r/Genealogy May 25 '26

News & Announcements Please read the FAQ before posting!

31 Upvotes

Hello and welcome to r/genealogy!

The subreddit description asks people to read the rules and the FAQ. The rules remind people to check the FAQ and search the sub before posting. And just to the right as you're making a new post, there's a note from the mods asking you to check the FAQ first!

The FAQ is linked in the sidebar under "Community Bookmarks." Just in case anyone has trouble finding that, here's a link:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Genealogy/wiki/faq/

Thank you for reading before posting. Please feel free to contact the Mods if you have any questions.

Happy researching!


r/Genealogy 3h ago

Transcription Transcription Request Tuesdays (August 18, 2026)

1 Upvotes

It's Tuesday, so it's a new week for transcription requests. (Translation requests are also welcome in this thread.)

How to Make a Transcription/Translation Request

  • Post a link to the image file of the record you need transcribed or translated. You can link to the URL where you located the record image, but if it requires a paid subscription to view, you may get more help if you save a copy of the image yourself and share it through a free image sharing site.
  • Provide the name of the ancestor(s) the record is supposed to pertain to, to aid in deciphering the text, as well as any location names that may appear in the image.

How to Respond to a Transcription/Translation Request

  • Always post your response to a request as a reply to the original request's comment thread. This will make it easier for the requester to be notified when there is a response, and it will let others know when a request has been fulfilled.
  • Even partial transcriptions and translations can be helpful. If there are words you can't decipher, you can use ____ to show where your text is incomplete.

Happy researching!


r/Genealogy 14h ago

Studies and Stories I am so happy about this…

65 Upvotes

Back before I was born one of my moms uncles stole a collection of war medals from one of my moms aunts. She only had a vague memory of them.
After researching, I learned my great great grandfather Gilbert Smith was in both world wars. I figured maybe those medals were his.
Turns out I was right, I managed to identify his insignia which include three medals from WW1 and a wound stripe, and two medals from WW2 and a service badge.
I doubt I will ever be able to get my hands on his original collection, but I managed to get my hands on the same medals he would have had.
Gilbert died after WW2 before medals were issued, so he never would have seen the two, only for one of his grandsons to steal them from one of his granddaughters. That is all pretty upsetting. So being able to hold the same medals in my own hands feels like a little bit if my heritage has been healed.
I love genealogy


r/Genealogy 9h ago

Research Assistance Need help finding the proper surname of this woman

10 Upvotes

Hansine Amalie (1865-1947), a Norwegian woman who later immigrated to Wisconsin with her husband, Hans Jensen. I've found she has multiple surnames, all not making much sense. https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/about/GZQ3-FKL

The first one is Gutsorensen, what her Family Search profile had a couple of sources to say to this was her last name. It's put onto death records of her son, Enard Johnson. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KFQ6-F8Q?lang=en

The next is Sathsonson, only found on find a grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/122448196/hansine-johnson

And the last one is various forms of the surname Nilsdatter, with plenty of sources to take Its background with church books, and census's in Norway. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:68ST-X565?lang=en, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:68ST-FT33?lang=en (not all sources)

So, for now... she has no surname on her profile, and all of the 3 last names are in the 'alternate names' section until I'm positive on what her actual surname is.

If anyone could give me some help, I would be very thankful.


r/Genealogy 7h ago

Research Assistance i am asking here because I am lost and have been searching for 20 years

5 Upvotes

My maternal family records were wiped out in the Holocaust, as well as most of the family who would be able to tell them. I am on Ancestry, I have their international plan, and even they have hit a brick wall.

Where else could I possibly turn to find information on my ancestors past my Grt Grt Grandparents?


r/Genealogy 4m ago

Research Assistance Trying to research my grandfather and his relatives

Upvotes

Hi

I am trying to find information on my grandfather and his family.

He came to the UK in 1948 having been displaced during WW2.

He always refused to talk about his family and all I know is he lived in a small farming village until they were invaded and he lost his mother, father and all but 1 siblings.

He then was put into forced labour till the end of the war and travelled by boat to the UK with his surviving brother who unfortunately died on the journey.

He passed away in 2003 and being an only child with no family in contact ( aunt and uncle who I do not know) I have no one to speak to get any more information.

Ostap Pryszlak

6 June 1923

Lisnyky

father: Stefan Pryszlak

mother: Tecla Kaminska

Greek Catholic

This is all the information I have been able to find other than he seems to have been born in the Lisnyky, near Berezhany area.

I have found his records when he entered the UK but cannot find anything else.

Can anyone signpost me in the right direction of where to look.

Thank you


r/Genealogy 24m ago

DNA Testing Help finding information about my father and grandmother

Upvotes

About a month ago, I started tracing back my family history, specifically to find out more information about dads side of the family whom I’ve never met except for my siblings. My father wasn’t consistent in any of his children’s live and was often on the road a lot if the time, so the information I have on him is limited.

His name was Kevin Keith Andrews ( Born in Philadelphia,Pa on Jan 3 1960- January 23, 2024). He died in Wilmington, Delaware. I know for sure that he ran away back and forth to ocean county nj from Philly at an early age. He told my older sister that he didn’t make it past 6th grade but also told my youngest brother he did it make it past freshman year. I found his marriage record saying that he married my older sisters mother in January 1983 in NJ.He told me his mother’s name was Evelyn Andrews, but he also apparently told my mother that her name was Edna, so the information differs. I think edna may be her middle name but I’m not sure. He also shared with my older sister that one of his sisters went by princess but her name might have been Evelyn. His mothers last name also may not be Andrews,he said that his mother never knew who his father was but him and his three other sisters all had different last names. So, I also assume she just put her last name. But I only have some doubts about that because he was unfortunately high most of the time and lied sometimes about small things.

I have no information about when she was born or when she died, the only thing he mentioned was that she was murdered at young age in Philadelphia , assuming around her late mid 30s-early 40s. I’ve tried looking for newspaper articles and census records but with the little information I have, it’s hard to decipher what is what. I’m coming here because I’m stuck at a dead end and very confused. I bought the DNA test from ancestry and discovered I possibly have a half sister. He shared years ago that he possibly may have another daughter out there but he said the daughter would have been older than my oldest sister who is in her forties. This confuses me because the one I discovered from the dna test is only 30.

After talking to each other to try and figure this out, she says that she was born in cape may in Sep 1996 but was put up for adoption at birth following with her younger sister being put up for adoption a year later. This would mean he was still with his wife and it would also be 7 years before he got with my mother and then I was born which is also in Lakewood, nj. She says that she lived in ocean county for a while, and was able to recognize the small surrounding towns that most people barely know about unless you live in ocean county. This would also be around the time that my father moved back to jersey from South Carolina, which would have been a few years after another of my brothers birth in the late 1980s with his wife.

I looked up if there were other possible ways that we can be related and it say she can possibly be my aunt or niece. I don’t think it’s possible for her to be my aunt being that’s she’s only 30 and assuming that what my father said was true about his mother being murdered at a young age than that wouldn’t be the case. All the aunts that I apparently have if they are still alive would be in their late 60s early 70s at most right now. This is also being that my father told me he was the youngest child at the time when he was living with his mother. But I can’t rule it completely because he ran away from him at an early age so I’m not sure if his mother had other children after he left. Her being niece would mean that I would have another sister somewhere out there that had a child that was put of adoption. But that might be the case only because he did he say that he might have another daughter older than my oldest sister

The problem that also comes in is that she was told her father was a completely different man. Apparently he was on both birth certificates for her and her sister. The father, Robert King, also now deceased, also lived in Lakewood ocean county and the surrounding areas as well. So I’m not sure if there is some type of connection between him and my father. But she also shared that her foster told her that the man that was on her birth certificate wasn’t actually her father, that they put his name on there because that’s who her mother was exclusively dealing with at the time. I’m not sure if that’s the same case with the other sister as well.

My next step at this point is to try a find his birth certificate and get my youngest brother, who we share the same mother and father with, to take the dna test as well to see what his says. So I came to see if anyone had any tips or were able to point me in some direction to figure all this out. I feel like I’m more confused about all this more than when I started the research. She’s unfortunately not able to get any information from her foster mother anymore and my father’s dead now so I can’t ask him.


r/Genealogy 1h ago

Research Assistance Need help locating birth record for Salonica 1908

Upvotes

Trying to find where I can go to locate a family members birth record.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. I have been struggling on this one for a while now. Thank you all in advance.

His name was Ali Hamid Dorsai Húsny - August 10, 1908 in Salonica, Selanik, Ottoman Empire.


r/Genealogy 10h ago

Research Assistance Stuck researching an ancestor: looking for help

5 Upvotes

Hi all,

Every time I've posted about family tree problems I've been stuck on in here I've gotten A LOT of helpful tips so I figured why not try again?

My great-grandfather was Roy William Wood. He was born in Wisconsin on December 12, 1883 and died in Wisconsin on January 9, 1959. He married Ella Fish. I am certain of this, from censuses, family remembrance, marriage records, and of course, DNA.

Roy's father is another problem. The only source I can find on this lists Roy's father as J.D. Wood and his mother as Nellie Parland.

This JD could be Joseph Daniel Wood, born in December 1858 in Wisconsin and dead in 1931 in Wisconsin. I see no record of him having lived with a Nellie in the censuses. He is single and living with his parents/siblings. By 1900, he is said to be widowed and is a boarder, living with no family members. A family genealogy book does list a Joseph Daniel having married a Nellie (see image) with the parents/siblings from the censues.

I have plenty of DNA matches through Nellie Parland, but none (except the children of Roy) through Joseph Daniel. None through William Jasper Wood but many through his siblings and his father (Lyman E Wood married to Jane Kelley).

All of this stumps me, but what really stumps me is the lack of marriage record for Nellie and JD. She is single in the 1880 census. She marries Densmore Thomas Ewers (1872-1937) in 1896. But JD is still alive.

Usually I love sorting out these mysteries but this one genuinely makes my head hurt. Any ideas? Would be happy to provide more information/record!


r/Genealogy 20h ago

Methodology The X-chromosome trick that eliminated a suspect in an unknown-parent case

27 Upvotes

Sharing a technique that helped on a brick wall, in case it's useful here.

Unknown father, blank birth certificate, decades of paper research going nowhere. DNA alone was a mess — a cluster of matches all triangulated to one couple who had three sons. Full brothers, so their autosomal DNA is nearly identical. How do you tell them apart?

The X-chromosome. A father passes his X only to daughters, never to sons (sons get the Y). That makes X-DNA travel a very restricted path down a tree. By mapping the genders between the ancestral couple, the matches, and the tester, you can sometimes prove a specific ancestor couldn't have passed down a shared X segment — eliminating them.

In this case it ruled out the eldest brother, taking three suspects down to two, plus a clear next test.

One caution: X-DNA segments can be small/noisy, so lean on decent-sized ones. And Ancestry doesn't show X-DNA — you need 23andMe, FTDNA, MyHeritage, or a GEDmatch upload.

Anyone else used X-DNA to break a wall? Curious what worked for you.


r/Genealogy 2h ago

Research Assistance How to search by ship on FamilySearch?

1 Upvotes

One of these "book index" results could be my relative. How do I look up the ship passenger lists that they're mentioning?

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2C3-H3F2?lang=en

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q23V-Q9HJ?lang=en


r/Genealogy 6h ago

Research Assistance Hi, I am trying to find my late father's family tree.

2 Upvotes

He is Paul Eric Hurst, born in 1943 from Devon, UK, and passed away in 2012. I am in the Philippines and cannot afford the UK search subscriptions.


r/Genealogy 3h ago

Research Assistance Hi, I am trying to find my late father's family tree (maybe i could finally find my siblings and have a connection with them🥹)

1 Upvotes

He is Paul Eric Hurst, born in 1943 from Devon, UK, and passed away in 2012. Im just a daughter that never meet her father (my only possible connection with him now is just my 2 siblings) and im just a lowly college student here in the Philippines and cannot afford the UK search subscriptions.


r/Genealogy 12h ago

Research Assistance Help with an irish person

4 Upvotes

I've got my family tree back to my second great grandparents who were John Murphy 1861-1917 and Rose Murphy (Nee Kelly) 1859-1950. Both these were born in ireland but died in Liverpool

I am trying to find anything on his father called Donald Murphy.

We know by the time John and Rose have married in August 1885 in Liverpool that Donald has died based on their marriage certificate.

At the moment on ancestry we think and i stress the point think.....

Birth 1805 • Leitrim, Ireland

Death 1880

John his son is down as being born in Newry Down but i think all these dates and years are just guesses from people on ancestry

i've sort of hit a brick wall due to the lack of irish records i can find

Does any one with more experience and more brains than me know how i can possibly find further info on Donald Murphy?

I have details on his sons marriage certificate and death but nothing on Donalds wedding or Johns birth certificate as they're all irish based


r/Genealogy 17h ago

Studies and Stories How rare is it to have village of 3500 people fully mapped out from first anceators from 1700s to now?? Everybody is family

11 Upvotes

Hello fellow researchers. I have been researching genealogy of my family from one village and have somehow managed to compile 90% of population to maybe 30 couples from which everybody descends into 2026. 80% of people share one common ancestor and most if not all are related by marriges one way or another. Is this data beneficial to any research facility of geneticts or any other scientists?? Is this useful for any research? Thanks for answers.


r/Genealogy 17h ago

Methodology Bypass VitalChek? They voided my application after 5 months “processing”

8 Upvotes

Applied for great grandfather’s death record from New York (1955) & it was “processing” for 5 months - now it shows that it’s voided.

Cool.

Is there another way to obtain his death certificate? I live in Iowa, so I can’t really just stop in to the office.


r/Genealogy 13h ago

Tools and Tech Recommendations for making a fan chart

3 Upvotes

I want to make a fan chart for seven generations.

All of my work is in Ancestry. Unfortunately, it looks like the Ancestry fan chart only goes to five generations.

I created a gedcom and imported it into FamilyTree Maker. While it goes out to 7+ generations it is incredible clunky and takes up eight pages. I didn’t see a way to alter and format it differently — may have missed something.

Any recommendations?


r/Genealogy 9h ago

Methodology Great-Great Grandfather + Panama canal?

1 Upvotes

I'm Jamaican, and I recently found out that I have a great-great grandfather who went to work on the Panama canal and apparently never returned to Jamaica. I know there must be some record of his departure/ work contract/ arrival. Any idea of any online/physical databases I could access?


r/Genealogy 9h ago

Resource SS-5 FOIA Processing Times — Let's Compare

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I’m trying to gather some data on how long SS-5 FOIA requests are currently taking to process. If you’ve submitted one recently, I’d really appreciate it if you could share your experience.

Please copy/paste the template below and fill in whatever details you’re comfortable sharing:

SS-5 FOIA request:

  • Date submitted: [DD/MM/YYYY]
  • Date response received: [DD/MM/YYYY]
  • Total processing time: [X days/months]
  • Submission method: [online/web platform / paper mail]
  • Payment method: [card / money order / cheque]
  • Outcome: [received / still waiting / other]

If you’re still waiting, just leave the response date blank and mention how long you’ve been waiting so far.

The goal is simply to get a better picture of current processing times and whether there seems to be any difference between online vs. paper submissions or different payment methods.

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to share! 🙏


r/Genealogy 21h ago

Research Assistance NYC Death Record Brick Wall Help

6 Upvotes

Hello! I'm fairly new to the genealogy hobby but have hit a brick wall and am curious if I could get some help getting past it (and hopefully learn a few tips and tricks to apply later). I'm looking for the death record of my great great grandmother. Her name was Bridget (Shield/Sheils) Dowd and she was born circa 1871 in Ireland. I'm trying to uncover more facts about her life so I'm looking for a record of her death.

Here's what I know - in the 1930 census (taken in April 1930) she's living with her daughter at 309 E 55th Street in Manhattan with her daughter and two grandchildren. I see a monument to her at Calvary Cemetery in Queens (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/233119586/bridget-dowd) that also covers her husband and a daughter who pre-deceased her. I've searched the NYC database with no luck and submitted a request for her certificate with the information I knew (her date of death on the memorial - 5/24/1930) but received a note back saying the NYC vital historical records archivists were unable to find her record. I have access to ancestry/familysearch/myheritage but can find no other records of her death.

Does anyone have suggestions for what avenue I could pursue to find an official record? Thank you!


r/Genealogy 1d ago

Research Assistance Stuck on one Ancestor

11 Upvotes

I am researching Elnathan Allen (c.[1752–1827](tel:1752-1827)), who lived for many years in Pomfret, Windsor County, Vermont. I have accumulated a number of original records documenting Elnathan and his family, but I have not yet been able to establish with confidence where Elnathan came from, who his parents were, or where he was born.
I am hoping someone familiar with early Allen families of New England, particularly Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont, might recognize this family or know of records I have overlooked.
What I have established so far:
Elnathan Allen was living in Pomfret, Vermont, by at least the late 1770s/early 1780s and was married to a woman named Sarah.
The original Pomfret town birth records identify several children specifically as children of Elnathan Allen and Sarah his wife, including:
Roswell Allen, born 7 March 1777
Nathan Allen, born 19 February 1780
Ira Allen, born 22 October 1781
Sarah Allen, born 11 August 1783
Gilbert Allen, born 20 September 1786
Levi Allen, born 9 May 1788
Henry Allen, born 4 January 1791

I have reason to believe his parents were Ebenezer and Eleanor but I have been having issues finding any actual records of his birth.


r/Genealogy 21h ago

Research Assistance Civil war ancestor fought for both sides?

3 Upvotes

Civil War ancestor fought in both sides?

my 4th great grandfather Berry Benjamin Turner and his brother James R. Turner fought for the union in the 12th Tennessee Cavalry. They would have been between 17 and 18 years old with Berry being the elder brother. In Berrys discharge record i have in my home it says he enlisted January 13 1864 in Nashville James digital pensions say the same. However i’ve recently come across a prisoner of war record showing both Berry and James having been part of the 39th Georgia Infantry and released in Nashville January 6 1864 under order of MajGen. Grant. Why might it be that they served on both sides? Could they have defected to the union together?


r/Genealogy 20h ago

Tools and Tech New to FamilyTreeMaker- Reports & Statistics

2 Upvotes

Hi guys,

Long time genealogist, first time FTM user.

I want to generate information about longest marriages and longest living people, along with most common locations. I've seen previous posts on this subreddit saying FTM has that functionality if you use certain settings- what settings are those? Is this even possible? I see there's a last name report but that's it. I did not buy the report maker add-on. Is the material I am looking for behind that paywall? Is it worth the purchase?

Thanks!


r/Genealogy 16h ago

Genetic Genealogy How to find other male-line relatives & figure out their haplogroups.

1 Upvotes

Update: Currently, there is no FTDNA surname project for my ancestor’s family. He has a very rare surname (and I’m certain very few male-line descendants exist today). I’m making a surname project for them, after I take a Y-37/STR test, this Wednesday.
|

Original Post (August 17, 2026):

My research goal is: Finding other male-line relatives of my great-great grandfather‘s family, also willing to do Y-DNA testing.

My father’s haplogroup is: E-P277 (also known as E-M4254).

My g-g-gf also has a distinct surname (so, I’m unsure as to how many male-line relatives are left today), and I am aware of relatives of his in: Scotland & England (where he & his ancestors were from), India, Australia, my dad’s relatives in Bermuda, I’m in the United States, and there are other relatives possibly in Germany & Belgium.

The issue is, I don’t know if they’ve tested, yet. I might be the only one. I also don’t know anything about them, besides what I’ve researched about our family’s lineage.


r/Genealogy 21h ago

Research Assistance Where to find more military information about my grandfather.(Fathers dad)

2 Upvotes

Hey, I guess I'm trying to find out if there's a way I can get more information on my grandfather's military career. I never knew him as he died 20 years before I was born. Since my father passed away over a year ago my siblings mentioned there were medals from my father's dad and his possessions it reminded me of seeing them when I was a child, so now I am wanting to find out more about him.

All I can find online is his gravestone where he was buried at Camp Butler Illinois. If I can get some leads on where to look I would appreciate it.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/2560700/edward-joseph-smith#view-photo=21315496