People do genealogy for a lot of different reasons. They enjoy collecting family stories. They want to discover where they come from. They love the feeling of being connected to history.
I like filling in names. It's a bit of an obsession for me. There's nothing I hate worse than seeing 'unknown' in the name field. So I do what I can to find the names, especially the maiden names of the women. Yesterday, I received the SS-5 for my 2nd cousin, twice removed, Frank L. Craner. The reason I requested it was there in all its glory: his mother's name was Mathilda Shepard Ogden. I rejoiced. But, then I began to wonder. Shepard and Ogden are names I've run across in my NJ research. Who are her parents? I looked at her dates. Oh no, she'd probably be in the 1880 census. But, maybe not with her parents. Maybe there'd be hope for me. No. Her parents were Isaac S. & Ann E. Ogden. Another unknown. What was Ann's maiden name? The search continues.
I have several Elon Carmans in my family tree: Elon (1792-1866) , Elon Joseph (1840-1919) , Joseph Elon (1872-1956) , Joseph Elon (1901-1960) in my line, and Joseph Elon (1891-1971) and Joseph Elon (1914) in a collateral line. There is also an Elon Carman who lived in and around Philadelphia that I knew must be related, but I couldn't find any definitive evidence of the relationship beyond DNA matches with some of his descendants. Yesterday, I found his baptismal record. He was baptized at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in North Wales, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania on 13 May 1833 and his birth date was listed as 14 Aug 1828. While the last name was spelled in the Ancestry index as Cormon, his parents were listed as Elon & Martha, so I am confident now that he is the brother of my great-great-great grandfather Charles R. Carman. I've now identified four children of Elon Carman and Martha Johnson, although I only have Elizabeth's...
Comments
Post a Comment
All comments are held for moderation. Please allow 24 hours for approval.