Genealogy...where to start?

**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."

**Birddog** · 31st July 08, 04:02 PM

So far, I have searched birth, death, marriage, and census through ancestry.com, with no luck. I haven't tried an obituary yet. The only census record it came up with was in 1920 in Baltimore, Md, without his middle name. I hate to think of the number of Daniel Driscolls there have been! His name was Daniel Richard Driscoll.

**Big Paul** · 31st July 08, 05:24 PM

Go on Ebay, yes I did in fact say ebay... Buy a copy of Family Tree Maker v16 for about 30 bucks.. It comes with a 1 year free subscription to Ancestry.com!!! It is an awesome program to boot!!!

Another site to check out is Genforum.. Lots of good information!

I now have over 2200 people in my tree!! The oldest birthday is 1040..

**Nick the DSM** · 31st July 08, 08:10 PM

Originally Posted by Big Paul

Go on Ebay, yes I did in fact say ebay... Buy a copy of Family Tree Maker v16 for about 30 bucks.. It comes with a 1 year free subscription to Ancestry.com!!! It is an awesome program to boot!!!

Another site to check out is Genforum.. Lots of good information!

I now have over 2200 people in my tree!! The oldest birthday is 1040..

thanks for the info, man!

heh, i just found a great uncle of mine on the forum!

**Coinneach** · 31st July 08, 08:25 PM

Originally Posted by Birddog

So far, I have searched birth, death, marriage, and census through ancestry.com, with no luck. I haven't tried an obituary yet. The only census record it came up with was in 1920 in Baltimore, Md, without his middle name. I hate to think of the number of Daniel Driscolls there have been! His name was Daniel Richard Driscoll.

Birddog, write Texas for the actual death certificate. Also, you might try calling to the library in the town where he died and see if someone will look up an obituary for you. Maybe there is a genealogical society there that will have a volunteer look it up for you. It would be a nice gesture to offer to make a small donation to the society or the library for their help.

**sharpdressedscot** · 31st July 08, 08:56 PM

The only thing I hate about genealogy is that if you're stuck you're pretty much stuck until you find like the lost chapters of the Sibylline Books...

For example: I'm stuck in the early 1800s with my great-great-great -great grandparents and that's all we know. We have a hint of siblings, but no record...

**Coinneach** · 31st July 08, 09:01 PM

sharpdressedscot, you're right. I'm stuck in the early 1800s, too, with the one ancestor I'm convinced is my Scottish over-the-water guy. But since he has that dreaded first name John, he could be one of many...which one is he? I think I know, but I can't prove it just yet.

**sharpdressedscot** · 31st July 08, 09:08 PM

Originally Posted by Coinneach

sharpdressedscot, you're right. I'm stuck in the early 1800s, too, with the one ancestor I'm convinced is my Scottish over-the-water guy. But since he has that dreaded first name John, he could be one of many...which one is he? I think I know, but I can't prove it just yet.

I know exactly how you feel.

You can't prove anything unless it's right in front of you and written down.

See what's with me is that the ancestors I mentioned were born in Ireland but they were supposedly children of Scottish colonists, but who knows.

One thing I've been thinking about is most Scottish colonists in Ireland were Protestant, right? Well, I'm 90% sure that they were Catholic, since the rest of the family up to my mother are Catholic...

Most the Scottish colonists were low-landers, right? Or were there highland families, too? I'm a big history geek, but as much as I like Scotland and Ireland, I don't know as much about it.

**Birddog** · 31st July 08, 09:21 PM

Thankfully, I found the proper death certificate for my grandfather, and it lists his parents! One problem was that my granddad, went by "Jack" with his first and middle name initialed. Thanks to all for the tips. If ya'll would like, I'll post updates with where this goes. But for now, I need sleep!
Kevin "Birddog" Driscoll