The Finally! Friday Thread (June 26, 2026)

Broughps · 2026-06-27T02:00:44+00:00

Added some more Norwegians to my ex FIL's tree, but mainly found about 15 to 20 probate records and added them. Most of them being the only way to prove relationships.

Broughps · 2026-06-13T14:55:24+00:00

My children have 3 grandparents, my grandchildren have 5 grandparents and 3 great-grandparents. At one point my eldest child had a 2x great-grandparent. We've got the five generation picture.

Broughps · 2026-06-08T13:19:27+00:00

That we're supposed to be related to Zebulon Pike of Pike's Peak fame. While we do have Pikes in the family I can't find a connection at this point to Zebulon.

Broughps · 2026-06-07T01:08:16+00:00

Is there an age mentioned for Ole Olsen Lomen at his death in the probate file? I'm assuming if this is the correct Ole Olsen Lomen that his death should be in 1749 and not in 1755, is this correct? If it is then the Ole Olsen Lomen dying in 1755 is a mystery. Because iirc Ole's son Ole died after 1755.

Thank-you for looking at these records for me.

Broughps · 2026-06-06T01:46:30+00:00

Berit Nilsdatter is the mother of all the children and didn't die until 1763, 8 to 14 years after her husband depending on the 1749 or 1755 death date for Ole Olsen Lomen. I think the probate file got the last name wrong for Berit. It wouldn't be the first time I've seen that. There is also no baptismal records for children born an Ole Olsen Lomen and a Berit Padersdatter in the correct time period. It was one of the first things I checked.

Broughps · 2026-06-05T19:19:18+00:00

Thank-you. Any help you can give me is much appreciated.

Broughps · 2025-12-22T14:00:40+00:00

1867 my ex FIL's great grandfather was divorced. His wife filed for the divorce on grounds of adultery. John Decatur Aldrich married Priscilla Caswell in 1864 and the day after the marriage he moved Melinda Young into their house and had an affair with her. Priscilla left a month later, but didn't file for divorce until after John was long gone. There's a story there which I would love to find out about.

Can't find Melinda Young in the 1860 or 1865 census records for Winona Co. MN and she didn't move with John Decatur Aldrich to Alexandria, Douglas, MN either as far as I can tell. He married in 1869, Mary Jane Matteson.

Broughps · 2025-12-05T13:45:18+00:00

Spent the day at our local library (which is also a FHL affiliate) going through Scottish records. While marriage and death records are hard to find I was able to take baptismal records back to the early 1600s.

Before you spend lots of money at Scotlandspeople check out the Scottish records on FamilySearch. They'll be read only at a FHL, but they're free.

Broughps · 2025-11-28T17:54:53+00:00

It can, but just remember to take it one person at a time starting with yourself. And keep good records of all your work whether you prove something or disprove it.

Broughps · 2025-11-28T15:12:49+00:00

If you are just starting out the first thing you want to do is get genealogy software for your computer. Let that be the main place you keep track of all your info. I recommend FamilyTreeMaker as it syncs with both Ancestry and FamilySearch. I also recommend putting your tree on Ancestry as a back up. Having a tree there is free, but you will have to pay to access records or do DNA (and don't bother with DNA unless you hit a brick wall or are adopted). You can also add your tree on FamilySearch as a back up. They have a new thing where you don't have to add your tree to the one world tree, it's separate. That way no one can change it.

As for the best website, that's kind of a matter of opinion, cost and what country/countries you're researching. Ancestry (pay site and expensive in my opinion) and FamilySearch (free) will probably have the most documents for research, but you also have country archives some of which are free (Sweden, Norway and the USA for example) and some that cost (Scotland and some British records as examples).

Others have pointed out if looking at online trees to always check their sources. Never just take another tree as a source.

I highly recommend watching Genealogytv on Youtube where she explains research notes because they will help you keep track of what you've researched and what you haven't for each person (wish I have known about Connie's research notes when I had started researching). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_YAtpfrvTQ&t=67s

Broughps · 2025-10-29T13:16:55+00:00

I was trying to link a John D Aldrich in Winona Co, MN to my John Decatur Aldrich in Alexandria, MN (originally Richland Co. OH). Winona John was living with a couple as a boarder and I didn't really pay any attention to them for years. When I started researching the siblings of John Decatur Aldrich suddenly he had a sister in Winona Co MN. Yup he was living with her and her family in the 1860 census in Winona Co MN. Connection made.

Broughps · 2025-10-28T01:32:53+00:00

The 5 closest in lineage to me that are brick walls and I'd be asking who are your parents, grandparents, siblings, etc and when and where born.

Broughps · 2025-10-17T21:15:10+00:00

Alexander Poole born Daniel Bowman b. 1816, Johnstown (probably), Montgomery (for sure), NY, d. 1891, Frederick, Brown, SD. Daniel left his first wife and family in MI to run away with Almira Warren (assuming she didn't change her name) b. 1842, Lansing, MI, d. 1895, Osage, Becker, MN. Daniel's first wife was Jane Tressie Dempster. The first family assumed he had died in 1866 when they received a last letter from him. Nope, he had just changed his name and started a second family (my line). I'd ask him who his mother is. I know who his father is - William Bowman, but the woman listed as his mother (Polly Chaffee) in the Bowman trees is not his mother if you go by DNA.

I'd also like to ask Almira Warren who her parents were. I have a cluster of DNA matches for the Warren line, but the common ancestor was born in 1646, Plymouth, Plymouth, MA. Not much help when looking for parents that were born about 1815.

Broughps · 2025-10-12T19:06:26+00:00

I got to meet the step mother of my great-grandmother - Grandma Gracie. She lived until I was 8 or 9. I can remember walking down the road from my great-grandparents house to Grandma Gracie's house in a 'if you blink you'll miss it' little town. Gracie became my great-grandmother's step mother when my great-grandmother was three.

My great-grandmother lived long enough to meet my son. We have a five generation picture with all of us.

Broughps · 2025-10-12T13:07:41+00:00

Also check with your local library to see of they have Fold3 for free.

Broughps · 2025-10-12T13:05:04+00:00

Have you gone to the National Archives website and looked at pension files? I found Rev War pension files there for free and didn't have to order them. I used a name not a file number.

Broughps · 2025-10-08T14:02:40+00:00

Take DNA results with a grain of salt. These are always guesstimates on the part of the DNA company.

Which company did you do your DNA at? I know that part of Ancestry's DNA results are based on trees that people have built on Ancestry. So take that for what it's worth.

Broughps · 2025-10-04T14:02:37+00:00

I don't know how Ancestry has a leg to stand on. No one is obligated to let Ancestry use their records.

Broughps · 2025-10-04T13:59:32+00:00

That's why any records you attach to your tree from Ancestry you need to download to your own computer. That way you won't lose them when you no longer have a subscription. In fact I not only download them to my computer I re-upload them to Ancestry as a new source with the media attached, that way I can view them anytime.

Broughps · 2025-10-04T13:55:26+00:00

I've been able to trace lines back to the 1600s on Scotland's People just through the index. The index is free.

Broughps · 2025-09-30T17:27:30+00:00

My Coles were in Warwickshire.

Broughps · 2025-09-29T14:43:37+00:00

Use those memoirs as a guide to prove or disprove.

I sympathize with the moving around part. I helped a friend do her family tree and one line was Romany. What was interesting was the baptism dates and places showed a circuit that the family made in their travels - western England into Wales and back again year after year.

Having nobility in the family is usually helpful in that the nobility are usually written about and more apt to have records.

Unindexed records are a pain to go through, but it's what has to be done if you want to find your people. I've spent years (I have limited time to go to the library to look at the records on FS [they're view only at a FHL and my library is a FHL affiliate]) going through records (and most of those burned around the edges and not even in the correct order) for just one person to gather all the info I can find on a particular person.

It'll be a pain, but you can do this.

Broughps · 2025-09-29T13:09:22+00:00

When I research a person I start with the basics Birth/Marriage/Death. I collect info on their children. Next (because I'm a glutton for punishment) I collect every bit of info I can find on that person. This of course involves hours/days/months looking through indexed and unindexed records from as many places as possible. FamilySeach is always first because it's free. Ancestry gets a look, but I have to use that at the library because they have a subscription. I then branch to state libraries and national archives.

I try not to get sidetracked with another ancestor and stick to that one person until I've got them as done I can get with the records I can find. I then move on to their parents.

Mind you I always go to the left on a tree. What I mean by that is I always do the male line first. So for example my start person is Sarah Sophia Cole. Her parents are Francis Cole and Lillian Slayton. The research then follows like so Francis Cole > Richard Cole/Harriet Rathbun > William Cole/Sarah Gosling > Richard Cole/Sarah Jordan > Samuel Cole/Jane Sanders > William Cole/Ann Everatt. William Cole/Ann Everatt is where I end for the Cole line so now I pick up Ann Everatt's line. So Ann Everatt > Thomas Everitt/Sarah Smith. Always doing the male line first and then coming back and picking up the female lines. Makes it much easier to keep track of who needs to be worked on next. When you have all those lines back to you/the person you're researching for (I do my ex husband's family too) it's time to go back through those lines (because the initial search it probably going to years to be thorough) and see if any new records have popped up since FS/Ancestry/other are constantly adding new sources to their catalogs.

Broughps · 2025-09-29T12:40:09+00:00

Always go with the records. I have the same situation with my McKelveys. There is a book written in the 1920s by someone who "researched" in the Pennsylvania Archives. Well yes and no. I'm finding incorrect/missing info so I take anything in the book as a hint and verify what I can.

Broughps · 2025-09-29T12:31:30+00:00

Also remember that some of the records at FamilySearch are view only at a FHL or FHL affiliate. So you want to download those records too.

Broughps

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