Question of the Week: What's a brick wall you are working on?

Question

What's a genealogical "brick wall" you are trying to bust through? Tell us about it with an answer below! You can also use the question image to share your answer with friends and family on social media.

Comments

Hi, My brick wall is on my fathers side. My grandfather Carl Otto Henschel was born in the UK and his father also Carl Otto Henschel (1867-1941) was born in Dortmund. I am struggling to go back further. The real plot twist is both my father and I have strong Nordic dna (particularly Norway and Sweden) and I have no idea where it has come from as we only knew about family from Germany. Any information would be gratefully received. My father passed last year and I would love to sort this out. Thank you Niki Henschel

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Is your Grandmother, Laura Claydon?  Your Nordic dna could be possibly traced through her or your ggrandmother, Catharina Clara Heine.

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Hi Ellen

Thank you for your message. Laura Claydon was Carl Otto Senior wife and her side of the tree is fairly well documented, no direct ancestors from outside the UK. Catharina Clara Hein is another one that I can find no information about. So yes I agree the Nordic could come from her. Dad and I have plenty of DNA matches but they are all distant relations and I cannot find a link. Are we in some way related?

Kind Regards

Niki

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No, I'm not related.  I was just trying to help you with your brick wall.

Answer 1

John Mills 4th. Because in New Hampshire in the area and time I'm researching, there are 4 of them. And on one of his daughter's birth or death records, he's listed as John Mills 4th and also on the 1820 census; John Mills 4th. His occupation on one of his daughter's death records is listed as "sailor."

This man was the father of the man whose son was the father of one of the men who had two sons, one of them who was my father's biological father. And it's making me crazy.

I've driven myself (and my computer) crazy going image by image of New Hampshire un-indexed records on Family Search trying to figure this mystery out.

Who was the father of John Mills 4th?

Comments

I found that his father is Reuben Mills born 11 Jul 1760 in Atkinson Twp., Rockingham, NH; died 27 Jul 1847 Dunbarton, Merrimack, NH  

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FDGN-GNG

Answer 2

One of my brick walls is my 2nd GGM, Catherine C. Bridges 1833, Tennessee - July 12, 1880, location unknown, buried Chapin, Morgan County, Illinois, who married my 2nd GGF Joshua Harness Roach 1833 - unknown, on October 8, 1859 in Greene County, Illinois. My GGM Nancy Jane Roach April 15, 1862 Greene County, Illinois - February 22, 1933 Walkerville, Greene County, Illinois, is the only child I have found. I wonder if she was married before and Bridges isn't her maiden name. Sources are 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Illinois Marriage Records and U.S. Find a Grave. I haven't been able to find anything else.

Answer 3

Hello,

I'm currently chipping away at 2 brick walls,

The first and most tantalizingly solvable are my 4G grandparents [[Bolton-4199|Charles W. Bolton]] and [[Brown-118221|Eliza Brown]]. They arrived in Canada in ~1835 and are identifiable on the following Census records, but they seem to have avoided Grosse Isle and I haven't been able to find Canadian Immigration records from the period otherwise. Frustratingly I think I've found a record of their first born being baptized in England but have been unable to either verify it or use it to find them living in England,

The second of my brick walls feels more like a wall of smoke, another set of my 4G grandparents [[Howard-24960|Joseph Howard]] and [[Lanord-1|Olive Lanord]] were born in the 1780s in Central/Western Massachusetts (He was born in Pelham, she was born in New Salem). Records I've found for their children say they were all born in Richmond, New Hampshire. They then moved to Peru, Vermont and stayed there for the rest of their lives. The problem is that despite showing up in town histories for both Pelham and Peru, Joseph Howard seems to have been a rather private person who didn't leave many records. I haven't gotten around to adding all of his children to WikiTree, largely because when I first discovered him and his family I had very little to go on.

Answer 4

I have so many brick walls when it comes to my Irish family I know that there are records that I can't get to them it is very hard and frustrating and I'm working on my family from Ireland they're from County Tyrone and is rushing rating trying to find the individuals in my family past 1840 at least

Comments

I have the same trouble. County Tyrone seems to be an enigma. I have watched a few YouTube videos on Irish ancestry and there are many records they didn't blow up during their revolution. Records such as land taxes of which there were millions of records. The main repository of these records seems to be a paid site though, which can get expensive of course. Ultimately it may be a necessity to move that one ancester further back. I have made it to 1730 so far, mostly off work performed by those who have spent decades tirelessly collecting information. I think a trip to Ireland post Covid may be another option! Good luck with your hunting.

Answer 5

My brick wall is Ann Handley born circa 1815, She states Sheffield, UK, as place of birth in census records, but I cannot find any record of her birth. She marries John Damms in 1836 in Sheffield, witnesses are no help at all.

Answer 6

Hi, My brick wall is my 4x Great Grandmother. Hanasak Maupin (abt. 1824 - 1881). I can't find anything on her prior to 1850 where she shows up married to Benjamin Franklin Welch (abt. 1820 - 1880). They had several children and lived a long life together in Montgomery County, Kentucky. All I know about her parents is that they were born in Virginia. I would like to find her parents and or siblings. 

She is in several trees in Ancestry and a father and mother are listed but no documentation and some say she moved out west somewhere and never married. 

My Hannah was born in Kentucky and from what I can tell once married never left Montgomery County, Kentucky. 

Answer 7

My second great grandfather Joseph Wesley Holloway was a constable, policeman, and a member of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. According to my great aunt, he used aliases. There is no record I've found of him before 1880, although he was born sometime in the 1840s or 1850s.

I don't know exactly when or where he was born, who his parents are, or where he's buried. My grandma thinks he might have been involved in some sort of covert operations or been undercover.

Read more about him here: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1111726/joseph-wesley-holloway-what-i-found-so-far

Answer 8

Thanks for asking this! My Family Brick Wall is: Who is James Hambleton of Solebury, Bucks County, Pennsylvania's Father and Mother and where did they come from? James was born in 1630 and died July 1751. I have a copy of the Hambleton Genealogy written by Chalkley J Hambleton. I believe James was a Quaker. I have looked at everything on line I can find and read other family genealogys along with my own (Hambleton) I even have paid for an Ancestry subscription to try to solve this mystery. I have built trees in 3 different places to find more info. I've tried to connect to the Hambletons in Maryland, but can not make the connection, the Maryland group came from Pool England and seemed to stay in Maryland unlike my line who liked to move further west. My line is from James' son Stephen Hambleton 1729-1806.  

Thanks, Alison (Hambleton) Youngberg

Answer 9

I have 3 brick walls.

Mindwell (Wheeler) Chubb - https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Wheeler-4182

Mary (Ketchum) Chubb - https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ketchum-120

Amanda May (Hinchman) Chubb - https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hinchman-17

Answer 10

My worst brick wall at the moment is identifying which of the many, many WILLIAMS families living in Mississippi in 1856 was my g-grandmother Mary/Mollie WILLIAMS' family.

She was born in MS on 29 Nov 1856, married Joseph Bingley MECKLIN on 16 Dec 1877, and is found in Peps, Panola, MS on the 1880 census. Her second son was born in Dec  1881 in Batesville, Panola, MS, and then JB Mecklin died on 27 Jul 1884.

She then married Frank M. SMITH on 1 Nov 1887, and he either died or ran off on 15 Nov 1894. (They had two children together, Walter Wesley Smith in Sept of 1890 in Prescott, Nevada, Arkansas, and Mary Blanche Smith in Dec of 1891.)

On the1900 census, Mollie and her children were in MissouriaTwp (essentially still Prescott), and on the 1910 census, she and Blanche were in Wallaceburg, Hempstead, Arkansas. In 1920, Mollie was living in Stuttgart, Arkansas, Arkansas with Blanche and her husband, Ollie Hinckley, and then she died 29 Apr 1929, in Memphis Shelby, Tennessee.

Her parents are both unknown other than  surname of Williams on her death cert. I have several DNA matches to a particular MS Williams family, but according to a history of the family, their Mary died young, so that can't be mine.

I have tried tracking down siblings of the various males in that family, but none of them appears to have had a Mary anywhere near the correct year, so I am drawing a blank.

Comments

I found someone on ancestry that has Mary "Molly" Williams parents as Benjamin Williams born 26 Apr 1824 in Kershaw, SC and died 27 July 1894 in Mississippi.  Her mother as Mary Perry born 12 Oct 1823 in Lancaster, SC and died 5 Feb 1884. 

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MF34-PBW

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Thanks for the answer! =)

Unfortunately, that's the family I mentioned in which the only Mary/Mollie of the correct age couldn't be the right one because she died way too soon, and in the wrong place. Someone in that Williams family - whether one of Benjamin's brothers, or an uncle or even g-uncle must be my Molliie's father, though! There are too many DNA matches that point that direction...

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Mary Ann Perry is my 6th cousin 4 x removed.  I'll let you know if I come across anything else.

Answer 11

My brick wall, one of them, is on my mother's paternal line. My great great grandmother, Elizabeth Dunstone Stephens was born in Cornwall.  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Stephens-9438

I have been able to trace Elizabeth's father; however, I have gotten nowhere with her mother. Nic Donnelly gave me a possible set of parents, but it turns out their Elizabeth married and settled in Australia. Someone will have a nice set of profiles to start with when I separate these parents from Elizabeth and try to find yet another way to chip through this brick wall!

Answer 12

Hi, my brickwall is the father of my great grandfather, William Harry Watts (Hearn-1446), who was born Harry Watts Hearn to Mary Lear Hearn (Yes her name on her profile is all wrong). His father isn't listed on Harry Watts Hearn's birth certificate and there is only one reference I can find in his marriage in Canada to Sophie De Wolf Temple where he has cited his father is George Watts. It is unsure wether George Watts is his real dad or just a fabrication to add respectability (since not having a father back then meant society treated children as second rate citizens through no fault of their own). Its a real problem. The only lead is possibly smoke and mirrors.

I have recently organised a yDNA sample which will point directly at the man in question so here's hoping that can turn something up.
If anyone out there knows anything about this enigma of a man please let me know. Thankyou so much for reading!

Answer 13

I am currently working on my 2 x g grandmother, Elizabeth Milton, Milton-1477. IF the information on her marriage record is to be believed she was born in Wellington, Somerset, England and her father was Robert, a cordwainer. Unfortunately I have not yet found a baptism or early census record that I can say with reasonable confidence is her.

According to the Parish Record of her marriage she was a spinster. Some records that looked good have an earlier marriage, or a different father or her father was an agricultural labourer.

There are some interesting records that have turned up as possibles including a workhouse inmate and a "hand-loom" weaver, but no-one I can safely say "Ah-ha that's her!".

Answer 14

Just want to add an encouraging story about a broken down brickwall.

I know someone closely connected to me, whose parents died 25 years ago, and nobody knew who his fathers parents were.

We managed to get a DNA test done, which highlighted to a cousin that a new connection was made.

This newly found cousin came forward, with photos of his mother and father, with his fathers siblings. His father had changed his name to avoid the draft, and ended up separate from the family. But now they are reconnected.

It was a brickwall for two years of searching, but really actually a 70 year brickwall. Great to see it torn down, and 1st cousins reconnected.

Answer 15

My brick wall is source records for Prudence Price (Price-22361).  According to a family tree developed by genealogist Henrietta Callahan Wood, Prudence was the wife of Thomas Taylor (Taylor-66774) and daughter of Vincent Price (Price-21323) and Africa Lane (Lane-14971),  Unfortunately neither this tree nor any of the various genealogy websites have sources to verify that she existed.  DNA results have shown that descendants of her  husband and sister are related.

Answer 16

My Brick Wall is Smith Carney (Carney-2327)

He was born 27-Apr-1823 and died 18-Feb-1908

My Grandparents and then many others have tried to find out more information on his parents, but so far we have hit a brick wall!  LOL

Answer 17

Like others there are many brick walls. One that I wish could be broken is Jacob Weddington Sr.

He seems to be decently well documented. I also discuss him on the Weddington Name Study. But there is nothing definitive about his parents. At this point I really genetic tests done by others to disprove theories.

Answer 18

I'm actively working on two brick walls.
On my father's side it's David R Jones. b 22 Aug 1872 Wales d. 4 Nov 1935 Scranton, PA.  Married to Jennie D Jones  b. 8 Jun 1868 Scranton Pa d. 22 Apr 1934 Scranton, PA.  There's 3 other David R. Jones in the area and they live on Roland Ave.  I have searched and can't find David's parents nor any siblings. My dad said he was told that David came to US with his sister, which I can't confirm.  David Death Certif says his father was Thomas, mother Jane. 

The other brick wall is on my mother's side-

Henry DeWitt born about 1821. He was either born in Cayuga Co, NY, or Rochester, NY, but lived mostly in Steuben Co., NY. I can't find him after 1864 when he enlisted in Civil War. Not sure if he died or moved.

He married Nancy Emery and they had 7 children

William Spencer Dewitt b 1840

Amarintha Dewitt b.MAR 1842 Steuben Co. d. 29 MAY 1922 Steuben Co (my line)

Theodore Dewitt b. 1843

Mary Jane DeWitt b 1847

Elizabeth Dewitt b. 1849

David Dewitt b. 1851 d.5 MAY 1923 (only person listed in Amarintha's obit)

Mary Eliza DeWitt b. 1865

Answer 19

Two that stump me are Dearstone-24 and his wife, Unknown-556748 . It's an intriguing last name, but it's a mystery over where its spelling originates from and where the family came from prior to living in the United States. It might have been Durston, but it's hard to tell.

I can only go on Family Search, Ancestry, and Find A Grave.

Answer 20

My Brickwall or one of them is my Gt Grandfather Morris  Samuel/s.  He was Jewish, born in Posen, Prussia and came to England during the early 1840's I think.  I haven't found him in the 1841 census but in the 1851 census he is recorded twice, one by his wife Amelia and also in Gravesend, Kent staying with Samuel Harris, his brother in law.

I can't find anything about him before he came to England, can anyone with knowledge of Prussia help please, it would be appreciated.  Thanks