Genealogy...where to start?

**macwilkin** · 31st July 08, 03:22 AM

Originally Posted by Birddog

The conundrum is that I am using ancestry.com, and they hit the wall. My paternal grandfather was born in Virginia in 1896, died in Texas in 1960. Apparently no siblings that I have been able to find. That is all that I have been able to find. Guess my next step will be trying to see if VA can find a birth cert.. Difficult since I cannot go there to search libraries.

Most libraries will accept research requests from out-of-state; there may be a fee per hour and/or copying costs, but it's usually worth it. You might also be able to hire a genealogist in Virginia to do research for you as well.

Regards,

Todd

**AcuteEnigma** · 31st July 08, 06:14 AM

Birddog wrote "The conundrum is that I am using ancestry.com, and they hit the wall. My paternal grandfather was born in Virginia in 1896, died in Texas in 1960. Apparently no siblings that I have been able to find. That is all that I have been able to find. Guess my next step will be trying to see if VA can find a birth cert.. Difficult since I cannot go there to search libraries."

Have you traced him through all the census records? Who was he living with as a 4 year old in 1900?

Did you search the message board on Rootsweb & Ancestry(should turn up the same results but I'm not positive on that)

Rootsweb and Ancestry and Genealogy.com are all owned by the same company.

Did you try Ancestry's Naturalization records index?

Have you found his death certificate or an obituary?

Have you done a Google search? Many people post their trees on self-made websites.

What is his name? Maybe we could help?

Have you tried the Social Security Death Index and requested from there his SS application? That can be interesting.

If you did FamilyTreeDNA's 37 marker test and found someone who was a very close match, you could find a common ancestor from 150 years ago or something and the two of you could work together.

We had a family legend that was not fitting the facts me and a cousin were finding. We got back to 1698 and his passage on a ship from Glasgow.
I had a male cousin do the DNA test and we matched 36 markers to two others who also traced back to that same ancestor.
So much for the family legend. LOL DNA testing really can help sometimes!

Julie

**sirdaniel1975** · 31st July 08, 02:51 PM

Perhaps I've overlooked someone else posting this, but I am rather shocked that no one has mentioned "Ellen Payne Odom Genealogy Library."

**arrogcow** · 1st August 08, 05:37 AM

Originally Posted by cajunscot

Most libraries will accept research requests from out-of-state; there may be a fee per hour and/or copying costs, but it's usually worth it. You might also be able to hire a genealogist in Virginia to do research for you as well.

Regards,

Todd

Maybe able to help with this. My mother is retiring (today is her last day in fact), and lives in VA. She loves genealogy, and if freekin tireless about tracking stuff down (and doesn't believe it till she has the proof in her hand). I don't know what the going rate for a researcher is, but I can ask if she'd be interested.

Adam

**macwilkin** · 1st August 08, 05:40 AM

Originally Posted by arrogcow

Maybe able to help with this. My mother is retiring (today is her last day in fact), and lives in VA. She loves genealogy, and if freekin tireless about tracking stuff down (and doesn't believe it till she has the proof in her hand). I don't know what the going rate for a researcher is, but I can ask if she'd be interested.

Adam

And there's a perfect example of networking. :mrgreen:

Todd