Genealogy--anyone??? (American, Tennessee, family, looking for)

[ArizonaBear]

I just received my maternal DNA results: Haplogroup I.

Translation: my genetic trail ends in Northern Europe; my bio mother is definitely 'White'.

I will post back when my paternal results arrive.

[ReturningWest]

Re: Brick wall, I had hired a pro genealogist but have recently gotten an email from her daughter and the woman is quite ill. Has anyone used a pro to help them with the brick walls? If so please pm me for a referal.

Thanks

[Bev+4]

Hi, I am from England and have hit a brick wall with my family tree. One of my ancestors was a Samuel Adlam. He was married to a Jane. Samuel was born in 1857 and Jane 1856. They were both born in Warminster, England. I know they both emmigrated to PA and according to the census lived in Clearfield or Beccaria. I think Jane died around 1915 but I have never found where they may be buried or a death record. As I live in England it is very difficult. I know Samuel Adlam was still alive in 1921 as he brought and sold some land in Clearfied as tis was noted in the clearfield newspaper in that year. In 1920 a relative visited Samuel and put down his addrress as Smoke Run PA. I would dearly love to find where they are buried or when they died.I dont think they had children as there was never any noted on the census's. Does anyone know where they may be buried. They marrried in England before emigrating so no clues here. Many thanks Bev

[Inthesierras]

Originally Posted by Bev+4

Hi, I am from England and have hit a brick wall with my family tree. One of my ancestors was a Samuel Adlam. He was married to a Jane. Samuel was born in 1857 and Jane 1856. They were both born in Warminster, England. I know they both emmigrated to PA and according to the census lived in Clearfield or Beccaria. I think Jane died around 1915 but I have never found where they may be buried or a death record. As I live in England it is very difficult. I know Samuel Adlam was still alive in 1921 as he brought and sold some land in Clearfied as tis was noted in the clearfield newspaper in that year. In 1920 a relative visited Samuel and put down his addrress as Smoke Run PA. I would dearly love to find where they are buried or when they died.I dont think they had children as there was never any noted on the census's. Does anyone know where they may be buried. They marrried in England before emigrating so no clues here. Many thanks Bev

My dad's family is from PA and there are many resources online. If your relative owned land in that county, he might be their land records.

Do you know what religion your relative was? Sometimes the churches in the area will have records and for a price will do the research and mail you copies. Do you have any distant cousins that might have any info?

Have you tried using these websites:

The PAGenWeb Project

Free Genealogy Research -- Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness

I have used both these sites and have found a lot of information. On RAOGK, there are volunteers that will look up specific records for you. So be sure to check that one out.

Rootsweb has message boards for each county in PA. Try joining that and asking people what you should do. I am sure they will have a good idea on what is available in that county for information.

[Huckleberry3911948]

DNA testing? gtldna.com 173 bucks.

[nitram]

I'll save you all a lot of money and frustration. We did the PBS/National Gepgraphic DNA test 3 years ago. We sent the test to a Texas PO Box, and they in turn sent it to the Arizona State University that does their testing. A few weeks later you get a map and a disc showing your start in Africa to someplace your ancestors ended up in Europe.
All of the tests come back basically the same. It will tell you that approx 50,000 years ago your ancestors came from Africa and migrated over the years to what is now Europe. Basically it is telling you we all are related. It does not give any specifics where your lineage actually went to or where they came from when migrating to America.
If you're serious about tracing your family heritage you need to do all of the following: Check all census records federal and state, Ancestry.com records, Family Centers by the LDS and their records, the 50 immigration ports, not just the limited Ellis Island, State archives, Government sites, Military/Veteran sites and their organizations, churches, libraries, Masonic Lodges, newspaper archives, cemeteries, social security index, relatives, birth and death certificates, city court houses, sports archives, state military historical sites, and for and anything else that you can think of that keeps records. You'll be surprised at what you can locate. Each state has a historical society with tons of records.
The Mormon Church in Salt Lake City has 'billions' of pieces of information on nearly every person in the world. They are adding information daily from all of the above sources I mentioned.
You probably have a Family History Center in your town that has a link to Salt Lake City. The Mormon Churches do not harass you and are very helpful with finding information at no charge except for paper copies at 5 cents each. They do not care if you are a member or not and will not solicit you.
A lot of records are kept in Catholic Churches, especially in Europe.
I've spent 8 years tracing my family back to the year 1502 on both my maternal and paternal side. I have found over 2000 relatives which includes moms, dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles cousins, and war connected relatives from 1776 up to WWII.
Hope some of this info helps you...good luck and keep on searching. It's fun when you make a discovery.

[MSJones]

Great post, nitram.

[dynimagelv]

Originally Posted by nitram

You probably have a Family History Center in your town that has a link to Salt Lake City. The Mormon Churches do not harass you and are very helpful with finding information at no charge except for paper copies at 5 cents each. They do not care if you are a member or not and will not solicit you.
.

ALSO they run familysearch.org whis is totally free and also provides you withi the software to organize your finds.

[southernjewishgal]

I've looked but I haven't really found much searching for my last name.

[yydanay515]

I have been very successful in my genealogy research. Luckily some of my ancestors were "free colored" so their first and last names were recorded on the census. My family is from the the U.S. Virgin Islands which is the former Danish West Indies. After the islands were transfered to the U. S. some of my ancestors left the islands...around 1917. I have been able to find family members using the Ellis Island website.

Unfortunately, I have not been successful in finding the baptismal record for my ancestor Agnes Schmidt. She was baptized in 1796 in the Danish Church on St. Croix, Virgin Islands. I have been able to find baptismal, confirmation, death and census records for almost all of my ancestors. I even have free and slave papers for some.

I have not been able to find my great uncle Carlos Shinery. He was a merchant seaman and i don't know where to look for him. My ancestor Juliana Schmidt was born a slave and was freed a few years later. I am not sure which Schmidt brother is her father. Unfortunately, her baptismal record (1817) fails to give her father's name... only the mother and slave owner. Thank goodness, there is only one Schmidt family in Christiansted, St. Croix and we were able to narrow it down to two possibilities, Nicholas Schmidt and John Schmidt. We believe that it is Nicholas because he attended almost every baptismal for her children. Oh, her mother Lena Marcus was a slave and her father was born free.

I met a cousin on Rootsweb in the Virgin Islands forum. We were researching the same family and we realized that her great great grandmother mother Felicia Grant and my great great great grandfather Carl Henry Grant were siblings. So, that was a great experience and now we are working together.

I have learned so much about my family, some good and some not so good.
my websites:

FamilySearch.org - Family History and Genealogy Records
RootsWeb.com Home Page
Ancestry.com -- Browser Upgrade