Hiding in Plain Sight

Nicole wrote to me last year with a query that began with

According to the family and the SSDI my great grandfather Stanley Albert Gorleski was born 4/19/1900 in Pennsylvania USA (no county of birth found yet) - he lived in Westmoreland County, PA for the majority of his adult life; well that's all the family ever knew...

Nicole went on to say she could find nothing on Stanley in any census records except for a possibility in 1920 but in the wrong part of Pennsylvania and this Stanley was 10 instead of the expected 20 years old. We exchanged another email where I asked for more details. Nicole provided a bit more including this

Ella & Stanley spent their married life in New Kensington, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania

I set Nicole's email aside, with good intentions to work on it. But I forgot and it fell to the bottom of my pile of requests. Well, one year later Nicole wrote - a very lovely, polite and gentle email in which she asked if I perhaps had forgotten about her or more likely couldn't answer her question and that was why she never saw it on my Ask Olive Tree blog.

Yes, I said one year. Nicole waited an entire year then wrote to me again. But she didn't demand and she didn't chastise me. I wish everyone would take a lesson from Nicole! I get a lot of angry, demanding emails and all that accomplishes is my blood pressure rises and I delete the question. As my grandmother used to say "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" and Nicole is a great example of that adage.

I was so impressed with her letter that I decided to forgo my usual advice and suggestions for pointing researchers in what is hopefully the right direction. Instead I set about researching Nicole's Stanley Gorleski. Many hours later and with one of the most challenging research puzzles I've ever tackled, I'm pleased to say I have found the family. Because it was such a challenge (poor Nicole, no wonder nothing was found!) I am writing up how I found them, where I found them and the difficulties I had to overcome. I hope this will help other genealogists.


Polish & Other Non-North American Names

One thing I've learned is that Polish names  are often very badly mangled both in transcribing and in recording. Often the immigrant had a thick accent or spoke very little English,  so the census taker or clerk could only record what he heard. So the original record can be different from the name as the researcher knows it. That meant that Gorleski could be very different in the records - such as Gorlesky, Gorlewski, or any other variant. And that's not taking into account transcriber error - the person indexing the records may have had trouble reading the handwriting.

Using Wildcards

So I like to begin with wildcard searches. Since I'm going to focus on census records on Ancestry.com, I'm going to start my search using Stan* Go*l*sk* as the first and last name (that will find variations in the surname as well as first name Stanley such as Stanly or Stanislau or Stanislaw... I can't assume that his name as Nicole knew it was his baptismal name)  

Even though Nicole stated Stanley was born in Pennsylvania I'm not restricting my search with a birth location, just a date of birth (1900) plus/minus 2 years. I'm using Pennsylvania in the keyword field as I only want results that include the word Pennsylvania, either as place of residence or birth.

Possible Family in 1920 Census - a Working Theory Begins

My best result was a hit in 1920 census in New Kensington, Westmoreland Pennsylvania  for a  Stanley Gorlewski aged 19, born Pennsylvania. I had a gut feeling this was Nicole's ancestor (Do you get those feelings? I do and I run with them as a working theory while I work to prove or disprove it) so I noted the parents and siblings and details to try to find the family in 1910 and earlier.

Briefly the father was Joseph Gorlewski, age 50 born Poland/Russia (that is how it was recorded), immigration year 1885, not naturalized (as proven by notation AL in the column). Mother Anna age 50 same location of birth, immigration year not known. That was interesting as it may indicate they did not immigrate together. Just something to jot down and keep in mind as I search.

Children were all born in Pennsylvania, another interesting fact as it may mean that Joseph and Anna married in USA. Just another thought to jot down. They were John, 29; Gust 26 (I jotted a note that this could be short for Gustave or Gustaf); Mary 21; Stanley 19, Joseph 19; Esther 17 and Martha 14.  Since nothing jumped out in 1900 or 1910 for the search I'd done for Stan* Go*l*sk* I knew I had to either conduct a less restrictive search or use more wildcards in the surname or search for the parents or another child.

I've got way more clues now but searching under the parents' names turned up nothing that seemed solid. Searching for Stanley was not successful either. At least it wasn't apparent to me that any of the hits I got were for him.xx

Success in 1900 Census when search parameters widened

Bingo! One of the hits for 1900 was for a Golefskey family living in Allegheny Pennsylvania. Parents were Joseph, 35 born Poland and Antonia 30 born Germany as well as children John, 8; Gustav  age 5; Mary 1 and little Stanley 1 month. Dad stated his immigration year was 1888, mom said hers was 1890 and they were married in 1891. This looked really promising as the children matched the 1920 family where expected. And little Stanley's birth was listed as April 1900 which also fit with Nicole's known date of birth for her ancestor.

What added more weight to this being the correct family was that I had earlier found that John, the older brother,  was born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Feb. 17, 1892. And Pittsburgh is in Allegheny. (The miscellaneous records I found for John were his WW1 Draft Registration, his WW2 records, and his burial in St. Mary's Cemetery, Lower Burrell, Westmoreland)

1910 Census Badly Messed Up

But I still could not find the family in 1910.  That's when I decided to search for Gust, the son who was 5 in 1900 and 26 in the 1920 census. I opted to use this in the name fields: Gus* G*l*sk*  I wanted to widen my search to  possible surname mangling. The only hit that seemed even remotely possible was for a Gustave Godleski age 16 born Pennsylvania, living in Pittsburgh, but the index said his father was John not Joseph. On a hunch I checked the actual image.

Wow, what an indexing mess! John who was listed as the father in the index was actually John, age 18, the oldest brother of siblings Gustave 16; Mary 12; Stanley 10; Joseph 8; Anastasia 6 and Martha 4. They were at the top of the census page so that meant their parents were on the previous page. Sure enough parents were listed as Joseph Godleski 42 born Russia and wife Antonia 40 born Germany. They said they'd been married 19 years so that fit nicely with what I'd found on the other census records.

Census Year 1930 Turns Up More Clues

I decided to hunt for the family in 1930 and using John this time I found the family where expected - New Kensington. This time they consisted of Antoinette Gorlewski age 58, a widow, born Germany, immigrated in 1890, not naturalized, with sons John 38 and Joseph 28.

Summary

Don't get me wrong. This was a very frustrating and time-consuming search. I didn't just quickly think of how and where to search, then bingo there the family was. I had many many search results that didn't help at all. I had to keep trying various methods of searching - no last name, no date of birth, no location, and so on. I've tried to summarize the successes in this blog post but genealogists need to realize there were many many failures along the way!

Thankfully I'm pretty stubborn because last night I gave up. I'd only found Stanley in 1920 and was frustrated by my inability to find anyone but his brother John in any other records (including census). But after a good night's sleep I woke up this morning with an "aha!" moment in my head. I figured there were dozens of other methods I could use to find this family wherever they were hiding.

What Did I Learn From the Census? And What Can Nicole Do With This Information?

1. The family surname was recorded as Gorleski, Gorlewski, Golefsky and Godleski. So Nicole will need to use wildcards or creative searching to search for more information

2. Stanley's mother's name was recorded as Anna, Antonia and Antoinette. Wildcards needed for further searching!

3. It appears that Joseph and Anna came over separately so look for Joseph alone or perhaps with sibings or cousins or parents in ships passenger lists 1888 plus/minus 2 years.

4. It appears Joseph and Anna married in USA (possibly in Pennsylvania) so look for their marrage in 1891 plus/minus 1 year

5. All the children were born in Pennsylvania, and John the eldest was most likely born in Pittsburgh in February 1892. Look for his birth record to find out Anna's maiden name

6. Joseph died between the 1920 and 1930 census. There is a good chance he died and is buried in New Kensington. Look for a death record and a grave.

7. We have months and years of birth for both the parents and the children from the 1900 census. Perhaps birth records for all the children can be found

I think this is enough to give Nicole something to keep her busy for a very long time! I really enjoyed this challenge as it forced me to step outside my usual methods of searching. It also forced me to do a lot of studying and analyzing of every bit of information I found, going step by step very slowly as I developed a working theory of the family. I love that!  So thanks, Nicole!

Resolving Census Discrepancies

Cathy asked about an ancestor in early Ontario and how to figure out which family different individuals belong to

I am really stumped. My brick wall is James Cumming b. Jan 15/18 1830 Ontario, according to censuses. He died May 22, 901 in Norwood, Asphodel, Peterborouigh Co., Ontario, CAN. He was married to Joyce Reynolds on Dec 26 1853 in Asphodel. Joyce's family lived next to James in 1861 Census of Asphodel. [Email edited for brevity]

1861 Census of Asphodel..it is hard to tell, but at either James house or Jesse's house, is an Elizabeth Cumming b.1838. She seems to be the key. In 1851 Brighton, Northumberland, there is a James and Mary Cumming. They have a number of children, including a James(1831) and an Elizabeth(1837). This seems great. But in 1861, patriarch James also has daughter Elizabeth with him. So, she would have been enumerated twice? Once in Brighton with her father, once in Norwood, Asphodel with her brother? [Email edited for brevity]

The problem that I have is that James lists his father as having been born in Scotland in 1891, whereas the James Cumming Brighton 1851 has himself born in the USA. [Email edited for brevity]

ASK OLIVE TREE GENEALOGY RESPONSE: Dear Cathy: Thank you for sending a nice detailed email query. It always helps me to have names, dates, locations and some idea of what you've already done to solve your genealogical puzzle.

I must confess that I did get a bit overwhelmed half-way through your email as it was quite lengthy and I think you got excited as you were writing it. :-) It started out with a very clear explanation of the confusion but at the half-way mark it did get a wee bit jumbled. I know it's not easy to write a query like that!

This is not meant as a criticism; I hope you will take it as a bit of advice to perhaps read over any query and make sure that you've clearly identified each person to whom you refer. Remind your reader who you are talking about and how they fit into the family you are researching.

In any case I was very intrigued with your query and I can see that you've done a good analysis of the records you found. My apologies for editing your query and leaving off the last several paragraphs but I decided to respond to the questions I can answer without further scratching of my head.

Let's go back to your statement "1861 Census of Asphodel..it is hard to tell, but at either James house or Jesse's house, is an Elizabeth Cumming b.1838." Here is how you determine which individuals belong to which family groups in the 1861 census. If you look at the image you will see that columns 14 and 15 have numbers beside some of the names of individuals.

These columns show
Col 14. Residents: Members of Family, M
Col 15. Residents: Members of Family, F

Beside the name of the head of the household are the numbers of individuals living in the home. If you check that image for Jesse (by the way this is where I'd have liked it if you had included Jesse's surname of Reynolds so that I didn't have to keep looking back to see who Jesse was) you'll see that the numbers of residents who are family members is 5 males and 3 females for a total of 8. Counting Jesse as 1, and continuing down the page to 8 you can see that Elizabeth Cummings is #8. That means she lives with Jesse Reynolds and is considered a family member. Columns 16 and 17 are for numbers of non-family members.

Your first question is answered - Elizabeth Cummings is living with Jesse Reynolds.

If you visit AllCensusRecords.com you will find a helpful list of questions asked on all Canadian census records.

Your next question was "But in 1861, patriarch James also has daughter Elizabeth with him. So, she would have been enumerated twice? Once in Brighton with her father, once in Norwood, Asphodel with her brother?"

Again, it would have really helped me to have the surnames added so that I didn't have to look back in your email to figure out who "patriarch James" was. When you used the phrase "her father" and "her brother" it would have been really helpful if you'd added their names "her father James Cumming" and "her brother James Cumming Jr" Anything to help me distinguish the family members. Remember the person you're asking for help isn't familiar with the family.

Please note I'm using "Jr" to distinguish between the two James Cummings even though you have not definitively proven they are father and son.

But let's clear up some of the confusion - first, Elizabeth Cumming was not with her brother James Cumming in 1861. She was with Jesse Reynolds who was her brother James Cumming's father-in-law by virtue of his wife Joyce Reynolds.

Why would she be enumerated twice? If Elizabeth was a servant in Jesse Reynolds' home it is quite possible her parents gave her name to the census taker as a family member. Remember the census takers didn't count heads. They didn't verify that everyone named was actually physically in the house. We don't know who talked to the census taker the day the census was taken. Perhaps James Cumming's wife didn't understand the question. Perhaps James himself gave the information and wasn't in the mood to waste time.

So yes, James and his wife could understandably tell the census taker that daughter Elizabeth lived there. In fact we don't know if Elizabeth was a servant in Jesse Reynold's house. Perhaps she was just visiting her brother James Cumming Jr and there was more room in Jesse's house than in James. Bottom line: It is not unusual to find a person enumerated twice.

The last question is about places of birth given in census records. You say that James Cumming Jr says his dad was born in Scotland, but in an earlier census James Cumming Sr says he was born in USA. So this makes you question if you have the right father for your James Cumming Jr.

Census records are notorious for being wrong. Ages can be out by 10 or more years in different census years. Individuals give the wrong place of birth for their parents or even themselves. We have to remember that we don't know who gave the details to the census taker. Was it even a family member? Was it the next door neighbour? A young child? Because we don't know the original source we shouldn't accept the census as absolute truth nor should we use it to prove or disprove an individual's fit into a specific family without more proof.

I hope these answers help you in your genealogy challenge and I hope you don't mind that I used your email to illustrate how confusing a query can be for the person trying to assist. Your email was very well written and had lots of needed details so my harping about suggested additions are just small details that I hope did not offend you in any way.

Census Records Hold Many Clues!

Over on the Olive Tree Genealogy Page on Facebook, Marilyn

asked about a challenge she has in her genealogy.

what do you do when all you have is first name and married last name.first name in 1880 census as on marriage licence in1866 my ggreatgrandmother was velinda/velinder (do not know maiden name ) married jacob b brown 1866.they are on 1880 census.with son charles andrew brown and emma .i lived next door to emma until she passed in 1954.came acro...ss a berry family tre with the names and dates correct.but 2 other children mary a and scoto born i 1860s.i am thinking she was married previous or my ggreatgrandfather was a father at 13.do not have a death or anything on her or first 2 children.the main names in the tree were jagodzinski poland and ill.had our dates of birth as jacob ohio/the rest indiana.

Hi Marilyn,

It doesn't sound like you have seen this family in any census other than 1880. The 1900 and 1910 give the number of children a woman has had and how many are living. This will help you figure out how many children your Verlinda had.

I noted that in both 1900 and 1910 she is listed as Malinda, so be sure to check for her under this name too. In 1900 she says she had 6 children with 5 living; in 1910 she says 7 children with 6 living. A little discrepancy you will have to try to resolve

If you search 1870 census you will find the children you spotted on that Berry Family Tree. Plus another child (10 year old Mary), no telling if it is hers, Jacobs (unlikely) or a niece or other relative!

By 1900 they have 3 more children listed.

So all in all 7 children if you don't count Mary, the 10 year old living with them in 1870

I would hunt for the marriage records of all those 7 children. Almost certainly their mother's maiden name will be given. Also hunt for their deaths and see what information is available there.

I'm going to go out on a limb though and suggest that this person may be your Verlinda - she is indexed on Ancestry.com as Malinda Anderson and is a 19 year old in the 1860 census for Hamilton, Jackson, Indiana. She has a 3 month old daughter named Mary Ann Anderson. A look at the image shows her first name to be Verlinda at least that is how I read it.

The little girl is the right age to be the 10 year old Mary A. "Brown" found living with Malinda/Verlinda and her husband Jacob Brown in 1870. We know Mary A. is not Jacob's daughter as he was 13 when she was born. Malinda is with Paul Anderson age 21.

It's a working theory, and that is how I approach challenges. Develop a theory, and then work to prove or disprove it. Try to find Paul and Malinda/Verlinda Anderson in 1870. If you find them, you've proven the theory wrong.

Keep going and keep gathering records, as many as you can, until you have sorted out all the players (ancestors and others not related)

I'll leave you to have some fun now!

Narrowing the Time Frame for an Ancestor's Immigration

Nancy is trying to narrow the timeline for an ancestor's arrival in Upper Canada (Ontario) from New York before 1861

I understand that the 1851 Humberstone Twp., Welland Co. Census records no longer exist. Can you direct me to any additional Humberstone records in the early 1850's. Was there such an item as an Ag Census at that time? My Humberstone ancestor, Conrad Robert is found in the 1861 census and his land ownership was identified through the 1862 Tremaine Map of Lincoln/Welland Counties. I'm trying to place his arrival in Ontario from New York a bit more accurately

ASK OLIVE TREE REPLY: Hi Nancy. I'm really glad you told me where Conrad was in 1861. I often like to have a look at what has been found so I can see if maybe there's another clue that was missed. Two sets of eyes are often better than one!

In this case, I notice that on the 1861 census, Conrad's children are listed as being born in Germany up to ca 1851 then the next child born ca 1853 is born in U.C. (Upper Canada)

That narrows your timeframe for immigration to ca 1850 to 1854 (allowing a year on either side of the ages given in that census)

Another help is that the 1861 census has an Agricultural Section. This page has a list of all questions asked on this 1861 Agricultural Census. You should also look at Agricultural Returns - an overlooked genealogical treasure trove!

Agricultural returns provide information such as lot and concession number, acreage, livestock and agricultural products. For the 1851 and 1861 Census, the agricultural returns are listed by the name of the head-of-household. The agricultural returns for 1881, 1891 and 1901 were not retained.

You say you found Conrad's land location listed elsewhere, which is a terrific clue but I'd verify it from the 1861. Also the Agricultural census will provide you with interesting details about your family such as numbers of farm animals by type of animal, how much acreage he has cleared, what he's planted, etc.

But the best part of having an exact Lot, Concession number and a township and county is that you can now search the Abstract Indexes to Deeds for that piece of land. This will tell you the exact date when Conrad bought the land (and when it passed from his hands to the next owner).

Because most settlers, especially farmers, bought their land as soon after arrival as possible, and Conrad was a farmer, you may find that this was the case with Conrad. Even if he didn't purchase the land immediately on arrival in Upper Canada, it will help narrow that timeline even further. I've included a link to a page explaining how to obtain the Abstract Indexes to Deeds.

As for finding earlier (pre 1861) assessment or tax records, the best course of action is always to check with the Ontario Archives or the County GenWeb to see what is available for your specific area of interest.

There are Municipal records available (nothing standardized, you must search for your specific township and county of interest). Primarily created between 1845 and 1900, these records include assessment and collector's rolls; local census records (pre-1851); voters lists and poll books; and local Town and Township council records.

The Niagara District has Census & Assessment Rolls, 1828-1849 which may be too early for your needs. In fact a quick check of the Archives of Ontario website shows that Humberstone Township only has one surviving record for 1828 - an early census.

I believe your best plan of attack is the land records.

Don't Trust Family Lore Blindly!

Janice's Question:

My GRANDFATHER HENRY CHARLES STILLWAGGON born 3 MAR.1878 died 29 JAN. 1955 MARRIED FLORENCE RENN E born 9 NOV.1885 Died MAY 1965 BROOKLYN N.Y. SIBLINGS HENRY, CLARENCE, HOWARD,WILBUR

GREAT Grandfather CHARLES HENRY STILLWAGGON Born 14 JUNE 1854 Died 17 AUG. 1894 MARRIED SARAH JANE VAN DYKE 21 JAN. 1859 Died 17 APRIL 1915. SIBLINGS HENRY, FLORANCE (LULU NICKNAME?), RAY, FRANK

GREAT GREAT GRANDFATHER HENRY STILLWAGGON Died 15 JUNE 1886 MARRIED JULIA ___? Died 9 JUNE 1894. SIBLING LOTTIE

My search brings me to a halt as I can"t find MAIDEN NAME for JULIA nor DATE of BIRTH for Julia or GGG HENRY.

Most of information was from relative chatting. and off the head stone at cemetary. there is a family plot where it goes back from my grandparents,HENRY STILLWAGON & FLORENCE RENEE STILLWAGON Great grandparents CHARLES & SARAH JANE VAN DYKE - STILLWAGON_BRADHURST Great Great Grandparents HENRY & JULIA( No maiden name) STILLWAGGON Their daughter LOTTIE STILLWAGGON. Henry Vogt married Abby stillwagon (NOT sure who her parents are as family said GGG had only one child.) These are all in the family plot. at MT Olivet Cemetary. Maspeth NY

Any ideas where I should go next??? Or any answers to these questions

OLIVE TREE ANSWER Dear Janice - You have some information on your ancestors and yet you seem to be missing some that should be quite easy for you to find. I wonder if you relied only on what your family told you?

One of the first things you should do is search census records for your ancestors. For example you say you don't know when Henry (who died 1886) was born, but finding him in census would give you an approximate year of birth, as well as a location.

Census records will also help solve the mystery of family groups - meaning how many children did each couple have, and what were their names.

Here's an example: you have a stray Abby who married a Henry Vogt but you say that your family said Henry and Julia only had one child presumably named Lottie. But had you looked at the census records you'd have seen that is not correct!

Perhaps you don't have a membership to online sites that charge for subscriptioins but you can always take an Ancestry.com Free Trial That would allow you to search census for 1880, 1870, 1860 and so on for your ancestors Henry and Julia. The 1880 census is also freely available (as are other years) at http://www.pilot.familysearch.org/

A quick look in 1880 shows Henry with his wife Julia and (drum roll please!) their daughter Abigail age 24. Abby is of course the nickname for Abigail....

Henry's birth year is circa 1824 in Prussia. Daughter Abigail is cira 1856 in New York so right away you know that Henry arrived in New York sometime before 1856. You've got a birth year (approximate) and location for both Henry and his wife.

A word of caution - since your Henry is from Germany (Prussia) you must also search under his German name, not his Americanized name of Henry! Henry = Heinrich

As well, Stillwagon can be spelled in a variety of ways (Stellwaggon, Stellwagen, Stilwagon, etc) so be sure you use wildcards when searching online sites

Following Henry and family backwards from 1880 in each census year, you are going to find some very interesting information! It will be a great lesson in why genealogists should not rely on family lore as fact, but instead, use it for clues to help you find your family.

The 1870 census shows us that Henry was an American citizen so he naturalized at some point before that year. Have you looked for naturalization records?

I found Henry and his family in 1850, 1860 (a challenge as his surname is indexed as Stellwagen), 1870 and 1880. Each census gave new clues including Julia's full first names, and that he had several children including Emma, Charles H., Abbie and Babethe. German ancestors often had two names such as Johann Heinrich but used the second name as their given name. So finding Julia listed as such in 1850 and 1870 but listed with a different first name in 1860 doesn't surprise me. It does give you another name to use when searching.

Henry's occupation is given in early census as a baker. In later years he is a tollgatherer and a ferry master. Do you see why you need to find ALL census entries for Henry?

You should also be able to narrow the timeline for Henry's immigration to the USA.
Ancestry.com has very complete ships passenger lists for you to search

So my advice is to go slow. Gather the information from all the census years possible. Don't worry about small discrepencies, keep an open mind and be creative when searching! Lastly do NOT believe everything you are told, find supporting evidence by doing your research in census, cemetery, vital records and so on.

Creating Timelines and Listing Clues in Census Records

Cindy asked

I have been looking for the ship passenger list, birth and marriage records for my great great grandfather
Sebastian Steltzlen, without any luck. He was born in Alsace, France in 1842 and he arrived in America in 1873...I think. (All of the census records that asked "how long have you been in this country" corroborate this year.) I also found a New York arrival of a Sebastian "Steltzner" in 1873. His Surname is spelled wrong, and I think his birth year is incorrect. I would like to look at the actual document but, haven't been able to find the P. William Filby
"Passenger and Immigration ships lists 1500's-1900's" book, that I'm able to actually look at. Also, I haven't been able to find his birth or marriage records.

The 1880 US census in Iowa lists him as "L. Steltzlen" (The last name is spelled correctly but, this is the census I'm not sure is his!)
The Nebraska State census collection 1860-1885, has him listed in 1885 as "Sylvest Steltzer" birth ABT 1838. The1900 US census in Arkansas lists him as "Sebastain Stellzlen" and the 1910 US census in Arkansas lists him as "Sebastian Stillzlen."The only photo I have of Sebastian, Hannah and their children Mary Elizabeth, William Whitney, Maud Mae, and Manley Sebastian Is of them standing in front of their sod house in Nebraska. The 1880 census I mentioned above, lists a "L. And Elizabeth Steltzner" from Nebraska that looks like It could be Sebastian and his wife Hannah Elizabeth Whitney-Steltzlen but... I'm not sure. Their birth dates and birth places (France and Ohio), ages, all 4 parents birth places (Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and France) , Their daughters' name and age ALL match. So...could Sebastian's first name actually start with the initial "L" and his middle name be Sebastian?

I also found land grants in Nebraska belonging to "L. Steltzner". (Sebastian was a farmer.)Problem is, they were issued by Abraham Lincoln in 1864 and Ulysses S. Grant in 1884 (?) . If Sebastian didn't arrive until 1873 this couldn't be him. Right? So would that mean the 1880 census mentioned above for "L. Steltzner" is for a different person with lots of coincidental facts? I'm really stumped now.

OLIVE TREE ANSWER: Dear Cindy, you have a challenge with this surname. You will have to be very creative and remember that spelling was not exact back in Sebastian's time. Also his is a foreign name and you may find it recorded in an Anglized version. As well, old handwriting can be very difficult to read! It is very common for upper case S to be confused with upper case L. So if you are finding records that say "L" instead of "S" and if those records are not the originals, you need to seek out the original document to see for yourself. In other words, you can NOT trust an index or a transcription to be 100% accurate. There is always the chance of error.

The surname Steltzlen could have a dizzying variety of alternate spellings! Steltzier (misread of "n" for "r"), Steltsen, Steltzen, Steltsien, and so on.

Taking this in chronological order, you need to find Sebastian in census for 1880, 1890, 1900, 1910 and so on. I had quick look just to see if there were clues you may have overlooked in those census records where you found your ancestor. I like to make a timeline too, and list in point form what I have found in the various records. I always check the images for myself, I don't list what is in the index or transcribed version unless the image is not available.

1880 census Scott, Henry, Iowa. I assume this is where you saw "L" and Elizabeth Steltzlen? This is the index, so you must look to the image to see what you make of his name. Before you do though, note that their daughter Mary is the right age and born in the right location to be the same Mary shown in the 1885 census. Plus the father is born France, the mother Elizabeth in Ohio, all of which fits your man. I feel quite confident that this is your ancestor Sebastian.

1885 Census Custer Nebraska. As you noted, Sebastian is recorded as Sylvester, as is his son Manley Sebastian. But it is definitely your ancestor as the places of birth and ages as well as names agree with later records. The first 3 children were born in Iowa, the eldest being age 9 so born circa 1876. It may be that Sylvester is a middle name for your Sebastian, you should just keep this in mind as you search for him.

This census says Sebastian/Sylvester is a farmer so you would expect to find land records for him. I suspect the records you found for "L" Steltzner is a matter of that upper case letter S being misread as an L.

1900 census Morris, Arkansas, Arkansas. Sebastian is recorded as born in France in 1842 and married for 22 years. This gives him a marriage year of circa 1878. You can see there is a discrepancy with the birth year of his daughter Mary shown in that 1885 census, so you will have to be very careful to search a few years on either side of the year of marriage given here. Also don't overlook the possibility that Sebastian may have been married more than once. In fact, given his age (approximately 36) for that marriage to Hannah Elizabeth circa 1878, it would not surprise me to learn he had a previous wife, and perhaps another child or two.

Since his wife, Hannah E. is recorded as born Ohio, we might assume they married in America, so we know he immigrated before 1878. The census indicates that he is naturalized (wow, have you looked for his naturalization records??), and that he immigrated in 1873. She says she is the mother of 5 children. Daughter Maude was born in 1884 in Nebraska and Lizzie 1885 same state.

1910 Vaugine, Jefferson, Arkansas shows Sebastian as a widower (have you looked for his wife Hannah E's death record? You know she died between 1900 and 1910 from the census records) living with his son Manly who was born about 1882 in Iowa.

I see that Manly's death took place 21 Nov 1948 in Searcy Arkansas. I would order his death certificate if I were you. It may contain his father's exact place of birth.

Regarding that passenger list entry you found for Sebastian arriving 1873, it says that he came in to New York. That means you can look for the actual passenger list online. Ancestry.com has those ships passenger lists to New York so I would check there first. If you want to consult Filby's book Passenger and Immigration ships lists 1500's-1900, a large library should have this. Have you checked The Library of Congress website?

I hope that my outline of how I approached your genealogy puzzle has helped, and that new clues have been found that will aid you in your continuing search. I think you have done a very good job of gathering facts, and thinking about what they are telling you. You have been diligent in not dismissing a find simply because the names are not quite identical. I am sure you will find more records for Sebastian as you continue.