My great-great-grandmother, Sarah Fox Hickey, was the daughter of John Fox and Mary Livezey. Most of the documents I have which refer to Sarah give her name as Sarah N. Fox (or Hickey). One of my third cousins had theorized that Sarah's middle name was Nice, after her mother's sister (Sarah Livezey Nice). This seemed like a good theory, since it was a common practice in Mary Livezey's family to name daughters after married sisters. For instance, Sarah's youngest sister was named Tacy Hallowell Fox after her mother's sister (Tacy Livezey Hallowell).
Although I thought my cousin was probably right about Sarah's middle name, I had never come across any documents to confirm or refute this theory; that is, of course, until yesterday. My husband and I made a trip to the Maryland State Archives yesterday to do some genealogy research. We spent most of the time looking at microfilmed copies of death certificates. One of the death certificates I looked at was for James and Sarah Hickey's youngest daughter, Agnes Matilda ("Tillie"), who died in 1965.
I was mostly trying to fill in some gaps in my research, such as where and how Tillie died. I did find that information, but Tillie's death certificate also provided me with an unexpected bonus.
Later death certificates list the names of the deceased's parents. There is a place on the certificate for the mother's maiden name. However, sometimes the person supplying the information about the deceased did not know the maiden name and would just give the mother's first name or her first name and married name. At first glance I thought this was the case with Tillie's death certificate. The name on the certificate was pretty faint, and when I first looked at it I thought the name was Sarah Hickey.
When I took a closer look at the name, though, I realized that the last name was not Hickey at all. Tillie's son had given her mother's name as Sarah Nice Fox. So I finally had confirmation for Sarah's middle name, when I wasn't even looking for it.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Detective work
As I said in my first blog, genealogy is much like detective work. Like a good detective, a genealogist must be persistent, looking for clues and drawing conclusions. She must then find evidence to support those conclusions. While a police detective works to uncover criminals, a genealogist uses some of the same methods to uncover relationships and dead relatives. (Of course in some cases the results are the same. Many a genealogist, in the search for relatives, has uncovered a criminal or two in her family!)
Modern detectives use physical evidence (like fingerprints and DNA) and the testimony of witnesses to solve crimes. Genealogists, on the other hand, must rely on written records (the census, newspaper articles, city directories, etc.)
Unfortunately, some genealogists don't go far enough in their research. It is important to look at more than one source. If a detective showed up in court with only one piece of evidence, he would not have a very strong case.
The favorite source for many genealogists is the federal census returns, which can be very informative. However, information found in the census should be verified in other sources.
In my research of the Wolf family, for instance, I had drawn some conclusions about Andrew Francis Wolf, but I needed to find evidence to prove my conclusions. I had already proved that Andrew F. Wolf (from the 1930 census) and Frank Andrew Wolf (from the draft registrations) were one and the same person. I next wanted to prove that Andrew F. Wolf, who was listed as the son of Joseph and Barbara Wolf in the 1900 census, was also the same person.
I was able to do this by checking the 1910 and 1920 census and verifying that the address was the same as for Frank Andrew in the World War I draft registration. This was pretty good evidence that Andrew Francis was the son of Joseph and Barbara Wolf. I still plan to verify this fact by checking the church records. A marriage record for Andrew Francis and Elizabeth Buchinger should give the names of their parents.
Once I knew who Andrew Francis's parents were, I wanted to find out more about them. First I wanted to prove that Joseph Wolf was really the son of Matthias Wolf of Landshausen. To do this, I searched the Baltimore City Directories. Fortunately for me, many of the directories have been digitized and put online, so it was fairly easy to locate Joseph and his family.
I knew from the census that Joseph and Barbara were married about 1892, so I started searching the directory about 1890. Sure enough, I came across Joseph W. Wolf, candymaker, living at 564 Union in 1890 and 1891. At the same address were Matthew (listed as Matthias in 1891) and Charles Wolf. I already knew from my previous research that Matthias Wolf's youngest son was Charles, so this was pretty good evidence that this was Matthias Wolf of Landshausen and his two youngest sons.
I was also able to use the city directory to find an approximate date of death for Matthias Wolf. He was listed in the directory through 1901, but not in 1902. I then searched the Baltimore Sun (also available online) for a death notice for Matthias, which showed that he died in September 1901.
Next I searched the Baltimore City marriage index to see if there was a record for Joseph and Barbara Wolf's marriage. I discovered that Joseph Wolf married Barbara Hasselberger on October 6, 1891, at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Baltimore.
I was pretty sure this was the right marriage, since they had been married about 8 years in 1900. Also, Joseph had moved out of his father's house between 1891 and 1892. In the 1892 directory Joseph was living at 1225 Patapsco Street, which is just a few blocks from Holy Cross Church. I also remembered that, in 1920, a cousin named Ernest Hasselberger had been living with Joseph and Barbara. Again, I will try to confirm this by looking at the marriage records at Holy Cross.
I next turned my attention to Barbara Hasselberger, to see if I could find her in the census. I was able to find her in the 1880 census as Barbary Hazelberger. Her parents were Sigmund and Maggie, who were born in Germany. I was not able to locate Sigmund in any other censuses, so I once again turned to the city directories.
I was able to locate Sigmund Hasselberger, off and on, in the city directory from 1879 to 1892. From about 1890 to 1892, Sigmund was living at 1225 Patapsco Street, the same address as Joseph Wolf in 1892! So I'm pretty sure that Barbara Wolf was the daughter of Sigmund Hasselberger, but I'll check the church records to be sure.
Modern detectives use physical evidence (like fingerprints and DNA) and the testimony of witnesses to solve crimes. Genealogists, on the other hand, must rely on written records (the census, newspaper articles, city directories, etc.)
Unfortunately, some genealogists don't go far enough in their research. It is important to look at more than one source. If a detective showed up in court with only one piece of evidence, he would not have a very strong case.
The favorite source for many genealogists is the federal census returns, which can be very informative. However, information found in the census should be verified in other sources.
In my research of the Wolf family, for instance, I had drawn some conclusions about Andrew Francis Wolf, but I needed to find evidence to prove my conclusions. I had already proved that Andrew F. Wolf (from the 1930 census) and Frank Andrew Wolf (from the draft registrations) were one and the same person. I next wanted to prove that Andrew F. Wolf, who was listed as the son of Joseph and Barbara Wolf in the 1900 census, was also the same person.
I was able to do this by checking the 1910 and 1920 census and verifying that the address was the same as for Frank Andrew in the World War I draft registration. This was pretty good evidence that Andrew Francis was the son of Joseph and Barbara Wolf. I still plan to verify this fact by checking the church records. A marriage record for Andrew Francis and Elizabeth Buchinger should give the names of their parents.
Once I knew who Andrew Francis's parents were, I wanted to find out more about them. First I wanted to prove that Joseph Wolf was really the son of Matthias Wolf of Landshausen. To do this, I searched the Baltimore City Directories. Fortunately for me, many of the directories have been digitized and put online, so it was fairly easy to locate Joseph and his family.
I knew from the census that Joseph and Barbara were married about 1892, so I started searching the directory about 1890. Sure enough, I came across Joseph W. Wolf, candymaker, living at 564 Union in 1890 and 1891. At the same address were Matthew (listed as Matthias in 1891) and Charles Wolf. I already knew from my previous research that Matthias Wolf's youngest son was Charles, so this was pretty good evidence that this was Matthias Wolf of Landshausen and his two youngest sons.
I was also able to use the city directory to find an approximate date of death for Matthias Wolf. He was listed in the directory through 1901, but not in 1902. I then searched the Baltimore Sun (also available online) for a death notice for Matthias, which showed that he died in September 1901.
Next I searched the Baltimore City marriage index to see if there was a record for Joseph and Barbara Wolf's marriage. I discovered that Joseph Wolf married Barbara Hasselberger on October 6, 1891, at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Baltimore.
I was pretty sure this was the right marriage, since they had been married about 8 years in 1900. Also, Joseph had moved out of his father's house between 1891 and 1892. In the 1892 directory Joseph was living at 1225 Patapsco Street, which is just a few blocks from Holy Cross Church. I also remembered that, in 1920, a cousin named Ernest Hasselberger had been living with Joseph and Barbara. Again, I will try to confirm this by looking at the marriage records at Holy Cross.
I next turned my attention to Barbara Hasselberger, to see if I could find her in the census. I was able to find her in the 1880 census as Barbary Hazelberger. Her parents were Sigmund and Maggie, who were born in Germany. I was not able to locate Sigmund in any other censuses, so I once again turned to the city directories.
I was able to locate Sigmund Hasselberger, off and on, in the city directory from 1879 to 1892. From about 1890 to 1892, Sigmund was living at 1225 Patapsco Street, the same address as Joseph Wolf in 1892! So I'm pretty sure that Barbara Wolf was the daughter of Sigmund Hasselberger, but I'll check the church records to be sure.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Kissing cousins
Last week one of my cousins asked me to help her with her family tree. I already had plenty of information for her mother's side of the family (our common ancestors), so I decided to do some research on her father's family. One of her father's ancestors was a man named Andrew Francis Wolf. The only info I had for him was his name, but no dates of birth or death. Since Andrew, Francis, and Wolf are all very common names I didn't have much hope of finding him.
I did have one piece of information about Andrew, though, that was very helpful. I knew that his wife's name was Elizabeth Buchinger. Since that was a rather unusual surname, I decided to start with her. Searching through the census on Ancestry, I was able to find her pretty quickly. In 1900 she was living in Baltimore City with her parents, Vincent and Mary Buchinger.
Once I had found Elizabeth Buchinger, I turned my attention to Andrew. I did a search on Ancestry and checked the results for the 1930 census. There were 5 Andrew Wolfs living in Maryland at that time. One of them caught my eye: Andrew F. Wolf and his wife Elizabeth. When I viewed the image of the census record for this Andrew Wolf, I discovered 3 other people living with Andrew and his wife and daughter: Mary Buchinger and her 2 daughters! So I knew that I had the correct family.
According to the census, Andrew was born about 1896. I next turned my attention to the World War I and World War II draft registrations on Ancestry. I discovered a Frank Andrew Wolf, who was born in August 1895 or 1896. Fortunately for me, Andrew had not moved between 1930 and 1942, so I was able to confirm that Frank Andrew and Andrew Francis were one and the same person.
Once I had some more information about Andrew, I checked the earlier census records to see what I could find out about his parents and family. I found an Andrew F. Wolf in the 1900 census, who was born in August 1895 and was the son of Joseph and Barbara Wolf.
I did not have any luck finding an Andrew Wolf in 1910 or 1920, so I decided to search for a Frank Wolf born about 1895. Sure enough I was able to find Andrew again, living with Joseph and Barbara. His address in 1910 and 1920 was the same as that for Frank Andrew Wolf in the first draft registration, so I was able to confirm that Joseph and Barbara Wolf were Andrew's parents.
In the midst of all this, I remembered that years ago I had researched another family named Wolf. I decided to go back and look at my previous research, on the off chance that there might be some connection between the two families.
My grandfather's grandfather, Johann Georg Imhof, came to Baltimore in 1850 from a village in Baden called Landshausen. Several of his relatives immigrated to Maryland about the same time. Among those were three brothers named Joseph, Matthias, and George Wolf.
Matthias Wolf was born in Landshausen in 1824 and was married in Elsenz, Baden, in 1845. He and his wife had 11 children. Their ninth child was Johann Joseph Wolf, who was born in Baltimore in December 1864.
I checked my family tree database and discovered that this Johann Joseph Wolf had a wife named Barbara and 7 children. I was shocked when I saw the name of their third child: Andrew F. Wolf, born in August 1895!
So it turns out that my cousin's father and mother were actually related, though I'm sure they had no idea. My genealogy software has a tool for calculating the relationship between two individuals, so I was able to determine that her parents were seventh cousins!
I did have one piece of information about Andrew, though, that was very helpful. I knew that his wife's name was Elizabeth Buchinger. Since that was a rather unusual surname, I decided to start with her. Searching through the census on Ancestry, I was able to find her pretty quickly. In 1900 she was living in Baltimore City with her parents, Vincent and Mary Buchinger.
Once I had found Elizabeth Buchinger, I turned my attention to Andrew. I did a search on Ancestry and checked the results for the 1930 census. There were 5 Andrew Wolfs living in Maryland at that time. One of them caught my eye: Andrew F. Wolf and his wife Elizabeth. When I viewed the image of the census record for this Andrew Wolf, I discovered 3 other people living with Andrew and his wife and daughter: Mary Buchinger and her 2 daughters! So I knew that I had the correct family.
According to the census, Andrew was born about 1896. I next turned my attention to the World War I and World War II draft registrations on Ancestry. I discovered a Frank Andrew Wolf, who was born in August 1895 or 1896. Fortunately for me, Andrew had not moved between 1930 and 1942, so I was able to confirm that Frank Andrew and Andrew Francis were one and the same person.
Once I had some more information about Andrew, I checked the earlier census records to see what I could find out about his parents and family. I found an Andrew F. Wolf in the 1900 census, who was born in August 1895 and was the son of Joseph and Barbara Wolf.
I did not have any luck finding an Andrew Wolf in 1910 or 1920, so I decided to search for a Frank Wolf born about 1895. Sure enough I was able to find Andrew again, living with Joseph and Barbara. His address in 1910 and 1920 was the same as that for Frank Andrew Wolf in the first draft registration, so I was able to confirm that Joseph and Barbara Wolf were Andrew's parents.
In the midst of all this, I remembered that years ago I had researched another family named Wolf. I decided to go back and look at my previous research, on the off chance that there might be some connection between the two families.
My grandfather's grandfather, Johann Georg Imhof, came to Baltimore in 1850 from a village in Baden called Landshausen. Several of his relatives immigrated to Maryland about the same time. Among those were three brothers named Joseph, Matthias, and George Wolf.
I checked my family tree database and discovered that this Johann Joseph Wolf had a wife named Barbara and 7 children. I was shocked when I saw the name of their third child: Andrew F. Wolf, born in August 1895!
So it turns out that my cousin's father and mother were actually related, though I'm sure they had no idea. My genealogy software has a tool for calculating the relationship between two individuals, so I was able to determine that her parents were seventh cousins!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Going digital
My husband and I just returned from an overnight trip to the Philadelphia area. The main purpose for our trip was a return visit to the Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College, so that I could do some more research on Sarah Fox Hickey's Quaker ancestors.
On my last visit, I had looked at some records from the Abington Monthly Meeting where Sarah's ancestors were members. I had found lots of helpful information and had made many paper copies of pertinent records.
This time I decided to be "daring" and try something new. One of the microfilm readers at the library is set up so that you can made "digital surrogates" of the microfilm images. For a fee of $5.00 you can bring your own thumb drive and save as many images on it as you like. I tend to be "technically challenged," so the idea of this made me a little nervous. I decided to give it a try, though, and was very glad that I did.
Once I got used to the method of saving files, it was pretty easy to do. I found some new information and was able to make digital copies of the records. I also went back and made digital copies of some of the records I had copied last time. The advantage of having a digital copy is that you can zoom in on the image and can also enhance the image by adjusting the contrast, etc.
I went back to the library today to look at a book about the Livezey family. (Sarah's mother was Mary Livezey Fox.) The book was very helpful and had a lot of information that I wanted to copy. I started out carefully transcribing the information by hand.
Then I remembered seeing something on the library's website about using a digital camera. For $5.00 you could take as many photographs as you liked. I realized it was going to take me all day to transcribe the information by hand, so I decided to try using my digital camera (which I had brought in with me) to make copies of the pages of interest.
In less than an hour I had photographed all the pages I needed. Even copying them on a copying machine would have probably taken twice that long, and the copies would not have been nearly as good. In almost no time at all, I had about 30 crystal clear copies which I can now look over at my leisure.
So I have finally "gone digital," and I'm glad I did. I could really get used to this.
On my last visit, I had looked at some records from the Abington Monthly Meeting where Sarah's ancestors were members. I had found lots of helpful information and had made many paper copies of pertinent records.
This time I decided to be "daring" and try something new. One of the microfilm readers at the library is set up so that you can made "digital surrogates" of the microfilm images. For a fee of $5.00 you can bring your own thumb drive and save as many images on it as you like. I tend to be "technically challenged," so the idea of this made me a little nervous. I decided to give it a try, though, and was very glad that I did.
Once I got used to the method of saving files, it was pretty easy to do. I found some new information and was able to make digital copies of the records. I also went back and made digital copies of some of the records I had copied last time. The advantage of having a digital copy is that you can zoom in on the image and can also enhance the image by adjusting the contrast, etc.
I went back to the library today to look at a book about the Livezey family. (Sarah's mother was Mary Livezey Fox.) The book was very helpful and had a lot of information that I wanted to copy. I started out carefully transcribing the information by hand.
Then I remembered seeing something on the library's website about using a digital camera. For $5.00 you could take as many photographs as you liked. I realized it was going to take me all day to transcribe the information by hand, so I decided to try using my digital camera (which I had brought in with me) to make copies of the pages of interest.
In less than an hour I had photographed all the pages I needed. Even copying them on a copying machine would have probably taken twice that long, and the copies would not have been nearly as good. In almost no time at all, I had about 30 crystal clear copies which I can now look over at my leisure.
So I have finally "gone digital," and I'm glad I did. I could really get used to this.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
An unexpected discovery
Today I ventured down to the Maryland State Archives in Annapolis to do some research on the Hickeys. It's quite a hike for me (about 1 1/4 hours on a good day, even longer in heavy traffic), so it's always nice to come home with some information I can use. For the most part, I had a very productive 4 hours of research. I found some death records, a marriage record, and some wills. The best discovery I made today, though, was something totally unexpected.
The first roll of microfilm I looked at was a roll of Baltimore City death certificates. I was hoping to find death records for George Miles and James Hickey, my grandmother's cousins who drowned in 1895. (See my June 12 blog for the story of their deaths.) The certificates are filmed in sequential order, so as long as you have the certificate number it's pretty easy to find a specific record.
I quickly found certificates for the two boys and began transcribing the information. When I got to the bottom of the certificates, something caught my eye. The name of the physician who signed both certificates was P.V. Benson, coroner. It just so happens that P.V. Benson is Philander Virgil Benson, who is my husband's great-great-grandfather!
The first roll of microfilm I looked at was a roll of Baltimore City death certificates. I was hoping to find death records for George Miles and James Hickey, my grandmother's cousins who drowned in 1895. (See my June 12 blog for the story of their deaths.) The certificates are filmed in sequential order, so as long as you have the certificate number it's pretty easy to find a specific record.
I quickly found certificates for the two boys and began transcribing the information. When I got to the bottom of the certificates, something caught my eye. The name of the physician who signed both certificates was P.V. Benson, coroner. It just so happens that P.V. Benson is Philander Virgil Benson, who is my husband's great-great-grandfather!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Looking at the big picture
I would have had a lot less trouble finding Mary Bailey Arrington (see my last blog) if I had remembered another lesson I've learned from my genealogy research: look at the big picture. Instead of focusing on one specific line of a family, I find it's best to look at collateral relatives as well. I learned early on in my research to take a very close look at godparents, confirmation sponsors, and witnesses of marriages. More often than not, these people are close relatives of the person being baptized, confirmed, or married.
This is especially true in German families. Parents often chose siblings or cousins as godparents for their children. When I was researching my German ancestors, I was able to "grow" my family quite a bit just by looking at these godparents.
Rather than having "tunnel vision," as some genealogists tend to have, I prefer to look at the family as a whole. After all, we are not isolated individuals living out our existence. We interact with family members and other members of society, and this interaction helps to make us who we are.
A few years ago, I had run up against a brick wall with my great-grandmother, Ottilia Margaret Schnapp. I had found her with her family in the 1870 census and had found her family (without her) in the 1880 census. However, I had never found her in the 1880 census. Since my great-grandparents were married in 1882, I was particularly interested in where she was living right before her marriage. I searched in vain for many months, but was unable to locate her.
I turned my attention, then, to another branch of the family. Ottilia's future father-in-law had several cousins who lived in the area and attended the same parish. (I had found them through the baptismal records.)
One of the cousins was a man named John Sebastian Deck. I was following his family through the census and came across his family in the 1880 census. Sebastian's family was listed at the bottom of one page, then continued at the top of the next page. When I went to the second page and scanned the names listed there, I could scarcely believe my eyes. At the end of the listing was the family's domestic servant, a 21-year-old woman named "Tillie Snapp."
I knew immediately that this was the great-grandmother for whom I had searched so long, and I had found her without even looking for her. If I had not been looking at the big picture and researching those cousins I never would have found her.
If I had just remembered this lesson while researching the Baileys, I might have found Mary Bailey Arrington a lot sooner. After I found Mary and her husband, I was looking back over some old notes from several years ago, where I had recorded a marriage record for Mary's sister, Cora. In my notes were the names of the witnesses at the marriage: Mary Bailey and Thomas Arrington.
This is especially true in German families. Parents often chose siblings or cousins as godparents for their children. When I was researching my German ancestors, I was able to "grow" my family quite a bit just by looking at these godparents.
Rather than having "tunnel vision," as some genealogists tend to have, I prefer to look at the family as a whole. After all, we are not isolated individuals living out our existence. We interact with family members and other members of society, and this interaction helps to make us who we are.
A few years ago, I had run up against a brick wall with my great-grandmother, Ottilia Margaret Schnapp. I had found her with her family in the 1870 census and had found her family (without her) in the 1880 census. However, I had never found her in the 1880 census. Since my great-grandparents were married in 1882, I was particularly interested in where she was living right before her marriage. I searched in vain for many months, but was unable to locate her.
I turned my attention, then, to another branch of the family. Ottilia's future father-in-law had several cousins who lived in the area and attended the same parish. (I had found them through the baptismal records.)
One of the cousins was a man named John Sebastian Deck. I was following his family through the census and came across his family in the 1880 census. Sebastian's family was listed at the bottom of one page, then continued at the top of the next page. When I went to the second page and scanned the names listed there, I could scarcely believe my eyes. At the end of the listing was the family's domestic servant, a 21-year-old woman named "Tillie Snapp."
I knew immediately that this was the great-grandmother for whom I had searched so long, and I had found her without even looking for her. If I had not been looking at the big picture and researching those cousins I never would have found her.
If I had just remembered this lesson while researching the Baileys, I might have found Mary Bailey Arrington a lot sooner. After I found Mary and her husband, I was looking back over some old notes from several years ago, where I had recorded a marriage record for Mary's sister, Cora. In my notes were the names of the witnesses at the marriage: Mary Bailey and Thomas Arrington.
Monday, August 16, 2010
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again
One thing I've learned in my many years of family history research is that it's often helpful to stop researching a particular line for a while, especially when coming up against the proverbial brick wall. After a few months, or even a few years, I go back and take a fresh look at the family. Many times this results in fresh leads.
I had an experience with that just a few months ago. I had spent many years researching the Hickey line of my family. I found plenty of information, but also had plenty of gaps. A few years ago, I switched gears and started researching my husband's family.
Now that I am ready to write a book about the Hickeys, I've been going back over my research to see what I know about the family and what I still need to find out. A few months ago, I was looking over the family of Mary Ann Hickey (James and Sarah's oldest daughter). I noticed that I did not have a death date yet for Mary Ann's son, Harry Columbus Bailey, so I went on Ancestry.com and did a search for Harry. I did not find any information about his death. However, in Harry's WWII draft registration, I found a new piece of information about another member of the family.
Mary Ann Hickey and her husband, John Louis Bailey, had 5 daughters. I had found marriage information for all but one of the daughters: Mary Ann Bailey. Years ago, I had searched and searched for a marriage record, but to no avail. Imagine my delight, then, when I saw the following on Harry's draft registration: "Name... of person who will always know your address: Mrs. Mary Aaronson - 3658 Ash St. (sister)."
I could scarce believe my eyes. Now that I knew Mary's married name, I could find her in the census and other records (or so I thought). I immediately did a search on Ancestry and other sites for Mary Aaronson. To my disappointment, though, I came up with nothing, zilch. I could not find a single reference to Mary Aaronson.
After many frustrating hours searching for Mary, I gave up. Then, a few days later, I had an inspiration. Since I had Mary's address in 1942, I decided to try to find her in the land records.
The Maryland State Archives has digitized all the land records for Maryland and put them on line at http://www.mdlandrec.net/. The search engine for Baltimore City records allows searches by street address for records created after 1972. The later records always cite the previous records for that property, so that you can follow a chain back in time to previous owners of the property.
I did a search for 3658 Ash St. and was able to get back to 1926, when the property was purchased by Mary A. and Thomas Arrington. Eureka! Now that I had the correct last name and the first name of Mary's husband, I was easily able to find them in the census and other records. I even found one of their descendants on Ancestry, who is also researching the family.
So, as the old adage says: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." You never know what you might find.
I had an experience with that just a few months ago. I had spent many years researching the Hickey line of my family. I found plenty of information, but also had plenty of gaps. A few years ago, I switched gears and started researching my husband's family.
Now that I am ready to write a book about the Hickeys, I've been going back over my research to see what I know about the family and what I still need to find out. A few months ago, I was looking over the family of Mary Ann Hickey (James and Sarah's oldest daughter). I noticed that I did not have a death date yet for Mary Ann's son, Harry Columbus Bailey, so I went on Ancestry.com and did a search for Harry. I did not find any information about his death. However, in Harry's WWII draft registration, I found a new piece of information about another member of the family.
Mary Ann Hickey and her husband, John Louis Bailey, had 5 daughters. I had found marriage information for all but one of the daughters: Mary Ann Bailey. Years ago, I had searched and searched for a marriage record, but to no avail. Imagine my delight, then, when I saw the following on Harry's draft registration: "Name... of person who will always know your address: Mrs. Mary Aaronson - 3658 Ash St. (sister)."
I could scarce believe my eyes. Now that I knew Mary's married name, I could find her in the census and other records (or so I thought). I immediately did a search on Ancestry and other sites for Mary Aaronson. To my disappointment, though, I came up with nothing, zilch. I could not find a single reference to Mary Aaronson.
After many frustrating hours searching for Mary, I gave up. Then, a few days later, I had an inspiration. Since I had Mary's address in 1942, I decided to try to find her in the land records.
The Maryland State Archives has digitized all the land records for Maryland and put them on line at http://www.mdlandrec.net/. The search engine for Baltimore City records allows searches by street address for records created after 1972. The later records always cite the previous records for that property, so that you can follow a chain back in time to previous owners of the property.
I did a search for 3658 Ash St. and was able to get back to 1926, when the property was purchased by Mary A. and Thomas Arrington. Eureka! Now that I had the correct last name and the first name of Mary's husband, I was easily able to find them in the census and other records. I even found one of their descendants on Ancestry, who is also researching the family.
So, as the old adage says: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." You never know what you might find.
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James and Sarah's Hickey's tombstone at Holy Family is one of 3 Hickey stones in the cemetery. James and Sarah's stone is on th... -
One of my favorite things about genealogy is connecting with other genealogists and with cousins I didn't even know I had. Over the year...
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I would have had a lot less trouble finding Mary Bailey Arrington (see my last blog) if I had remembered another lesson I've learned fro...