.
He was born 1891 in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. His father was a sheriff there.
I have found his brothers and sister, but no parents names. How do I find this?
-- Betty
A:
You have two good pieces of information already that should be followed up. The first is the birth year of Gilbert. Born in 1891, he would have been 9 years old in the 1900 census. You can search the Soundex for Pennsylvania for 1900 looking for any HOSTETLER families. As you find them in the Soundex, you can then search the family card for a son named Gilbert or Andrew who was approximately 7 to 9 years of age. Then you can look up those families in the census itself.
Your second piece of useful information is the fact that you know that Gilbert's father was a sheriff. This is a unique occupation. It will help you in identifying the correct family in the census should there be more than one with a child that fits your criteria.
If you have already exhausted the census records and come up empty handed, then you may want to turn your attention to a town or county history that was published after 1891. Very often such histories list the various officials of the towns, along with their occupations. You may find Gilbert's father's name this way.
Whom
Did She Marry?
Q:
When both parents have died and you know they had children, at least one of
whom was a daughter, how do you go about finding the daughter when you know
the daughter married but you don't know the married name? -- Melanie
A: There are a couple of different ways to try to determine whom the daughter married. The first attacks the problem from the daughter's side. The second attacks the problem from the parents' side.
Depending on when the event took place, you may be able to find a listing of
the marriage record. Many marriage records have been microfilmed through the
Family History Library. Still others have been made available on CD-ROM through
Genealogy.com. The CD-ROM ones are much easier
to search as you can search on your female's maiden name and locate her.
When it comes to the actual marriage records, many of the counties where such
records are recorded did not create a brides' index. They simply created an
index to the grooms. If the grooms' index includes the name of the bride, you
can scan these indexes looking for the daughter's name. If the grooms' index
does not, then it would be necessary to look through the marriage records page
by page. Many marriage books have the names of the bride and groom out to the
side in the margin, which makes this easier to accomplish.
The other possibility is to approach the research from the parents' side. If
the daughter married before the parents died, it is possible that her married
name is mentioned in the will of one of them, or in the records generated during
the probating of the estate. In many instances, even if it was the wife who
was inheriting from her father, you will find both her and her husband's signatures
on the records indicating receipt or acknowledgment of something in the records.
Rhonda R. McClure is a professional genealogist specializing in celebrity trees
and computerized genealogy. She has been involved in online genealogy for fifteen
years. She is the author of the award-winning The
Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Genealogy, now in its second edition.
She is the author of four how-to guides on Family
Tree Maker. In late 2001, she wrote The
Genealogist's Computer Companion. She is a contributing editor to Biography
Magazine with her "Celebrity Roots" column and a contributing writer
to The History Channel Magazine. Her latest book is Finding
Your Famous and Infamous Ancestors. She may be contacted at rhondagen@thegenealogist.com.
Back to Top of Article
|
