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From: Bill Utterback <>
Subject: [KYJP] Skills Puzzler # 43 - A Brick Wall Problem - Solution
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 15:45:58 -0500


My friends -

I waited a couple of days beyond the usual time to post a solution to the
current Puzzler to allow some of our subscribers who get the List messages
in digest form the opportunity to consider the possibilities and respond.
There were only 4 brave souls who responded to this one, and all of them
pretty well nailed it, or were so close to it that they would have found
the answer by proceeding along the path that they were traveling.

You will recall that our scenario involved John Wormberger and his place of
birth and early residence, and the attempts of some family researchers to
locate that place, as well as the parentage of John. There was a family
story that John had come from "Jackson County" to Henry County. Several
subscribers asked about using the census records - especially the 1880
census - since John was alive in 1880, to help narrow down the birth
location possibilities. Although I did not mention this in the original
narrative, this was one of the first resources checked, from 1850 onward.
John managed to give a different location for his birth in every single
census year, with no repetitions. He said, in effect, that he had been born
in 4 different states. So there was really no help to be found there. In
the 1880 census, his parents were shown to have been born in the "US", so
there was no clue in that column, either.

On the first question about where John had been born and raised, the
researchers intended to scour all of the surrounding counties which
bordered Henry County, since they could not find John in Jackson County. I
suggested, before they expended all of that effort, and knowing that there
is almost always a grain of truth on most family stories, that they check
the bordering states to see if any of them had a county with the name of
Jackson. As it turned out, the state bordering on the north did have a
Jackson County, and a check of the census records there indicated a number
of Wormberger families in 1820 and 1830. So John did reside in a Jackson
County, but it was in another state, and the family had, somewhere along
the line, lost that critical ingredient in that story. From that point, it
was a matter of the examination of that brands book to obtain the clues we
needed to proceed.

On the second question of the Puzzler, we had only the brands book with
which to work. This brand book began in 1803, but the researchers had
looked only in the period which covered about 1840 onward. By reading the
book from the beginning, we found, in 1807, a listing for one Hans
Wormberger, who registered a brand of a half moon in the right rump and a
crop in the left ear. This was very strong evidence that Hans was John's
father, since branding tools were inherited, although it was possible that
John could have inherited the branding irons and other equipment from an
uncle. However, John named a son Hans, which added to the weight of the
evidence supporting Hans as the father of John. As it ultimately turned
out, Hans was the immigrant ancestor, and even fought in the War of 1812,
and the pension documents associated with that service established John as
the son of Hans.

Obviously, it would be something of a rarity to find evidence such as that
associated with the marks and brands book in this Puzzler. But we cannot
afford to simply say, "Oh well, the chances are so slim that I would find
anything, and it would take two hours to read through that whole book, so I
just won't bother". We just never know when there might be a clue hidden in
those obscure, seldom used resources.

I will return later with today's data posting.

-B
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