I'm no expert at ancestry research, but my family and I have been looking into it for a few years, just for fun. Anyway, I am having trouble finding info about my great-grandfather who lived his whole life in St. Louis and the surrounding area (I don't even know his mother's name). Anyone ever hired a professional genealogist that was able to find info that was otherwise unavailable online? (I don't want to spend a fortune, especially since there are no guarantees the pro will have better luck than I have.)
I do have a membership to Ancestry.com, on which I've found found census records from the years 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930, as well as his marriage record, SS Death Index, and his WWI draft reg card. However, according to my grandmother (who has passed away), his mother and twin died during childbirth. His father remarried and had several children with his new wife. 3 of my g-grandfather's half brothers gave him $ to stay away from the reading of their father's will and he took it. I think the half-brothers inherited the family business and property. No one in the family knows his mother's name. I think I've exhausted the online options.
The free 14-day trial on Ancestery.com was very much worth it. Definitely try that before you hire a professional!
I've done tons of genealogy research, and I'm also a land title researcher so I know a lot of helpful resources. These are the ones I use the most:
www.ancestry.com
www.familysearch.org
www.findagrave.com
I've also used google and local newspapers to try to find old obituaries.
Hope that helps!
If you are willing to PM me the information I am willing to ask my ex to help. Depending on your heritage there is a good chance your family went through his family's funeral home. The only big problem is the records from 1910 through 1930 are all in, well, I can't remember the exact name but a form of German. The last employee would could read the records died 20 years ago. :( Their family is Bohemian if that helps.
Whoa, just noticed I forgot to mention his family owns several funeral homes in St Louis. Kind of a major omit, sorry about that.
I am stuck on my grandfather but he was pretty secretive about his past. I believe he was at least half Native American. Since he was born mid Civil War and the Indian Wars were close that he hid his heritage.
I would not hire someone. You sincerely have no idea if the information they find is actually your relative any more than the people you find on your own.
My hubby's aunt in SLC had a LOT of free time on her hands, her hubby was a Sealer in the SLC Temple. She has at least on side of their family back to Adam...yes, "that" Adam.
I think she spent her whole life tracing and figuring it out. I know that back in the older years if you can tie into royalty they have theirs back to the creation too.
If you are really interested in doing this call your local LDS churches, they have genealogy libraries inside their buildings, they are typically open at their own discretion.
I would use all the free resources there are. Census records are one of the best. They take hours and hours. I found my mother on the census records when she was just a few years old. Some have been destroyed but most are still there.
Since you know where he lived you can find him on the census records for that area....for example...if he lived in St. Louis in 1910 find that census and then look and look until you find him as an adult married with children. Then see where he says he was born. Then get the next census for that area and start looking for him as a child. They may have missed his family or something though so if you don't find him you look at the next census for that area. Eventually you should find him.
I can find tons of people who have my grandfather's name but they don't live in the circumstances he described. I think he was born on the reservation, I truly think he was just making a story up for relatives so they would not know he was Native American.
I am assuming you've already tried ancestry.com? my husband got a free 14-day trial and found tons of interesting stuff on his family - even pictures of a great-great-great! wow!
Other than that, I am completely useless to you for advice:)
Yeah, my suggeston was also to use ancestry.com. My FIL is back in the 1400 on his mother's side.
Check different spellings too. My grandmother's name is spelled differently depending on which document you are looking up.
I second the LDS suggestion - very helpful. If nothing else, at least check out their website. Beware, though - anything you find anywhere should always be cross-referenced.
Find-a-grave is excellent, too. You know he lived his whole life in St. Louis, so you can search for tombstones with that name, in Missouri. With any luck, there will be a death certificate or at least obituary on file for him as well.
Also, if you are up for traveling, my mom has had luck going into local tax offices. If he owned land, he either had to buy it or it was granted to him, and when he died, it went to someone - either sold or inherited or both. With any luck, the tax office might have land records that far back. It's the off-season for tax offices right now, so it might be worth a shot. I wouldn't try waiting until April, though! :)
And never underestimate the power of just googling him. The more unusual the name, the better, but there is always a good chance he has popped up on someone else's research, too, and it will at least give you a lead. Don't go straight back, either - sometimes it helps to go at it from a different direction. Searching for "Susan" got me nowhere, but her sister, "Mary Pauline," married into a rather prominent family, and as such, there was all kinds of information about HER.
Happy searching!
Can you check newspapers from that time? Not sure how much they might have, but ...
Also look up birth records - going backwards with names you already have!
