PAALLEGH-L Archives

Archiver > PAALLEGH > 1997-08 > 0870744979


From: Clare <>
Subject: Re: [PAALLEGH-L] Brickwall
Date: Mon, 04 Aug 1997 20:36:19 -0500


Bob,

Have you looked at the actual censuses or just the soundex? If you
haven't done the census itself, get it and study not only the lines your
own family is on, but the surrounding neighborhood, for, say, 5 pages
before and after your folks. Note if there are any families that seem to
be following along, or that you recognize as people who married into
your family. Then you can also look for them in other documents and
possibly turn up your family. I know that if all you have is OHIO you
really can't search, but if you ever narrow it down to a county, you can
search the county page by page. I never trust the soundex, and in the
1880, only families with children 10 and under were listed, so many more
people are on the census than are in the soundex.

Estate papers...is this PA we're talking about? Did you write and ask
for the entire file or for "a will"? There are many more things in
"estate files" than you'll find by asking for a will. I learned this the
hard way!!! I hit my forehead when I discovered how literal the clerks
are. You can also look for guardianship papers, which will often exist
when there is no estate. Those are also in the Orphans' Court in PA.

BUT if you've done all this and still are at that brickwall...and we've
all been there...don't you just hate lifetime renters?? <g> how about
city directories? People didn't have to own to be listed, and you can
put whole families together by following them through the directories.
They list occupations, too. Have you checked Civil War records? If
you're lucky and there's a pension file, you could pick up a lot from
that.

There is also a BROWN one-name study, but I don't know where to contact
them. I think I have a one-name-study link on one of my pages but I'm
embarassed to tell you I don't know where...you could check them or you
could do a search in Alta Vista [or whatever...]

I'm sure the list members will add lots of other places to search...and
while you're all at it, if you stumble across William Howard Midgley
before 1870, please let me know...he's my brickwall :>

Clare Peden Midgley, Listress

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