Question of the Week: What's a favorite discovery you've made in your research? [closed]

+37 votes
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imageWhat is one of your favorite genealogical discoveries?

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in The Tree House by Eowyn Langholf G2G Astronaut (2.7m points)
closed by Eowyn Langholf

That I'm related to the Vikings, from Gotland Sweden.

75 Answers

+35 votes
I worked with a 5th cousin to prove who our common ancestors were.  The key was a South Carolina will that acknowledged the fatherhood of several mixed race children and granted them the proceeds of his estate to gain their freedom via the Recolonization Project in the 1840's.  We were able to trace one to a boarding school in New Hampshire and then to a variety of census reports where she was reclassified as white, got married and had children that dna also proved linked to the two of us.

Our big wish now is to find any records at the Recolonization Project showing the move from South Carolina to New York and eventually to this boarding school and what happened to her brother and sister and mother.
by Gurney Thompson G2G6 Pilot (574k points)
+34 votes

Before doing serious genealogy in 2017, I never made any effort to find anything about my father and WWII. The letters and war records were kept in a box no bigger than a box one might keep a pair of boots in, and I seldom opened it. 

My mother had mentioned that my father's best friend was the tail gunner on the B-29, and they were both killed when the plane was shot down. In doing research, I found the tail gunner, Charles Markowitz; therefore, with more research I was able to find his younger brother Joel. This bond that I have made with Joel has been very special, and a writer is doing a book about our meeting.

This is a photo of Joel and me when we first met. 

  

by Alexis Nelson G2G6 Pilot (929k points)
What a lovely photo.
Keren, thank you for your nice comment. I see that you are new, and I hope you will enjoy being a part of WikiTree.
Gorgeous photo sweet Alexis and story thank you for sharing

Susan, thank you my wonderful friend. By doing genealogy, I have gotten to be with the best people—like you and Poul!heart

Thank you for sharing, Alexis. You must have been young when your father died and that is an awful thing. I'm glad that you and Joel have connected.
Anonymous Reed, thank you for your very insightful comment. I was actually still a fetus when my father was killed, but it was a terrible loss for my mother and his parents—with his being their only child. I didn’t like reading his letters because they made me sad for my mother, so I just put it all away.

Joel was only 6 when his brother was killed, and his parents were emigrants. His mother only spoke Polish, so my mother’s letters had to be read to her. She was not honored by being a Gold Star Mother, because she was not a citizen yet.

Joel had looked for my mother for several years. Her not living in Kansas and her death at age 45 caused him to not find her. Even though Joel and I have had very different lives; we have truly bonded. We both realize that we share family tragedies, and a war can affect a family for generations.
Great picture and story Alexis!
John, thank you for your nice comment. My granddaughter will move to an apartment in the City in July. Real estate has gone up so much that she needs more time to decide on a permanent residency. I love the City, and I am looking forward to many more trips.
Alexis, then you gave everyone a very desperately needed reason to keep living and loving. What a grace you are!

I did not realize that gold star honors have been withheld from immigrants not yet naturalized. Deplorable! I'm going to ask my Congressman what the policy is currently. Supposedly, the citizenship process can be expedited for close relatives of people who serve, but I don't know how often that actually happens.
Anonymous Reed, you are very kind. I thought that was so very sad for Ida Markowitz. My paternal grandmother was the long time president of the Gold Star Mothers of Oklahoma City, and I remember how large the meetings were and how they were involved in helping other members.
♥️ the connection!
Lola, thank you for the sweet comment.
+28 votes
My paternal grandfather died in 1971.  He never spoke about his childhood, but it was apparent that his father was not a part of it, nor was his mother at some point in his early youth.  I do not know if his three sons pressed him for information, or what those conversations might have sounded like.  Wish I had asked.  SO many questions I wish I had asked of now-deceased ancestors - it's painful to think about.

Anyhow, what was known was that he ended up living with his grandmother in Pomerania (in what is now extreme NE Poland) and taking an apprenticeship as a 'Tischler' - a 'joiner--cabinet maker, woodworker.  He immigrated to the US in 1910.  The family had kept contact with the children of the employer for whom he worked as an apprentice (though they knew nothing of grandpa's early years), and we had two photos, one of his grandmother, who my father and two uncles called Wilhelmina Goetsch, and one lone photo of his mother, who was identified as Anna Goetsch.

So who was his father?  Here was an obvious brick wall regarding my surname--a favorite subject for many genealogists.

I started getting interested in genealogy at the time of the birth of my first child in the late 1980's.  So, my discovery comes in the pre-internet era.  These days I would have just gone to Ancestry or Family Search and discovered these things much more easily on-line.  But back then it involved many hours in my local LDS family history library poring through microfilms in a darkened room.

We knew the name of the town where grandpa took his apprenticeship, but not definitively where it was.  The town was called Greifenberg, and there are three of those in Germany.  I found the right one by process of elimination and some good luck.  The correct Greifenberg had church book records from the 19th century, and once I had the correct microfilm in hand, the discoveries came thick and fast.

First of all, grandpa's mother was Anna Maria Wilhelmina Wetzel - a Wetzel by maiden name.  Her mother, the grandmother that grandpa lived with as a youth and young adult, was Willhelmina Wetzel, nee Goetsch, who married Julius Wetzel.  That name was new to me and to all of our family.  Julius was a journeyjman brick-layer/stone mason as was his father Georg Samuel Wetzel.  That's as far back as the church book records went.  Georg was born about 1801.

So, my Wetzel surname is inherited through my great grandmother, and my grandpa's silence about his youth was because of the serious stigma that came with being illegitimate at the time.  My father and uncles were a bit reluctant to accept this news, but I showed them the print-outs of microfilm images of all the relevant records, and everyone came to accept the situation.  I'm so glad to have made these discoveries and been able to share them before my two uncles Wetzel passed away in 1994 and 1996.
by Peter Wetzel G2G6 Mach 1 (20.0k points)
I started family history with my grandma in the 1980's! I don't know how many cemeteries we visited, how many letters were typed between us...all before internet.

The town I live in now has so many Wetzel's it is unbelievable, it caught my eye when I seen the name.

We always thought we were of one line of Horton, 2018 read an article regarding DNA and the Horton Surname Project. It opened my eyes and discovered we are not who we were led to believe (several books were written long ago regarding Barnabas Horton and it seems my part of the story is not true). Shocking! But I continue to search, just wish my grandma was still with us to have seen this.
+30 votes
After 40+ years of research I've had many wonderful discoveries. My favorite, however, has to be finding out my ancestor, David B. Lee (1792-1836), was not only an attorney but also an inventor and air balloon pilot. He corresponded with Thomas Jefferson about "travelling through the atmosphere" and even petitioned Congress for exclusive rights to the airspace above the US! What a story!!

Here's a blog post about the discovery I wrote a few years ago: https://lambersongenealogy.wordpress.com/

Since then I've done a lot of research and was included in the acknowledgements of "The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series, Volume 18," where my research was used in a biography of my ancestor related to his Thomas Jefferson communications!
by Greg Lamberson G2G6 Mach 1 (14.9k points)
You're right, Greg - what a story!  And how impressive to be acknowledged in the papers of Thomas Jefferson!
Greg, it is really great that your ancestor was associated with President Jefferson, one of my favorite presidents. It turns out that the area where I was born on Long Island was the scene of a little-known Jefferson accomplishment. He went to the Unkachaug Native Americans, (now living on the Poospatuck reservation), to document their language. He was very interested in languages and it is through his efforts that we have preserved most of what is known today of the local Native language, now taught in reservation schools.
+27 votes

The opening sentence of my 2nd great grandmother's profile:

"Elizabeth Laffert received her rightful place in this family tree on WikiTree upon my discovery of her name on the marriage record of her daughter, Aloysia A., who married Alonzo B Summers on June 1, 1893 in Burlington, Des Moines, Iowa." Prior to finding this record her maiden name was unknown to me.

Laffert on Summers-Green Marriage
Laffert on Summers-Green Marriage

I had only been on WikiTree less than 2 years. I was thrilled knowing this new information. However I have yet to find her parents. Finding sources outside the USA is not easy for me.

by Pat Credit G2G6 Pilot (195k points)
One of my favorite things is finding long-lost LNABs for women. I feel it, in a sense, returns to each one the dignity of their original identity.
+24 votes
My favorite is not one I've made but, the next one that makes me say WOW! For instance, one of my last connections/discovery, TODAY, was a gr grandfather who was said to have had seven sons in the Revolutionary War. Unfortunately, I also came across a cousin who died from eating mushrooms. I will no doubt think of him in the middle of April when the morels start poppin' up. Oh well, who's next yet to be discovered?
by K Smith G2G6 Pilot (455k points)
+24 votes

I didn't make these discoveries, but they still shock me and I love telling them to my friends. 

About 20 years ago my mom started making a family tree, but it was just her side of the tree. While her and her cousins were doing that, one of them discovered that there was a murder in the family. (A boyfriend got jealous because he thought his girlfriend after he returned from working overseas, so he strangled her at the kitchen table) Then we discovered that another family member had been in jail, for 9 months, for stealing. They were both in the same jail, but not at the same time. Then my dad discovered we have a lot of family in America. And lots of them either have been, or are in, jail. I, personally, discovered a family member on here. And I don't think she's a criminal wink

by Living Buttrum G2G6 Mach 1 (15.8k points)
My gr gr grandpa was said to have killed a couple civilians following the Civil War, that kept him on the move. After he died, his remains (ashes) went unclaimed for years. This is not surprising since he had cousins that robbed a few trains and were killed trying to rob a couple banks.
Keren, it is always interesting to find new information about family—good and bad. A fourth cousin and I have gotten to becomes great friends, and it all started with an arrest record.
Another (minor) discovery was the name of one of my great-grandparents.

When I was a child I had a friend who always called me Kez because she couldn't say my name. A few weeks ago, I was looking at the family tree that my grandpa (on my dad's side) had done. There I see my dad's grandmother's name. She was called...

Kezia
+23 votes
In my husband and son's family, it would be the rediscovery of his 2nd great-grandfather, Thomas Weston Stephens' (1808-1892) memoir titled "The First 80 Years".  He was a minister and it included his first person account of the 1849 Methodist ME Church conference on the issue of slavery.  We digitized the book, and shared copies with all of Paul's cousins and the local historical society.  It seems very relevant with the current shake-up of today's United Methodist Church.  Can I answer again with my family discovery story?
by Mary Sleppy G2G6 (9.9k points)
My families' greatest discovery story has to be what is currently unfolding in our branch of the Big-Y tree with two of my Proctor male 1st cousins who are brothers submitting contributions.  It is so new, I can't even describe it - yet. :)

Have you considered uploading the book to Internet archive

I did not.  Thank you for the suggestion.  I may ask you about how to go about doing that too.  I am imaging what he would think if his book reached a much broader audience through this thing we call the "Internet". :)
Happy to help.

Here is the link to the upload page. https://archive.org/create/
+25 votes

I’ve broken many brick walls, and biggest high was certainly that I got when the results of a mitochondrial DNA test came in. I had found a hint to the parentage of my 6th-great grandmother —- just a purported Bible page that listed a birth of someone of the same name as my 6GG at roughly the right year.

I traced back several generations from this guess, then built on Wikitree a giant descendancy tree from the most distant matriline ancestor I could confirm. I reached out to a bunch of potential enate cousins, finally found one willing to do an mtDNA test, and ordered the test for her. 

The results came in a few weeks later: we have 100% identical mtDNA genomes. Not only did this confirm the tenuous connection, but it also proved I have exactly the same mtDNA as my 9th-great-grandmother, who was born around 1660.

I wrote up more details on a Freespace page:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Journey_with_mitochondrial_DNA

by Barry Smith G2G6 Pilot (348k points)
Wow Barry, that's some impressive sleuthing!
+20 votes
It was exciting to find Lady Godiva (Godgifu Lincolnshire) was my 30th great grandmother....on both sides of my family!

I believe this must be where I get my drive to fight for the "under dogs" of the world...human and animal!
by Jamie Thompson G2G6 Mach 1 (12.1k points)
+21 votes
That my grandchildren are related to Antonia Louisa Brico, the first female conductor of the New York Philharmonic
by Peter van der Burg G2G6 Mach 1 (15.6k points)
+19 votes
I've found I have ancestors and relatives who were involved in abolition and feminist movements in Massachusetts.

As I learn more of the history, I've learned to pick up on circumstantial evidence and follow through with more research. At the moment, I'm researching 3rd gr grandparents who named a son Sewell, and the next they named Sumner. I know some of the sons fought in the GAR during the Civil War and Sewell was killed in action during the 1st Battle of Bull Run. They lived in Grafton, Massachusetts so I am researching whether there are any known Underground Railroad sites there or whether their congregation voted on a statement regarding abolition of slavery. I do know she had ancestors who supported the interracial marriage of a daughter in 1667, and there were other descendants who were personal friends and supporters of William Loyd Garrison. Her parents' given names were Liberty and Submit so there was this model of choosing names that expressed the family stance on issues of the day.
by Anonymous Reed G2G6 Pilot (203k points)
edited by Anonymous Reed
+24 votes
Circus folks! I discovered one of my great grand aunts, Mamie Howe, married a man named Miles Orton, whose family started the Orton Brothers Circus in Portage, Wisconsin in the mid 1800s. I was looking through their census records and kept seeing "entertainer" or "performer" for their occupations. Then I came across a census that actually said "circus performer", so naturally, I had to Google it.

 In my search I found a YouTube video of a taped interview of Gracie, Mamie and Miles oldest daughter, that accompanied pictures and videos of the circus through the years. Gracie was the aerial performer (trapeeze, etc..) and during the interview she stated that all of her siblings were performers of some kind until the circus shut down during the Great Depression. Gracie died in 2000, so that video is a treasure!

 I also found a story about a bar in NW Wisconsin was doing a renovation, and while knocking out a wall, found a 9 X 55 ft advertising poster for the Orton Brothers Circus that had been covered up since the 1880s. They took two years to uncover and preserve the poster, and it's now a part of their bar/restaurant. We are planning on visiting that place during our next visit to Wisconsin!

My favorite discovery so far, and I can't wait to find more family gems!
by John Vaskie G2G6 Pilot (255k points)
John, thank you for your great answer. We seem to always have so much in common. I was thrilled when I found that my first cousin 3 generations removed, Seymour Edward Long, married into the Forepaugh circus family. Glad you were able to find them, and your next trip to Wisconsin sounds wonderful.
I found a circus folk too!
+21 votes
It may seem like a small discovery and it is compared to the MANY wonderful facts I am finding about my parental ancestry(and maternal), because of joining this community, but  finding the final resting place of my dad's little. brother , Earl Louis Spencer , [[Spencer-26459|Earl Louis Spencer (abt.1934-1936)]] who I truly believe my dad was looking for all his life but never found, has been a precious genealogical gift. I was able to communicate with local Milwaukee funeral home who handled the burial back in 1936 through an African American known funeral home (O' Bee's) in Milwaukee WI I was able to obtain the original burial permit with cause of death. and exact grave location! Dad took me and my younger bro for long walks in most of the graveyards in Milwaukee County WI just reading the headstones and now I get it...wow   My dad was going to be 11 on Dec 4 1936 and his brother " dropped dead" as he put it, on the day before his birthday! He was traumatized so that he couldn't even remember Earl's name and called him David..(he had a brother David too but he lived a long life) I am sad that I cant give dad this information because he died in 1999, but I know Earl is finally found! I did it before I leave this planet thanks to all of you!  PS still working on Earl's biography but now have a source other than word of mouth.
by Dee Spencer-Carr G2G6 Mach 3 (30.4k points)
Diane, I understand why your father was traumatized. He left you with a mission and you have done well. May you all find peace in that
Diane, I realize that a traumatic event like that can stay with a person their entire life. My dad's father died just before he turned 10 and the funeral was on his birthday. A month before he turned 64 his mother had a stroke, and when he got off the phone from that call he was shaking and said "I know my mother's going to die on my birthday."  All his feelings about his dad's death more than 50 years earlier came rushing back.
+21 votes

A 1225 saga of Noble King Yngvar who met his end while raiding in Estonia around 600 reads: “The men of Estland came down from the interior with a great army, and there was a battle; but the army of the country was so brave that the Swedes could not withstand them, and King Yngvar fell, and his people fled. He was buried close to the seashore under a mound in Estland; and after this defeat the Swedes returned home.” 

In 2008, Estonian construction workers digging an electrical trench uncovered bones that turned out to be from the crew of an early Viking war boat, bodies sitting upright, buried with their swords and belongings in their actual war boat.  Soon thereafter a second war boat was found.  Archaeologists and historians agree that these two Viking ships were involved in the same battle near Salme. The battle occurred nearly 100 years before scientists formerly thought that the Viking Era began with the AD 793 raid on the remote English Holy Island (Lindisfarne) monastery.

So how does this relate to moi?  The 33 men in the first ship were all killed in battle and arranged by rank. The Viking skeleton labeled VK481 (II-F) is a Dreng (Warrior) who is a direct mtDNA relation to my mother (T2a1a).  Viking VK549 (II-J), a Thegh (nobleman), is a distant mtDNA relation (T2). A researcher in Sweden has traced his (and my) lineage back as far as Vikings at a fjord around AD 930 with the crest of a Red Bull.

But wait, there’s more. In the second ship (dated to have been built from AD 650-700), Viking VK505 (Sa I/2) is a direct Y-DNA match (N-Y7795) for my Finnish father. Archaeologists speculate that the seven haphazardly placed men in this ship were of lower birth.  All of the men in both ships were likely killed in the same battle, and the details are consistent with the saga of King Yngvar.

So the long and short of this tale is that I now have photos (okay, of skeletons) of three ancestors from around 1,400 years ago. If anyone is interested, I made a PowerPoint presentation of the saga and will be happy to post it on Dropbox if requested.

by Ray Sarlin G2G6 Pilot (144k points)
edited by Ray Sarlin
Amazing and so exciting. Wow. Please post on dropbox.
This story should be an ad for doing genetic testing!  Who wouldn't be excited to make such a discovery!

Applying Viking DNA to Family History

The pdf of my genealogical Viking saga is available at https://www.dropbox.com/s/x32xi97s7kcnl1z/Applying%20Viking%20DNA%20to%20Family%20History%20v2.pdf?dl=0

Thanks for asking, Julia.

+20 votes
I had absolutely no idea that my paternal great-grandparents had divorced until I found my great-grandmother’s death certificate with her prior married name on it. Fultonhistory.com then led me to a riveting article in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle about the divorce suit, with wonderfully salacious details of adultery, which led me to the Nassau County, Long Island Supreme Court records, which resulted in many moments of hilarity recounting the juicy proceedings to family and friends. Oh, and bigamy too. From start to finish, this was a joy ride of discovery. No wonder my dad never spoke of his grandmother, oh my!
by Espwalker Peet G2G1 (1.3k points)
Don't you just love old newspapers? The wonderful details and juicy gossip really add color to a family narrative.
+20 votes
I found a half brother I never knew I had as well as two nieces!
by Martha Campbell G2G2 (2.7k points)
+16 votes
In the years I have been doing research, I've had many exciting discoveries but this one come to mind. I did not think that I would ever learn the names of the parents of Betsey (Cole) Day (1795-1860) (Cole-12444). She lived in Franklin County, New York, with her husband but I could find no evidence that she was related to any other Cole in this area or in Chittenden County, Vermont, where her husband, Lewis Day (Day-8134) was born. Finally a DNA match lead to the solution. I include ths story of this discovery in her profile.
by Lorraine Keith G2G3 (3.1k points)
+16 votes
I discovered through Wikitree that Pocahontas was  an ancestor of mine by marriage to John Rolfe, who was related to my Abbott ancestors.

LeRoy Abbott
by LeRoy Abbott G2G4 (4.5k points)
+16 votes
Even people who disappear leave a paper trail. This is my story of my obsession of finding Stuart/Stewart Elder.

Finding my paternal great grandfather 'who disappeared and was never heard from again' according to information from my father.  Different stories were circulating within the family about Stuart Elder, such as he had gone west searching for gold, that he died in an insane asylum.

Stuart Elder lived in Mille Isles, Quebec, was married and had three young children and I discover him in the 1880 Census in California working in a lumber camp, he is also on the 1881 Census for Mille Isles.  Did he go west and return? I don't think so, I believe he was added to the 1881 Census of Canada in error.  Before I could definitely determine this was Stuart  I needed more proof and that proof came in the form of two letters written fifteen years apart to his brother, Matthew Elder, living in Mille Isles. The first letter stated that Stuart was a patient at the State Hospital in Stockton, California and that his condition was stable enough that if someone could come and take him home.  No one crossed the continent to bring him home, as in 1901 the roll-a-dex card from the State Hospital shows his discharge from the hospital. This date coincides with a memorial picture I found hanging in the upstairs hallway of the home where my father grew up. But I needed more, because this did not give a location this was only proof that they did indeed know he had passed away. I had made inquires from a descendant of Matthew's, if they had any old pictures but the answer was no, but when I discovered the memorial I asked again this time for old documents and this produced the two letters.

 I now knew the location of Stuart and my next step was to find records from the State Hospital as it no longer existed.  Once I traced them down I had to send proof that I was a relative and the eldest living one. I produced the documents for the paper trail back to great grandpa but we won't talk about whether I was the eldest relative, we will just say that I was the eldest interested enough to find him. The documents I received where his intake sheet and the roll-a-dex card with the release date (death date).  The state of California did not have him recorded in their death index.

Unfortunately my father passed away before I could tell him I found his grandfather.
by Vernalyn Heale G2G1 (1.5k points)

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