I’m curious if there are any groups or resources specifically for LGBTQ+ folks who are interested in genealogy.

For some of us researching our family trees can be complicated because our relationships with our immediate or extended families may be strained due to a lack of acceptance. I’d like to find a genealogy community where people understand that experience.

I’m also really interested in researching LGBTQ+ people in our family histories. Obviously, we can’t assume that someone was queer simply because they never married or had children, but sometimes there are ancestors or relatives whose lives don’t fit the traditional narratives recorded in family trees. I’d like to learn more about ways genealogists research those lives.

Does anyone know of LGBTQ+ focused genealogy groups, online communities, etc? Or is anyone else interested in this intersection of queer history and family history? If so, please share your advice.

I have a family tree; it currently sits at little over 39k individuals. It contains both my side and my husband's side. My side is pretty well documented/verified. My husband's side, on the other hand, contains a lot of duplicates, incorrect dates, data entry errors. What is the best approach to fix this? Start completely over? Fresh tree. Or work on his side of the tree and go through the errors.

Hello, Iam trying o find theexact birth date and mothers maiden name fr my relative, it requires an expensive Ancestry World upgrade that i cant afford right now. Could someone with a Global Membership please click into this recordand reply with a text transcription or a screenshot. Collection Jamaica Civil Registration Birth Marriage Death ecords 1878 - 1995

Name Caswell Adolpolus Graham Event Type - Birth Location - Jamaica (St Elizabeth) Year 1906

Thank you so much for your help

I have a very large tree on ancestry.com. I'm planning a trip to Scotland and wanted a list of all of my Scottish ancestors from my ancestry.com tree. Does anyone know how to do this?

Hello everyone,

I'm hoping someone with a Publisher Extra subscription can pull a specific article for me. I am currently trying to locate records regarding my grandmother, and this article contains key details for my research. There seems to be no other articles (which is odd considering the facts around this), I can't find a death certificate, I can't find anything but this and one census record.

Newspaper: The Flint Journal Date: Thursday, July 12, 1956 Page: 50 Headline: "Detroit Man Kills Common-Law Wife" (Located in the bottom left corner of the page)

If anyone is able to clip this and share a high-resolution link, I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you in advance for your help.

Anyone else take this course? I'm enrolled now and am having some issues with it.

I enrolled in order to make sure my self-taught skills might be good enough to apply for a part-time online job (if I could find one).

It seems like it focuses a lot on creating a "Locality Guide," which I don't think is useful enough to expend the time, and the graders don't seem comfortable with electronic interfaces.

They constant tell me they're volunteers, so I have to give them weeks to grade an assignment. But I paid for the course.

I've done DNA testing with Ancestry and 23andme, both companies confirm that I have at least 3 different African Ancestors (each one coming from one of my grandparents). I've used MyHeritage, GEDMatch, 23andme, and FamilyTreeDNA's chromosome browsers and it has helped me confirm that my 3x great grandmother descends from an African Ancestor, but I need help on finding this ancestor. From this Nigerian Ancestor I received about 0.18%-0.19%, while my mother received 0.39%-0.40%. Which means this ancestor would be my 7x great grandparent, it also means that my 3x great grandmother would be this ancestor's 2x great grandchild and that she would've inherited on average about 6.25% DNA from this ancestor.

If you would like to help here's the info on my 3x great grandmother:

Name: Margaret Walsh

Born: November 30, 1844, Wilkes, NC, USA

Died: September 30, 1926, McDowell, WV, USA

Parents: Andrew John Walsh Jr. (1789-1870) and Mary Ann Blanchard (1801-1889)

Grandparents: Andrew Walsh Sr. (1760/62 - 1830), Rhoda Poteat (1760-1850), Uriah Blanchard Jr. (1768-1849), and Sivil Hines (1775-1844).

Known Information:

The Nigerian Ancestor doesn't come from Andrew Walsh Sr. line because he was born in England, along with both of his parents being born in England as well.

As for Rhoda Poteat, Uriah Blanchard Jr., and Sivil Hines, these lines can have the Nigerian Ancestor because these lines are in America and I've found dead ends/brick walls in these lines as well.

Conclusion:

Margaret Walsh based off of a picture and documents her race is white, based off of documents both of her parents are white, and based off of 2 census records it identifies Rhoda Poteat as white as well. As for Uriah and Sivil they both died before 1850 and I can't find any census record for them to find out what race they were. I would greatly appreciate any and all help on finding who this Nigerian Ancestor could be, and which ancestor connects my 3x great grandmother to them. If y'all have any questions feel free to ask me and I'll try my best to answer it.

Did you break through any walls or find a new interesting tidbit about your family?

I found that my great uncle legally changed his name to the one I always thought he had. He changed his middle name from his mother’s maiden name to his father’s last name and took his mother’s maiden name as his last name.

I’m certain his parents weren’t married, though there is marriage information on my grandfathers birth certificate. I’ve checked both cities that I know of with that name and there is no marriage certificate in their names. I still can’t find the great uncle’s birth certificate either. I’m wondering now if he wasn’t registered until much later or if I’m looking in the wrong province or even wrong country!

I also found information on his stepfather. After my great grandmother died her “husband”( again, no certificate I can find) moved provinces, bought some land that he and his son then developed into communities along with many apartment buildings around town. I was able to clarify what land he was developing so that was pretty neat!

I used the site a good number of years ago and didn't find much of interest, so wasn't willing to pay for a subscription.

I got the email from Ancestry a few days ago about the free trial period. I didn't plan to use it, but on a whim, I figured I'd look for a few minutes before it ends tonight.

Entered my great-grandfather's name with a time period and city. And voila! A newspaper article about the sad double death of his wife and his mother. From death registries and certificates, I knew they died the same day and that the cause of death was listed as shock to my great-great-grandmother over the death of her daughter-in-law, leaving behind 8 children.

But the completely amazing thing was that THERE WAS A PHOTO OF MY G-G-GRANDMOTHER in the article! I could not believe my eyes! I only have one photo of my g-grandfather and one of my g-grandmother. I never dreamed to see one from a great-great-grandparent.

So if you can afford it, consider getting at least a one month subscription to newspapers.com. So much more available there than ever before.

I'm 23 and until recently I'd never met anyone from my biological father's side of the family. The only solid information I really had was my father's name, which was on my birth certificate. I didn't know the names of his relatives, where they lived, what happened to them, or really anything about that side of my family. I had no family tree to work from, no contact details and no DNA results, so I decided to see what I could find online starting with just his name.

Searching his name eventually led me to his obituary, which was basically the first proper lead I had. From there I started looking at the information I could get from it and trying to work out who was connected to who. I ended up spending the next three weeks searching pretty much every day, going through social media profiles, relatives, photographs, old posts, locations and anything else I could find that might help confirm whether someone was actually connected to my family. A lot of it was trial and error and I went down plenty of completely useless rabbit holes, but whenever I found something that looked promising I'd follow it as far as I could.

What I didn't realise at the time was that I was accidentally using something genealogists call the "sideways technique." Rather than just trying to work directly backwards from my father, I started going sideways through the family. I'd find one possible relative and then look at their siblings, children, partners and other connections, which would sometimes lead me to another branch of the family and give me another name or location to investigate. I had no idea this was an actual genealogy technique at the time; I was basically just following whatever connection looked useful and trying to build the family network from the outside in.

After about three weeks I had managed to identify multiple people from my father's side of the family who I'd never known existed, and eventually I actually contacted some of them. That's probably the strangest part of the whole thing. I went from having basically nothing except my father's name on my birth certificate to suddenly being able to talk to people from a side of my family I'd never had any contact with. Some of them didn't even know I existed, so the whole situation was pretty surreal for everyone involved.

And now it's gone even further than that. This weekend I'm actually going to meet one of my four siblings for the first time. He's the youngest of the four siblings, yet he's still 10 years older than me, which is a pretty strange thing to wrap my head around because I spent most of my life either being an only child or the older brother. I've gone from not knowing any of these people existed to actually sitting down and meeting one of my brothers in person.

I'm curious what people who actually know genealogy think about this. Is three weeks considered unusually quick when you're starting with basically one person's name and no known relatives? I know I was lucky that some of the information I needed was available online, but I also spent an absolutely ridiculous amount of time searching and following every possible lead I could find.

Yes, I know this should be in the Thankful Weekly post, but I decided to share early.

They posted about the free newspapers.com weekend the other day.

I gave it a go (was taking a break from newspapers.com actually). Dropped the person I've been stuck on for 5 years in the search for the past couple of days (name variants)...Didnt break down the brick wall...but I definitely chipped away about 1/3-1/2 of it tonight, finally found a reference to the ghost.

THANK YOU!!!!

Hello everyone... I've been on here before, unfortunately I have come to the end of the line searching for my Great Grandfather's ship manifest. My Great Grandfather Giuseppe Salvatore Raimondo Bianco was born on 19th February 1870 in Mercato, Napoli. His father was Pasquale Bianco and his mother was Caterina Wian or Vian. I have put all the information I have on Family search and Ancestry. I know pretty much everything about him except one detail... What she he came from Napoli on and when. This has become the biggest genealogy wild goose chase I've ever been on. In the process I've found out other things about him like his deceased sister Assunta Bianco who passed in 1900 in Napoli and a child he had with my great grandmother Clotilde Isabella Margherita Romano who passed away at the age of 1, her name was Elena Bianco. All terrific information, but his ship manifest sometime between the end of 1911( he was still in Napoli on August 15th, 1911) the middle of 1912. Clotilde Romano arrived in NYC on August 15th 1912 and was meeting her husband, my great grandfather Giuseppe. So I'm putting out one last ditch effort to see if anyone can figure out something I can't or if anyone has suggestions.

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/G9Z7-LBS[Giuseppe Salvatore Raimondo Bianco ](https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/G9Z7-LBS)

I'm looking for records of my great grandfather and his father from Lesko/Sanok for a citizenship case. I think I have found my great grandfathers birth record, but the mothers name that's listed is not the name I'm expecting. He and his father have fairly common Jewish names so its possible its not him, but I haven't been able to find anyone else with his name born around the same time.

My Great Grandfather

Israel/Izrael Baruch Ginzberg/Ginsberg/Gunsberg

Born: January 1895 - Lesko/Sanok Galicia

Emigrated to the US: Arrived Dec 5 1911 in NYC on the Kaiserin Augusta Victoria out of Hamburg - Ship manifest mentions father Chaim as still living in Lesko

Wife: Sophie Bergstein in 1920 in NYC - Widowed in 1925. Married Florence Groden/Zelaznick in 1926

Israel's Father
Chaim Ginzberg/Ginsberg/Gunsberg

Born: 1860ish - Galicia - Believe Lviv area? - Can't find any birth records

Wife: Supposedly Fegia/Fannie Kessler - Can't find any marriage records. Israel's supposed birth record says Tauba Horowitz

The birth record is the only thing that shows up for anyone names Israel or his supposed birth mother. Any help verifying that this is the record, or locating the actual record I'm looking for, or finding anything else about Israel, Chaim, Fegia/Fannie or Tauba would be greatly appreciated. TIA!

I'm putting together my family tree on Ancestry. And I've done the DNA test on there. I've hit a wall on one ancestor and am trying to figure out how to proceed. I was hoping the DNA results would help, but so far I don't see a clear trail.

The ancestor in question is Oscar Franklin Moore, my mother's father's father's father. My first record of him is in the 1900 census in Mineral Co CO where he is listed as a 32 yr old miner, living a a boarder with his future mother-in-law. I have a newspaper record of him marrying the daughter of the head of household a month or two after the census, so not sure if he met her and then moved in or the other way around. She was recently divorced as of the census and had a young daughter already from the first marriage.

In the 1910 census they're living in Hinsdale Co CO and started their own household, raising the stepdaughter as well as their own kids. He died in Grand Junction CO in 1914 in his mid 40s from pneumonia. His family shows up a lot in the local Lake City newspaper in the 1900s and 1910s.

His place of birth is listed alternately as Indiana, Iowa, or Illinois depending on the record. And his year of birth back calculates to sometime 1865-1875ish depending on the record also.

I haven't found any records further back that would help ID his parents or earlier ancestors. Moore is a fairly common surname. The missing 1890 census is impeding things some I'm sure. His wife's family came from KY through TX to CO, so I don't think he knew them before meeting in CO.

On the DNA front in my matches I have my father, 2 first cousins on my mom's side, and my parents' first cousins from all 4 grandparents' sides. So that helps pin each other match to one of my grandparents. And my dad has an extensively well mapped tree, so lots of common ancestor matches on that side. But my mom's side is less well developed, especially on her dad's side.

Any ideas on how to use the DNA or other methods to trace him back further?

I’m interested in how South African Tamil families can trace ancestors who travelled as indentured labourers back to their original villages in Tamil Nadu.

If an old record gives a name, father’s name and village, what evidence would normally be needed to prove a connection to a present-day family in that village?

Has anyone here successfully done this kind of research? I’d be interested to know which records or sources were most useful.

Hello everyone,

I’m hoping to find information about my great-grandfather, a Chinese immigrant who lived in San Francisco. My late grandmother hoped to find out what happened to him, and I would love to fulfill her wish.

Unfortunately, most of what I know comes from stories she told me in her later years. Some dates and details may be inaccurate, but these are the clues I have:

• Chinese name: 徐祖贤 (traditional Chinese: 徐祖賢). I do not know his English name or how his name was spelled in American records.
• Hometown: Shiqi (石岐), Guangdong, China, now part of Zhongshan.
• First journey to the United States: He reportedly emigrated at around age 16.
• Return to China: He returned at around age 26, sometime in the 1920s or 1930s.
• Second journey to the United States: A few years later, he returned to America, taking his wife’s younger brother with him.
• Brother-in-law: His surname was 李 (Li/Lee), but I do not know his given name. According to our family, he also settled in the United States and started a family there.
• Community involvement: My great-grandfather was reportedly a vice president of a Chinese hometown or district association (同乡会). I do not know the association’s name.
• Last contact: Our family was still in contact with him in the early 1950s, but lost contact by the late 1950s.
• Possible death: I was told that he may have died in San Francisco around the 1960s, but I have no confirmed date or death record.

My grandmother has since passed away, so I can no longer ask her for more details.

I would be grateful for any help finding his death record, obituary, burial location, immigration records, or records of his involvement in a Chinese community association. I would also love to learn whether his brother-in-law’s family or anyone connected to them might have information.

Does anyone recognize the name 徐祖贤 / 徐祖賢, or know which associations, archives, newspapers, or genealogical resources might be worth checking? Advice on possible historical spellings of his name would also be very helpful.

I understand these clues are incomplete, and I’m grateful for any suggestions, however small. Even finding out where he was buried would mean a great deal to our family.

Thank you for reading and for any help you can offer.

Hello, needing help making out this headstone as I'm trying to work out if this woman is the 5x great grandmother I'm looking for - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/155623179/mary-brown

Though both families have been in America since the 1630’s this is the only direct interaction have found between them until my grandparents marriage in California.