52 Ancestors Week 14: Brick Wall

Question

Ready for Week 14 of the 52 Ancestors challenge?

Please share with us a profile of an ancestor or relative who matches the week's theme. This week's sharing prompt:

Brick Wall

From Amy Johnson Crow:

Brick wall is a phrase that strikes fear in the heart of many a genealogist. Who is a brick wall ancestor for you? Who is one that you broke through a brick wall to find? How did you do it? You could also interpret this more literally, like with a family photo of a brick house or an ancestor who was a bricklayer.

 

Share below!

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Comments

Hi;

First, thank you! Our Lemuel died in 1819 and we have proof of this so this is the wrong Lemuel. Lots of people add this misinformation all over the place. I appreciate that you responded.

Tamber

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Have you tried profile woodworth-381 on here. It shows William as father and Sarah Blackmer as mother if they have their info correct

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I know I commented before on this but I came to a realization the other day. My great-grandmother, Anna Matthis was born in 1888. She and her father would have been in the 1890 U.S. Census but the census burned up!! Argh!  

Terri Clawson -1056

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Yes, that is what we suspect but we have no documented proof connecting our Lemuel with William and Sarah. The other possibility is that Lemuel, son of William and Sarah had a son named Lemuel who may have been the father of our Lemuel. When we look at dates Lemuel would have been 51 when our documented relative was born - time to have had children and then grandchildren.

Thank you for helping. Tamber

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My brick wall is as follows: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Julie-37

My grandfather was the result of an affair and his real father's name was never mentioned. Is there any possible way or technique to try work around such a dilemma? All of this took place in Port-Louis, Mauritius and my family are of French, Creole and British decent.

His mother's name was "Louise Cécile Laure Geffroy" born 20 SEP 1920 • Grande Riviere, Mauritius (my great grandmother) and her first marriage was to "Joseph Louis Julie" born 10 AUG 1910 • Mauritius. She then married common law to a "Cassam Sulliman" and finally her last marriage was to a "Joseph Charles Philippe Ducasse."She passed away 18 MAY 2012 • Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa.

She had an affair with an unknown man while married to "Joseph Louis Julie" around 1938 and as a result "Joseph Maurice Julie," my grandfather, was born. He was registered as "Julie" and "Joseph Louis Julie" was added as his father on his birth certificate but this is not true. How do I find out who this secret lover is, who my real great grandfather is?

We know that the man which "Louise Cécile Laure Geffroy" eloped with while married to "Joseph Louis Julie" might very well be of Creole decent but how on earth do we find out and where do we begin?

Maybe somebody here finds interest and will be willing to assist. Any advice is welcomed!

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I think that your best bet might be dna. When I took my DNA test I found that I have many matches in both my mother and father's side. I have many cousins now!  You might find family from your biological side and be able to figure out who he was through them and their research.

Terri

Clawson-1056

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Thanks very much for your reply! I have taken the advice and I will be ordering a DNA test. Could you maybe update me on what to buy? I have no clue how DNA works and which test to get? Are there different types or is it a standard test? Appreciate your assistance and advice!

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I have to assume that you are make because of your first name, if you are nit, forgive me. I

Ancestry.com and 123and me (and others) offer inexpensive autosomal DNA tests and then show your DNA matches. I've found cousins on vanity my mother's and my Father's sides after I bought an ancestry.com autosomal kit.

Another kit that's available through the same companies is a Ydna kit. This would show relatives in your make line because you got your Y gene from your father. I think this would be a good way to go for you.

I am not a DNA expert so if anyone out there wants to correct me, I would appreciate the help.

Good luck with this!

Terri

Clawson -1056

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Filling in some gaps in my 52 ancestor challenge

I have three brick walls on my watch list that I am researching. 

John Glenn

Ellen Langridge

Unknown Simmons

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One of my brick walls is Gueatt_2 he just disappears. I do have a supposed father who I do share dna with but I don’t have any records on him. One day I hope to figure it out.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gueautt-2

Answer 1

This week, I'm nominating John Gray as my brick wall ancestor.

He came to America in the late 17th century and settled in modern-day Massachusetts. 

There is some information about him, including a war injury he was receiving a pension for, but not enough to conclusively link him to someone back in England. 

Answer 2

The brickwall I've been focused on is John Robinson, in Newcastle, New Brunswick. He died before the first Census, and everything I have is pieced together from his family members, children's baptisms. I've looked at all the Robinson and Robertson families in the region, and even examined the children's godparents and their spouses for clues. The information has lead me straight into the 1825 Miramichi Fire, and I'm beginning to realize that there may have been records that were destroyed. I may never trace his parents, but I've been enjoying the research, and learning a lot about the local and the places he lived.  I'm hoping to make a trip to the New Brunswick archives to make sure I've exhausted all leads.

Answer 3

The biggest brick wall of my Hughey family is my great grandfather, Henry Hughey (or perhaps,John Henry Hughey), who listed his birth place as Ohio on the 1880 Census and his age as 31,which would have made hia birth year about 1849. That would make him about the right age to be the father of my great uncle John Hughey.  My cousins and I have tried to connect him to various Hughey families without success.

The Edmund Calloway mystery is intriguing as he immigrated to the colonies in 1639 and had land granted to him, but he has almost no other records.  He is said to have been born in Cornwall, England.

I'm sure I have other brick walls that need to be torn down.

Answer 4

Three of my top five brick wall ancestors are Irish. Here's the most recent of them, my 2x great grandmother Annie Walsh (1835-)

She was the mother of Harry Topliss, this week's entry to the Profession category.

Answer 5

My brick walls used to be finding the fathers of illegitimate children, but DNA has smashed through most of those.  Now my biggest hurdle is IRELAND!!  If I'm unlucky the records just state they are from Ireland, slightly better is some mention of the county. Even when I have those, I often find that my ancestors left Ireland before the timeframe that online records are available.

Strangely the first Irish ancestor I tracked to an actual town in Ireland was the newly found (smashed brick wall via DNA) father's line of an adopted ancestor.  I found online, a letter from his sister in Ireland to another sister in New Zealand, mentioning him in Australia.  This shortly before they themselves moved to the USA.

Answer 6

This time I am going to talk about my husband's tree. His Ancestor, Cornelius O'Keeffe was born about 1830 in either Cork or Limerick (depending on which record you view) and his father was reputedly "Arthur". I cannot find how Cornelius arrived in NZ but it must have been about 1860.

Answer 7

One ancestor who has proven to be an incredibly difficult brick wall to knock down is Mary Ann Gleeson. She arrived in New Zealand on 23 March 1876, age 17, registered as a domestic servant from County Kerry in Ireland. Her death certificate states that she was born in Dublin, as well as the birth record for one of her sons. However, on the birth certificates for two of her other children, she was listed as being born in Leeds, but a check of all of the Mary Gleesons in both Dublin and Leeds around this time has shown that none of them are her.

When she came to New Zealand, she came to live with an uncle named Philip. Around the time that Mary was born in the UK, her uncle and three of his siblings (Patrick, Margaret, and another Mary Ann) were aboard the ship "Maria Sommes" on their way to Cape Town, where they then boarded the ship Reihersteig in order to immigrate to New Zealand. Through this, we know the names of Mary's grandparents—James Gleeson and Julia Carroll—however we cannot find any record of whoever Mary's father was, and it is impossible for either of her uncles to have been her father because they were both aboard the Maria Sommes at the time. Incredibly frustrating!

Answer 8

My first "brick wall" is Mary wife of Farmer Hays/Hayes . Even Ancestry.com doesn't suggest a "potential" father or mother for her. Someone placed a gravemarker in the Old Tabernacle Cemetery in New Brockton, Coffee County, Alabama to memorialize her which gives dates of birth and death. There is an 1850 Census with her on it--as least, it's thought that the Mary Hays listed is Farmer's wife, but that census didn't give relationships of household members to the head of the household and she's oddly placed in the list of household members, her name and that of two other females below the names of Farmer's sons, but that seemed to the way the enumerator listed all households--all the males first, then the females. The census says she was born in South Carolina and that she is . She and the Hayes family are mentioned in the book, Pea River Reflections, by Judge Marion Bailey Brunson, published in 1975, but there are no specifics about her background. She was the mother of 9 children, so, despite her obscurity, she left a legacy.

Answer 9

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Mitchell-21206

Frederick Mitchell is one of my brick walls.  He just pops up in southern Ohio in the early 1800s and there is no information to tie him to a specific Mitchell family in that area.  DNA testing shows he was related to some Irish Mitchells in Pennsylvania but there's too much of a gap to find how he is connected to him.  A bit more autosomal testing from someone a few generations closer could really knock this wall down.

Answer 10

Here are my current brick walls:

18. John Christoper Boushon about 1839 - about 1879. The only mention of him is in a book about his wife's genealogy and his name on the death certificates for his two children. Also, believe he is listed as "Armand Boucher" on the 1870 Census in the household of his future grandfather-in-law, Elisha Wallen (Wallen-214). Family notes show his surname as Aumen Boushon, Aubuchon, and Almond Bouchon. His origin is listed is as France.

44. John Hoover Born 09 Feb 1812 - Died 10 Nov 1864.

45. Elizabeth (Riddlemoser) Hoover Born Maryland, United States abt 1816. Died 06 Jun 1879.

60. Nelson Jones about 1810. Another ancestor with just a mention of him in a book about his wife's genealogy and his son's marriage certificate.

Recently, breaking through the brick wall of Mary M "Polly" Millard 

Wife of John Peasley (1804-1874). Born DeRuyter, Madison, New York, United States 01 Mar 1811. Died New London, Waupaca, Wisconsin, United States 20 Jan 1881. Originally had a notation that her maiden name was Martin. No source for this maiden name. The Martin father most list as her father with a wife, Sarah Turner, did have a Mary born the same year, however, she died as a child. The maiden name Martin may have been an error due to there being another John Peasley (Peasley-85) whose wife was Mary Martin (Martin-8149) further up the tree. Found Ira Millard (Millard-2044) in Marys' Will of 1881, family trees show that her brothers' name was Ira and he lived in the same county as Mary. DNA with Lydia Hammonds brother, Daniel Hammond's descendant may help prove this relationship. 

Answer 11

William Colwell is they brick wall I would most like to crack as he has my own family name. I have his fathers name as John but can't seem to find his birth record. The census says he was born in Soulby Northamptonshire which doesn't exist so it could be Goulby.

I was stuck on his second wife   Maria Jones (my ancestor) until very recently but have been able to take that back a couple of generations so there is hope.

Also do you have to apply for the 13 in 13 badge or will it be automatic?

Answer 12

My most infuriating brick wall is my matrilineal ggggrandmother Ruby (Foster) Babcock. She was born 16 Jan 1801 in Massachusetts by all source records, married Nathan Babcock in 1825, had four children in Cortland County, New York then three more in Indiana where she died in Jasper County in a Typhus epidemic. And other than her being a brick wall, I find her infuriating because I find no other female descendants from her, each having only one daughter living to adulthood, except my generation where I have a sister.

Answer 13

So many brick walls.  So many ancestors with "Germany" as the place of birth. 

Born in about 1735, Sebastian "Boston" Nosler https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Nosler-19 arrived in America an orphan, his parents having died on the voyage. This is according to a family tradition recorded in the diary of his descendant James Milo Nosler.  Boston first appears in a 1758 militia roll in Augusta County, Virginia.

Irving Blabon made three trips from his home in California to Augusta County, Virginia in the 1990s-2000s looking for clues to Boston's ancestry, but without success.  I suggested to him that we might even think outside the box and consider whether Boston's surname might have been Hassler, as was transcribed in the baptismal record of one of his children.  We haven't found many Noslers in German indexes.   

I am descended from three of Boston's children by Sophia (unknown): Soveney, Eva and Boston Jr. 

I keep adding descendants in hopes that someone will be encouraged to chip away at the bricks.  

Answer 14

Johan Veltin Ranck, most likely born in Palatine, about 1641.  Believed by most of the genealogy world to be Jean Ranc of France.  I've made some breakthroughs on his past this past month and hoping to blow the door open on his past.

https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/782888/jean-veltin-ranck---separating-the-myths-from-the-documents

Comments

I hope you do.  He is a brick wall for me too. ;)

Answer 15

There always seem to be plenty of brick walls when researching ones ancestors. Many of them are women, whose maiden names don't get mentioned in the records. Jerusha _____ (1807-1885) was adopted by Backus Hill. Her ancestry is a total mystery that isn't going to go away without some piece of genealogical serendipity. 

She married twice 1st to Lyman West and 2nd to Dr. George Cole. Her son Joseph fought in the Civil War. Her husband Lyman is descended from George Soule passenger on the Mayflower. Lyman's father fought in the American Revolution.

Answer 16

I have many brick walls - two of them are of the Smith variety.

My 3rd Great Grandfather John M. "Jock" Smith is one of them. I have his marriage record to Martha Elizabeth Campbell on July 28, 1844 in Carter County, Tennessee. Other than the presence of a picture of his grave marker with dates (admittedly not necessarily accurate) I have found no records that he existed before he got married. He and Martha had at least eight children, one of which (my 2nd Great Grandfather) proudly carried the all too familiar name of John Smith - at least we know his middle name was Madison. I do have more records on him that I haven't gotten onto his profile yet.

The other Smith brick wall is on my husband's side (That means our kids get two of them!).

Again the brick wall is a 3rd Great Grandfather - Gideon Smith. I haven't gotten his profile on WikiTree yet 

I have Gideon Smith and his wife Nancy in the 1861 Census of Canada living in Kent, New Brunswick with three of their children. Their son, George Smith was my husband's 2nd Great Grandfather. He died in a boating accident in 1866 in Bouctouche, Kent, New Brunswick.

And of course, the corresponding 3rd Great Grandmothers are also brick walls.

(14 of 14)

Answer 17

52 Ancestors -  Week 14: Brick Wall and my 14th week participating

My brick wall is not that far back - just my grandfather - Bishop Marvin Smith.

My grandfather was born Dec 27, 1882 in Uniontown, Kentucky. In the 1900 Census he is shown as Marvin Smith (with the Smith crossed through and Hughes written in), the son of Wesley Ana Hughes. He has a sister in that same census, Olive Hughes. His mother is shown as a widow. 

There is a marriage license dated May 7, 1878 between Wesley Ana Hughes and James Smith. This gives me proof that he is a Smith and not a Hughes. I haven't been able to find a death date for my g-grandfather, but do find a marriage certificate for Wesley Ana Smith and Nathaniel Hughes dated May 15, 1893. 

The second marriage may be what is causing the confusion with my grandfather's last name.

Also, at his death, a complete family - wife and kids, showed up at his funeral, that my dad and his siblings knew nothing about. I have not been able to find out anything about them. Since my dad and all but one of his siblings are now deceased, and the one brother that is still alive lives quite a distance from me, it is difficult to find out any family information from him.

So, I am stuck on my grandfather and not moving anywhere for the time being.

Comments

Interesting. I know you must be very curious about this one.

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Thank you Nelda. I am glad that you agree!

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Interesting...for you it is your grandfather holding you up, it was my grandmother holding me up until I had some breakthroughs...I hope you have similar success in the very near future...I know from my own experience how crazy it can make you feel.

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I am glad that you had a breakthrough with your grandmother.  I hope I have one with my grandfather. Thank you for replying.

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Very interesting indeed.  Have you posted a G2G thread asking for assistance in breaking this wall?  Maybe someone has access to a record that you don't or will see something you hadn't noticed.

Answer 18

My 4X Great Grandfather and also my 5 X Great Grandfather in another line, James Shane (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Shane-263) is my greatest brick wall because it seems impossible to trace his parents since his father was pressed into service aboard a British Man of War before he was even born and his mother left him with neighbors when he was quite young.  This line is the reason I started doing genealogy because I wanted to find out about my Irish heritage.  Now, it seems, I may never know!  

Answer 19

Ann Cunningham, b abt 1847, Ireland.  Several Ann's arrived in a reasonable timeframe, but there is no indication which - if any - are her.  In 1869 she married Chester J. Clark in Bangor, Penobscot, Maine.  She died in 1930 and is buried in Pleasant Hill Cemetery, along with most of the Clarks, in Hermon, Penobscot, Maine.  1920 census says she was naturalized, but no records are found.

Family rumor says she is from North of Dublin

A possible lead is the ship Sir Wm Molesworth, arriving NY 1 Apr 1851 with an Ann Cunningham accompanied by a Patrick and Biddy Cunningham (parents) and John and Henry (brothers).  No proof they are the ones that went to Bangor.  

As with a few of my brick walls, I can find believable ancestors, just not documentable ones...

Answer 20

My 4th great grandfather was my brick wall. He was so hard to track down but I was finally able to find him. Although once he was found I hit another brink wall. His father... My 4th great grandfather was part of the 1800 census but his parents weren't listed. I have no clue as to who his parents are or where they came from. I have been stuck on my 5th great grandfather for 1 1/2 years now. He came out of nowhere in 1776 with no history.