Edward James Roberts

We all have that one. That ONE person in our tree that ropes us in, ties us up, and doesn’t loosen the lasso until we’ve fallen down a rabbit hole of facts, census records, and questionable neighbors. We can become so wrapped up in a person that we forget the daily details of our own lives.

(“Supper? Oh, my goodness, honey, I’m sorry. Pizza. Yes, again. Third night’s a charm.”)

But what we take away from that person, what we learn, what we teach ourselves, it’s often completely worth it. Maybe it’s not the story you expected, or maybe it’s worse than you have always been told. But, all in all, it’s what makes us who we are today, so it’s hard not to appreciate their struggle, even if you are bitter about some of their decisions.

My suck-me-in ancestor is a man named Edward James Roberts. He would be my 3x great grandfather, and was the father of Robert Roberts – who you may know from past posts, was the husband of Eliza Lowrie.

Let me start this off with a warning: Edward-themed discussions mean I will ramble. So get comfortable.

---

Edward James Roberts

b. 6 April 1836, Wales     m. 5 June 1870, Hustisford, WI     d. 11 Feb 1894, Hemingford, NE

• Born to Robert Roberts (source: Wisconsin Marriages, Pre-1907) and Elizabeth ________, in Wales. State/County unknown. Elizabeth was born in 1794, also in Wales (source: Cemetery Record, Hustisford, 1870 U.S. Census, 1880 U.S. Census). It is not known when Elizabeth immigrated, or what port she arrived at. Personally, I am of the opinion it was between 1863 and 1865. Though I have located a cemetery record with her information, it did not include her maiden name. A death record has yet to be found, as Wisconsin did not officially start keeping vital records until 1907. I have contacted the relevant historical society and requested their expertise for locating Dodge County, Wisconsin records prior to 1907.
• Since it is unknown exactly where in Wales Edward immigrated from, it’s difficult to say whether he had siblings. Upon searching Wales, Parish Extracts, Births and Baptisms, I could only locate one Edward Roberts with a similar birth date who was born to a Robert Roberts and wife, Elizabeth. That record would place him as being born in Monmouthshire, and a child with four siblings (oldest brother, Robert, then Edward, then younger sister Jane, and brothers John, and Lewis, respectively). This family makeup shows them in Vaynor, Breconshire in the 1851 Wales Census.

The first family listed is that of Edward’s. The address is 70 Field Street, Vaynor, Breconshire.

• If you follow this particular family, you’ll see a partial group of them in the 1861 Census. However, Elizabeth is now a widow, obviously indicating that Robert died sometime between 1851 and 1861. I cannot validate or find a record yet that states when or where, but as he was a miner, I assume it was a casualty of the job. I expect that it occurred about 1856, since that is when Edward leaves home for America. My concerns are as follows: first, where is his older brother, Robert, and his sister, Jane? Jane probably married, and had started a family, but she did not live immediately close to her widowed mother and younger brothers, as she’s nowhere on the census page. Robert, I believe, has already immigrated to America, and is possibly living in Ohio. More on this later.

Family numbers 229 and 230 are in the home at Hafod Side, Llanwonno, Glamorgan, Wales.

• The reason I feel confident that this family at 229/230 is MY Elizabeth Roberts and sons, is the woman listed as a lodger. Gwenllian Williams, age 38, married, charwoman (housekeeper). Her husband is not found on this census, and she’s living with Elizabeth and her two sons, who both work in the mines. Where/who is her husband?
• Edward immigrated to the USA five years prior to the 1861 Wales Census. In November 1856, he boarded the ship “Dreadnought” in Liverpool, England, and headed for the Port of New York. Looking at the Passenger list, one thinks that he traveled with a man named Daniel Williams, b. 1819, in Wales. Now, in 1819, Edward’s mother would have been 25 years old. I think that Daniel is her son from a previous marriage, and that Gwenllian Williams who we see in 1861 with Elizabeth in Wales is Daniel’s wife, which would make her Elizabeth’s daughter-in-law. Elizabeth would have been 42 when Edward was born, well past the typical age of marriage for that time period. Of course, this is all circumstantial until I can find paper proof, so I’ll just put a pin in this until I come across the right documentation.
• Edward in America: He arrived in November, 1856. A book about Dodge County, Wisconsin that was published in 1880 states that Edward spent “10 months in Ohio, having made a trip through the South, before arriving in Clyman.” It is Clyman where we find him in the 1860 U.S. Census.

Family no. 7, Richard & Sarah Jarman, have Edward and a handful of other workers living with them and working on the farm.

• Richard and Sarah Jarman have a thriving farm (real estate valued at $8,000 in 1860 was a big deal) in Clyman, Wisconsin, and have four workers living with them. Now Richard was born in Wales, and incidentally, is roughly the same age as Daniel Williams. Could they have known one another, leading to Edward’s job on a large, prosperous farm?
• 1861: Now, looking back, we know what this time period means. But then, no one could have imagined the hell that would ensue. Edward, with no family living near him, hundreds of miles from his mother and two younger brothers, and unmarried, did what most young men did. He enlisted. He signed up Oct. 1, 1861 in Milwaukee, WI for the Union Army. He was assigned to the 7th Wisconsin Indep’t Battery, Light Artillery. I can’t imagine the letters he would write home to his mother, or if he was even able to get word to her during that time. The 7th was a powerhouse of men dedicated to swooping in and setting up cannons as fast as possible. They were present for the Siege of Island No. 10, and numerous battles in Kentucky and Tennessee, as they tried to hold off Forrest’s Raid. Over a year into his service, Edward was probably feeling the wear of every other soldier who longed for home. On December 20, at Parker’s Crossroads, Tennessee, Edward and the 7th faced a battle with the Confederates, and as an early Christmas present, Edward was shot in his right foot. It would be a wound that changed the course of his life, and even of my life, today.
• The Wisconsin Historical Society has the following information on the 7th: The 7th Wisconsin Light Artillery, also known as the “Badger State Flying Artillery,” was organized at Racine and mustered into service on October 4, 1861. From Racine it moved to St. Louis, Missouri, on March 15-16 and then to New Madrid, Missouri, on March 19-21, 1862. From Missouri the regiment moved through Tennessee and Mississippi. It participated in some smaller engagements, the Battle of Brice’s or Tishamingo Creek, and the repulse of Forrest’s attack on Memphis. The battery mustered out on July 6 and was honorably discharged in July 20, 1865. It lost 29 men during service. One officer and nine enlisted men were killed and 19 enlisted men died from disease.
•  Edward was discharged in early October 1863. Three other men in the battery were shot at Parker’s Crossroads, and all three consequently died from their wounds within two weeks: Sgt. Minot J. Marsden, Sgt. Alfred Wallwork, Pvt. Orrin L. Clark.

Included in Edward’s Homestead application

Statement from War Department, Col. R.R. Livingston, Commanding Post St. Louis, MO

• Edward went from a hardworking farm laborer to permanently disabled. He filed for an invalid pension on Feb. 6, 1864, not long after he was discharged.

• Unable to work as efficiently as he did prior to the war, he became a stonemason. He married Caroline Habel, born in Prussia, on June 5, 1870, the same day that the census was taken in Hustisford, Dodge County, WI. His mother, Elizabeth, is now in the USA, and a 12-year-old girl, born in Wales, named Elizabeth WILLIAMS.

House no. 195

---

For today, I leave you with this record and a question: who is Elizabeth Williams??

Leaning on My Brick Walls

I suppose bricks are destructible. I mean, you’d need something pretty strong to take it out, but there are such forces in the world. I’ve seen brick homes taken out by tornadoes, seen wrecking crews demolish entire structures with dynamite, and we all know Miley Cyrus is a fan of the wrecking ball. But what force could be strong enough to break through a genealogists’ brick wall? What could possibly chip away at it, weaken it; or, find the key to unlock the hidden door that was right in front of us all along? What, indeed.

I’ve been MIA for a bit, and this is unfortunate for my creative process, because it’s sometimes difficult to get back in the swing of things. We had a death in the family (86-year-old great uncle to my husband, and a man of a larger than life legacy), and with baseball season starting up (my oldest is in his third year of city league) and farming season kicking into full swing (my husband is cheating on me with a tractor!), things have snowballed into scheduled chaos.

But in these last few weeks, I’ve discovered the joy of Facebook’s genealogy groups – if you haven’t joined these, let me take a moment and urge you to do so now. Go on, open another tab, and go to your facebook page. Check out the group Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness – RAOGK USA, Genealogy Chit Chat, and G A A (Genealogy Addicts Anonymous). Also, don’t forget to Like and Follow Lisa Louise Cook and the wonderful folks at Genealogy Gems Podcast. And, if you need more, Like the Who Do You Think You Are? page, and you’ll be able to check out some unaired bonus scenes from the most recent episodes (Sundays! TLC! YES!!!!).

I’ve also been running full force towards a brick wall, trying my best to charge at it and break it down. Needless to say, it has not worked. It is all centered around one individual: my 3x great grandmother, Fannie (Bearden) Clark. She married Robert Marion Clark sometime, somewhere (I assume around 1896, in either Cannon or Madison County, TN, Union or Webster County, KY; or in Missouri). She had my 2xGGM Bertha Mae Clark in Madison County, TN on 3 Aug 1898. They are found on the 1900 Census in Madison County. With them is her mother, Elvira Bearden, who is a widow. I assume Fannie dies not too long after that, since in 1902, Robert Marion Clark married Senthia/Sentha/Cynthia Tims/Tins/Tines in Madison County. She died on 10 May 1904, and in 1907, Robert marries her sister, Mary Elizabeth, this being his fourth marriage (first to Alice Adams in Webster County, KY on 15 Oct 1891.

I can find no marriage record for Robert and Fannie. No death record for her, either. Nada. Zilch. Zip. Big ol’ goose egg.

I’ve searched for weeks now, and under every variation I could imagine. I’ve looked through Kentucky records, Tennessee records, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas…. and found nothing. My great aunt says that Fannie was Native American, and that the reason my 2xGGM Bertha was sent to Arkansas was because her step mother thought she was a ‘savage’ or had ‘savage blood’ and essentially she sold her into indentured servitude to a family in Tuckerman. These puzzle pieces fit with the time and location, but I can find no proof of it. And that alone is enough to drive someone absolutely insane!

And so I am open to suggestions, friends. If she was, indeed, Native American, that may explain why I can’t locate a marriage license, but wouldn’t it be unusual to find her in the 1880 census, listed as ‘W’, with her father, Humphrey Bearden, and mother Elvira (District 5, Cannon County, Tennessee; siblings are also in the home)? Unless Humphrey married a woman who was Native American and she kind of assumed the race since she married a white man. I am clueless on researching Tennessee’s Native American records.

And to be honest, this brick wall that I’m leaning against feels just as solid as the first day I tried to knock it down.

Genealogy Hopscotch

Well, in my absence, my husband and I bought a home, renovated and revamped it, moved into it, and pretty much got paint on every piece of clothing I own. But, thank the Good Lord above, we are now in a much better, beautiful home, with much more room. I could not be happier with our new house. With all of that chaos, though, brought the typical “we must move the Wifi” dilemma. Of course, I wanted it moved with us, but I didn’t quite want to stop my digging long enough to pack up my office and all of my charts/maps that decorated my organized chaos of a wall. So, we did all of that in one day. Let me suggest one thing – never… ever… do that. I’m just now getting settled and finally finding things to put where I need them. I’m not quite happy with the set up yet, but it’s a work in progress, and there’s a saying among homeowners that goes something like, “Well, you have a 30-year mortgage, so you’ll have plenty of time!” Hopefully, I’ll get it all organized soon.

In the meantime, my husband’s ‘they tell us we’re related’ cousin contacted me and asked if I could find out just how in the world they were really kin to one another. Never one to refuse a challenge, I gathered my laptop, a notebook and pens, and took off over to their front porch, where his wife and I set up shop, talking all about the who’s and when’s involved in finding a link. About three hours later, we hit the jackpot when we determined that this gentleman is my husband’s first cousin, 3x removed. All of his life, he’d wondered, and now he knows. It felt nice to answer that question.

When I got home, I got to thinking about all of the surnames I’m into. The realistic thing to do would be to work on one at a time, but those who know me know that I am anything but logical. My mind skips and hops between time periods – who were my revolutionary patriots? War of 1812 vets? Mexican War? How about my Unions and Confederates? Wait, what about during the Industrial Revolution? Were any of my ancestors touched particularly by the battle of titans Andrew Carnagie and John D. Rockafeller? Then there’s WWI, the Depression, and then WWII, and Korea, oh my! I could go on for hours, spinning my wheels and digging myself deeply into records as thick as buckshot mud, and then, that afternoon, catch a rerun of “Sons of Liberty” and I’m back to the Revolution again.

So where does one find her footing? Do you guys leap from name to name like I tend to? From time to time? War to war? How do you stay focused if you happen to find a clue that perhaps you’ve been searching for, but for a name you aren’t looking into that week?

Maybe, just maybe, I can devise a system that will increase my productivity, and still allow me to have a ball researching. Certainly that exists, right? :)

Why We Dig

I find that it’s difficult to explain to NGNs (non-genealogy-nerds) the branches, the pedigrees, the generational terms that we’ve come to speak in. Often times, over this holiday season, I’ve found myself backtracking and explaining what 1x removed means, or the tree of relation to an ancestor I’ve recently discovered something about. I’ve even noticed some people’s eyes starting to glaze over and their attention shift, and by that point, I know I’ve lost them. So how does one keep focus when trying to share these little nuggets of wisdom? And one may ask why bother, if they aren’t interested?

Simple: when we were on the other side of the mountain, we weren’t interested either. We didn’t really pay much attention to the tales our grandparents told us as we were eager to ride our bikes or chase the daylight, and now, in the days of adulthood, we look back and wish, “Dang it, why didn’t I write that down?! WHYYYY didn’t I listen to my great-grandmother’s story of how she met my great-grandfather?!” My goal is to help my family know these stories, and to share my knowledge, and maybe give them another level of appreciation for their loved ones. For example, my mother-in-law did not know the extent of her father’s service in World War II, and after my seemingly endless digging, I was able to finally find proof of his overseas campaign service and of the medals he was awarded. He now has a page on the WWII memorial website, and after reading that, she was speechless for a while. Finally, she said, “I had no idea…. no wonder he never wanted to talk about it. This makes me understand him a bit more, and even more proud to be his daughter.”

Being able to help others like that brings me a level of pride, it makes me feel like I can connect them to a part of their past that they never knew existed. I love that feeling more than any pride I’ve had in any job I’ve ever held. It proves that genealogy is much more than a hobby for me – it’s a passion. And helping others like that? It’s why we dig.

Playing Catch-Up

Headstone for Martha Caroline Owens Eddleman in Moro, Arkansas.

Long time, no see friends.

I must first apologize for the abysmal time between posts. Back-to-back birthdays, a brief illness and the holidays have somewhat manipulated control over my blogging schedule. In fact, one of my resolutions for the year is to have a set day and time allotment scheduled for blog updates, and different days for different surnames. My fingers are crossed.

Anyway, since my last post, I’ve dug around a bit on various sides of my family tree and it kind of felt like I was just chasing my tail. I try to assess an individual when I start that day:

• Do I have more than three sources for their name and birth/death dates and locations?
• Do I have more than three sources for their parents?
• What major world events were happening when they reached adulthood? Wars? Depression?
• Do I have census records for each decade available?
• Who is else is buried in the cemetery where they are? Other family members?
• How many children did they have, and how many sources do I have confirming that?

If I start off with this checklist, and find something I’m lacking in, I try to start with that fact. My great-grandfather, Earl Troy Burgess, was born in Calico Rock, Arkansas in 1911. His father was William Marvin Burgess, or as I’ve always heard him called, “Poppa Bill.” Recently, I drove two hours across a couple of counties to the cemetery where my great-grandparents are buried, and came across a headstone that bore a familiar name. The quandary was, why was it located several rows away from my Papaw and Memaw (Earl and Carmon Burgess, nee Willhite), if she was, indeed, connected?

I noticed the inscription read “MOTHER,” and I knew that my Papaw’s mother’s maiden name was Eddleman, but the dates – and last name – were off. And so, I jumped into the information I knew about his mother, Maude. She was born in 1885 in Calico Rock, Arkansas, to Mr. Elbert Newton Eddleman. I’d found conflicting Ancestry Public Tree information on Maude’s mother, but comparing the info to the headstone, I was able to confirm that Martha Caroline Eddleman was likely the mother of Maude Mae Eddleman. I was later able to determine Elbert’s first wife, Louisa, died prior to Maude’s birthdate, leaving no doubt of Maude’s parentage.

Sometimes, we stumble upon thing like this that we weren’t looking for. I was merely wondering around the cemetery when I found Martha’s headstone, but finding it helped not only me, but the others who were trying to piece together Martha’s records and may not have been able to journey to the cemetery.

Things like that make me love genealogy even more.

Cousin Bait

The wonderful Lisa Louise Cook (if you don’t know about her, check out her site and podcast, Genealogy Gems) calls blogs “cousin bait.” I spent a lot of time hoping that my blog would find long-lost cousins with a treasure trove of ancestors that tied us,, but unfortunately, no luck. I kept blogging, though, fingers still crossed.

One day, out of nowhere, I decided to message someone who had a public family tree on Ancestry.com, that tied to mine. That opened up an absolutely amazing path with endless information relating to my great-great aunt, Annie Laurie – the half sister of my great-great grandmother, Eliza Laurie. Annie kept letters from her father to his family in Scotland, kept photos, posters, newspaper articles, and so much more. It is absolutely stunning. I have finally put a face to my great-great-GREAT grandfather, Walter Whitson Laurie, and along with him, his wife Isabella (Eliza’s step-mother), Annie, and her half-brother, James. I honestly don’t have words to explain how happy this made me. I cried tears of joy – like BIG tears of joy.

And so, world, please meet my great-great-great grandfather, Walter Whitson Laurie, and his family. I can see so much of my grandmother in Eliza. This is one of the many incredible jewels that I’ve been blessed with thanks to connecting to my cousin, Beth. It may not have happened through a blog, but collaborating on Ancestry is incredibly similar to that. And my blog has, since virtually meeting Beth, allowed her to keep up with my discoveries and the stories that go along with my family’s journey. I encourage anyone and everyone interested in genealogy to start a blog and even if you don’t really write out the details like I have, you can write your research notes on your posts. That is incredibly convenient in and of itself. If you use Evernote, or have checked it out, you can attest to how much it helps to have digital notes to accompany your timelines.

I also encourage you to take your Ancestry account a step further and connect with those who are also digging up your family’s roots. Unless you ask, you’ll never know if they have a treasure box of information tucked away. And who knows, it could put a face to your 3x-great-grandfather.

From left: Walter Whitson Laurie, Eliza Laurie (back, middle), James Laurie (back, right); Annie Laurie (front, standing) and Isabella Patterson Laurie (front, sitting).

My grandmother, Sandra Roberts Burgess, at her senior prom, in 1962. Her grandmother was Eliza Laurie Roberts.

Hide and Seek: Genealogy Style

“If it was easy, everyone would do it.”

I have that quote on a highlighter-yellow post-it note on a shelf above my desk. It’s something that I have to tell myself when I keep running into those ‘brick walls’ that family historians seem to know so well. I have been ramming my head against it so much over the past couple of weeks, that I honestly think I should buy a metaphorical matress – preferably pillow-top.

But getting comfortable with the brick wall should never be a goal. We may hit a dead end going one way, but one of the best things about genealogical research is that it encourages you to challenge your own way of thinking. Adapt and overcome, as my husband often says.

While I’m compiling the next series of posts about another wonderful ancestor of mine, I thought I would take a break and just exhale in the bloggosphere about my searching.

:: WHEW!! ::

Okay…. so, now that I’m back to breathing right, I want to share some of my methods. I find that sometimes just writing them out may lead to new ideas, sometimes other not-so-obvious options may pop up right in front of you. So, here are my little things that help me knock some cracks in brick walls.

---

Jillian’s Tips for Brick Wall Demolition

Tip No. 1: Write down what you THINK you know

I like to start each nuclear group of my family with composition-style notebooks, the old-school black and white ones with all of the handy info printed inside the front covers. I grab my favorite pen (Sharpie Pen, black, fine point, respectively), and I jot down, in list format, what I have been told for ages about that family. My father has told me for years that his great-grandmother was full-blooded Cherokee Indian. This is a very common family tradition, “She had Indian blood,” has probably been passed down as much as your deep brown eyes. Unfortunately, it’s rarely as accurate as oral tradition may represent. But, if you don’t write it down, remember it when you get to her, you may forget it as you try to compile all of the facts, and it could lead you to another clue.

Tip No. 2: PDFs on Drive E

If you live in a location like mine, the middle of nowhere and miles from anywhere, your best friend is a good WiFi signal. Time seems to escape you when you sit down at your desk, and you start on your ancestor of the day. And it’s very easy to get in a rush (“Yes, I promise you, dear, I planned on doing laundry today….”), and in that dash, it’s a quick jot to remember the vitals and then you plug it in later. This can lead to so much heartache later! Say you leave it up on your computer and, uh, oh – your browser crashes and you didn’t bookmark the page. Or worse, your computer kicks the electronic bucket. That short-hand note is essentially worthless, and you’ll pile up additional hours of research, seeking out that same record to confirm what you remember. My recommendation: Keep a blank DVD disc in your disc drive. Date it for that day, and when you find something that you think you’ll need to reference or cite, or even want to investigate, go to the Print option. Change the Destination to Save as PDF, and save it in the appropriate folder, on your blank DVD disc. Now you have a copy to print, that has the source info on it, and the website at the bottom of the page. And, an additional bonus, you aren’t saving and saving and saving files that you may or may not use to your computer’s already bulky hard drive. Score!

Tip No. 3: Utilize Your Utilities

I subscribe to Ancestry.com, and Fold3. I love the records that span continents, centuries, and languages, and how easy they are to locate with these services. But these are not the only two I use. I frequent the websites for Find A Grave, FamilySearch, The Library of Congress, Google Maps/Earth, Google Newspaper Archives, Montana Memory Project, National Parks Service, and a handful of others. Why so many? Well, here’s an example. Robert Roberts, as you may know, was my great-great-grandfather. He had several siblings, many of whom were married to quite prominent citizens in the town they lived in, Big Timber, Montana. Ancestry showed me the census records for Robert: 1900 and 1910. But this wasn’t enough for me – I wanted to know more about his life, and where he went, what he did. I wanted a timeline like I knew him personally, like we shared summers under pecan trees, clanking glass bottles of Coca-Cola together. So, I kept digging. I did an additional search in Ancestry, but for City Directories. They are a WEALTH of information. What he did for a living, where he lived, other Roberts’ in the area, if he was married (another name in parentheses?), and if he owned the home or rented. Yes! But not enough. So I wondered, where is this address? Enter Google Earth. Plugged it in, and it was like walking down the street, looking at his neighbors homes. Hm. Wonder if his neighborhood was ever impacted by wildfires, or avalanches or something like that? That would be newsworthy, right? Here comes the Montana Memory Project: digitized newspapers from decades upon decades, fully searchable. Newspaper articles that lead to sibling’s spouses and children’s names, that lead to obituaries and marriage/birth announcements, social club briefs, legal notices, etc. Now, I can probably tell you more details about Robert’s life than I can remember of my own.

Tip No. 4: Take the Lead

One of my ancestors is a bit of a ghost. Now and then, I get glimpses of their residence, but years can go by before they’re in a newspaper again, and often times, it’s in a totally different city. I had a name – one that was spelled in various ways throughout birth, baptism, and marriage records. I had a place of birth – from a country that didn’t exist anymore. But I had nothing about where he died or was buried, for him OR his spouse. ::Banging my head against a brick wall.:: So, what now? His name is common (there are so, SO many men named Johannas Haebel), and the locations don’t hit close to the children I know of. So…. Hm. Well, let’s go this route: I know he had a sister, one with a rather unique name, and one that he came to America with. I located her, then went to Find A Grave and searched for her in the location of her latest census. Sometimes you’ll get lucky and your ghostly ancestor will be buried there as well, but often times, not. However, don’t dismiss the site yet. Click on the page of the sibling and see if someone has entered connections on their memorial page – maybe your 3x great-grandfather is listed as a sibling, or if someone has left ‘Flowers’ or a ‘Note’ and said, “For my 2x great aunt,” you can contact them through Find A Grave’s profile for the user, and through that connection, you may be able to, not only find your ancestor, but perhaps find a relative who has pictures or stories of him!

Tip No. 5: Won’t You See My Neighbor?

Compare census records and city directories to your ancestor’s siblings. Do they have a sister that you can’t really find much on? Could it be that they married and the name was easily misspelled? And maybe that neighbor is her? Take this as a lead and track it down! Maybe you have a census record for your 4x great-grandfather and his wife’s maiden name is a mystery. You look through the census and at the bottom of the household members list, living with them is an older woman, with a different last name as the head of house. She’s widowed, and born in the same country as the wife – could this be her mother? Take that tidbit and turn it into an expedition – search Ancestry for your 4x great-grandmother with the mystery woman as her mother. Often times, you’ll get a substantial clue that will lead to documents and facts supporting what was once only a theory.

---

So, those are just five tricks that have really helped me out a bit, and I hope and pray that if you are stuck, that these help you out, too. Pay it forward, guys, and keep on learning!