Long story short,

My grand father passed away 24 years ago and the entire family (my uncles) have no answers to their fathers heritage, and they fabricate stories to fill in the missing pieces. Some of the family claim he was part of the Sisily Mafia lol

I have managed to find one photo of him by googling his name, but i dont know where to look as there are absolutely no records anywhere.

Please help.

His name is Vincent Yala Costello

His a link with his photo: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZPG19430707.2.14.2.7

Is It worth purchasing MyHeritage Dna(ancestrality) test just for the raw data?

I don't know if it's a stupid question, I'm a beginner in this area and have little knowledge about it, but I would like to know my ancestry as closely as possible and I would like to know if Myheritage delivers this.

In my country (Brazil) there are no better options like ancestryDNA, I am limited to MyHeritage, Genera and some other apparently little-known companies

Hi guys!

I made a third thread on a different topic but following the same research. (Still researching my 3x great grandmother's life) I prefer to keep those threads separated because I seek a very different set of information about different people in each of them and I am hoping that if I find answers, those could be helpful for others. I hope this was the better way to do it and if it was not, I apologize in advance.

The two other threads in question for anyone curious:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Genealogy/comments/1h4egc7/comment/lzyixc5/?context=3

https://www.reddit.com/r/Genealogy/comments/1h4svvf/ernst_martin_nach_angabeanzeige_d_hebamme/

I've been thoroughly researching the life of my great great great grandmother (Crescenzia Dangl, Jedesheim, 1853 - Memmingen, 1939 ) as I'm hitting a brick wall in my genealogical search: All of her children have an unknown father in the state documents and very little information in the church records.

I know she worked most of her life as a "nanny" (Kinderfrau/Dienstmagd) for various quite wealthy families, and it has been said many times in the family that she has worked for the Kaiservilla in Bad Ischl, and if she did (because family stories shall be taken with a pinch of salt), I believe it would be sometime between 1875 and 1894.

I was wondering if you guys believe there would be any kind of existing record for people that worked there during that time period, or even visited, etc. I tried contacting per email the Kaiservilla office and the city of Bad Ischl, but I did not get an answer.

I suppose my next best option is to hire a professional there, but I wonder if such a record exist in the first place.

Happy to hear your thoughts!

Hi guys,

This is a bit of a niche question, but I suppose it cannot hurt to ask.

As I explained on a previous post, I am researching the life of my 3x great grand-mother:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Genealogy/comments/1h4egc7/comment/lzyixc5/?context=3

Her name was Crescenzia DANGL (Sep 29 1853  Jedesheim, Bayern, Germany - 1939 Memmingen, Schwaben, Bavaria, Germany) .
The reason of this research is that her daughter Franziska DANGL (May 20 1881  Memmingen, Schwaben, Bavaria, Germany - Aug 7 1973, Wœrth, Bas-Rhin, Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine, France) is born of ''unknown father'' at the "Stadtamt" and only on her baptism certificate is there the mention of a ''Ernst Martin'' as a father, even though she is still ''illegitimate'' child, as Crescenzia never married.
But it says that the father's name is ''nach Anzeige d. Hebamme'' which basically means ''By declaration of the midwife''.
Also ''Ernst Martin'' is written on the record fully in Kurrenschrift which the same writer is on the same page normally using for first names only, and normally writing last names in latin cursives ... Which makes me wonder whether:
A. This was a mistake of the writer. In the heat of the moment.
B. The writer was not confident which of the 2 was the first or last name.
C. The writer wrote 2 first names and the last name is unknown.

Any other theories?

Second line for Franziska's baptism certificate

What is also odd is that it says that Franziska's residence was ''same as her father'' but we know nothing about his residence on that document. I know for a fact (due to other documents) that she was residing at the address Crescenzia was residing at, with Crescenzia's father, so maybe the writer meant ''at the mother's father residence'' but that's a bit odd.

It is interesting to note that another kid of Crescenzia, Ludwig DANGL (Mar 19 1874  Memmingen, Schwaben, Bavaria, Germany - Deceased) had the same note (Nach Anzeige d. Hebamme) which means the same thing. But for this one, I was able to locate the illegitimate father. :) (Matricula Baptism Certificate of Ludwig: https://data.matricula-online.eu/de/deutschland/augsburg/memmingen/6-T/?pg=52)
For all of her other children, no father is declared, so it does not seem to be a ''requirement of the Church''.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this:

1. Has anyone ever experienced the ''Nach Angabe/Anzeige d. Hebamme'' in their Church records? And if yes, how reliable would you say it is?
2. How would you interpret the oddity about the cursive method of the first name and last name of the father declared on the baptism record?

Of course any tip, opinion, ideas is all very welcome!

Thanks in advance,

It's Monday, so we want to hear about the most interesting ancestor's story you discovered this week!

Did your 6th great-grandfather jump ship off the coast of Colonial America rather than work off his term as an indentured servant? Was your 13th great-grandmother a minor European noble who was suspected of poisoning her husband? Do your 4th great-grandparents have an epic love story?

Tell us all about it!

I'm trying to search from birth,. marriages and death registers from Trinidad and Tobago from 1910 to 1960 but couldn't find any online o digitalized records. Any help here please? I already tried to fins information in FamilySearch with no success...

Brick Wall #1: My ancestress was Frances Annie Fisher (born in 1873). Her son was Edgar Henshaw Fisher, my great-grandfather (1892-1957). There is no father listed on his death certificate and no father listed on his birth certificate.

Brick Wall #2: My ancestress was Anna Laura Williams (1854-1916). Her husband was Abraham Fisher (1834-1886). Her parents were John Williams and Frances Mitchell. Who are Abraham + John and Frances' parents?

I’ve been stuck on this part for a few months now, His name is Kee Ngo, born in 4/4/1904 In Amoy Harbour, Fujian, he came to the Philippines, I guess in the 30s? Because he had a child as early as 1945, which is my grand uncle, living to this day. He died in 1968 in Pasay Philippines, I’ve seen his remains once when I was a kid, they transferred his burial place. Not much is known about him, even my grandfather doesn’t, he had many names, such as So Kian, and I forgot the other one. Grand father told me that his Kee fled to the Philippines because of Mao Zedong, maybe he was a soldier? But given the times in early 20th century china, I don’t know if Records could’ve survived.

My dad passed away this year. I have boxes and boxes of paper genealogy that he amassed. I also have his 15 year old laptop with Family Tree Maker (I think it's version 2008) and thousands of people logged in it.

What should I do to preserve the paper and the digital info?

For the papers, I live in a tiny apartment and don't have room for these boxes, but I don't want to put them in a storage facility indefinitely. I am open to scanning while watching a ton of movies this winter, mailing this trove to a library, or any other ideas you may have! I'm also willing to spend some money on preserving this, since I'll probably want to do a deep dive into the family tree in the far future.

For the FTM data, should I just upgrade the software?

Edited to clarify my questions.

Hello! I've been searching about my surname and family history but I couldn't find much. My surname is Caliba. Every time I search possible family on Facebook I find a lot of Philippine people. Also I searched on forebear and there's a lot of people with my surname in Teo countries, Argentina and philippines. This is not a Spanish word because I speak Spanish and I'm from Argentina. Please help

I recently have started the foundation for my genealogy research as a business. I've had the contract written, examples drawn up, artist examples for my artwork included with my package (drawn by my husband). And I've started into the marketing materials as well, but overall I'm unsure of where to advertise my services. For now I'm just doing one package with an option for additional hourly services. But it includes up to a total of 31 people for a standard pedigree. Below I've included the text from one of my promo images (these are one of multiple slides in posts) for example, but is there something I should be adding to this? and do you have any suggestions on where I could be advertising my services, I'm working on getting my certifications through the appropriate boards right now. TIA

Promo image text:

Offering comprehensive genealogical research services, in this package I delve deeply into exploring your family history across five generations. Meticulously gathering and analyzing historical records, including birth, marriage, and death certificates, census data, and immigration documents, to construct an accurate family tree. I strive to ensure each discovery is well-documented with attached sources for authenticity and verification. Additionally, I’m seeking to uncover family photos and personal documents, enriching your family narrative with visual history. Personalized reports will provide insights into your ancestors' lives, revealing stories and connections that form your unique heritage. Whether you're tracing your lineage for personal knowledge or preserving it for future generations, my services offer a thorough and engaging exploration of your family history. Included is a beautifully designed custom family tree with each generation listed for you to display in your home!

Recently, I’ve been tackling another brick wall of mine-Orison McDonald (1798-1862) and Deborah West (1800-abt. 1889). Recently, I happened across a biography of their son Edwin, that appeared in a county history book.

The text makes references to the parents or Deborah and Orison-Rev. West, a Baptist Minister, and John McDonald, a Scotsman who was taken prisoner during the revolution and took homestead in Ballston, Saratoga. I haven’t found any other way to verify these claims, and I was wondering whether these texts are reliable, or if there’s any resources y’all know of that may be able to help me verify these claims. Any suggestions are appreciated!

The biography (image 419, page 436 in book)

https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/611109/?offset=0#page=419&viewer=picture&o=search&n=0&q=McDonald%20

Hello! This is the death record of ancestor, and I am having a hard time figuring out what his mother's name is. On this document, it states his mother was born in Germany, but I cannot make out the name part. Transcript was no help either as it was messy and likely written by an AI scan. All help is appreciated. Thanks!

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6ZFJ-Y3NP

So John William Chamberlain/Chamberlen (dont get me started on LIN, LAIN,LEN lol). Somehow we have it listed he was born June 25 1818 and died Jan 25, 1875 Exira Iowa. Where Ancestry peeps got that date, I don’t know, maybe from the cemetery? But how did the cemetery get his birthday? There are no documents known to prove this, nor family bible. . We finally proved his gravestone said JW Chamberlen because the cemetery in Exira,Iowa listed someone else was buried there… , Dan Webster Chamberlen Sr. A very kind soul from Audubon did a crayon rubbing of the grave 2 months ago for me to prove the name listed on the gravemarker was JW Chamberlen. How/why he died 150 miles from home is a mystery. His son, Joab did get married in the area 4 months prior to his death, so maybehe stayed to help?

Johns son was Daniel Webster Chamberlen 1856-1955. so unless he had a death bed confession where he had changed his name, not sure why they buried him under a wrong name.

From painstakingly going through research and census records and starting from zero….

I do know he married Mary Schooley 1827-1911 in Rock Island IL on Aug 9, 1949 and their first child was also born in Rock Island, Joab Q Chamberlen. They moved to Johnson Co Iowa about 1851. They are on the 1852, 1855, 1860 and 1870 census in Big Grove, Johnson Co, Iowa John William Chamberlains children with Mary were: (first name and middle name)

Joab Quiel , John Albert, Amos William *my gg grandfather ,
Daniel Webster. , Thomas Mills (Mills was Mary Schooleys mother maiden name) , Rebecca Ellen. , Charles Spencer

. Mary, the mother moved with three children, Amos W, Charles S and Rebecca Ellen between 1875 and 1880 after John William died as Mary and 3 children are listed in the 1880 census to Audubon co Iowa, presumably to be close to her other two sons living there, Joab Q and Daniel Webster. John Albert, the 2nd oldest son stayed back in Ely, Iowa, and married Louisa Fuhrmeister.

Thomas Mills I found more recently had moved to Kansas City. I only matched him up after finding his son, Ralph Chamberlen in our photo album. Rebecca Ellen left for Wyoming and never looked back so the local paper said. She did come back to Exira to marry Ebon Miller, and promptly returned. The other son Charles Spencer reportedly moved to Avoca and vanished. Cant fjnd him either after a 1910. news article that said he bought a house in Avoca . Speaking of news and photography,

I only have 1 late in life pics each of Amos , his brother John A, brother Dan and Joab, taken at separate times. No pictures found of Rebecca Ellen, or Charles Spencer.

To say all this that I can’t find a John William Chamberlain anywhere born in Maryland with that birthday . I can’t find a birth certificate, death certificate, baptism record nor do the papers in Exira Audubon county mention his death in 1875. We have no pics of him or Mary Schooley and I have no idea who Johns parents were.

A positive note? I took the Y-700 dna test, results due in late Jan 2025. I also reconnected with my Oregon cousins and MN cousins , directly related to Amos William, as he had 3 sons, one being my great grandfather who died in 1950.

I have names of ancestors going back to the mid 1700s in Austria/Germany which is now Czech Republic. The name of the town is Oracov (Woratschen), I’ve been told that Germany is terrible with record keeping unless you know the exact village your family is from. Is there a chance I would be able to gain anymore information trying to investigate this more or should I cut my loses and accept what I have and be lucky I’ve found my family history going back as far as I did?

I don’t know if I would be able to go back any farther or be able to find family that may still be in Europe. Any advice is appreciated.

Hello all. I am trying to find the naturalization records for my great-grandfather who emigrated from Baden-Württemberg, Germany, to Midland, Michigan, United States, in 1913. In the 1920 Michigan census, he noted “PA” (First Papers), and by 1930, the census showed “NA” (naturalized). However, we’ve been unable to locate his naturalization records through the county clerk’s office or the Michigan state archives. My understanding is that naturalization in Michigan during the 1920s and 1930s was handled at the county level, not federal. If he never naturalized, how might we confirm this? Is there anywhere else we should look? Thank you for your time and help.

Hi! My name is Mihaela I'm from Romania and I'm in search for my family history. I got to meet twice my natural mother, together with some of the brothers and sisters,but never got to meet my father( he passed away around 2009).
She didn't share anything related to the family( her mother, father, sisters or anything), not even photos. My father's name is Vasile Coprean, my mother's is Valeria David. From what I gathered he was from Bistrița-Năsăud and she is from Dej.

Ok weird question. On my audio file, my uncle mentions his grandfather's family held a stake in 2 race horses. One was Texas Rooker and the other was something else - Rooker. Or a word that sounded like Rooker. They were quarter horses and, at the time, did the surprising thing of finishing in a dead heat. (This is his words not mine). They were raced both in Canada and the USA. I'm not sure of the decade, but I'm thinking it was between 1900-1930's. Lol, I know that's a large gap, but my grandpa was born in 1904 and married in 1931 and, as a youngster, he used to go watch the horses race with his dad & uncles.

Google is not being friendly with me because I'm not sure how to frame the query to get historical info

My cousin found an early 2000's digital recording of her dad explaining some of the family history but it's not the best quality. My uncle had mentioned a name & date, but the name is all static. It's there but I just can't make it out. I've managed to parse out a few other details but if anyone knows of a program that can clean up an old digital recording, I'd appreciate it.

My maternal family (Jelić) hails from the central region of Lika in Croatia

My grandfather, Anton, was born in a small town in Brinje called Jezerane in 1939 and lived there until immigrating to Canada in 1955. He is still alive, thankfully

His father, Ivan, was born in the same town in 1919

His father, Toma, was born in the same town with no definitive date of birth

Is it possible that I can find records for my family based on the information I have? I suppose I can look to find the records from Sv. Jurja church in Jezerane provided that they still have the records and how far they go

I'd love to learn about my ancestry

Thank you!

My paternal family (Schincariol) hails from the northeastern region of Friuli in Italy

My late grandfather, Emilio, was born in a small town in Gruaro, Veneto, called Bagnara in 1943 and lived near Sesto al Reghena until immigrating to Canada in 1951

His father, Pietro, was born in Fiume Veneto, IT, in 1898

His father, Angelo, was born in the same town in 1867

My great-great-great-great-grandfather, Giovanni Battista, was born in Azzano Decimo, IT, in 1785

His father was born in the same town, and the records go up until my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Giacomo, who was born in 1730 with no definitive place of birth. I can only assume that he was born in the same region

I have much more information, but those are the anchors that I can attach to my research. Since all the places of their births are within proximity, is it possible that I can find records past my sixth-great grandfather, Giacomo?

I'd love to learn about my ancestry

Thank you!

And I can't find that post! I thought I had saved it! Does anybody know what I'm talking about? Would have been women accused of witchcraft in the USA(?) before and during the Salem witch trials.

I can trace my paternal ancestry back 8 generations to 1708. I would like to create a chart listing out all my paternal ancestors to give to my son who is expecting his first child. (A son). I have looked online but have not found exactly what I’m looking for. Any help would be appreciated.

Hi everybody! I got started on my history tree during the pandemic as a means to keep myself busy. My mom has already completed her side about a decade ago and I was mainly working on my dad's side as I didn't know a whole lot. Because of this I got interested in my husband's tree. His mom was easy in a way as they had some records already and I was able to date them back to the 1600s but I'm having issues with his father's side. My FIL is literally split 50/50 of polish and Italian. The Italian side grew up catholic so I was able to trace most of everything through the baptism records and back to Italy. The polish side is the difficult part. With the polish splits with the surnames of Kilosky and Biskupiah/Chmielewski. I cannot find any records for any ancestors past 1900s for the last name Kilosky. I have my FIL, his father (Don), and then his father born in 1905 - Edward Kilosky Sr.

I have heard stories that he wasn't born in America, he came through Elis Island. I've heard that Kilosky is suppose to be Kislowki. But I'm just lost and I don't know where else to look.

Hi guys!

TL;DR : I'm looking for the birth certificate of Georg Victor Friedrich Wilhelm KRAMER (born the 8th of February 1858, Klukowitz, Beuthen, Upper Silesia, Prussia) and married in Hagenau in 1891 with Maria Thekla (Marietta) Freiin VON FREYBERG-EISENBERG. I only know his father's name was Ernst Kramer and he was a mine owner. I was wondering if there's any good database for Prussian in that region of that period, would be helpful! As he was in the military, maybe military archives would help.

I've been thoroughly researching the life of my great great great grandmother (Crescenzia Dangl, Jedesheim 1853 - Memmingen 1939) as I'm hitting a brick wall in my genealogical search: All of her children have an unknown father in the state documents and very little information in the church records. I may actually post about this as well as there are some leads on which I could also totally need help :)

For now, as she worked most of her life as a "nanny" (Kinderfrau/Dienstmagd) for various quite wealthy families, I've been looking into those families as well, to try to establish a proper timeline. (Who were they? How did she get there? When? Etc.)

The latest family I've been checking thanks to a very old photo album is the Kramer family as Crescienzia was taking care of Ernst Kramer, son of Georg Victor Friedrich Wilhelm KRAMER (born on the 8th of February 1858, Klukowitz, Beuthen, Upper Silesia, Prussia) and Maria Thekla (Marietta) Freiin VON FREYBERG-EISENBERG. (11 May 1867, Kempten - Deceased).

I've been looking for any kind of archives for Klukowitz, Beuthen, Upper Silesia, Prussia, but it's quite hard. (This is nowadays in Poland) I'd like to find the birth certificate just to have both his parents identified and hopefully all other potential weddings he had, children, etc. Any advice for that? As he was "Obstlieutenant" for the Prussian army, so maybe some military archives could also help.

Thanks in advance for your help!

This may be more of a software question; but I am creating an offline, digital family tree. Any tips on how to make sure it does not become a tangled mess?

I understand that autosomal DNA tests for both maternal AND paternal sides, while mtDNA tests only your maternal side and YDNA tests only your paternal side, but I would just like to know which DNA company can tell you which part of your ancestry is from dad, & which part is from mom. Just for example, if I am 30% Northern Chinese, 40% Southern Chinese, 20% Vietnamese, 5% Spanish and 5% Irish, which company can distinguish & tell me from which parents gave me which of those ethnicities (either partially, like mom is 5% Vietnamese, dad gave me the other 15%, or in whole, like dad gave me all the Vietnamese?)?

Would that just be autosomal testing...?

Thank you so much in advance

I have always suspected I was adopted. I started asking at age 12. They always told me I was imagining things that just weren’t true. My mom died first, dad would not give permission to have her dna checked against mine. When dad died I took care of everything. So I contacted a private labs and followed the instructions I was given to collect and ship it to them. All samples were collected by medical professionals. 100% not my father. So I sent my dna to familytreedna. 12 yrs later I still have no clue if that’s telling me anything or not. So I’m thinking of joining another service to see if that’s any better. Familytree dna gave me a bunch of names that I don’t know what to do with quite honestly. So I’m wondering if a different service would be clearer to me. I’m 55 now so my bio parents are probably gone by now. I have no information at all. I’d really like to know a name. You know, what would my last name have been. Maybe want to know if I have siblings. My brother told me ( before he died), that mom was never pregnant and they came home with a baby a few hours old and told him that I was their sister now and they were to take the information to the grave. He said mom wanted a baby girl so bad that I was given to her when a biker chick was pregnant and had me. Supposedly they attended my home birth- complete with Dr. then I guess my “parents “, took me home. I have no way of knowing if this is true or not. In the past I’ve had search angels look into this but they gave up, I don’t know why. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading.

I have been unable to uncover a single document or record for my mother's father. Ancestry, FamilySearch, MyHeritage, the Italian and German genealogy sites all come up empty, as well as the NYC online archives. His name was Edward Miller and he was born on October 22, 1900 in Brooklyn, NY according to family lore. He married my grandmother (no record) and my mother was born in 1942 both in Brooklyn His name and age match on her birth certificate for whatever that is worth. By 1944 he was out of the picture for unknown reasons and my mother's mother returned to Scotland for a few years bringing my mother along with her.

I have two examples of his signature that match - one on a physical document of my grandmother's permitting her to return to Scotland with my mother and the other on her application for naturalization that was rejected. I have gone through an infinite number of records that are close in any way (WW II draft registrations, NYC marriage certificates, etc.) and I can not find even a close match to it.

The Italian genealogy site did locate a record for an Edward Miller of the correct age in a Brooklyn orphanage.

He was supposedly in the Coast Guard at one point so I filed a request via eVetRecs to see if anything comes up. I also filed a SS-5 with the Social Security Administration.

There are a few possible matches in the records of the Fresh Pond Crematory. Nothing likely via FindAGrave

Adding to the difficulty is that my grandmother was previously married so she sometimes went by her maiden name, the last name of her first husband and then that of her 2nd. Her existence outside the marriage to my mother's father is quite traceable. In the census records for 1950 she is recorded as "widowed" although there is no way of knowing if that is fact.

Suggestions for next steps would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry for the long-winded post.

I am looking to verify the identity of a woman who was murdered in Mercer County, NJ in November 1919. The newspapers list her name as Jennie (Jeanette) Miller and the assailant as Calogero Brucculieri.

However, I have good reason to believe that the woman was actually Catherine (Katie) Miller. She was from Naples and her family changed their name from Meola shortly after arriving.

I have a NJ State marriage certificate showing that this woman (Concetta Meola) married in 1904, a man named Rocco Stumpo in Trenton, NJ where they lived. On the marriage certificate her parents are listed as Giuseppe Meola and Filomena Zazzarini.

They had 4 sons between 1904 and 1912 and she is listed as the mother on their birth certificate(s).

However, Rocco Stumpo is shown as living only with male children in the NJ State Census of 1915 and in the U.S. Census of 1920, he is listed as a widower.

Separately, as I mentioned, Trenton newspapers reported that a woman named Jenny Miller was murdered in 1919 just outside Trenton. A death certificate matching the date of the murder shows the deceased as Jeanette Miller (birthplace: Italy), lists her father as Joseph Miller (birthplace: Italy), her mother as Fanny Miller (birthplace: Italy) and her husband as Rocco Stumble. Joseph is named as the person providing the information for the death certificate--not her husband, Rocco. At the time of her death, father, mother and deceased were listed as living in Lawrenceville, NJ.

There is more to this story, but I would like to know:

1. Whether anyone is a descendant of Rocco and Concetta Stumpo of Trenton, NJ
2. Whether anyone is a descendant of Giuseppe (Joseph) and Filomena (Fanny Zazzarini) Miller of Trenton/Mercer County NJ.
3. Whether anyone knows enough about newspapers, census records and state certificates from this period or region to verify that this kind information was commonly mis-recorded or mis-reported
4. Whether anyone can help me confirm that it was Concetta (Kate) Miller who was killed and not Jeanette Miller.

Thanks to all in advance for any leads. I have been in touch with relevant NJ State agencies but thought someone else on Reddit may know more.