Dean Is Making a Family Tree for His Grandfather

Shaking the Trees: Finding Family with a Little Aid from Friends

Ancestry | JUL 31, 2015

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By Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Paul Rawlins, Editorial Director at Ancestry My grandfather David Beatty Stewart, my mother'due south father, died in a 1924 car crash along with Mom'due south mother and little blood brother; Mom (age thirteen) was the but survivor. So far, I have been unable to trace Mom'due south male parent's father, probably too named David Stewart and built-in possibly in Sumner or elsewhere in Kansas' They did not vote, probably didn't vest to a church building, and census takers may not have reached them on their remote farms. So is at that place another way to trace these mysterious ancestors' ? Sharon Dear Sharon, Our first thought was to look for a newspaper account of the blow. Colorado does take a collection of newspapers online, but unfortunately it ends in 1923. We turned to History Colorado, and librarian Sarah Gilmore was able to help the states out in a large way. She sent us copies of three articles almost the accident (which really took place in 1925 rather than 1924). HuffPo1 The headline of the article that ran on xiii December 1925 tells the distressing tale: Pair Killed Instantly on Pueblo Road, while 2 other family members were severely injure in the crash, including your grandfather and your mother. The article itself is total of facts that will aid your enquiry. But information technology is likewise full of heartbreaking details. The family lived in Orchard Park and were on their way domicile from Christmas shopping. An older son, M.A., was driving. Daisy (your grandmother) and half-dozen-year-quondam David Beatty, Jr. were killed instantly. Your grandpa, David Beatty, Sr., sustained internal injuries and would die the next day. One thousand. A. (who was 17) was not injured; his sis Avia (age fourteen, your mom) sustained serious, just non fatal, injuries. The auto ran into an empty hay rack, possibly because the auto'due south lights were dim. No one was found to be at error. From the articles, you can learn the family'due south names, their ages, place of residence, and death details, including the proper name of the funeral home where the bodies were viewed. A practiced side by side step would be ordering decease certificates from the state of Colorado. Death certificates often list the names of the deceased'southward parents, which could take you dorsum some other generation on your grandmother and grandfather's family copse in one simple pace. Shaking the Copse We couldn't order the decease certificates without a signed release from a family member, but we came beyond another clue while we were searching for newspapers online that mentioned the accident. We found an online family tree on Beginnings that includes a David Beaty Stewart and the following detail: Death 12 Dec 1925 Avondale, Pueblo, Colorado. HuffPo2 You are looking at a profile almost your grandfather, one compiled by someone to whom you are somehow related. And so non just accept you lot, through this one certificate, plant additional information about your female parent's father, but yous have also most probable found a relative (or a set of relatives) in the person who built this family tree. Online trees sometimes get a bad rap, and they are only as authentic every bit the research skills of the person who created them. Only they tin can be a keen aid to your research because so many of them are well researched with sources attached. These online family trees provide helpful starting points for anyone simply beginning the long search for their ancestors. They are total of fourth dimension-saving hypotheses to examine and examination, giving you a leg up on the search process. Filling Out a Family We decided to take this tree as a jumping-off point and run across what other records'and ancestors'information technology might lead us to. According to this tree, David Beaty Stewart was born 15 May 1875 in Rushville, Rush, Indiana. He was married to Daisy Dean Horn, who was born on 11 Oct 1876 in Wellington, Sumner, Kansas. They announced every bit a couple in the 1910 U.S. census. HuffPo3 Nosotros larn a lot from their 1910 census tape that corresponds with what you already know about your mother's family. The family is living in Sumner, Kansas. The household includes David B., Daisy, sons Cecil and Myron (nearly likely the Yard. A. listed as the driver), and David's blood brother Bunker. Another useful clue we become from the 1910 census is the place of nascence for people listed in the census and for their parents. Co-ordinate to the census, David was born in Indiana, as was his mother, and his father was from Kentucky. Daisy was born in Kansas, and her parents both hailed from Ohio. We as well learn that David and Daisy have been married for 9 years and have lost one kid. Both David and Daisy'southward place of nativity are consistent with birthplaces listed in the tree, though the ages are off a bit. With but this one record, your family tree is already starting to have shape, and we tin beginning crafting our searches based on what we now know. Working Back'With a Hitch Our side by side step backward is looking for David and Daisy in 1900. They haven't married notwithstanding, and so we'll be looking for them on their own, maybe living with their parents. We had no luck with David, so we tried Bunker. Again, nothing. The tree gives their parents' names equally Robert and Malinda, just they didn't turn up either. We had more luck with Daisy. We found a likely lucifer in Wellington, Sumner, Kansas, in the 1900 census. She'south a fleck older than the 1910 census says she is (23, built-in in Oct 1876), only her parents, Henry A. (born May 1843) and Minerva (born October 1839), are both listed as existence built-in in Ohio and have been married for 29 years. Her maternal grandparents come from Pennsylvania, while birthplaces for her father's parents are listed as unknown. HuffPo4 Nosotros take a couple of places we could go from hither. Nearly the entire 1890 U.Southward. Census is missing, so our next demography going dorsum is 1880. Since David is the right age to take registered for the WWI draft, we took a quick detour to await upwards his draft card, which shows him living in Pueblo, Colorado, in 1918, married to Daisy. He lists his date of birth equally 15 May 1774. Again, the years are off past one from the information in the family tree, but the twenty-four hours and month are the same, and we know they're in Colorado, where the blow took place. Information technology's too consistent with migration patterns, every bit people were moving from the Midwest into Colorado at this time. nineteen^th-Century Records From there, we went back to 1880. We found David and Bunker living with their parents, R. Southward. and Malinda, in Sedgwick, Kansas. Nosotros detect the couple again in 1870, this fourth dimension living in Richland, Blitz, Indiana. David isn't born yet, but Bunker is there, and Rush, Indiana, squares with David's birthplace in the family tree and with later census records. HuffPo5 According to the tree, David's parents are Robert Stewart, born 2 October 1830 in Kentucky, and Malinda Kincaid, born in 1836. So far this tree is turning out to be a pretty skilful source. But can we discover whatever documents pertaining to Robert and Malinda' Another Generation We found a Robert Stewart of the right historic period, built-in in Kentucky, living in District 97, Blitz, Indiana, in the household of David B. and Mary (or Nancy) Stewart on the 1850 demography. So was David Beaty named for his paternal grandpa' And what well-nigh Malinda' In that location is a Malinda Kincaid living in District 97, Rush, Indiana, in the household of Andrew and Malinda. That's not conclusive evidence, but it is promising, and information technology helps build a tentative example, a hypothesis that tin can be tested. A Robert Southward. Stewart and Malinda Minkhead appear in the Indiana, Marriage Collection, 1800-1941, with a marriage date of ten March 1858 in Blitz Canton. It would certainly exist worth ordering the original tape to encounter if Kincaid might have been transcribed incorrectly as Minkhead. Mis-transcriptions are common in all documents, including the federal censuses, so double-checking where possible is always advised. A number of states took land censuses in betwixt the federal censuses. Kansas was ane of those states, and Daisy appears with Henry A. and Minerva in an 1895 Kansas state census'David'southward family unit appears besides, living about 30 miles away. The 1880 federal census confirms Daisy's middle initial, D., and lists two older sisters as well: Zoa and Adda, both born in Ohio. HuffPo6 The family is withal living in Wellington at this time. We know from the 1900 census that Henry and Minerva were not married until about 1871, and then they probably aren't together in 1870, but we now know that the most probable identify to look for them is in Ohio. While searching for Henry, we came beyond another tape that opened up more possibilities in his past. A Henry Horn living in Wellington, Kansas, in 1885 appears in Kansas, M Army of the Republic Mail Reports. This Henry was born in Hancock Canton, Ohio, and joined the Union Ground forces in 1863. What'due south Next' So where do nosotros go from here' Henry is proving difficult to track down, and we need Minerva's maiden name to go back on Daisy's line. And what about Robert and Malinda's parents on the paternal line' Well, fortunately we found yet another tree online with a David Beaty Stewart, born 7 July 1798, Kentucky; death 14 Feb 1876, Rush Canton, Indiana. He was married to Margaret Wilson. From at that place, the Stewart line just keeps going, back to Robert Stewart (1768-1829) and Margery Beaty (1774-1853), then back to Thomas and Agnes' HuffPo7 You lot become the idea. The more generations y'all notice, the more leads for you to bank check out. Your search for your ancestors shows the enormous value that family trees already posted online can have. Sharing your family's information can help you, and your unknown relatives, detect ancestors and links none of you lot knew y'all had. It'south very exciting! Do y'all take a mystery in your own family tree' Or have yous wondered what family history discoveries you could make with a Deoxyribonucleic acid test' Transport Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and his team of Ancestry experts your question at [electronic mail protected].