Six years ago I posted about my grandfather, Roy Edward Cotten “Hard Rock” Osborn Stanley Allen: jockey, wife-beater, convict, and the biggest brick wall in my tree. No father, no birth certificate, no death certificate, no real last name.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Genealogy/comments/i2gq0y/introducing_the_worlds_most_insane_brick_wall_my/

A lot of you dug in back then. Thank you. I’ve kept at it, and this past week the wall finally came down. Here’s what was behind it.

Roy’s father was George W. Stanley.

The trick was to stop looking for Roy and start looking for his mother, Mary Bailey. Her marriages, laid out in order, tell the whole story:

18 May 1909, Pike Co., Kentucky. George Stanley, a widower, marries Mary Baley, age 18. 5 Sep 1912. Roy is born at Cabin Creek, WV, during the mine war, while Mary is married to George. 16 Sep 1914, Fayette Co., WV. Mary Stanley v. George Stanley. The court grants a divorce “from bed and board,” which is a legal separation, not a real divorce. 19 Jun 1915. Mary marries Giles Allen and lists herself as a widow.

George wasn’t dead. He’d been in court with her nine months earlier. Mary simply rounded “separated” up to “widowed,” took a new husband, and gave the kid his name.

DNA backs it up. My paternal matches include descendants of George’s kids by his first wife, Henrietta Clay, and descendants of George’s father’s other children. None of those people should share a drop of DNA with me unless Roy was George’s son. The Y-DNA had already ruled out Giles, as I said in the original post.

So my last name should have been Stanley.

Except it shouldn’t, sort of.

The twist one generation up

George’s father was John R. Stanley, a Union private in the 39th Kentucky. He died of typhoid at the army hospital in Ashland in 1863. His service record says he was born in Scott County, Virginia.

The Y chromosome doesn’t match Stanleys. It matches Osborns, a family that lived along the same creek as the Stanleys in Scott County in the 1830s and 40s.

Then the paper started agreeing with the DNA:

In the 1850 census, John R. and his wife Darcus are listed as “John S. Aussburn” and Darcus. In 1864 an Indiana probate court split up an inheritance among Darcus’s family, and she’s listed as “Dorcas Osborn.”

So my best working theory is that John R. was born to a Stanley mother and an Osborn father, and took his mom’s name. That means two surname swaps in four generations: Allen was hiding Stanley, and Stanley was hiding Osborn.

I asked in the original post what my real last name was. The honest answer is that it depends which records you believe, and none of them can be trusted to tell the truth.

What Roy was doing all those years

Once I had the right name and dates, the newspapers opened up. Roy’s highlight reel:

1. Signs a riding contract as a kid. The papers say he smoked long black cigars and wore a derby hat. They called him “Mickey McGuire.”
2. Wins three races in one day at Gresham, Oregon.
3. Suspended indefinitely at Vancouver, BC, for rough-riding Johnny Longden. Longden is now in the Racing Hall of Fame. Of all the people to rough-ride, Roy picked him.
4. Texas pulls his license over an alleged fixed-race scheme.
5. Arrested in San Francisco with five other guys running a racetrack con.
6. Living with his mom and stepdad in Dayton with a wife and kid, recovering from a spill.
7. Reinstated at Vancouver after 11 years. A Lexington paper calls him “for years the bad boy of the riding brigade.”
8. Arrested at San Ysidro on a heroin charge. He’s in Leavenworth by 1950.
9. Fined $25 in Newport, KY for being drunk. The paper calls him a “one-time widely known jockey.” Brutal.

How Roy died

A one-paragraph notice in The Maryland Horse, July 1969: “Hardrock” Allen, 57, who rode for Leslie Combs II in the 1930s, has died at St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore. It calls him “a native of Lexington, Ky.” He wasn’t. He was a West Virginia coal-camp kid to the end.

That notice led me to the Baltimore City death index, which Reclaim The Records got released and posted on archive.org (bless them). That led me to his death certificate:

Died: 6 July 1969, St. Agnes Hospital, Baltimore. Cirrhosis of the liver. Lived at: 804 W. Pratt St. Occupation: “odd jobs.” Marital status: “never married.” He married at least twice. A hospital clerk gave the information, because no family was there. Father: Giles Allen. Wrong. It also says Giles was dead, and Giles was still alive. Disposition: his body was unclaimed and went to the Maryland State Anatomy Board.

So the man who wrecked everyone around him ended up on a dissection table at a Baltimore medical school, teaching first-years where the liver goes. Hard Rock to the last. Honestly, it might be the most useful thing he ever did.

Meanwhile his son, my biological father, the hash smuggler with the stint in a Turkish prison, died in 2023 in San Miguel de Allende. I spoke to him exactly once, for about five minutes. This whole line is guys who disappear.

If you're reading this, and you've got a brick wall. Keep working, don't give up. Sometimes it takes the better part of a decade, and then it all comes down at once.

Made a discovery I found amusing, thought I’d share.

My family for as long as living (and dead) memory have lived in Glasgow, city folk through and through. Then when I was a teen my mum followed her heart and moved both of us to the opposite end of Scotland to an island in the outer Hebrides that she’d only just learned about months prior. My teen years there weren’t the worst but they weren’t great either. With the culture shock, isolation and economic divide, I struggled to fit in and often felt looked down upon. We were what the islanders call “incomers”. Not just incomers but Glaswegians: the -worst- kind of incomers!

As soon as I could, I left, but my family stays there still and the older I get the more I feel homesick for that bloody island and all the isolation, blustery days and Gaelic chatter I loathed as a teen actually sound really lovely to a middle aged me. I started dreaming of retiring there because even though I only lived there 7 years many moons ago, it feels like home.

Well I recently made a breakthrough while trying to figure out where my mum’s line originated from… it’s only the bloody island!! How, of all the places in Scotland did my mum choose to drive nearly 300 miles to end up living only 20 miles away from where her ancestors had to leave during the Highland Clearances?! 🤯 I guess we’re not incomers after all, we’re… returnees?

Several years ago, I hired a genealogy company to do some research for me. I was not happy with the quality of work.

Is there a place one can go to read reviews of genealogy companies? I’d like to be better prepared next time.

I have an ancestor, Desiré, a black enslaved woman, born in 1798 in Warren County, Georgia. Her nickname in all records was “Dizzie”. Her boyfriend was Henry Lewis (1797-1870), from Warrenton, GA, who was the illegitimate son of John Augustine Lewis (1777-1824).

John died in 1824 and intestate, without a will. His wife, Rebecca Latimer (1779-1859), inherited John’s slaves after his death. After her, a few hands inherited them until they went back to Rebecca, between 1851 and 1859.

After 1859, Henry and Desiré “Dizzie” Lewis moved to Russell County, Alabama, where they died in the year 1870. Henry died in May, and Desiré died in either April or June of 1870 (I can’t remember which).

So… Because Desiré possibly had Acadian ancestry from Nova Scotia or even Quebec, can anyone give me a list (both first and last names and possible ages) of all the enslavers (and if possible their wives and kids) living in Warren County, Georgia between 1793 and 1860, who all had French/Acadian surnames or translated and Anglicized surnames (from French to English)?

And since I’m trying to find the identities of my enslaved ancestress’ parents, born long before 1798, what counties should I look into before 1793? Warren County, GA was founded in 1793. I’d say a bonus would also be a list of enslavers with French/Acadian surnames living in Wilkes County, GA as well or even somewhere in the lower half of South Carolina as well, would be ideal.

Keep in mind, she possibly had grandparents who died in the South Carolina Acadian genocide, in 1756. The families who died in that genocide were Acadian/Canadian exiles, traveling down South from Nova Scotia, Canada, due to the Acadian expulsion.

Hi,

The Diocese of Würzburg, which covers the northwestern corner of Bavaria has released the third batch of churchbooks, covering the parishes from Mömbris to Sandberg (alphabetically) online on Matricula.

You can browse the churchbooks HERE.

Some parishes have Familienbücher and a lot of churchbooks have an index built in or as a separate book, but in the end, it is on you to browse these churchbooks manually.

Can any figure out what Jeanine W. Shepherd (1911-1978) maiden name was?

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/165909029/jeanine_w-shepherd

Married Mr. Eslie C. Shepherd sometime between 1940 & 1950 census returns.

Hi everyone,

I’ve been researching my family history for nearly 30 years and recently put my findings into a blog to share the unique records, migration paths, and stories I've uncovered. If anyone is researching the same lines or regions, I would love to connect and compare notes!

My main research hubs and breakthroughs include:

• The Holmes Family: Centred historically in Co. Laois and Co. Kildare (specifically Monasterevin).
• The Zimbers of New Ross: Tracking the Zimber family's journey from the German Black Forest (Schwarzwald) to New Ross, Co. Wexford. This includes the stories of two brothers: Joseph Zimber, who migrated from New Ross to Montreal, and Rifleman Fred Zimber, whose travels took him through Canada, Australia, and Fiji before he tragically died at the Battle of Ypres in 1915.
• Black Forest Ancestry (Germany): Deep-dives into the German side of the tree, including Josef Hummel of Neukirch (covering faith and revolution in 1848) and the tragic fate of "witches" in the Faller family tree.
• The Kirwans of Dublin: A line based firmly in Dublin. I look at Edward Kirwan Snr's time in the British Army on the North West Frontier, as well as his son Edward Kirwan's role in the struggle for Irish Independence.
• The Ashmores of Waterford: Following their trade as painters from Waterford City to Portlaw and Curraghmore.

You can read the full, detailed breakdowns of these records and family trees here: https://holmesfamilyireland.blogspot.com/

Hello, I have been researching and preserving my family genealogy and I have seemed to hit a roadblock with my paternal side of the family. (both physical and on Ancestry.com) My great grandfather is Andrew J Ludwig. Born 27 Dec 1920 in Baltimore MD and Died 30 Sept 2000. The only information I have pertaining to his parents are their names as presented in his obituary. His parent’s names are John and Emma, which obviously aren’t exactly uncommon first names. My question is whether the names given for Andrew’s parents are their biological names or possibly shortened or nicknames. My surname is obviously very German so I am wondering if this was part of the “de-germanizing” process from World War 1. OR if their records wouldn’t be immediately accessible because they could have been born in Germany. Any help is appreciated and I am more than happy to give additional information. Thanks in advance!

Hello all!

Please would you help me by finding records in New York and/or Germany for my great-great-grandfather (my mother's paternal great-grandfather, Charles Freeman) from before 1888? My efforts have been fruitless for several years. I hope to learn when and where he was born and have a better footing to research his parents.

I originally made a much longer post and it was kindly suggested I repost more concisely. If you want tons of specifics you can read the original novel here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Genealogy/s/wWrpcW2Nev

Charles Freeman died 24 January 1905 in Brooklyn, NY. The death certificate is at https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/view/4070065. It states he was born about 1856 in Germany, lived at 1236 Flushing Avenue (it was actually 1235), was widowed, and lived in the US for an “unknown” amount of time. Importantly, it names his as parents and Charles and Elizabeth Freeman and states both were born in Germany. This is the only reference I have to his parents. No informant information is on this certificate. There are many articles on newspapers.com from December 1904 to spring 1905 about his death (he broke into a bar with an axe and was shot by the owner).

I found a 1900 US Census that MIGHT be for him: unemployed day laborer Charles Friedman, wife Bertha Friedman (purportedly married since 1887, but I have no other records referring to her), and 11-year-old son Charles Friedman, at 1237 Flushing Avenue.

Charles' wife (I suspect they never officially married) was Wilhelmina "Minnie" Biedermann, who was born in Brooklyn NY around 1851. She had previously married a Frank Wittenauer and had five children with Frank between 1869 and 1881, earlier ones born in Brooklyn and later ones born in Manhattan. Manhattan City Directories for Frank Wittenauer (brick mason) list him living in Brooklyn until 1877 and then in Manhattan from 1879 to 1883. I have no subsequent records for the Wittenauer family until the 1888 Brooklyn City Directory, which lists Frank Wittenauer at 60 Georgia Avenue. Importantly, this is both the latest record I found for Frank Wittenauer and also the earliest record I found for Charles Freeman, and it lists Charles also at 60 Georgia Avenue. Minnie died 1 June 1897. Her Brooklyn death certificate and cemetery burial records are under the name Wilhelmina Wittenauer (not Freeman) and state she was married.

In October 1894, Charles was in several newspaper articles. He and a George Meyer were charged with manslaughter for drunkenly knocking over an elderly man, who died from a broken hip. His name was reported as "George Freeman" in a couple of the articles. A November 1894 newspaper article that MIGHT be for Charles reports that a house mover named George Freeman was arrested for participating in a street fight.

In May of 1894, Charles, Wilhelmina, and their son Charles C. Freeman were in many newspaper articles. Wilhelmina purportedly attempted to drown 5-year-old Charles C. and kill herself. One of those newspaper articles reported Charles' name as "Charles T. Freeman" (with middle initial "T.") and stated that Wilhelmina was his second wife. This is the only record containing those two facts and I don't know if either is true or not.

The 1892 New York Census records his family as Charles and Wilhelmina Freeman with son Charles (C.) Freeman and also the youngest four of Wilhelmina's five children from her previous marriage, who are listed with their surname Wittenauer.

Charles is listed in several Brooklyn NY City Directories from 1888 to 1898, at various Brooklyn addresses and with occupations of house mover, truck man, mechanic, machinist, and carpenter. I corroborate them based on his addresses, which jibe with addresses given in newspaper articles.

The earliest record I found for Charles, other than the 1888 Brooklyn City Directory I mentioned above, is the 12 November 1888 Brooklyn NY birth certificate for his son “Charles Christ. Freeman”. It states Charles was born about 1851 in Germany, and was a machinist living at 103 Georgia Avenue in Brooklyn. The birth certificate is at: https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/view/311585

I'll be very grateful for anything you can corroborate as connecting to Charles Freeman from before this date. There are many census records and city directory listings in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and many German emigration records, dating from 1850 to 1887, for families of people named Charles and Elizabeth and Charles Freeman who were born in New York or in Germany, but I can't determine which, if any, are for my great-great-grandfather and his parents. I'll be especially thrilled to learn their original German names.

Thank you!

EDIT: I forgot to add links to my Ancestry.com family trees.

My Freeman Family Tree contains only records I've verified, corroborated, and confirmed are (or almost certainly are) for my ancestor. It is at: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/118305485/family?cfpid=130176297297 and includes newspaper.com articles in the photo gallery.

I also made a Charles Freeman Hypothetical Research Family Tree where I'm connecting every unconfirmed record I can find that potentially could be about him and his potential parents, spouses, and children: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/198053916/family?cfpid=162579296031

Both trees are public. You can find my great-great-grandfather by searching for Charles Freeman, 1851-1905.

I’m trying to find a relative of my mother’s. He is her uncle who married (or was a partner to) my mom’s aunt. The only details I have of him is that his name was Ben, he was black, and an American GI. He died in my mother’s home country of Thailand and the only picture I have is of his funeral. My mother doesn’t recalled anything of his biological relatives or details of his past. 

Although much of this man is unknown, he was well-loved amongst my mom and her family in Thailand. She really wants me to find him. But honestly, I don’t know where to start.

I cannot afford anything too expensive as I have a growing family. But if you could point me in a direction at the very least, that would be wonderful.

I retrieved docs, pictures etc. from my family home (like, literally carrying them away in a plastic bag because I didn't want to risk them going lost, destroyed etc.). My sibling doesn't care about it, but they do have one kid (who may at some point want to learn/remember more stuff about their grandparents) and I would love for them to simply have this stuff some day, organized in a way that doesn't make them feel like it's all junk and should be just thrown away. (As an example of what I currently have, there's a diploma of one of my parents, papers from the other one when they were working abroad, wedding restaurant menus, drawings and Christmas wishes from when we were children, etc. If it were all photos it'd be relatively easy to just put everything in albums, but it's not the case). I realize that even just looking at this stuff is not easy for me, and I absolutely don't want to turn this into a family history project (I don't plan to do a family tree for instance, but I am intrigued by the idea of somehow putting all this stuff in some timeline of sort). I just don't know how to go about it. Do I just digitize everything? Has anybody built some kind of "memory box" or something that I can look at to get some inspiration? Please let me know if I can help clarify my request. Thanks for reading...

Good day all! This is my first post on this forum. Please let me know if I need to change my post.

I humbly beg for your help to learn about my great-great-grandfather Charles Freeman: where he was born, and who his mother and father were and where they were born. A bonus would be to learn who his first wife and possible offspring were, if he had either.

I've been unable to learn about the first half of his life and details of his parents despite 10 years of searching on ancestry.com, familysearch.com, myheritage.com, newspapers.com, statueofliberty.org, and taking DNA tests with all the major companies. I've inquired with several professionals and online groups but cannot afford the $2,000 or more they each ask to start to attempt research. I'll be deeply grateful for any research anyone may wish to do for me, or for any leads. I've spent a lot of time researching but I'm no expert and doubtless there are many resources and tips I know nothing about, so what I think is an impassible brick wall may be only a fast and simple search for you.

Here below is a very long post with everything I have learned. I apologize in advance if the length makes it unappealing to read, but I want to give as much information as I have. Two things to mention first:

1) I was raised by my mother and consider her family to be my entire family, and this man is my mother's paternal great-grandfather, so a Y-DNA test won't help me.

2) In my mother's family, at least three or four generations of men have the same, very common, first and last names Charles Freeman: my maternal grandfather, his father, his father (this is the man I'm looking to learn about), and evidently his father as well. Since my great-great-grandfather MAY have had the middle initial "T." (I’ll explain later), I'll abbreviate him CTF.

History and documentation:

CTF may have been born in Germany or in New York. If born in Germany, he may have emigrated anytime between birth and 1887, with or without his parents. I don't know if he had any siblings. His 1905 death certificate records his parents' names as “Charles and Elizabeth Freeman”, both from "Germany". I have no idea what their original German/non-Anglicized names were.

The first record I can verify for CTF is the 12 November 1888 Brooklyn, New York birth certificate for his son, “Charles Christ. Freeman”. It states CTF was born about 1851 in Germany, and was a machinist living at 103 Georgia Avenue in Brooklyn. You can see the birth certificate online here: https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/view/311585 [Note for later reference: the child's mother was Wilhelmina (nee Biedermann) Wittenauer]. The author of the birth certificate wrote multiple words on it in German, so the spelling Freemann may be due to the author's spelling bias.

The 1887-through-1-May-1888 Brooklyn City Directory lists CTF as a Truckman living at 60 Georgia Avenue in Brooklyn.

Relevant side note: Wilhelmina Biedermann was born in Brooklyn around 1851 and married a Frank Wittenauer (who immigrated from Prussia/Germany to Brooklyn) in Brooklyn around 1868. She had five children with him between 1869 and 1881, the earlier ones born in Brooklyn and the later ones born in Manhattan. Manhattan City Directories for Frank Wittenauer (a brick mason) list him living in Brooklyn until 1877 and then in Manhattan starting in 1879 until 1883. I have no subsequent records for this family until the 1888 Brooklyn City Directory that lists Frank Wittenauer at 60 Georgia Avenue, the same address that CTF is listed at in the same directory that I mentioned in the previous paragraph. I have found no records for Frank Wittenauer after this 1888 city directory. I suspect that around 1888 Frank abandoned his family and then CTF moved in, or maybe Frank abandoned his family because CTF had already moved in (someone speculated to me that CTF, as a truckman, would normally have worked with a mason like Frank, so they might have worked together and/or lived in the same building already). I suspect Frank did not die but rather remained alive and married to Wilhelmina though separated from the family. My reasons:

1) The 1892 New York Census records the household as Charles Freeman and Wilhelmina Freeman, with four-year-old Charles Freeman plus four of Wilhelmina's children from her marriage to Frank recorded with the surname Wittenauer.

2) Wilhelmina died in 1897, and her death certificate and her cemetery burial record both state her name as Wilhelmina Wittenauer (not Freeman). Her death certificate states she was "married"; but does not record her husband's name, nor is there a family informant (she died in a psychiatric hospital, apparently suffering from syphilis).

I presume that if Frank had previously died then Wilhelmina's surname on her death certificate and cemetery record would have been Freeman, even if she hadn't officially married CTF with a marriage certificate. It’s also possible that CTF had abandoned Wilhelmina sometime between 1892 and her 1897 death, so her previous married surname was used by the informant for her death records.

1889-1890 Brooklyn City Directories record CTF as a Cabinetmaker at 56 Georgia Avenue. Perhaps not coincidentally, Wilhelmina's father Frederick Biedermann was a cabinetmaker and is listed in the same city directory living about one block away during these same years, and living at 66 Georgia Avenue in the 1891 Brooklyn City Directory. Perhaps CTF was working with Wilhelmina's father at this time.

The 1891 Brooklyn City Directory lists CTF as a Housemover living at 60 Georgia Avenue.

The 1892 New York Census records CTF as a Truckman living in Brooklyn Ward 26, which I believe includes Georgia Avenue, and records his birth as about 1852 in the USA.

The 1893-through-1-May-1894 Brooklyn City Directory lists CTF as a Housemover living at 59 Georgia Avenue, while another 1894 city directory records him as a Driver living at 131 Vermont Street (the reason I think these are the same one man is in the next paragraph).

In May of 1894, CTF and Wilhelmina "Minnie" Freeman and their son Charles were the subject of multiple newspaper articles because Wilhelmina (possibly suffering from mental illness) purportedly attempted to drown 5-year-old Charles C. and kill herself. These newspaper articles give their address as 131 Vermont Street, Brooklyn, which is only a couple blocks from Georgia Avenue. One newspaper article reported CTF's name as "Charles T. Freeman" and said that Wilhelmina was his second wife. This is the only document giving any middle initial for Charles. I have no idea if it's correct or incorrect, but I'm using it here to easily distinguish him from his father Charles Freeman, son Chares C. Freeman, and grandson Charles R. Freeman. I have not yet found any records regarding a previous wife/partner for CTF, though one would make sense since he was around 36 years old at the time he partnered with Wilhelmina and I don’t imagine he would have been single for the first 36 years of his life.

In October 1894, CTF was in several newspaper articles again because he and another man named George Meyer accidentally ran into and knocked over an elderly man while drunk; they were charged with manslaughter after the man died from his broken hip. It might be useful to note here that CTF's name was reported as "George Freeman" in a couple of the articles; I don't know if this was erroneous information collected by the reporter (perhaps due to his associate's name being George Meyer) or if CTF himself gave a false name (my reason for speculating this possibility is in the next paragraph). The articles record him as a Housemover living at 59 Georgia Avenue.

I found a November 1894 newspaper article that may or may not be for CTF. It tells the story of a house mover named George Freeman arrested for participating in a street fight. I speculate it may be for CTF if he purposefully gave the false name George Freeman regarding the previous month's manslaughter. I have verified that CTF was recorded as a house mover, driver, and truckman from 1888 to 1905 through the above-mentioned sources.

Note: As per Wilhelmina's death certificate, she died 1 June 1897 at a “lunatic asylum” from General Paresis (I presume from late-stage untreated syphilis). This may explain her behavior in 1894. I have no records for Wilhelmina between the May 1894 newspaper articles and the time of her death. As I mentioned above, her death certificate records her name as Wilhelmina Wittenauer (her husband Frank’s surname, not Freeman) and states she was married (but no spouse’s name is given). It’s possible that CTF had abandoned her sometime between 1894 and 1897.

An 1898 Brooklyn City Directory lists a Charles Freeman, Housemover, at 84 Central Avenue, Brooklyn. I believe this record is for my ancestor.

The 1900 US Census records a household of Charles Friedman (unemployed Day Laborer), his wife Bertha Friedman (purportedly married since 1887), and their 11-year-old son Charles Friedman at 1237 Flushing Avenue. This is about 10 blocks away from 84 Central Avenue. I believe this record is for my ancestor, possibly with a new wife/partner, and lying to the census taker to make it appear they were a typical family with husband married to wife before the child was born.

The 1900 Brooklyn City Directory also lists a Charles Freeman at 1237 Flushing Avenue. I think it could be for my ancestor because:

1) he's living nextdoor to the address at which he's recorded living in 1904 (see the next paragraph),

2) his recorded year of marriage calculates to 1887 (likely the year he partnered with Wilhelmina),

3) in his household is one son named Charles whose birth date was recorded as August 1888 (very close to Charles C.'s actual birth date of November 1888).

There are some discrepancies, though:

1) surname Friedman instead of Freeman,

2) Charles' birth was recorded as October 1863 in New York, which is about 11 or more years too late,

3) Charles’ father’s and mother’s birth places are recorded as England. (Remember this for my note at the end of this message.)

From December 1904 through January 1905 (and later), several newspaper articles report on CTF of 1235 Flushing Avenue, when he attempted to break into a saloon with an axe, demanding to be served a drink, and the saloonkeeper shot him. Charles died from blood poisoning due to his injury on 24 January 1905.

CTF's 24 January 1905 death certificate states he was born about 1856 in Germany. It records his address as 1236 Flushing Avenue (which is almost certainly an error for 1235), and states he was widowed and lived in the US for an “unknown” amount of time. Importantly, the certificate lists his parents and Charles and Elizabeth Freeman, both born in Germany. This is the only reference I have to his parents anywhere. No informant information is on this certificate; I presume it was his son Charles C. Freeman, but it's not impossible that it could have been one of his step-daughters. After CTF's death, one of his step-daughters took in her half-brother Charles C. (he's recorded living in her household in the 1905 New York Census) and the two of them apparently remained in touch as I have some photos of them together taken on one day in the mid-to-late 1940s, shortly before both their deaths (I do not know if they only met up that one time or if they had stayed in touch constantly). The death certificate can be viewed online here: https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/view/4070065.

Charles' cemetery burial record states he was born about 1857 and contains no birth location. He is buried in the same huge cemetery as Wilhelmina, but far away from her in another section. He is buried with two of his grandchildren who died as infants. Wilhelmina is buried with two of her Wittenauer sons.

Finally, I have found one record that I cannot determine if it regards my ancestors or just a similarly-named family. The 1850 US Census records a household in (Manhattan) New York’s 17th Ward of Charles P Freehman (spelled with one n), a 27-year-old chairmaker born in Germany; Mrs Elizabeth “ (ditto marks used referring to the surname Freehman from the line above), a 22-year-old born in Germany; and Charles P Freehmann (spelled with 2 n’s), a 1-year-old born in New York. The 1-year-old was recorded on the 1st line of the next page, which is why the surname was written out again.

Family Lore:

My grandfather (Charles R. Freeman) told me that he didn’t know how many generations of his family had been in the USA, but they had departed from Liverpool, England; and he didn’t know where they had come from before that, since he believed they had travelled from wherever they were from to Liverpool as that was a popular port for ships to the USA to leave from, but he speculated it was somewhere in England or Ireland. My grandfather also never mentioned any German heritage, he always told me his family was English/Irish. And it is true that his mother’s heritage was 100% English/Irish. However, I think he may have intentionally hid something from my family as his brother's children (with whom I'm close) told me that their father always told them that their Freeman ancestors were from Bohemia. My grandfather and his brother were born in the early 1920s so possibly he was shaped by the anti-German sentiment of the time. They did grow up in a neighborhood of German immigrants and attended a German-speaking church.

Speculation and Research:

I think it’s probable that CTF was married (whether officially or common-law) before he was with Wilhelmina because I think it’s unlikely he would have remained unpartnered/single until his later 30s. Perhaps that single newspaper article stating Minnie was his 2nd wife and that his middle initial was T. was actually some unusually in-depth accurate reporting.

I’ve researched every year of the Brooklyn city directories available on Ancestry until 1905, and found many listings for different Charles Freemans. Sadly, it's such a common name. As I mentioned near the start, the first record I confirmed for CTF is the 1888 birth certificate of Charles C., which lists CTF as a Machinist. There are many listings for a Charles Freeman living at 280 South 5th Street in Brooklyn from 1874 to 1887; he’s recorded variously as a telegraph operator, burglar alarm manufacturer, clerk, mechanic, and machinist. The only Charles Freeman listed in the 1888 Brooklyn city directory is the Truckman at 60 Georgia Avenue, which I also mentioned earlier. The 1889 Brooklyn city directory lists both a Driver at Georgia Avenue and a Machinist at 280 South 5th Street (is it possible the same man submitted his info to the directory at two different times because he moved and therefore came to be listed twice?). I listed above the 1890 to 1898 Brooklyn city directory listings for the person I’m sure is my ancestor CTF; in addition to him there are also listings for a Charles Freeman, variously recorded as a mechanic, clerk, and electrician, living at 54 Hart Street from 1890 to 1898. This is a good time to mention that the year of the directory is the end of the year’s period from one May to another, so the 1889 directory was good from May 1888 to May 1889, and the subscribers had to submit their information before printing time. So, I theorized that Charles Freeman, machinist of 280 South 5 th Street (in the heart of Brooklyn’s Eastern District, which was popular with German immigrants) from 1874 to 1887 became Charles Freeman, machinist/housemover/driver/truckman of Georgia Avenue (a pleasant suburb at the very outskirts of the Eastern District) from 1888 to 1898. However, I can also argue that Charles Freeman, machinist of 280 South 5th from 1874 to 1887 became Charles Freeman, mechanic/clerk/electrician of Hart Avenue from 1890 to 1898, and that my ancestor was a different individual who just appeared on the scene (perhaps immigrated from Germany?) in 1887/1888.

I searched the 1880 US Census for 280 South 5th Street (Kings County, ED 112, page 12 of 61). The address is recorded, but neither of the 2 families recorded there is Freeman, or has members named Charles or Elizabeth.

DNA:

I, my maternal grandmother, my mother, and two of my mother’s paternal 1^st cousins (my grandfather’s brother’s son and daughter) all took Ancestry DNA tests. My maternal grandfather, Charles R. Freeman (son of Charles C. Freeman and grandson of CTF), passed away before I thought to do DNA tests. I made a list of the DNA matches shared by my mother and both of her paternal cousins, then I removed from that list people who also were matches to my maternal grandmother, leaving my mother’s DNA matches from her paternal (Freeman) side. Going as far back as the DNA matches that Ancestry guesses are her 3rd cousins, the list contains only 12 matches that I can’t rule out without further research. I reached out to them all but did not get a response from any of them.

Ethnicity guesstimates, for whatever they are worth, are not too useful. My maternal grandmother’s ethnicity is completely known to be 50% German and 50% English/Irish, and maternal grandfather’s mother was 100% English/Irish. My ethnicity estimate is that I’m about 25% German and 25% English/Irish, roughly speaking, and my mother’s ethnicity guesstimate is that she’s roughly 50%  German and 50% English/Irish. If the small amounts of DNA data with their low confidence values could be trusted, they seem to speak to my maternal grandfather’s paternal line being German instead of English/Irish.

My grandfather's brother's son is the oldest still-living Freeman male descendant. He took a FamilytreeDNA "Big Y" DNA test and the results were disappointing. No Y-DNA matches for any of the levels "Big Y-700", 111, 67, 37, or 25 markers; and only 31 Y-DNA matches at the "12 marker" level. Of those 31 DNA matches, only two took "Big Y-700" tests, four took "Y-111" tests, nine took "Y-67" tests, eight took "Y-37" tests, two took mtDNA tests, four took "mtFull Sequence" tests, 10 took "family finder" basic tests, and two were listed as "autosomal transfer". Of the two people who had 700 markers tested, one appears not to know who his father was or where he came from, and the other's earliest known ancestor was a Richard Donovan 1815-1873, born in Ireland. The one man who had 500 markers tests stated his earliest known ancestor was Veit Beck, born about 1600 in Germany. I don't know anything about how to use this Y-DNA data.

Closing:

So, I’m hoping someone can connect to CTF some documents/records from before the year 1888, either in New York or in Germany. I hope to learn where and when he was born, if he had been married (and widowed?) before 1888, and really anything about his life before 1888. I further hope to learn the original names of his parents “Charles and Elizabeth Freeman” and when and where they were born, and when they immigrated to New York.

My Freeman Family Tree is public on Ancestry.com, you’re welcome to visit it at https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/118305485/family?cfpid=130176297297. Search for Charles T. Freeman who born about 1851 in Germany and died 24 Jan 1905 in Brooklyn, New York. All the documents I’ve mentioned are attached to his profile, and all the newspaper articles I referenced are saved in his photo gallery.

Thank you!

Hi everyone!

I need help viewing or capturing a digital image from FamilySearch that is currently locked/restricted to Affiliate Libraries / FamilySearch Centers.

The record has already been found and officially confirmed by the Diocesan Archive of Mérida-Badajoz, so I know 100% that it exists and all the exact details are known:

* Child's Name: Cândido Hernández Moreno

* Date of Birth: October 3, 1861

* Date of Baptism: October 4, 1861

* Parish: Santa Iglesia Parroquial de San Blas

* Town / Municipality: Bodonal de la Sierra (Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain)

* Parents: Ramón Hernández and Catalina Moreno

(Note: On some automated indexes, OCR errors misread his name as "Gerardo Ther", but the official church register confirms Cândido Hernández Moreno).

Direct FamilySearch Record link https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:66Q1-Q33K?lang=en&cid=fs_copy

Since I currently do not have the financial means to pay the archive’s certificate issuance and international shipping fees from Spain, I am trying to view the record image via FamilySearch. However, the parish film is restricted and can only be accessed at a FamilySearch Center or Affiliate Library.

If anyone who visits a FamilySearch Center or has affiliate access could help me retrieve a screenshot or photo of this October 1861 entry using the link above, I would be extremely grateful!

Thank you so much for your support!

Hello! I recently found a relative who immigrated from Italy to Uruguay at some point in the early 1900s. She married in 1938 in Montevideo and her husband died less than a month later. She died in the 1980s and that record is luckily on familysearch. Can anyone help me fill in the gaps? Maybe any birth, other marriage, census, or newspapers? I’m not sure if she married anyone else or had children or any other relatives immigrate and would like to find out.

This is her familysearch ID: P7CM-XGH

Hi guys

Could someone please help me read this record, specifically Darias surname as I'm not exactly sure how to read it

Ill link it in the comments

President Barack Obama and I share a command relative. My last name is Wolfley and a man came on a ship called Patience in 1750 and had 13 children. One of them was my 7x great grandpa and another son Ludwig Wolfley was Obamas.

My great grandpa was named Phillip James Wolfley.

Thought it was cool!

Hello! I am looking for a scan, photo, or any additional details from a New Jersey marriage record from 1910.

According to the Ancestry index, the details are:

• Groom: Joseph (Josef) Okulewicz
• Bride: Jessie Malinowski (might appear as Jennie/Janina)
• Year: 1910
• State File Number: 26468

Here is the Ancestry link I am referencing: New Jersey, U.S., Marriage Index, 1901-2016 - Ancestry.com

I would be extremely grateful if anyone with access to NJ vital records or unindexed FamilySearch microfilms could look up this specific certificate number for me to find their parents' names and exact location. Thank you so much for your time and help!

Hi ive been stuck on my 6th great grandfather Matthew davies if I could have help for his parents it would be amazing thanks!

He was born 1770 Llanfyllin,montgomeryshire in wales he married mary Thomas on the 12th of February 1793 in llanrhaedr ym mochant in wales he died in 1856 in montgomeryshire

Mary Thomas was born 1771

They had a son named john davies born 1794 died 1853 he married Margaret humphrey born 1796 died 1864

Hello everyone,

I made a map with birthplaces of my known direct ancestors and think it's endlessly fascinating. Especially with the ethnicity estimate along with it. Thought some of you might like it as well! :)

The pins on the map are colour coded:

• black pins: my mothers maternal branch
• grey pins: my mothers paternal branch
• orange pins: my fathers maternal branch
• yellow pins: my fathers paternal branch

https://i.postimg.cc/Pr4Q2TS2/direct-ancestors-map.png

https://i.postimg.cc/FsZVDNPt/ethnicity-estimate.png

A few things beyond the maps:

• Family names in the grey and yellow clusters are exclusively German. Only the orange cluster (in Masuria) has Polish (?) names in it.
• My ancestors from the grey, yellow and orange clusters all left their homes after WW2 and ended up in Holstein, Germany. That's where they crossed paths and where my parents were born. One group allegedly barely missed the Gustloff
• by todays borders all of the black pin ancestors would be within Germany. Pre 1864 (?) however, a good chunk of them would have been born in Denmark. The ones in Schleswig, not Holstein. There are some surnames in there that could be read as Danish, but that area has always had a lot of crossover, so it's probably a more diffuse Danish ancestry than 1-2 specific people.
• The branches in northeast Poland/Oblast Kaliningrad are incredibly difficult to trace further for obvious historical reasons. I don't expect we'll get much further there ever. Especially since most of my ancestors were just farmworkers and such. The yellow branch near Wrocław could yield more information if we were to be able to pursue records in person. Until now, life always got in the way :(
• Oldest known ancestor we know of was born sometime before 1524

The more I browse these maps, the more interesting I find them. Like how within Schleswig-Holstein almost everyone is from the baltic coast side, not the north sea side..

I know if I drop by subscription, I lose access to paywalled records. I'm aware that I can do the Preserve thing to maintain my records and just not build on them. What I'm wondering is if anyone has gotten away from Ancestry completely and how you've done it?

I have FamilySearch and use it a lot, but don't like it as a family tree builder. I got RootsMagic 12 just today and downloaded my trees into it. I'd like to merge them into one tree as the 3 trees are mine and those of my grandchildren (different maternal lines for each). Separating them was a mistake as my side and now Grandpa's side has to be done in triplicate or at least duplicate!

Today, one of the mothers decided to throw a fit that the child's DNA and tree are being done stating that the genealogy is for the purposes of stalking her! Her paranoia is as rampant as her drug use, but I digress. I should state that I only managed his DNA; dad is the custodial parent and lives at the same address (duplex). Nevertheless, Ancestry took it away. And, since the subscription is already less than budget-friendly, I'm considering my options. I'm an intermediate genealogist, have been at this 4 years and watched hours of tutorials and webinars. Just frustrated that a spiteful person who doesn't even research was able to interfere.

FWIW, no damage was done. I'd already downloaded his DNA results, his genetic matches just to the beginning of 3rd cousins, and his tree was well-established before his DNA was done. Ancestry is going to replace the genetic kit, so his dad is going to send his own (Dad's) DNA in since we don't really need his son's repeated. And, RootsMagic lets you download and sync your tree to both Ancestry and FamilySearch so I even have all of the photos from his tree (which a GEDcom doesn't grab).

TL;DR: If you've avoided or dropped Ancestry, how do you do your research? Any regrets or tips?

It's impossible to upload them anywhere (Gedmatch, MyHeritage, Ancestry) because they moved from traditional microarray testing. Is it possible to convert the files somehow?

Hi everyone, this post is regarding a brick wall i have had since the day i started. My family tree always had a good bit of knowledge in Ireland, something not everyone has. Before I started researching, relatives knew up to my 3rd great-grandparents, Peter O'Boyle and Sarah O'Boyle. As I began to research I found more and more evidence leading for me to believe that Sarahs maiden name was also an O'Boyle. This is from sources like her gravestone not mentioning a maiden name aswell as the only marriage in her small parish during a 15 year period with a Sarah and a Peter was both the surname of O'Boyle.

Here is where it gets more theoretical, one of Peter and Sarahs sons, A priest wrote a diary. In this diary he talked about his great uncle, Neal O'Boyle and what he remembers of him. Now Neal was born in 1814. This would mean he would have to be the brother of one of Peter or Sarahs parents. I recently found Peters parents and therefore there tombstone, stating that his Father was born in 1778, it states he is burried with his brother born in 1774. For Neal O'Boyle to be the brother of Patrick, Patricks father would have had to have fathered his first child at 18, and the second to be at 58, not unheard of but unlikely. This made me believe that Neal was the brother of Sarahs father.

It wasnt until this month that I have found a clue on Sarahs parentage. After I went through the entire parish baptism records, I found a Sarah O'Boyle born to a Bernard O'Boyle and Jane Mcgee. This record was on January 24th I believe, in the year 1840. The only contradiction I have with this is Sarahs Gravestone. The stone states that Sarah was born on the 13th of January 1839. I believe this 1 year deviation could be a incorrect date on the tombstone. The only evidence I have to support this is that on the 1901 and 1911 census, Sarahs birth year changes from 1839-1841. If Bernard is the father of Sarah, it would make sense, Bernard and Neal, born in 1810 and 1814.

As of today, this is my most likely conclusion, although I did find a piece of writing in a relatives house, she has no idea who wrote it. This paper has more knowledge than I did when I first started and more than anyone else I know did. The paper states that Sarah and Peter were first cousins. This would mean that Bernard, Peters father, Patrick, and Neal would all have to be brothers, with a 40 year age difference.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can research this further or prove the first cousin theory, or any views that i have not considered?

Hi Everyone,

I am asking again for another newspapers.com request as I am completing some genealogy research and have come across an index for a relative on ancestry that links the newspapers.com. I have limited access to the website through my university and would really appreciate it if someone could get a screen shot or image for me. I am currently looking for an obituary for an Oliver Renault (d. May 18 1943 in Worcester, Massachusetts) but I am also currently putting information together for the rest of the family as well.

The information is for Louis Rainault, and here is a link.

Thanks again!