Is family research ever easy?

Question

I'm research family hx for a dear friend who has almost nothing to go on. We believe most records were lost in a home fire some yrs ago. Both parents have past, along with all grandparents. The family she has left seem to never have time to help with info. At first she thought maybe she was related to a city manager in Brunswick NC but there is no relation. We did find a note pad tied to the back of her grandmothers bible, it was clear but there was a indention from the prior page. I shaded the clear page and found these names Ola Mae Lewis(Married 2 times, first to a Bray then a Holley) this is a Judge in Brunswick NC, a John David Lewis dob 7 28 59 and a Ora Maye Lewis(married name Brown) If anyone knows if there is any connection at all between these people I would so appreciate the help. I'm still searching myself....I have the up most respect for those who do family research!!!

Answer 1

Some lines will automatically be easier than others because of the records left behind. The more you know about where to look for records & what makes sense, the easier it is. The more time & money you're willing to spend the easier it is. It's like trying to build a house with just a hammer. It's a lot easier if you also have a saw, drill, screwdriver, etc. With all respect, it's hard to do the way you're approaching it. Making connections between people that you haven't established a connection to yourself can lead you astray. A missing notepad in a Bible would make me very nervous. Because the near relatives have passed you'll have the best luck ordering birth, marriage & death records from the appropriate agency for the parents first, then the grandparents. Fees may apply. Some records may be available for free on genealogical websites as well.



Follow the basic research process for genealogy:

1. Interview your living relatives.

2. Examine your documents and those of relatives that will allow it. Start with your friend's birth certificate. Even if this is the only document they can access it will get you on the right path to find the parents' records.

3. Prepare for research by learning about basic genealogy, genealogy specific to your known ancestors.

4. Organize your data. Free software is available.

5. Research one document at time for one generation at a time for one person at a time.

Repeat steps as needed.



Resources will vary depending on where and when your ancestor lived, what records they left behind, and what is available for that place/time. Not everything is online and/or free. A few hints for making good use of websites: Avoid user-submitted trees/pedigrees except where they have sources cited, and go to the sources. Indexes and transcriptions are better than trees but still likely to have errors. Use these to get you to the original source. Try to find and work with original documents or images as exclusively as possible.



Some helpful starting places:

http://www.cyndislist.com/

https://www.familysearch.org/

http://www.censusfinder.com/

http://www.findagrave.com/

http://www.deathindexes.com/ (U.S.)

Here -- Many of us have resources or knowledge specific to certain documents, times, places, and groups.

Google -- Look for local libraries, archives, agencies, and GenWebs.

Offline -- Libraries, archives, museums, genealogical societies, Family History Centers, etc. BIG note: FHCs have free access to some of the paid subscription sites.

Answer 2

> Is family research ever easy?



Sometimes. One of my Pack ancestors married a lady named Lively in 1811. In 1963 the Lively Association (A family research organization) hired a man who was

1) A college professor (thus he had library skills),

2) A Mormon (thus he had the zeal),

3) A semi-professional genealogist (so he's already applied those library skills to our field)

4) A resident of Salt Lake City (thus he had access to the largest genealogy library on the planet)

to trace all of the descendants of 9 men named Lively who were in the USA in 1693.



It took him a year, and he produced a 700+-page book. I bought the book for $25, proofed it (he had my grandfather dying in 1924; it was 1942, an easy mistake to make with a manual typewriter.)



> We believe most records were lost in a home fire some yrs ago.

Have you tried

Birth, death and marriage records at the courthouse or state capitol;

Obituaries and wedding stories in old newspapers on microfilm at the library;

Ancestry.com, free at some public libraries and many LDS Family History Centers.

Answer 3

When was Ola Mae born? In NC? What county?

Are you looking for her parents?

DOB 7 28 59? 1859 or 1959? If born in 1959 could very well be living and we research the dead here.

Answer 4

What immediately strikes me is that it seems you believe family records are the only source, and you don't seem to be following method for research. Since all 4 grandparents are dead, the immediate thing is to get death certificates from the state for all 4, and then locate all of them in the census. You wont find info on a person born in 1959, who presumably is still living, therefore his records are confidential. And, it is apparently just a guess.

I can't tell you if they are connected, nor would I try. The person needs to use KNOWN documentation (ie link herself to her parents with her birth cert; get documents about the parents to link them to their parents, lather, rinse, repeat).

http://rwguide.rootsweb.ancestry.com/

this will give you a better idea of valid sources of info and how to get them. Stay on track instead of random guessing.

You also can repost your question, USING THE NAMES OF THE KNOWN GRANDPARENTS, with details that we can hook into.. ie dates and places. Use maiden name of the women.

Most hard core research does not rely on memory... once you get back far enough, people don't have memory, which is fine. Your trick is learning about historical sources and how to use those.



edit

I see you posted a question earlier..which went to voting for best answer. Did you read those replies?

Answer 5

Have2know...



No, it is never easy, except perhaps for the most recent generations.



Having dead parents/grandparents is meaningless; perhaps they would have been a help, but perhaps not, considering all the people who claim an ancestor was an Indian/slave/etc.



The best sources, which it seems no one on here wants to use, are the local sources: libraries, historica/genealogical societies, newspaper archives. If a person lives where ancestors lived, searching cemeteries is also a good source.



But, there is always www.cyndislist.com and "Search Y! Answers".

Answer 6

You are making it hard for yourself..............when researching you always start from KNOWN information and work back to the unknown.............so finding and name and trying to make a connection somehow...well you are wasting your time .........



So what do you know? your friend, her records...her birth cert will PROVE her parents...........if few records exists then she needs to purchase a copy of her parents or grandparents birth certs and work from there......... that way you will have known proven information, then you follow the paper trail back using the records that the people created....



So start with a proven person (someone who is dead) ask another question such as 'information requested', giving full name, date approx if you don't know exact ( and don't write 59, we have no idea if this is 1759, 1859 or 1959 ) and place/country

Answer 7

There in general isn't a Norwegian princess for your husband's tree, seeing that there were not any again in the ones days, however that does not imply the historical past is not intriguing. If you understand the names of the high-quality grandparents and publish them right here, anyone will come alongside to support. Researchers right here love a well thriller.

Answer 8

rather than list methods of research, I would suggest that you go to the Familysearch.org site. There is a tutorial under the research tips tab that is excellent. The one suggestion I have is to cite the sources of information you do find so that if you need to return to it you can easily and any one who may later want to review the research can easily see there the information came from.