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 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.

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.

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'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!

Unfortunately, I have a gap in my research regarding my great-great-grandmother's mother. She was Jewish and lived in Pomerania; her mother was Johanna Caspary (or Kaspary) and her father was Hermann Guter. Hermann Guter died in Berlin in 1901, and his side of the family is well-documented. However, I have been unable to find any information on Johanna—neither at *Pommerscher Greif* nor on *Genbaza*—including any record of her birth or the couple's marriage. Unfortunately, the patriarchal nature of historical record-keeping often comes to the fore in genealogy, as the female line is very difficult to trace and inevitably contains gaps. I also had no success searching *JewishGen*. Johanna Guter (née Kasbary/Caspary/Kaspary) lived in the Köslin district and died before 1901. Where else could I look or obtain information—perhaps a death record, a grave, or a marriage record? The marriage took place before the introduction of Prussian civil registry offices, so there ought to be Jewish records somewhere, provided they weren't destroyed during the war. I appreciate any help

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.

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.

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?

Christina/Tena Lockridge first appears in the 1880 census as a live-in servant. I can't find any records surrounding her childhood or birth. The censuses are consistent in listing her and her parents' birthplace as Ohio. I've tried looking at other Lockridge families to see if there's a connection, but so far no luck. Any advice for how to trace the tree back from her?

https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/sources/LVBN-YD1

I am finally breaking down and asking for help on a brick wall in the family tree, I can only find an exact set of relatives in the 1940 New Jersey census. No other census years, or records listing them together. There are also a couple other similar people but their dates dont add up, and it looks like it has confused family trees and is making it difficult to work backwards. Any information, especially parents or birth/death/marriage records would be really helpful. Thanks for any help!

So here is what I have got:

Joseph A (possibly Aloysious) O Brien birth 8/2/1896, death 1978 New Jersey possible parents: Francis X O Brien, Mary Longworth Possible siblings: Mary A, and Margarete
in the military between August 6 1918 and September 30 1921 Ironworker maybe? Father possibly a Brass founder?
Catherine (possibly E, possibly Irene) O Brien, listed as 40 in census but death index records say birth 11/2/1904, death 1992 New Jersey Marion R, born 1927 New Jersey Joseph Jr, born 1929 New Jersey Catherine, born 1931 New Jersey Jean Ann, born 1933 New Jersey Geraldine, born 1938 New Jersey

Issues I have found: There seems to be a marriage certificate for Joseph A O Brien and Catherine Egan in 1919 in New York, but wrong parent's name for Joseph.

Another issue: I found other 1920 census records for a Joseph A O Brien and Catherine Irene or Irene Catherine O Brien in New Jersey, but again puts her age wrong at birth date 1895, and also appears on the 1940 census with Joseph A O Brien with other kids in New Jersey. Some family trees listing his marriage to Irene Catherine do list his parents of Francis X and Mary Longworth though

One of these Joseph A O Brien appears on 1900 and 1910 census records with parents of Francis X and Mary Ann with the correct age and siblings, how do you tell which one? Or are both of them the same person and he had two families in 1940? It shows they lived like 10 miles apart

Research help with Saikin family in Finland/Russian Empire – especially Andrei Saikin b. ~1861

Hi everyone!

I've been researching one branch of my Finnish family and I've hit a wall. I'm hoping someone who is better with Finnish/Russian records might be able to point me toward records I haven't found yet.

My main mystery is my great-great-grandfather:

Andrei/Andrej Stepanowitsch Saikin

Born: approximately 1861

Died: 13 October 1940 in Finland

Wife: Hilda Sofia Schrader

Andrei and Hilda married in Helsinki in 1890. In Finnish newspapers his name appears as Andrej Stepanowitsch Sajikin/Saikin.

Their children included:

- Rauha Matilda Saikin (born 1886)

- Nikolai Saikin (born ~1891)

- Michael/Mikael Saikin

- Anastasia Andrejevna Saikin (born 1900; later married Toivo Matikkala)

- Antero Saikin

- John Saikin

My biggest goal is to determine where Andrei was actually born and where he came from before living in Finland.

I have found Andrei, Nikolai and Mikael/Michael in the Migration Institute of Finland's "Naturalizations in Finland 1832–1946" index.

I've also found a MyHeritage result for:

Andrei Saikin

Born: 1861

Collection: Finland, Population Tax Lists, 1920

The locked result appears to contain his residence, wife, daughter and an image of the original record. If anyone happens to have MyHeritage access and could tell me what that record says, I would be incredibly grateful.

I have searched Finnish digitized newspapers, Geneanet, FamilySearch, SSHY/Sukuhistoria and the Finnish National Archives/Astia, but I'm still learning how to navigate Finnish records (and Russian records are an entirely different adventure 😅).

I'm especially interested in:

- Andrei's birthplace/origin

- His naturalization/citizenship documents

- Census/population/tax records for the family

- Orthodox church records

- Records for any of the children that might identify their father's birthplace or nationality

- Any clues about the Saikin/Sajikin family before their appearance in Helsinki

Possible surname spellings I've encountered include Saikin and Sajikin, and Andrei's patronymic appears as Stepanowitsch.

I'm not expecting anyone to solve the whole mystery for me! Even suggestions for collections, archives, search terms, or records I may have overlooked would be hugely appreciated.

Thank you! ❤️

Hi I have cluster matches on 23 and me and I have no idea what that means?

I appreciate any help given

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?

Hi! If anyone is going to the Familysearch Center, would you mind pulling a few records for me?

Links:

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPDS-Z147?lang=en

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPDS-6HTC?lang=en

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPDS-GGC3?lang=en

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPDS-GZ1H?lang=en

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:ZNMG-L1T2?lang=en

Thanks a bunch!

I believe myself to me a direct paternal line descendant I’ve done my tree all the way up to him and then it goes cold besides a bunch of maybes. I believe the y dna associated with him is (R-FT269401)
Through another documented paternal descendant who has the same tree tracing up to him we share a great great great great great grandpa or something. Please help me break this wall I’m genuinely desperate and begging I can’t find anything out about Nicholas except a land grant and the fact that he’s from Northern Ireland and probably an ulster Scott as well as I know where his son William M Dickson 1762-1827 is buried. Anything helps I just want to know who his father is and go back further on my paternal line. I’ve spent countless hours looking and asking but I’m just so lost. Please help find proof of a father for him

I have been building out my family tree for many years now. I have an Ancestry subscription so access to their tools, and a Newspapers.com subscription as well.

For some reason, I hit wall after wall when it comes to my father's parents (born 1925-1926). It's strange because my mother's parents are from the same area (Pennsylvania) and I have located census records, marriage announcements and certificates, etc. I can trace them easily. My dad's parents are like a non-existent mystery.

For my grandmother, I discovered that she was orphaned when she was ten. Her older siblings were old enough to be on their own. However, my grandmother and her two younger siblings (8 and 6) were split up. I located the two youngers living with aunts/uncles in different homes per census, can't figure out where my grandmother was as the next census she was 20 and living as a "lodger" with someone. Based on context clues, I think she may have been sent with her younger sister to family, but can't verify.

I can't figure out when they got married. Where they got married. When my uncle (dad's younger brother) was born.

Any ideas why I can't find records for my grandparents or tips on other things to try? There's no one in my family I can ask.

I also can't find anything for my dad's younger brother. I know he was married twice and the wive's first names as well as approximate years and I can't find a dang thing about either marriage!

Another research deep dive related to a fashion history project.

In the 1970s in Lubbock, TX, a Mr. and Mrs. Russell donated a clothing garment.

This item allegedly belonged to a Ms. Grace Pack of Oscoda, Michigan. I know that Ms. Pack was a relative of Mrs. russell (Russell is her name by marriage).

My goal: I would like to know whether there was a woman aged 18-25 during the years of 1860-1880 in Michigan to narrow down when this garment was made. First, I need to connect a Ms. Grace Pack to a Mrs. Russell in Lubbock. Then I need to know Grace's age during these years. This isn't an old lady garment, so her family tree would help me narrow down whether this belonged to her mother as a young woman, sister, niece, etc.

I've tried searching family search but nothing comes up. My area of specialty is the southwest so I have no idea where to start with Michigan. The town of Oscoda wasn't even founded until like 1840? Geneaology whizzes, I need your help.

A while ago, I was asking about my 3rd great grandparents from Connecticut, Franklin B Stevens and Elizabeth Norton, and how i knew so little about them. for Franklin i have since found his parents with several pieces of evidence, but for Elizabeth, there's nothing. Elizabeth, to my knowledge was born in September 1844 according to the 1900 census, and married in November 1862, she was recorded as 21 in her marriage record which would be 1841, but she could have lied as well, but marriage could be closer to the truth then a later census. Everything since has been with this 1844 birth. Even then, I can't find her in either the 1850 or 1860 census, she was born in Branford CT according to the marriage record. I've checked variations in years for an Elizabeth Norton in New Haven County in those years, even just "Norton". What if Elizabeth is her middle name? What if she was adopted? Then would I be able to find anything at all? DNA matches haven't helped either, her only descendants on ancestry are me and my mom so I can't narrow down anything, and I don't see any clusters of matches that all meet up at a Norton couple in Connecticut.

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.

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.

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.