Look for Siblings Obituaries for Info on an Ancestor

Deloris asked about her grandfather.

My maternal grandfather, John Russell Horne, b Nov 1877 in Reach, Ontario, Canada emigrated to Kittson, MN, USA in circa 1892 and disappeared from Hallock, MN, USA sometime in 1905 or very early 1906.  Can not find any evidence of his being in the USA after that date so am thinking he returned to his home territory but have been unable to find any information on him.  Any help you can give me will be greatly appreciated!

 Well Deloris you sent me scrambling to find out what state MN refers to. It's easy to assume that everyone knows what you know, but the person you're asking for help might not know anything about USA state abbreviations. Like me. I'm Canadian eh.....

Okay so I now know it is Minnesota. I would check Minnesota newspapers for an obituary and death records. I will warn you about an entry for your grandfather on FindAGrave that might lead to confusion. His name comes up as being in a cemetery and there is a nice biography of him plus a death year of 1910. At first I thought I'd found his death and grave but nope. He is not buried there and there is no marker for him. So unless the person who put the memorial online has a source for that death year of 1910 you can't trust that information.

I see that in 1920 his wife is recorded as a widow in the Minnesota census but even that cannot be trusted as factual. She may have lied to avoid a stigma of being a deserted or divorced wife. 

If he were my ancestor I would search for obituaries for all his siblings in hopes he is mentioned as being either alive or dead.

How to Find Someone after Arrival USA 1903

An email from a Norwegian researcher arrived today in Olive Tree Genealogy's mailbox

My name is Silje . I need some help to find the family of my husbands great great grandfather. He left Norway in 1903 true Liverpool UK and came to port of New York, USA 10 of september 1903 with a ship called Aurenia. His name at the records I found at Ellis Island was Theodor Olson he is born in 1870 in Norway. The ships manifest says that he was going to St Paul but I dont know. The family never heard from him. He left a wife and 3 children in Norway. Hope to find some relatives who migth have some info about him.

 Silje - since Theodor arrived in America in 1903 you should look for him in the 1910, 1920, 1930 and 1940 census records. These are all freely available at FamilySearch

 The ships manifest shows that he is heading to his brother-in-law so I would also look for him in the census records. As a side note it appears the ship name is Aurania in case you are referring to it in future.

When in Doubt Check the Original Record

Carrie asked .

My mother's father Ralph Gorman was 19 at the time of my mother's birth (1928) and is listed on the birth certificate as a taxidermist from Minnesota. My mother was born in Shawano/Mattoon, township of Almon, Wisconsin. Her mother was born in Minnesota in 1909. No other family members know any details either. So not knowing his parents or siblings, my brick wall seems permanent

.

Lorine Answers: Cariie, you asked a sensitive question so I've edited quite a bit of it for privacy reasons. A check of census records from 1910 on reveals no Ralph Gorman who fits your description. Variant spellings of Gorman did not pull anyone up that fits either.

So, I suggest you need to question if the name Ralph Gorman is correct. That leads to the question - did you consult an original birth registration for your mother or did you use a transcribed version? Because when in doubt you should always go back to the orginal to verify that the transcriber was correct. Perhaps his name was not Gorman but something similiar. Perhaps he had a middle name that he used interchangeably with Ralph. Perhaps his age is wrong ( there are Ralph Gormans of various ages in the census records). There are lots of possibilities for error and if you have been searching for 3 years with no results, it might be time to turn to the original and verify your facts. You may want to read "I Found My Great Great Grandfather Online -- Now What!!??? (Verifying Records Found On Webpages)" which explains about different "generations" of records and why it is so important to go back to the original record.

Finding an unknown first wife's name and death year in Minnesota or Iowa

Jan 18, 2009 Nona asked

My Uncle was given away when he was a baby . I found his father in the next census and it said he was a widower in 1900. My Uncle was born in 1899. His fathers name was Peter Rosenthal born in 1860 Germany. He remarried in 1901 or 02 and had children with him in 1910 by his 1St. and 2nd. wife. I think he gave my Uncle up because of his wife dying. I'm trying to find her death and name and my uncles real name . They lived in Mower, Minnesota.

OliveTree Answers: Hi Nona,

You've got a challenging genealogy puzzler! It seems you have 3 questions, so let's tackle one - Peter Rosenthal's wife's name. I'm glad you gave me a location to work with (Mower Minnesota) because if you hadn't I wouldn't have taken this query on.

As I usually do, I started with the census records on Ancestry.com I started with 1910 so that I could understand better about his two wives and different children by each.

You've seen this census of course but so that anyone else reading this will understand, in brief we find Peter age 49 saying he immigrated in 1860. His wife is Milly M and she is 36. His two eldest children are ages 22 and 24 and born in Iowa, giving them estimated years of birth of 1886 and 1888. Milly would be too young to be their mother so I think we can agree she is wife #2.

Going backwards we find Peter in the 1900 census for Mower Minnesota listed as Peter V. Rosenthal, age 39, widower. Here he says he immigrated in 1861. It is not unusual to find different years of immigration given for the same person. Always search a year or two on either side of any year given in the census. Peter is with his parents Carl and Anna, which actually helped me to determine if I had the correct Peter Rosenthal in earlier census years.

1890 is missing so we turn to 1880. Now Peter is in Mitchell Iowa and he is a single man born Hanover [Germany] living with his parents and siblings. So we know Peter married his first wife between this census (1880) in Iowa, and circa 1886 when his first known child was born.

Thank Goodness for the State Census Records!

Iowa has an 1885 state census and a search there showed Peter age 24 in Worth County Iowa, still single and still with his parents and siblings. That was a terrific find because now we can narrow that marriage time line even further. We know that Peter married between 1885 and circa 1886, and chances are good he married in Iowa, and most likely Worth County

Ancestry.com has Iowa Marriages 1851-1900 (but no images or details) and there I found a marriage in Worth Co. Iowa for Peter Rosenthal and Minnie Stehn. There is no year given so your next step would be to order the marriage record through the Ancestry online service or consult FHL film #1445838

Since I'm the curious sort, I took a look at the Iowa GenWeb Archives for the marriage in Worth County. There it was. Peter and Minnie were married on 3 April 1885. Further checking of census records showed that Minnie Stehn was born ca 1865 in Hanover Germany and thus was the perfect age to be Peter Rosenthal's first wife.

I think I've answered one of your questions. If I were you I would now check the 1895 state census for Iowa and see if Minnie is still alive then. Remember though that the family may have moved on to Minnesota by that year so you should check to see what state census records are available there.

I would also look for Grace and Clarence Rosenthal's birth records in Iowa. They are the two eldest children of Peter and Minnie. That should confirm my findings of their mother's name. You might want to search Minnesota and Iowa birth records for your uncle's name. Now that you know his parents' names the search should be easier.

Good luck. Please let us know here on AskOliveTree.blogspot.com how you make out.