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Unanswered Questions

404 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
9 votes
1 answer
185 views

Understanding process by which People of Color in Georgia got freedom?

While doing Genealogical Research on my Family, I came across records that listed my Ancestors as "People of Color" registering yearly in their hometown at the Courthouse. How did they get their ...
9 votes
0 answers
2k views

Understanding 1939 Registration district numbers?

In the top right hand corner of each page of the 1939 register is a a pair of numbers recording the Registration District and sub-district for that page. As has been commented on in a previous ...
8 votes
0 answers
264 views

Finding records of emigration/immigration from Germany to South Africa?

My paternal grandfather was born in 1900 in Attenhoffen, Germany. He came to South Africa in the 1920s. My quest is to find out how and when? There is a story that he was a seaman who jumped ship in ...
7 votes
0 answers
216 views

Can I determine the relationship between Mary Anne Wright (nee Harper) and Charles William Kimmons?

In the 1901 census for England, Mary Ann Wright (nee Harper) was living in Kings Norton, Worcestershire (not Birmingham) with her husband Stanley and her children. In the 1911 census she's shown as a ...
6 votes
0 answers
149 views

How long might a couple have 'courted' and been engaged in mid-nineteenth century Wales?

What might the 'courting' and engagement period have been for a young couple in mid-nineteenth century Merthyr Tydfil. Their ages were both recorded as 21 at their marriage in the Register Office (...
6 votes
0 answers
130 views

Deciphering place names in Northern Alsace?

I am having some difficulties with a 1797 marriage record from Birlenbach, Northern Alsace (departement Bas-Rhin), specifically some of the geography. The record is hard to retrieve (all they let me ...
6 votes
0 answers
126 views

How many British men and women were serving in the Boer War at the time of the 1901 census?

I have several young men and women who I cannot trace on the British 1901 census, despite numerous and extensive efforts. While there are a number of reasons why I might not be able to find them, one ...
6 votes
0 answers
219 views

Finding archival records for tracing father of illegitimate child in mid 1880s County Down, Ireland?

In a couple of weeks, I will be travelling to Ireland for a two-week vacation. Part of my trip will be spent in the Belfast area, visiting both the General Register Office for Northern Ireland (GRONI)...
6 votes
0 answers
301 views

Finding surname distributions for names in Poland before WW2?

Gen-evolu allows us to see the distribution of family names in Germany both in modern times and during the peak of the third Reich in WW2, before Germany was affected with the ethnic cleansing of its ...
6 votes
0 answers
666 views

Historical records of money transfers for emigration (Remittance) from England?

A Wikipedia article defines Remittance as: A remittance is a transfer of money by a foreign worker to an individual in his or her home country. In a city directory from New England dated 1876, ...
5 votes
0 answers
40 views

Significance of registration by Registrar General versus Assistant District Registrars in New South Wales

I've just received a death certificate for someone I believe to be one of my ancestors from the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. All the other NSW certificates that I have from around the ...
5 votes
0 answers
63 views

Finding 1854 USA immigration record for Prussian ancestor

I’m trying to trace my family. At this point, I have found out my great grandfather was the 1st to enter the country. His name was William Koch. I’m not sure if that is the Americanized version. He ...
5 votes
0 answers
154 views

Is there a meaning in a name marked on the rear of a headstone rather than the front?

I have found a family headstone with the names of the deceased on the front (with many details), and a military cross (for their son) in front of the stone. On the rear of the stone is a name and age, ...
5 votes
0 answers
303 views

Tracing residence in England during WW2?

This notice from the Cheltenham Chronicle published on October 11, 1947 refers to Mrs. Augusta Elliott as "formerly of High-street, Cheltenham". I am trying to determine when she might have ...
5 votes
0 answers
91 views

Different colours for daughters and daughter-in-laws in Gramps Relationship graph

I have just very recently begun with genealogy and just started using Gramps. I have collected a lot of information about the family and want to show it through a relationship graph. In that, I would ...
5 votes
0 answers
128 views

Identifying Norwegian parents of Hulda Marie Olsen who was born 1892 in North Dakota?

I am trying to identify the parents of my paternal grandmother, Hulda Marie Olson/Olsen. From every census I have found, both parents come from Norway and I have seen her surname spelled as "Olsen" ...
5 votes
0 answers
170 views

Why would a regular soldier join a militia? Circa 1795/1800s

Has anyone ever come across an instance where a soldier has left the regular army and joined a militia? I have an ancestor who served with the 3rd or King's Own Regiment of Dragoons in the 1790s on ...
5 votes
0 answers
100 views

Did the Army know when somebody in the Reserves died?

I have now obtained my grandfather (TJ)'s Army Records and they're a very interesting read... To put it mildly, he was neither a good soldier nor one who believed in staying with the colours ...
5 votes
0 answers
103 views

Searching marriage records for London by witnesses?

Today a key piece of information about my 4th great grandmother Sarah Osment Smyth came to my attention when @ValerieFennell wrote: I have Sarah Osment Smyth as witness at the marriage of James ...
5 votes
0 answers
113 views

Getting information from Navy service record if date of death unknown?

I am helping a friend research her father who was born in 1917. The only document she has, of his, is his marriage certificate...giving his name, father's name and name of spouse and profession. ...
5 votes
0 answers
438 views

Finding origins of Romanian grandparents born in mid 1920s?

My Grandparents immigrated to Perth, Western Australia in 1950. My Grandfather was born in Ploiesti in 1924 and went on to be a soldier in the in the Romanian Airforce during WW2. During the war ...
5 votes
0 answers
316 views

Layout setup for Descendant tree in Gramps

Is there any way to change the layout of the graph created through the Descendant tree report in Gramps? All the elements are aligned to the top of the page, I would like a middle alignment. Here an ...
5 votes
0 answers
133 views

Searching for great grandfather Arnold Kuhn who lived in Poland then Russia?

Is there any way to trace the origins of my great grandfather Arnold Kuhn? He lived in poland and had a family there I believe towards the end of the 1800s and early 1900s. At some point he moved ...
4 votes
0 answers
45 views

What did a colour mixer do in 1830 in Manchester?

My great great grandfather lived in Salford, Manchester. In 1833 his marriage certificate indicated his profession as colour mixer. I believe this involved work in textile- finishing/ printing but ...
4 votes
0 answers
69 views

Marriage Banns and 'of the Parish'

How long were people needing to reside 'in the Parish' before becoming 'of the Parish'? I have a 20year+ brick wall that i'm revisiting to no avail. William Hine married Maria Welton 30 May 1805 St ...
4 votes
0 answers
64 views

Wny wouldn't the men in a middle-class Welsh family in the 19th century marry their partners?

My four greats grandfather John Hughes was mayor of Carmarthen, magistrate, merchant and shipowner. He married his wife in 1796. However, none of his male children married their partners. All three of ...
4 votes
0 answers
78 views

Who did my great-great-great-grandfather marry?

I can say that my interest for genealogy started when I got my great-great-grandfather baptism record from Ciudad Real, Spain. This is the record (online version in Family Search): It's a bit hard to ...
4 votes
0 answers
74 views

Deciding between two competing theories - who am I anyway?

My great(5)-grandfather Daniel Cooper arrived in the US around 1695 (maybe he was born here, maybe born at sea), and while his descendants are relatively well documented, nothing is known for sure ...
4 votes
0 answers
182 views

Obtaining Death Certificate Argentina

My Russian Grandfather escaped in 1948 on a ship to Buenos Aires, I have located the passengers list, his name, Cámara Nacional Electoral in Buenos Aires confirms his registration and official ...
4 votes
0 answers
70 views

Travelling within the UK in 1800s

My 4th great-grandfather was a weaver who was born in 1772 and was married, lived and died in the Wigan area. I have found a record dated 1801, for someone with the same name, age and occupation in ...
4 votes
0 answers
61 views

What qualifies as next-of-kin for a US SF-180, Request Pertaining to Military Records?

The SF 180 seems to conflict itself on what qualifies as next-of-kin. The instructions, lacking "grandchild", state this: However, the fillable form has a drop-down field for next-of-kin, ...
4 votes
0 answers
159 views

Baby recorded on 1911 census – but born a month after the census?

Got a bit of a puzzle – I have found a baby, born 7 May 1911, who seems to be recorded on the 1911 census in rural Nottinghamshire, England. But the census was taken on 2 Apr 1911. How is this ...
4 votes
0 answers
200 views

Did late 18th century naval ship captains conduct weddings? If so, where would these be recorded?

A pair of direct forebears, my 3xgreat-grandparents, eloped in the early-mid 1790s. He, Edward McDowell, had been the family coachman when he ran away with Susan of unknown surname. A 1797 naval ...
4 votes
0 answers
55 views

Why was Harry Mendelsohn's 1915 death while fighting in Canadian Expeditionary Forces falsely reported?

Harry Mendelsohn in this July 13, 1915 newspaper article was not killed fighting in WWI. He was part of the CEF, but he hadn't yet left for France. No correction was printed in that paper or any of ...
4 votes
0 answers
74 views

Alien Passenger (1917) who became Relative to be joined (1920): how to reconcile address discrepancies?

From a previous question it was noted that a certain Alien Passenger arriving at Providence RI in 1917, gave as an Address of a female cousin to be joined: 868 Broad Street, Central Falls From ...
4 votes
0 answers
83 views

Privacy Considerations of Widow(er)

The general rule for putting family information up on public family trees such as Ancestry, FamilySearch, your own website, etc., is that no information about living people should be included. This is ...
4 votes
0 answers
80 views

Ancestors came to England on the "Belgian Mail Packet" in 1920/1921 - How to find those records?

My wife's grandmother (Annie Pieniążek, age 9) emigrated from Poland to Canada in the early 1920s. She travelled from Liverpool to Halifax on the "SS Canada", leaving 10-Feb-1921, and arriving 19-Feb. ...
4 votes
0 answers
42 views

Locating autopsy results for suicide in NYC in 1931?

Has anyone had any success in obtaining a police file or coroner's report from the 1930's? I am having difficulty finding out if those records were destroyed or not. If not, I cannot find any place ...
4 votes
0 answers
58 views

Name changes in Canada in the 1920s?

My great-grandfather died in WW1 and then my great-grandmother remarried and had more children with her second husband. This would have been 1920s rural Saskatchewan. All of the children took one last ...
4 votes
0 answers
288 views

Identifying Military Uniform from Franco Prussian War?

I am looking for information regarding my great-great grandfather Heinrich Rositzky and the military uniform he is wearing, and if a unit or even his rank could possibly be determined by it. ...
4 votes
0 answers
115 views

What can I infer about John Wright from this 1841 census entry?

The 1841 census for England and Wales (Piece number 1208, Book number 8, Folio number 26, Page number 2) has a John Wright aged 11 at Coventry Street, Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. He is ...
4 votes
0 answers
122 views

Who would grant a lion tamer licence in northern England?

My great uncle Walter Manton Partington trained circus lions. His circus name was Retlaw. He was apparently the only trainer to have a licence in northern England in the early to mid 1900's. Under ...
4 votes
0 answers
29 views

Seeking death record for Jacob Schulthess who died in Wangen an der Aare prison in Switzerland?

Looking for the death record for Jacob Schulthess who died in Wangen an der Aare prison sometime between 1894 - Oct 1899 I am told he was sent to prison for accidentally shooting his mother in law ...
4 votes
0 answers
165 views

Finding ships sailing from Germany to Brazil between 1824 to 1830?

Is it possible to find the names of ships used to transport German emigrants to Brazil in the period of 1824 to 1830? I am specially looking for ships in the period 1827-1829.
4 votes
0 answers
81 views

Early NY and PA research

I've hit a difficult spot in my research, and I'm hoping for some research suggestions. My ancestor, Christian Rice was born in Orange County NY in 1762 ("near Goshen"). In his pension application, he ...
4 votes
0 answers
182 views

Apprenticeship records or trade information for 1830s Sheffield, Yorkshire?

This is the same family as in the related question Finding residence information for Toronto in the 1840s? I have two references to George Hindley in Sheffield, Yorkshire -- both identify him as a ...
4 votes
0 answers
43 views

ySearch Markers

Can any one explain why some of the test on ySearch are listed as FTDNA but have a different set of markers? I.E. in some cases the first 37 markers are missing, in some cases there seems to be a ...
4 votes
0 answers
110 views

Working on Korean Family History without speaking fluent Korean?

I want to work on my Korean ancestry on my mother's side, but have encountered two obstacles. The first is that I don't speak or read Korean and the second is that I can't find any records or ...
4 votes
0 answers
229 views

Why do I get a better match on mitoSearch than FamilyTreeDNA?

For my cousin's mtDNA test (C52RJ) on FamilyTreeDNA, my closest matches are all 2 mutations away, I exported to mitoSearch, and there I find an exact match with TXANE, and the match shows as coming ...
4 votes
0 answers
303 views

Locating Latvian Legion service records?

I am interested in looking for my grandfather Adolphs Gailitis' (b.1911) service records in the Latvian Legion in WW2. He was taken as a Russian POW but I'm not sure which year.

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