Why do we have such 'dark holes' in our family trees!?

Question

I am currently searching for my mother in laws anchesters! Boy why am I putting my self through this!!
I am now currently stuck..... grrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! Any good family tree experts?! I could do with some good answers!! x

Answer 1

Well what do you want to know, and I'll see what I can find out for you. I have access to a most family history sites. If you would like a bit of help you can email me on [e-mail] .
Regards
Warren

Answer 2

Why are there such 'dark holes' in our family trees?
Several reasons:
1)Civil records did not start for nations until just before the Civil War at the earliest! The U.S. began to require civil records just before the Civil War; Great Britain, France and other countries did not require it until later.
Several states in New England did have requirements for civil records back in the 1700's; some municipalities had them from the beginning. Virginia and Kentucky also required civil records before the U.S. did; however, many of their records were destroyed during the Civil War.
2) Records were kept by hand. Handwriting was often illegible.
3. Records were often destroyed by rats and mice, mildew, mold, fire, etc.
3. Records were almost always incomplete. For the most part, those who were to take the information down just didn't give a hoot. Also, since most people were born and died at home, records were never made about them. (Two of my aunts were born at home; one died at about two, the other at about four. There are no records for either of them, EXCEPT one has her name and birth/death dates on a tombstone.) [Neither my Mom nor her Mom have their names correct on any records, including their tombstones.]
There is more, but on to the second part: what can you do?
If your situation is NOT like mine, you have more hopes. [My Mom was born in 1901; her Mom was born in 1861, etc.]
Start with what you know. Ask your relatives (or in-laws) everything they can tell you. (always remember WHY there might not be a record!)
Check courthouses, churches, family Bibles, etc., to get a start.
If your Mother-in-laws ancestors are recent immigrants, they might have come through Ellis Island (those coming by planes, the same thing) and there will be records.
Those who came over before Ellis Island (as mine) may show up on ship passenger lists.
Check the U.S. census, remembering that the "newest" one is about 70 years old. If you can find names that fit, keep going back one census at a time (these are public records, and if you access them by web, should always be free).
If your ancestors came over for the colonies, only New England had accurate records. The South didn't till much later, mostly late 1700's or early 1800's.
If you have places, check newspaper collections (a lot are online) and cemetery records (a lot are on line).
If you can go back to the 1800's and earlier, they are probably listed in books; check your library.
There are also a lot of genealogical societies, by surname, by state, by town. Check them.
Of course, there are the websites: Cyndi's List, www.ancestry.com, www.roots.com, etc.
Just type "genealogy" into a search engine, or "John Jones Genealogy", or even, "John Jones, born 1827, New York City".
Good luck.

Answer 3

ROFL!!
Around my house, the family joke is that if someone walks within 15 feet of me, I'll be sitting them down, and trying to trace their ancestors for them. Related, or not. EVERY one has ancestors (good ones or bad ones), and for most people (NOT all)... it gives a sense of connection to something to know who they are/were.
It's a challenge, a mental exercise, a learning process. It's real, and it's more personal than watching someone hitting some little ball around a field. If you never got stuck, and then learned how to get past it, research would not be any fun.
And one of the most worthwhile times is when an older relative tells you that they had been searching for "that" answer for YEARS, and now they know.
ps... put that black hole out on the table, and lets see what we can do with it..

Answer 4

There are many reasons why you can get stuck researching the family tree. I got stuck with my Scottish ancestors because the English beat them in some war or other. I had the same problem with the German ones. The British blew up their records. However, I have traced the English ones back three hundred years. You just have to be very patient and persistant.The Family Records Centre in Islington, London is usuful if you can get there.

Answer 5

Some dark holes are deliberate. An ancestor of my wife who was a highly successful businessman in Victorian times left few clues to where he came from, beyond saying that he was a Welsh farmer's son, kicked out with a shilling for daring to marry against his family's wishes. The romantic story was confirmed by his long, happy marriage and 13 children.

The story was family orthodoxy until my wife's uncle in retirement did some serious full-time research. It turns out that great-great grandad left home under rather different circumstances - ran for it with the girl, after a near-murderous fight, bad enough to have local police involved & a search being made, following him being discovered in flagrant delight with his younger brother's new wife. Despite the long cohabitation, there never was a legal marriage (and presumably all the birth certificates were fraudulent too).

This was obviously even more disgraceful then than now, & the happy couple kept their secret all their lives. Perhaps, too, some ancestors were disowned by their families for having criminal records. My own family tree contains a man hanged for theft - for two centuries his name was never mentioned and the name James was not given: taboo without anyone knowing why. Just one of those things "we don't do." Then my father did the research and in defiance, my sister named her youngest son after the 18thC thief. It can be a long road.

Answer 6

I spent the first twenty years researching my father's people only to learn that when he entered the army in 1931, he adopted his maternal grandmother's maiden name. I wondered for years why my uncle Ed, his full blooded younger brother in South Carolina, had a different last name. He always said it was because Ed changed his name. When I finally met up with Ed's daughter *in Atlanta, living only eight miles away from me*, she told me that my dad changed his name.

It was amazing that I could finally find my grandfather's death certificate and my father's birth certificate when I asked for the correct name.

To this day, I don't know why he did that. He died in 1979, and at that time, I was still convinced that his parents were just beamed down to Hungary.

Give me some more information and let me see what I can come up with. I have researched my family, my husband's family, my brother in law's family and my niece's father's history. I'll give it a try.

Answer 7

I do basically have faith that there is a spirit international and particular I additionally do have faith that animals are very lots a ingredient of it. I had an adventure in an alley with a Ghost dogs one night. I felt it positioned its moist snout in my authentic hand as i grow to be walking. like it needed to be petted. when I appeared all the way down to puppy it, it grow to be not there. I appeared all around and ought to not locate this dogs. It grow to be a wierd and curious adventure whether it left me with the assumption of there being a spirit community that animals are a ingredient of. I often ask your self when I hear animals interior the night.dogs barking, cats leaping up and dealing off or gazing something which you won't be able to see. Are they seeing or sensing spirits? Im particular that there is a logical rationalization for many of it yet i think that's extremely attainable that they sense spirits of human beings and different animals. i are conscious of it sounds unusual , yet is it ?

Answer 8

We do for the same reason that some people climb mountains, because we can, just ask the questions and some one will have a answer,

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Answer 9

I truly found three of the Salem witches in my MIL's tree...explains oh so much. I'd be more than happy to help you tred the nasty path of the MILs.

Answer 10

See who is still left alive who may have birth ceritificates , death certificates etc. Or take a walk and come back to it later