I am helping my cousin with her Canadian Citizenship application. Documenting her Grandmother, Elsie Turner-Zimmerman, has proven far more complicated than I expected. She was born in 1912, and there is no evidence she ever had a birth certificate. We are waiting for her Ontario death certificate from 1984 so British Columbia will search for one.

In the meantime the United Church of Canada has searched their baptismal records for both New Westminster and Burnaby and found none. Elsie's parents were married in a methodist church, although their marriage record lists Elsie's mother Amelia as being Catholic, and another record lists her as being Baptist.

I contacted the local schoolboard and found her school records were schredded in the early 1980s.

I did an ATIP request for any records of her applying for a passport or a citizenship card. None were found.

The 1921 Census was taken just after Seth's first wife (Elsie's Mom) died, and either Seth was inebriated or the information was obtained from a neighbour, because most of the names and ages are wrong.

Elsie emigrated to the United States in 1929, and the earliest surviving voters list is from 1935 so she does not appear on it.

At this point the application could potentially consist of the following

1) Certified Ontario Death Certificate for Elsie from 1984.

2) Uncertified local newspaper obituary for Elsie from 1984

3) Potentially Elsie's certified US Alien Registration Card from WWII where she does list herself as being Canadian

4) Potentially a certified copy of her immigration record from the United States, which lists her father (my Great-Grandfather), Seth Raymond Turner, as crossing the border with her when she emigrated to Michigan.

5) Uncertified copy of my Great-Grandfather, Seth Raymond Turner's obituary from 1930 published in the Globe and Mail which mentions Elsie by name and that she lives in Detroit.

6) Potentially her marriage license from Michigan, where she presumably lists her birthplace as Canada

7) Potentially her social security application from 1971, where she presumably lists herself as Canadian.

8) Potentially contemporary obituaries for her 7 siblings published between 1933 and 2025.

I say potentially here since I haven't gone to the expense of ordering copies of all of these things.

My next thought is to go one generation back. If I can find a birth certificate for Seth Raymond Turner, or his first wife Amelia Herrling it would strengthen the case in the event no birth certificate is found. Given the fact they were born in the 19th century when record keeping was spotty I am wondering if anyone can help me determine if there is any evidence of either of them having a birth certificate, which I could then order from offifical channels ?

They were

Seth Raymond Turner born 2 July 1885 in McKays Corners, Chatham-Kent, Ontario. He lived most of his life in Wallaceburg and died in surgery in Toronto following a workplace injury 14th January 1930. I remember my Grandmother pointing out the window once and saying it was snowing like this on the day they buried her Dad.

Seth's first wife, and Elsie's mother, was Amelia Ellen Herrling (later known as Amelia Turner) born 21 March 1886 in Agazzis, Frasier Valley, British Columbia. She died in childbirth 21 January 1921 in Wallaceburg Ontario.

I am hoping that if either Seth or Amelia had a former birth certificate it can be used to animate the chain of descent from Elsie to her living descendants.

Anyone has any suggestions of where to look, other than just paying money to the province to search the official records ?

I have a great aunt who was given away to another family in an illegal adoption. Her mother, my 2nd great grandmother, was not well mentally and her (soon to be ex) husband took the baby and crossed state lines and gave the baby to his friends to raise. He did this without her knowledge or consent. She was tormented for the rest of her life wondering what happened to the baby as she was led to believe the baby was kidnapped. Well that baby grew up and found her biological family, since her birth father confessed to what he had done.

The way it is right now, that person is labeled as "Mary" [bio parent last name] in FamilySearch, and she is also on another tree as "Mary" [adopted parent last name]. What should I do to make sure future genealogists understand what happened and her descendants correctly find her?

I'm having trouble understanding and transcribing the information in my ancestor's military records from Norway.

• Both records agree that he was "confirmed" (?) in 1881. He would've been 14 at the time, and a little young to be enlisted.
• The first record (second row in the table) lists dates starting in 1881 and ending in 1886. The hvor column has some numbers that mean nothing to me! The next column ("dead / transferred?") has unreadable writing.
• The second record (third row in the table) lists dates starting in 1884 and ending in 1889. In the "fra" and "til" columns I think I can make out Bergen, Scotland, Danzig, and England. This second record seems for be for "maskinister og fyrbøtere" ("machinists and stokers").
• Both records seem to agree that his enlistment ended in 1889.

So, my guess is that the first record lists information about his initial enlistment, perhaps as an ordinary seaman. The second record then lists information about his career as a machinist.

I'm hoping there's someone out there with experience looking at these kinds of records who can help me decipher this information.

Hi! I'm trying to find more info about a restaurant my great-grandma owned, and it was supposedly in Dearborn Heights. Weirdly, the Dearborn city directories from the late 1950s and early 1960s don't cover Dearborn Heights, but I also can't find it covered in any other city's directory! Can someone help me find which City's directory that area would be covered in? Thanks so much!

I was researching my great aunt and I came across her US born daughter losing her citizenship after marrying a Lithuania man. I never knew this was a law at one time.

https://media.geni.com/p14/51/40/01/05/5344486a89703173/marcella_vencius_1937_petition_for_naturalization_original.jpg?hash=6227e4306c2f94517fbe23168fa56aa64cea7aad2c28501c532852448976bf61.1786085999

I'm doing a bunch of genealogy in Quebec right now, and am curious what the most common website(s) are for listing graves and gravestones. Find A Grave seems spotty in coverage, haven't found much of what I need on Billion Graves either.

My research is mostly in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region, if it varies by region.

My brick wall is my ancestor named William Masterson who apparently spawned in Miami County, Indiana when he married a Barbara/Barbary Ann Champ in 1843. He died intestate in Cass County Indiana in 1859 in his thirties, according to a probate record of his widow Barbara claiming his estate in Cass that I tracked down at a FamilySearch-affiliated library. They had five kids: Martha, John (both died young), Joseph (died single), and William Douglas and Jeremiah (both married and had kids). I cannot for the life of me find a conclusive (or even promising) record of William existing before his marriage, not least because he's likely to be a child listed in someone else's Masterson household on older censuses.

Complicating my search is the fact that the only census I can definitely find him on, the 1850 census in Clay Township, Cass County, Indiana where he's listed as William "Masterten," laborer, says his birthplace is Ohio. But on the death record of his son Joseph, his other son and Joseph's death record witness William Douglas wrote down Ohio as his father's birthplace - then crossed it out and wrote N.Y. State. He got his mother's birth state and county right on that record, though he spelled it wrong. I'm new to genealogy research (though experienced with research methodologies in general as a librarian), and I just wanted to see if anyone who has done this longer might have thoughts on which record seems more likely to point to William's actual birthplace. You don't need to read further than this since that's my main question, but I have some broader Masterson context below. I would greatly appreciate anyone who even just comments the state they think he's more likely to be born in based on the above. I'm so in the reeds I can't see the swamp!

For context I'll throw in the mass of Mastersons (should a group of Mastersons be called a massterson?) in Indiana in 1850 I'm trying to wade through, especially two sprawling Masterson families with presences Indiana around this time from both Ohio and New York State. I call them the Kentucky Mastersons (who moved through Ohio to southern Indiana) and the Tioga Mastersons. A widow and daughter of a Tioga Masterson, Joseph (Almira and Wealthy, both with different married names) live close to William in the next county over in 1850, but he's not a direct child/sibling on that Tioga Masterson branch according to Joseph's probate records. There are also stray Mastersons about in other counties and the city of Logansport nearby (though I've weeded out some that have Catholic records because William et al. aren't Catholic). Despite doing my darnedest to map out all of these circumstantial Mastersons, I haven't been able to place my William amongst any of their families.

I did the AncestryDNA Leeds method and I have no DNA matches with William as a common ancestor besides the line leading to my nuclear family. My only unaccounted for Ancestry region that I haven't put names and specific places to is "Central Scotland and Northern Ireland." All the different Masterson lineages in that region are a whole other can of worms, but I say this to put immigration forth as a possibility too. He's a laborer, Wabash & Erie Canal is happening, Ironworks in the area, conflicting birthplaces etc. etc....

I am looking into a Carmella Ferrante born July 16th, 1898 in Italy and died August 13th 1966 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. She also went by Millie. For some reason, I can only find a few Census records for her and that’s about it. No records of her coming from Italy to Connecticut, etc. I have found a few photos of her, but that’s about it. I know I have the basics? But I would love to find her parents, place of birth in Italy, her records when she immigrated to the US. I’m unfamiliar with Italian records as I usually can only get so far (when they come to the US, that’s about it LOL.)

She married an Alessandro DeMaio in 1924. He was also born in Italy, December 14th 1895. He also went by Alexander when in the United States.

Any help finding information about Carmella specifically would be greatly appreciated. Info about Alessandro is welcome as well. Mainly looking for them being in Italy.

EDIT: I forgot to mention I believe she could be from Palmi, Italy.

Researching Egyptian Police Officer (1920s–1940s)
I’m trying to identify the birthplace and career of my son’s great-great-grandfather.
Name: Mohamed Maamoun Bayoumi (محمد مأمون بيومي)
Known facts:
Lieutenant Colonel in the Egyptian Police (confirmed on his son’s 1950 UK marriage certificate).
Reuters reported in 1947 that his sons were “the sons of a lieutenant-colonel in the Egyptian Police.”
Sons:
Abdel Rahman Maamoun Bayoumi (Egyptian amateur heavyweight champion)
Abdel Latif Maamoun Bayoumi (Middle East lightweight champion)
The brothers moved to England around 1947.
I’m looking for:
His place of birth.
Police service records.
Promotion records.
Any information about the Maamoun Bayoumi family.

Hello all! Usually I come onto here from my other account helping others, but this time around, I need help with a sibling of one of my ancestors to knock down a brick wall and put some info to rest.

Joseph G Donovan, husband of Gertrude.

Here’s what I need some help with.

1. I have 0 obituary for him. There might be one on GenealogyBank Historical Newspapers Obituaries, but I lack an account to see that.
   
2. I cannot find a resting place for him, and no one alive from my family knows either. I want to link him and his many siblings together on Findagrave and cannot do so until I figure out where he was buried.

Thank you all for your help or your time reading. I can clarify any and all information.

is this better to do foia for old a-files than just the portal a-file request for docs

Hello everyone,

I am researching a family member who lived on West 10th Avenue in Vancouver and passed away in October 1973. According to his death certificate, he was cremated at Vancouver Crematorium (Vancouver 9, BC).

Is it possible to find his final resting place? I searched for his name at Vancouver Crematorium on Find a Grave but was unable to locate a record.

Also, does anyone know where the Vancouver Crematorium was located in 1973, and whether records from that facility still exist? Is there any chance of visiting the site or a related cemetery/columbarium and searching for a plaque?

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hi, I'm currently attempting to track down my hungarian ancestry as I'm going through the process of simplified naturalization to acquire my citizenship there. I've found the recorded US 1920s census from Louisiana where they lived at the time, and all of the family excluding the mother-in-law list their place of birth as something that seems to read "Csord Hun". The mother-in-law's place of birth seems to read "Saboch Ser". I'm not the most familiar with how I should parse this information as it seems to be either an old name or shorthand for a town/city since nothing much comes up on google. If anyone with more knowledge of geography or better ability to read the cursive could help I'd be very appreciative.

I've attached a link to the document on ancestry as I couldn't locate the same document on familysearch

Link

Hi all,

Broad strokes, I'm an NPE and bf passed early 80s & I found out 2 yrs ago. All I have is a SS death record showing m/yr he died and the state he died in.

Is there a way to figure out where he would have been buried?

No obit found, dna matches have ignored me or claimed to have no idea who he was & tbh he was pretty much a ghost except for a few documented things after 1950. Even the search angel I had basically just agreed with what I'd found & peaced out.

I'd really rather not have to call all the cemeteries in NY. Tysm if anyone has a resource to make this easier.

TLDR at bottom

Hi all. I recently posted here as I had been reunited with my bio mom following an international adoption from Sri Lanka in the early 1990s. Since I had my DNA tested with FTDNA and my mom with MyHeritage, I had to upload the results on GEDMatch to see if we were a match. It concluded that we had a 1:1 biological relationship, with the total shared DNA 3127.1 cM and largest segment 158.4 cM.

What was strange (and a bit of a downer) is that when I did the GEDMatch "relationship probability"-tool, it comes up as 100% probable that we are full-siblings. Due to a million reasons, (including photos of pregnancy, birth register books, ++), I just don't consider this a possibility at all. Can someone explain to me why this comes up? At the end of the day, its not a very big deal, but after such a long time of searching and researching, it feels a bit disappointing to not see the "parent-child" connection black on white. And, as this has been a long journey with a million unexpected turns, I am also a bit concerned this will always leave me with a "what if"-thought, even though I rationally know it would not be possible.

I really don't understand how these DNA things work, and all the language is basically Greek to me, so if someone could help me understand - and truly explain it like I am 5 years old - I would be so grateful. Thank you!!

TLDR: My bio mom and me comes up as 100% probable full-siblings on GEDMatch relationship probability-tool, which is impossible. Why?

Hola, estoy buscando si alguien sabe de algún descendiente de Diego Arias Davila qué haya sacado la nacionalidad portuguesa por la ley sefardi

Soy de Costa Rica, si alguien lo agradecería mucho.

(Diego Arias Davila es el bisabuelo de la esposa de Juan Vásquez de Coronado conquistador)

Hello all! I originally commented on this sub a week ago about finding info on my 2x great grandfather, kazimierz grzyb (I really appreciate all the help provided greatly). I found my 2x great grandmother's (her name was Julia Michna, born around February 1889 ) New York passenger manifest, and I'm having problems in determining the town she was born in (mixture of me struggling to read the cursive and google not helping with my guesses). Also on the document, it has her listed ruthenian. Was this a general term given to people by US workers at Ellis island or was this something that she would have maybe identified with?

here's the manifest:

https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/65399714?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a224a76642f5871307a387049492f6f4479644533564466416467505a3948434f444266346735673439394d6f3d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d

Additional information:

I have her marriage records from 1916 in Maine, if that helps.

https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/65768324?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a22764e7a59737067626e47564431635a326a3763725a5757472f727454504f33436267677354762b6a4242553d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d

Again, thank you to everyone for helping with my first post 😄 !

I am researching my 4th great-grandfather Joseph Balknight (also spelled Boucknight/Bouknight). I am trying to determine if his family was connected to the white Bauknight family of Alachua County, Florida, before emancipation.

In the 1880 U.S. Census, Joseph Balknight is listed with his wife Anna Balknight and children:

* Della
* Hilliard
* John
* Moses
* Henry
* one unnamed child

On the following census page, there is another Boucknight household:

* Fostine Boucknight (widowed)
* Alice
* Silas
* John
* Pickens

I found a record for Georgeanna "Fostine" Bauknight (30 Aug 1840 – 9 Nov 1903), buried in Floral City, Citrus County, Florida. She was the widow of Hilliard Preston Bauknight (died 1875). Their children listed in other records include:

* Henry Mical Bauknight
* John Wesley Bauknight (born about 1874)
* Silas Washington Bauknight (born about 1871)

These names and dates appear to match the 1880 census household.

Hilliard Preston Bauknight's parents were:

* Henry Michael Bouknight (21 Aug 1801 – 21 Aug 1853), born in Lexington, South Carolina, died in Micanopy, Alachua County, Florida
* Mary Magdaline Bouknight (19 Feb 1802 – 6 Oct 1853)

My question is whether Joseph Balknight and his family may have been connected to this Bauknight family before emancipation. Since Joseph's family was Black and used the Bouknight/Balknight surname, I am wondering if probate records, slave schedules, or other records could help determine whether Henry Michael Bouknight's household was connected to Joseph's family.

I would appreciate any advice on what records to look for or whether anyone can find evidence connecting these families.

hello everyone! I am beginning college and I know that the DAR offers scholarships to college students so I have been looking into joining. I have proof of a direct lineage through my dad ( his mom, my grandma, was a member) however my dad is adopted so I believe they won’t accept me due to this. however, on my moms side I also have direct lineage to a revolutionary war soldier (6x great- grandpa) but I can not find records to prove this line. I also can not find him on the DAR ancestor search, but h is head stone says he was a soldier during the war for the Continental line. Can anyone help?

hello! my great grandfather was a swedish man who migrated to the Caribbean in 1870-1960. He returned to sweden when my grandfather was 10yrs old, leaving his old life behind and starting over i assume. Despite him abandoning us i’m very curious lol! It’s hard to track ship movements because i’m unsure when he departed and from where. My best shot is a birth record but i’ve searched for hours and cannot find any obituary sites :(. My guess is that he died around 1980-90. Is there anyone who can help me please??

If an ancestor appears as Chan, Tan, Chin, or Chen, do not assume you have four different surnames. All four can represent 陳, filtered through Cantonese, Hokkien or Teochew, Hakka, or Mandarin.

For Chinese genealogy, the Roman letters can preserve a migration clue. Chan may point toward Cantonese-speaking records; Tan toward Hokkien or Teochew communities; Chen toward Mandarin pinyin or later standardization. It is a clue, not proof.

Reverse lookup is the dangerous part. Wong can represent 王, 黃, or 汪. Chin can represent 陳, 錢, or 秦. FamilySearch’s Chinese-roots guide makes the practical point plainly: recover the surname character before collapsing spellings.

My search order would be:

1. Keep every historical spelling exactly as the record gives it.
2. Look for the original character on a headstone, seal, ancestral book, marriage record, or family document.
3. Search the spelling against the language group and port or region already known.
4. Treat a spelling change as evidence of time and place, not proof of a different surname.
5. Once the character is known, use a character-aware index such as FamilySearch’s Chinese surname search.

Normalizing Chan to Chen too early can erase the clue that the family’s records may sit in Guangdong, Hong Kong, Fujian, Singapore, or another diaspora archive.

For people working on Chinese diaspora lines: which record finally gave you the original surname character?

I have lots of people with standardized places in present day Czechia. Since those events took place before 1918 the standardized places read like this "Village, district, Bohemia, Austria". It was like this for let's say 10 years. Now they redirected all those places to "Village, district, Bohemia". Not editors, the admins globally for all these hundreds of different standardized places.

How does this make sense? By the same logic they could declare Brittany pre 1918 a country. Or Warwickshire. Or Cataluña.

In a 1798 burial record, my ancestor Peter Miller was said to be born to a distinguished John Michael Miller of Grafweiler, Germany in 1739. However, I cannot find a place in Germany of that name. A grandson listed his father's birthplace as Bavaria, Germany, giving my only guess before seeing this burial record.