O.K. In the interest of stomping out ignorance, I need your Help. All of you. Or at least the ones who are interested in genealogy. In another thread, I read that Phobos is interested so I’m assuming there are others.
I’m new at this trick. I’ve searched the Internet and the local county courthouses, but all to no avail. My problems stem from the fact that my paternal grandfather who died in 1940, was illegitimate. I do have some family left on my father’s side of the family, but my father and my paternal grandmother are both deceased.
How do I unearth records (birth, death, marriage, etc.) before the 1930’s. They are not on-line; many of the documented records were lost in a courthouse fire several years ago; in others, the names are misspelled or the writing has blurred to point of obscuring all the important data.
What is the best way to begin this search of my family history? Are there any tried-and-true means? Thanks in advance.
Bob is right about beginning with relatives. Often it takes a number of conversations to get the memories flowing, so don’t be discouraged if that avenue is slow going at first.
If you live near a regional branch of the National Archives, you can have free access to all of their microfilms. The latest census available is 1920.
Your nearest Mormon Family History Center is an invaluable resource. They also have census microfilms available plus they’ve filmed millions of other vital records from the US and all over the world. I found my grandfather’s 1870 baptismal record from a tiny village in Poland!
I’ve done the searches on USGenweb, Ancestry, Rootsweb and Family tree maker. I’ve gone to websites about the family name. The problem lies in the fact that my paternal great grandmother gave birth to an illegitimate child in the early 1900’s. Back then, in this area anyhow, few births were delivered at hospitals, so records are difficult to find. I did find a delayed birth record for my paternal great grandmother, but nothing else.
Another problem I’ve discovered is that because my paternal grandfather died so young, few family members remember anything about him. (His oldest child who is now deceased also was 12 when his father died.) Similarly, my paternal great grandmother was in her 50’s when she died, so none of my cousins remember her.
A third issue making the problem even worse is that there seem to be two different spellings for my last name. One of the records I found in the courthouse spelled it with an ‘er’, but my family has spelled it with an ‘or’. This makes it doubly difficult.
I’m open to any suggestions. I’ll give the national archives a try-- at least on-line. Thanks, all.
Greetings Tyler Countian! Former Doddridge Countian here.
My own genealogical research has been hindred by a similar situation. The state government in Concord, New Hampshire, has copies of all the vital records dating back to colonial times, but the copies weren’t made until after the records I want were destroyed by a fire at a town hall. If your grandfather was born in W.Va., you should see if Charleston has the records (if you haven’t already tried.) See this site: Vital Registration Program