Hey everyone, I've been trying to learn more about my 2nd great grandparents who are from Damascus, Syria. They were Sunni Muslims who immigrated to New York City in 1892. Does anyone know of any resource to find records from Syria? I don't have any record prior to their immigration to the US

Thanks in advance...

I’ve dated my family name all the way back to a civil war veteran who was born in Germany after doing extensive research on him I’m at a complete road block at trying to find his parents or at least his father. Is there any good resource I can use or at least try to find his parents. Thanks!

From APG email

As you may already be aware, vital records access in New York State is under threat. Part U of the proposed New York State Health Budget seeks to severely limit access to vital records, and APG needs our members’ help to oppose the bill. You can read the full bill text here, and see APG's detailed testimony on the advocacy page of our website.

The legislation proposes to “Digitize Genealogical Records,” but instead of improving access, it essentially shuts it down by:

• Prolonging embargo periods: The bill introduces some of the strictest restrictions in the nation—125 years for births, 75 years for deaths, and 100 years for marriages.
• Eliminating public indices of records: The Department of Health (DOH) would no longer be required to maintain birth and death indices.
• Increasing fees astronomically: The cost to request records would increase from $22 to $95 per record.

 What you can do:

• If you reside in the state of New York, contact your State Senator and Assembly Person as soon as possible. Send your representatives your testimony focusing on the specific consequences to your businesses, your families and your clients if this proposal becomes law. Personal emails and phone calls are incredibly effective. If possible, request a meeting to discuss these issues in further depth! Find your representatives' information here and here.  Some members have already requested meetings with their legislators, and the more opposition we show them, the more likely it is that this bill could be removed from the budget.    

https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/blog/call-action-regarding-access-new-york-state-vital-records

Has anyone tried to get a birth or death certificate from Albany lately? I sent in my request last august and haven't gotten anything yet yet. I called yesterday and the lady told me they are working on requests from 2020. She said the turnaround time is three years! I think this is absurd. I would drive up there myself and get it but they don't do in person requests anymore. I bet you if the governor was doing family research and needed a birth certificate from 1901 like I do they'd have it by the end of the day. Absolutely insane.

Hi all. I am attempting to unravel the story of my 3rd great grandfather Louis Genor (I have found various spellings). Here’s a quick sketch of his life from what I know.

He was born sometime in the 1830s/40s in Quebec and by 1870, was living in Rhode Island. By 1880, he had moved his family to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and eventually to Menominee County, Michigan where he died in 1884/5.

What I am particularly interested in now, is finding out about his life before he reached Rhode Island. Various census records show that his daughters were born in VT and NY. I recently found a newspaper article from Burlington, VT in 1870 in which a man of the same name was in a lawsuit with the US government for “assaulting a United States officer.” Where would I go to obtain info on this case? The article was from February, 1870, and the date on the 1870 census in Rhode Island was August, meaning he may have left the state because of this offense?

Here are my main questions:

Does anyone have experience researching Quebecois immigrants to New England in the mid 1800s? Any advice?

Is the process of obtaining a federal court record (where the USA is the plaintiff) different from a regular case between individuals?

Thank you all so much!!!

My grandmother has wanted more information on her father's side of her family for a long time - she is getting up there in age and I would really love to try and help while I can, but my skill limit stops at English language census records etc. I'm considering trying to find someone who may be able to search through old Russian/Soviet records (to my grandmother's knowledge, he left in 1926) and similar stuff, and wanted to see whether anyone may have had any luck with something similar? He died young and didn't talk about his childhood, so I don't have a lot to go off of.

Hi everyone - first time poster, I was hoping someone could give me some advice.

I've been studying my family tree for about five years now, (ever since my Dad passed away). For the most part, I've been able to find the right records. But there's one family mystery that has me stumped, and I've honestly ran out of ideas about how to proceed. Any advice would be appreciated.

My (paternal) great grandfather, (for brevity's sake, let's call him 'John'), went missing around 1932. He and my great grandmother had lived together in Chester with their multitude of kids up until the late 1910s, when they decided to separate.

Whilst my great grandmother remained in the family home in Chester, John moved to Liverpool. His youngest daughter, (my Nanna), used to talk about visiting him there when she was a little girl, and up until she died, it really pained her that she couldn't remember where he stayed. I'm pleased to say that I was able to find the address of where he lived on the 1921 census - but the problem is, after that, he just disappears.

My Dad's side of the family stated that the last time they saw him was after his eldest daughter died in 1932. After that, they never saw him again. Allegedly, his family had him legally declared dead after 7 years, but I can find no record of this.

My question is: what other avenues can I pursue to find out what happened to him?

For clarification:

1. I can't find any record of him on the 1939 census.
2. I can't find any records of him leaving the country.
3. I can't find any death certificates or graves with his name/date of birth on them.

Does anyone have any experience in ancestry mysteries like this? Where else can I look?

How do I find out if my parents had another baby? My deceased mother, who had Alzheimer's, spoke of another baby when talking to doctors or nurses. None of my siblings, cousins, or her brother (dad is dead) knew about this other baby. I found a group picture of her and my dad where she is holding a baby. The picture has 1947 written on back of it which is 3 years before my oldest sibling was born. Any tips would be helpful.

It's Saturday, so it's time to ask all of those "silly questions" you have that you didn't have the nerve to start a new post for this week.

Remember: the silliest question is the one that remains unasked, because then you'll never know the answer! So ask away, no matter how trivial you think the question might be.

I need the obituary for Jack Stone in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, April 27, 1975, p4. If anyone can send a screenshot, it would be helpful :)

https://newspaperarchive.com/sarasota-herald-tribune-apr-27-1975-p-4/

There is also an obituary for the same person from the Port Charlotte Daily Herald News, April 28, 1975 on newspaperarchive, if anyone could send that (I couldn't get the actual link though, only the search result)

Hey everyone,

I apologize if this is a silly question, but I’ve been struggling with this and can’t figure it out. I’m trying to view an image linked to this FamilySearch record:

👉 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6Z6S-P8RY

It says “Image Available” but then mentions that I need to visit a partner site or the legal record custodian, possibly with fees.

However, I can’t seem to find any external links or specific instructions on where exactly I need to go to view this image. Does anyone know the right steps to access it?

Also, does this message mean that I don’t need to visit a FamilySearch Center? I assume that if that were required, the message would have said so explicitly.

Thanks in advance for any help!

I've been thinking about doing a genealogy test. My biological father has passed away and my paternal grandfather lives across the country. Would I need to get us both tests? I'm interested in the ones from FTDNA. Thanks!

Sorry about my bad english writing but it's not my first language lol. i have a question. My father's family were required by the judge to have a dna test to prove a blood relation between one sibling (male) and the rest of them. The thing is the lawyer said it's more preferable to have the dna test between two brothers because it's more accurate than a sister-brother one. Is it true? I am not convinced tbh neither my family.

EDIT: forgot to add that the one sibling is from an another mother. Idk how this will change things.

I found a Notarial Record for a woman who shares the name of a relative of mine from 1788. The record type in Ancestry is listed as "Autres" (Others), and the record description says "Ratification."

Does anyone know to what this record might pertain? It's not part of a marriage contract, but it's unclear to me what else it could be.

One branch of my family took a lot of photos, dating back to at least 1860. The furthest direct ancestor's photo I have is a tintype of a 4th great-grandmother (1822-1905). There is another photo that I believe depicts a 5th great grandfather, but I can't be certain. I have a family photo album that contains many more tintypes and cabinet cards of people I can't identify, though. It's so sad that those names are lost to history.

I’m trying to purchase the subscription to forces war records to find out some information on my great granddad, but the captcha robot destroyer thing won’t let me pass the initial page. Anyone having a problem with the website lately?

I’m a veteran, looking for information on a veteran POW and technology isn’t my greatest strength.

I have 2 examples I find particularly prevalent in my family tree one being referred to as Lidia in all contemporary documents but referred to as Lydia in all modern ones

The second being a woman called Dorothey in records but the more modern Dorothy in modern sources.

What is everyone’s thoughts/preferences on naming conventions. Personally I try to keep the spellings the same as the original records as that is who they were when they were alive.

Hi everyone, I've let my Ancestry account lapse but think I've found a record that could break through a brick wall. I'd really appreciate it if someone could send me a record in Ancestry's Finistere Births and Baptisms.

It's for Jean Cloarec b. 6 Dec 1838, if you do an exact date search he should come up.

Thanks so much in advance

I have no idea if anyone will be able to assist with this, but I have been looking for an ancestor for a while, and finally found a strong lead. However, all I have so far is this death certificate that is really hard to understand. It's in Italian, for one thing, but if I could read the handwriting I could get it translated. It would be really helpful to know how he died- or even his address. I found it partially transcribed, and that is shown as well incase it is helpful as a key. https://imgur.com/a/OAGNMC3

May be impossible, but thought I'd ask. Thank you!

Hi folks,

Hoping one of you may be able to help me. My great grandfather emigrated from Italy to NY in 1909, and I am struggling to trace him from the time he arrived in March of that year, till the 1920 census. I've found what I believe may be the coinciding page of his passenger manifesto as the other information on this row aligns, and so I'm hoping that if I can figure out what this part says, it may help me to get further in my research. The reason I'm not absolutely certain, is that it seems the ellis island indexed information is a little off, so it says he is on a different page than I found him on. The ship was the Europa.

My grandmother is still alive, but is 94 and doesn't remember much about what her father told her about, when he first arrived in the US before she was born. He had a falling out with his father before he left Italy and never spoke much about his past. So I'd love to solve some of this before my grandmother is no longer here and be able to tell her some things she maybe never knew, or that may jog her memory from childhood. She is the last living relative of her immediate family and was the youngest child, so even the idea of maybe getting in contact with some long lost family would also be amazing. It seems he came to his cousin in the US but I cannot make out the name or the address he gave.

Appreciate any ideas you may have. I've been reading through these sorts of documents for a couple of years and usually can decipher the handwriting, but this one has me stumped and the quality isn't great.

https://imgur.com/a/passenger-manifesto-RchC6Lp

Edit: Adding the link to the clearer image of the document on familysearch. I'm looking at row 8 of this document. Thanks in advance, again!

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9TS-QC91?view=index&action=view

Edit 2: Thanks for everyone's help here, I've been working on my family tree in kind of an isolation, because apparently no one around me finds it nearly as fun as I do, so its actually been great to even talk this through with people who understand what it is to be bitten by the bug!

It seems that sadly the info that I was looking at may have been mistakenly indexed to a different Giuseppe Piccolo that was onboard the same ship (yes, there were 3 of them and at least one of the 3 was not related to the other two; my g grandfather). Also funny enough it looks like one of the others married a Josephine, which my g grandfather also did! And some of you may think, clearly I'm mistaken and that must be my g grandfather, however other names in the record as well as ages don't line up. My great grandparents married in 1917, and my great grandmother was only born in 1901, or at least from what I can gather from more recent census and her marriage registration, but can't find her birth record yet. Her side is another completely different mystery of a rabbit hole, which I may make a different post on once I've lost more hair.

Thanks to everyone again!

Edit 3: It seems maybe the other 2 Giuseppes might be related. The second one I found on page 299, when you flick to the same row on the next page, he is visiting his cousin Rosio Sogiacco who lives on 228 Grand Ave. The Grand in that is much clearer. Sorry, I should have really dissected this whole passenger manifesto before bothering you guys, but lesson learned for next time. Here's hoping the 3rd Giuseppe has info that makes sense for my G grandfather!

Does anyone here have a subscription to Ancestry's Pro Tools? I have no desire to spend $12.99/mo (the price for Canadians), but I was thinking about just using it for a month and then cancelling it after going through any possible errors in my tree and digging a bit deeper into my DNA matches. I'd love to hear from people who have used it to see if it would be worth it!

I'm having trouble finding any German records of an ancestor, Edward Kapten who came to London shortly before or after 1900. He was born approx 1876. He then married an English woman and they moved to Ireland. He claimed to be German, possibly from Iserlohn , North Rhine Westphalia and Catholic. Parents were Frederick Kapten and Wilhemina Alberts.

There has been a suspicion that perhaps his name wasn't correct or that he lied about where exactly he came from.

Aside from Family tree information that has been compiled, nobody can find a trace of these names in these locations. I am determined to find something out!

Can anyone help or advise? It would be much appreciated

Hi,

So I can read and post and comment in r/genealogy but when I go to the board, it has trouble loading it. I've tried everything. Is anyone else having this issue?

I have an ancestor Heinrich Christian Wiegandt. I'm researching possible east German ancestry. I know he was buried in Mecklenburg western Pomerania, but he had his kids in west Germany. I doubt they would bury him across the country with no connection to there and I don't have an exact birthplace record. could I get some help?

My ancestor, Warner Washington IV, was born in 1807 in Loudoun County, Virginia & died in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1874. He was a member of the United Brethren Mutual Relief Society.

Can anyone tell me more about the society and what they were like back then?

My ancestor was Warner Washington (1807-1874).

He was sold from Frederick County, Virginia in 1822 and moved to Iberville Parish, Louisiana that same year.

His enslaver, Joseph Erwin died in April 1829, and Warner was manumitted after Erwin's death.

He was living in Fayette County, Indiana in 1840, but where was he in 1830?
I've wondered if he stayed in Louisiana or moved out of state by 1830 - so, perhaps this Census record will answer the question, since he'd already been in Indiana by 1835.

https://imgur.com/a/l4Tgaqz

There is a very old newspaper clipping adhered to a column in our house which was built in 1926. I’ve made out what is on the right side, which is a quote

“From the days of Socrates and Xantippe, men and women have known what is meant by nagging, although philology can not define it or legal chemistry resolve it into its elements. Humor can not soften or wit divert it. Prayers avail nothing, and threats are idle. Soft words but increase its velocity, and harsh ones its violence. Darkness has for it no terrors, and the long hours of the night draw no drapery of the couch around it. The chamber where love and peace should dwell becomes an inferno, driving the poor man to the saloon, the rich one to the club, and both to the arms of the harlot. It takes the sparkle out of the wine of life, and turns at night into ashes, the fruits of the labor of the day.”

…lovely

Hoping to find the newspaper page that it comes from. Would be pretty cool to see. Thanks for any help!!

Please help me find Candice Fuqua's parents. She was born 3/25/1864 in Tennessee. She married James Morgan Rice on 1/10/1885. They had 13 children. She died on 10/2/1910. She also went by Cansie. I suspect her parents were not married since it has been so hard to find anything. I have been searching DNA matches and there are a few large families in rural Tennessee and the same 5-6 last names seem to keep repeating and are all interrelated by multiple marriages, so I am getting nowhere. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Hello! We have been working for several years on gathering documents for our application for Italian dual citizenship, and am down to the last few documents required.

I believe this is the great-grandmother I am looking for (Castrenzia Cannata, top right record)- this is a year before we thought she was born, but we didn't have great proof anyway so that's possible. Can anyone help me confirm the full birthdate and parents names? I know it says October ____ 1874, and I believe it says the father's name is Giuseppe Cannata, but any other relevant information would be super helpful (or the whole thing would be amazing).

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89MZ-54GP?lang=en&i=331

Thank you!

I have a bit of a mystery on my hands.

I found a woman purporting to be the sister-in-law of my greatx3 grandfather, Arthur Sewall, who ran for Vice President in 1896. An article in the Long Beach Sun [2/26/1936] reads:

"Heirloom Tea Party Enjoyed by Many Guests

Mrs. Lillian Sewall, 1149 East Second Street, entertained for members of the Women's Democratic League yesterday afternoon at a delightful heirloom tea. / As she exhibited treasures of past days, the hostess gave interesting reminiscence of the 1896 campaign made by William Jennings Bryan and Arthur Sewall, his running mate in the Presidential campaign. Among them was a bandana handkerchief once owned by George Washington, which Bryan used in his electioneering. Mrs. Sewall tutored Arthur Sewall in public speaking for his campaign and later married his brother. Another heirloom displayed was a Queen Elizabeth handkerchief of 1600, brought to Bath, Me., in 1899 by William and Rachel Sewall, whose daughter-in-law was the hostess of yesterday's party. Guests also exclaimed in admiration over a silk shawl solidly-embroidered which was used for generations as a christening blanket for babies born to members of the Sewall clan."

Numerous other articles identify Lillian Sewall as Arthur's sister-in-law, and occasionally his widow (his actual widow, Emma, died in 1919). The thing is, I have never seen this name anywhere else - including in well-documented family trees. None of Arthur's siblings are mentioned as having a wife named Lillian (e.g. on his siblings' profiles here https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7232538/arthur-sewall). I know Findagrave often has errors, but I haven't found her name mentioned in any other source either). Additionally, according to another article from Long Beach (12/5/1946), she was born in 1863 in Des Moines, Iowa.

This would make her a generation (28 years) younger than Arthur Sewall and his siblings. Of his siblings, Frank Sewall's wife outlived him, dying in 1924. Edward's wife outlived him, dying in 1916. William Jr.'s wife, Lydia (which I originally thought could have been confused with Lillian) was born in 1825...which doesn't match with the records for Lillian. Arthur's parents were named Rachel and William (as the article says, though they were both long dead by 1899) were both only married once, so there aren't any step-siblings.

It just doesn't add up to me. Other articles identify her as the wife of Jeremiah Sewall - Arthur did not have a brother named Jeremiah.

I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas about what could be going on here - is it possible she just made this story up? Is this something that has been seen elsewhere? Thanks.

Long Beach Sun 2/26/1936: https://www.newspapers.com/image/721811115/

12/5/1946 article: https://www.newspapers.com/image/717846103/?match=1&terms=%22lillian%20sewall%22