Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:
It's Saturday Night again -
Time for some more Genealogy Fun!!
Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings’ assignment tonight is to:
1) All genealogists are human and most of us have gone on wild ancestor (goose) chases in our genealogy research career. What was one of the wild ancestor chases in your research? Explain the situation and how you (hopefully!) solved the puzzle.
Here's mine:
I cannot think of a time when I went down the wrong trail and had to chop off a line I had researched. However, I have been searching a long time for a few end-of-the-line ancestors. Two examples include:
Jeremiah & Mary Sullivan of County Cork
Jeremiah Sullivan and Mary Sheehan of County Cork came to the United States sometime in 1860s, but I cannot locate them on a ship’s list. It is possible (and I have not thought to check until this moment) that Jeremiah came alone and then Mary came with the children, or Jeremiah came with a couple of sons and Mary came later with the younger children. It’s been tough to pinpoint when they arrived, as the children described their arrival year differently on census and naturalization records.
Samuel Johnston & Elizabeth McCormack of Texas & Mississippi
Early in my genealogy research career, I was given a copy of a family group sheet with the names of my second-great-grandparents, Reuben Johnson and Olivia Jane Jones. Reuben’s parents were listed as Sam Johnston and Elizabeth (Betsy) with no surname. With some luck, I found them Sam and Elizabeth in Titus County, Texas (tax records), and Yalobusha County, Mississippi (1850 & 1860 censuses). Then it’s a dead end. Both were born in South Carolina, but South Carolina has no marriage records. I have no idea which county they are from. For Elizabeth’s surname, her son, Marion Jackson Johnston’s death certificate gave the name McCormack. Marion’s nephew, Robert L Johnston, was the informant. Robert was born in 1884 and might have known his grandmother, who died in 1891. The family group sheet also mentioned a bible as a source, so perhaps that was a source, but why wouldn’t her name be listed on the FGS? I’ve been stuck on this family, and every once in a while, I work on this puzzle.
I've long wished that South Carolina had better records. Have you tried looking for McCormacks in early South Carolina? That might be an easier name to pursue than Johnson/Johnston and could point to potential counties into which you can delve.
ReplyDeleteI shall try that. I should also look for McCormacks in a possible county in Alabama, where the children may have been born, before they moved to Mississippi.
DeleteFor the Johnstons, have you looked at tax records in Yalobusha County starting in 1850 and going backward year by year, to at least get an idea of when they likely arrived in Mississippi from Alabama? That might make it easier to trace their time in Alabama and then back to South Carolina.
ReplyDeleteSuch a great idea, if only the tax records survived. I have 1856 and 1868-73. The 1856 record shows the land he bought in 1856 as vacant. At least now, I can see the neighbors and will investigate that.
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