Context: I'm from Essex, England and this story takes place over three years

I took a DNA Test on the off chance about 3 years ago as I wanted to see what I was. However, it turns out after my i got my results back it turns out my family tree was wrong as I was led to believe that the person who I thought was my great-grandfather wasn't my great-grandfather

My grandmother's father wasn't who she thought it was. It was common knowledge in my family however but nobody told me until just after I got my results back, the family story went that my great-grandmother slept with an American soldier during World War 2 whilst she was a newlywed, now me being a massive nerd about American history, I was stoked as I love America, and quite frankly wish I were born in America.

Cemantics aside, I did research and initially it turns out it was a New Zealander air force pilot was my great-grandfather. I left it be until recently as for whatever reason I decided to look into the case again, and it turns out that one message I sent in October 2023 was the answer I didn't take into account

The message mentioned a name that went over my head back then, but then I decided to work the case out of curiosity recently as it just didn't sit right with me. It turns out my REAL great-grandfather was indeed an American. Charles Francis Grove Jr. was born July 10, 1920, in Mobile, Alabama. He joined the US Army in June 1943 and trained in Fort McClellan in Alabama, after basic. He was assigned to the 109th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division, which was stationed in England from December 1943. My nan was born in March 1945 and would've been conceived just before D-Day so the math adds up. Me and Grandpa Charles also have/had the same hair and eye colour, Brown Hair and Blue Eyes and are similar in height both being 5'10

The 28th took part in D-Day. He would be unfortunately killed in action on September 20th, 1944, during the Battle of Hürtgen Forest. He had no other children besides my grandmother, and was also a newlywed himself to a woman back in Alabama. He is buried in Henri-Chapelle, Belgium and won a Purple Heart

Charles came from military pedigree, as his father Charles Francis Grove Sr. (born 1889 in Mobile, Alabama) served in the US Army in WW1 but I don't know what unit he served in. I know he trained at Camp Hancock in Georgia, but other than that I have no idea

Charles's Sr's father, Ernest Joseph Grove (born 1864 in Mobile, Alabama) served in the military as a 1st Lieutenant. It says he served in World War I according to his veteran gravestone application, but he would've been 53-54 at the time. So maybe he served in the Spanish-American War or the Philippine-American War and they got it wrong, I don't know what unit Ernest was in either

Fun Fact: My great-grandfather shares the same division (28th Infantry) as Art Carney, a famous actor and Eddie Slovik, the only American who was executed for desertion

So, Roll Tide?

This has been a long debate on numerous genealogy websites. With patronymic naming (father's 1st name is the last name of the children, plus -son or -datter), there are many more duplicate names, leading to frequent issues with confusion of people. With 10 Nils Nilsen from the same village of similar age for example, far too often people would accidentally confuse 2 or more of them, and make a bad merge.

This issue is resolved by adding the farm surname as the final surname. So in the example above, there would be a Nils Nilsen Haugen (Nils, son of Nils, born at the Haugen farm), Nils Nilsen Strand, Nils Nilsen Berg, etc. Also, many church books and other documents often only list the farm surname (Nils Haugen, Nils Strand, etc.), ignoring the patronymic surname all together.

Until now, the rules on FamilySearch were confusing about this, with different articles suggesting different guidelines about naming practices. About 5 weeks ago, after careful review, they have changed their naming practices so all 3 names are now standard. Farm names are to be included after the patronym in the surname field, which hopefully will resolve this problem. If a person moved, additional alt-names should be added for farms they later lived at. Just an FYI going forward.

https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/how-to-enter-scandinavian-names-into-family-tree

1. Goal: Using the information, from my eight years of research on the Washington family, to find Eliza’s place of burial. And hopefully, if possible, a place of burial for both her parents.
2. Her maiden name: Eliza Williams.
3. Eliza‘s race: Black. (However, her 2 sons were listed as biracial & black in all their Census records. Some records falsely label them and Warner as white, and some even falsely label Sarah’s race as white (she was biracial, like Daniel, Warner & John, as well) and give her a false birthplace of South Carolina. She was from New Bern, NC). (About Sarah, see Question 21).
4. Her parents: Thomas Williams & Mary Calven.
5. Her birth year: 1806.
6. Place of birth: Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio, USA.
7. When did she move out of state the first time?: I’m unsure. She was already living in Fayette County, Indiana in 1835, so I’m sure it was that year or before then.
8. Did she have children?: Yes. She had 2 sons, Daniel W. Washington (1836-1890) & John Alfred Washington (1842 - died after 1900), both born in Harrison Township, Fayette County, Indiana.
9. When did she leave Indiana?: Possibly 1847 or before then, when the Washingtons moved to Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. They were already living in Pittsburgh in July 1847.
10. Did Eliza have a probate record?: Yes. Her will was probated on October 3, 1853.
11. When did she die?: In September 1853. I don’t know the exact day.
12. Where did she die?: Pittsburgh, PA.
13. Did she own land?: Yes. She inherited land from her father, Thomas; this land was passed down to one of her sons.
14. When she died, how old were her sons?: They were minors at that time. Daniel was 17, and John was 11. I do know there were guardianship records Warner filed in the Allegheny County Orphans’ Court, on Daniel & John‘s behalf.
15. When did her parents die?: Her mother died in 1815. I don’t know when her father died (he was born around 1767 in Virginia & died a free person of color/FPOC in Chillicothe, Ohio, after 1830). I found a land record, dated March 6, 1854, regarding Warner and Thomas possibly passing the land down to Daniel & John, due to Eliza‘s death (and in this case, for obvious reasons, it was Warner‘s, until the boys reached the age of majority).
16. Was she married?: Yes. To Warner Washington IV (1807-1874). I‘m very sure their physical marriage record no longer exists. I’ve done dozens of (online only) searches in Ohio, Pennsylvania & Indiana for it, but nothing resulted.
17. Where were her parents from?: Thomas was from Virginia & as a runaway slave, escaped to Ohio, where a judge declared him free, after his enslaver tried to petition the court to force him back into slavery (this was denied & Thomas was allowed to stay in Chillicothe, which he did, for the rest of his life). I don’t know where Mary was from. I also don’t know who Thomas’ enslaver was, or what VA county he was from. Like Eliza, her parents were mysterious people.
18. How many times was her father married?: 3 times. Thomas married 2 more times, after Eliza’s mother, Mary Calven (m. in 1807), died in 1815—to Henrietta Lord (m. 1828) and Sally Carter (m. 1815).
19. Is Eliza buried in Allegheny County, PA?: No. Someone native to the area did some burial record research for me, and they found nobody under her name, Eliza Washington or Eliza Williams, buried there between 1852 & 1854. (See Question 19).
20. Where else could Eliza be buried? I don’t know. Possibly Chillicothe, Ohio (her hometown) or Fayette County, Indiana (where they had their sons)? Those are my 2 educated guesses.
21. Have you found Eliza’s 1850 Census record?: No. She was living alone or possibly remarried. They were already in Pittsburgh, PA by then.
22. Sidebar: By 1850, Warner was already living with who would become (according to her 1909 obituary—I also haven't found evidence of this, yet) Warner‘s second wife & another FPOC, Sarah Taylor (1822-1909), a North Carolina native, who moved to Butler County, Ohio in 1828 with her family. They’d later have one son (Warner’s third and final son), George W. Washington (1856-1935). George would later have Warner & Sarah’s granddaughter (there’s a lot of misinformation, claiming George’s daughter was Warner and Sarah’s biological daughter—this is not true), aptly named Sarah “Sadie” Washington, later Sarah Washington-Black (1876-1962). Sadie never had children, and Sarah’s line, ended with Sadie‘s 1962 death.
23. What happened to Eliza’s 2 sons?: Daniel W. (1836-1890), had 7 children in Georgia. (See Question 24)
24. And John?: Eliza’s other son, John Alfred (1842-?)—to my knowledge—had 1 stillborn daughter, with Julia Cummings, in 1874 (she was buried in Philadelphia, PA). If John had additional children, that is new information to me. John later moved between Pittsburgh, PA & St. Louis, Missouri until the early 1900s, when he married a Tennessee native named Emmeline (maiden name unknown), in 1894. John’s death information is unclear; to this day, I put a range between 1903 and 1917 as a placeholder, because an archivist in St. Louis gave me a 1909 obituary and a 1917 obituary, both for John Washingtons, and I don’t know who could be a match for him. It’s confusing.
25. Do you know where her parents were buried?: No. That’s also a mystery to me.

Is this a place where we can ask questions about genealogy software?

I aspire to make a binder (and maybe a bound book eventually) just for my family that has visual trees for how everyone is related but also a profile with document copies for each direct ancestor.

BUT I can't wrap my head around how geneaologists organize something like this. How do you list spouses together when each is a different branch of the family? Does that mean you don't organize by family branch, but rather sections of the tree?

Ex with made up names:

Joe Shmoe married Jane Doe

Their son was Joe Shmoe, Jr.

He married Sue Who, daughter of

Lou Who and Betsy Smith

Where I get confused -- I'd want Joe Jr. and Sue to be together (as in the section about Sue next to the section about Joe PLUS their shared residences and info). But then how do I proceed? Climb up the Shmoe tree? And then the Doe tree? And then Who, followed by Smith? And just one generation back presents even more branches to somehow organize.

I'm at a loss. What do subject experts do? Or someone who has a better brain for this...

[Apologies if I used the wrong flair for this inquiry...]

I am researching my maternal family tree and have hit a wall finding any documentation of my mother's maternal grandmother, Mary Euphemia MacKay (1881-1959), before her immigration to the United States from Canada in 1900.

I'm hoping folks might have some advice on where else to look.

Background: my mother's maternal grandparents, Malcolm John MacLeod (also spelled McLeod on some documents) and Mary Euphemia MacKay (also spelled McKay on some documents) both immigrated from Nova Scotia to Boston, Massachusetts, my great-grandfather in 1890 and my great-grandmother in 1900.

Using Ancestry and FamilySearch, I have found the following documents for Mary:

• a potential record of her arrival in Boston via the SS Halifax from Nova Scotia (as Miss M E McKay, age 19, on August 27, 1900)
• Mary and Malcolm's marriage certificate in the City of Boston archives (which lists Mary's age as 23 as of May 24, 1904 (putting her birth year as 1881), her birthplace as Lake Ainsley, Cape Breton, and her parents as Allen MacKay and Mary McPhail)
• The 1930 US Census, which lists Malcolm (recorded as John M.) and Mary as married and living in Boston. Mary's immigration date is listed as 1900 and her place of birth and both of her parents' place of birth as Canada. (I don't know why he was listed as John M. -- this is definitely them, as the children listed are my grandmother and her siblings, and John/Malcolm's occupation is recorded correctly.)
• Malcolm's 1935 petition for US naturalization, which states that his wife, Mary, was born in Lake Ainsley, Canada, on October 29, 1882, and entered the US in October 1899. I have to assume that he was off by a year for her birth date and flat-out wrong about her immigration date. (Mary never applied for US citizenship, so there is no similar documentation for her.)
• Mary's obituary from 1959

Here's my research conundrum: What I cannot find are any records of Mary back in Nova Scotia. No birth registration, and no record of her parents or her family in the Canadian census.

I understand that Nova Scotia didn't record births from 1877-1908, which includes the year she was born. So that is likely a dead end.

However, I have to assume that I should be able to find some record of her parents, but I have so far come up empty handed. Nothing in the Canadian census, nor any record of their marriage in Canada. I've tried searching on variants of their names (McKay/MacKay, Allen/Allan, McPhail/MacPhail). I've found several Allan MacKays/McKays, but always as single sons residing with their parents. No record of any Allan MacKay married to Mary.

Any suggestions of where else to look?

EDIT to add: I have searched the Nova Scotia Archives and Canadian census records in the Canadian archives online as well--nothing.

Hi everyone,
I recently received my Big Y-700 results from FamilyTreeDNA. My confirmed terminal haplogroup is R-FT225315, a downstream branch of R-V88. FamilyTreeDNA estimates that R-FT225315 formed around 3100 BCE.
My paternal family is from western Anatolia, and our family tradition identifies us as Yörük/Turkmen, with a historically pastoral or nomadic background. My autosomal GEDmatch results also appear broadly consistent with western Anatolian Turkish populations, with groups such as Aydın Turks appearing among my closest population references.
However, the current Y-DNA distribution around my branch looks quite different. The known modern samples on R-FT225315 and its nearby parent and sister branches appear mainly connected to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Palestine, Algeria and other parts of North Africa or the Middle East. I have not yet seen any Turkish, Iranian or Central Asian samples among the most relevant nearby branches.
FamilyTreeDNA’s migration map also places the estimated R-FT225315 ancestor somewhere around the Hejaz or western Arabian Peninsula, near the Medina region, around 3000 BCE. I understand that this is a reconstruction rather than proof that a specific FT225315 individual was excavated there.
I currently have no Big Y matches and approximately 40 private variants below R-FT225315. I have also uploaded my Big Y VCF file to YFull and am waiting for its independent analysis.

I would appreciate informed opinions on the following points:

What historical conclusions can realistically be drawn from the current FTDNA and YFull trees for R-FT225315?

How reliable is the estimated formation date of approximately 3100 BCE, and how large is the likely uncertainty range?

What information does FTDNA use when placing a prehistoric branch geographically? Is the location mainly based on the reported paternal origins of modern testers, the geography of sister branches, ancient DNA, or a combination of these?

How meaningful is the repeated Saudi Arabian, Kuwaiti, Egyptian, Palestinian and North African distribution around the relevant branches when Turkey, Iran and Central Asia are absent?

Could this reflect the actual historical geography of the lineage, or might it largely result from sampling bias, such as higher participation in expensive Y-DNA testing among some Gulf families and very low Big Y participation in Turkey, Iran and Central Asia?

What does a block of roughly 40 private or novel SNPs suggest about the unsampled paternal branches between the R-FT225315 ancestor and me?

Can their approximate order or dates be estimated from a single modern sample, or must intermediate relatives first be discovered?

Is a Big Y VCF generally sufficient for reliable YFull placement, age estimation and evaluation of novel SNPs? What specific additional information could a BAM file provide in this situation?

Are there any currently published modern or ancient DNA samples carrying R-FT225315, R-FT162017, or another branch unusually close to this lineage?

I am not expecting a Y-DNA haplogroup to prove a modern ethnicity. I am mainly trying to understand how much can genuinely be inferred about the historical geography and movement of this single direct paternal line, especially given the very limited and unevenly distributed testing data.

GEDmatch Dodecad K12b results:
Caucasus: 31.93%
Atlantic_Med: 16.30%
Gedrosia: 12.88%
North_European: 12.38%
Southwest_Asian: 10.34%
East_Asian: 8.06%
Siberian: 6.34%

Southeast_Asian: 0.69%
Sub_Saharan: 0.57%
Northwest_African: 0.50%

Based on a comparison with my mother’s DNA results, the Southeast Asian, Sub-Saharan African, and Northwest African components appear to come from my maternal side.

another specific familysearch question...

I emailed familysearch asking about something, and 1 thing led to another, and I ended up sending them some documents over email (that they asked for and very kindly volunteered to look at without me even asking)

They then sent me a link to log in and give them "helper" access to my account. The name associated with this request is a total stranger.

They emailed me and informed me they added a lot of information to the family tree based on the documents I had.

However, looking at my family tree after their email, the User ID associated with the recent batch of edits across several people in my tree does not appear to be my User ID, familysearch, or the stranger's name who appeared when I logged in to give them permission to be a "helper" on the tree.

Instead, it is the same User ID that had uploaded some information on these people several years ago. I enabled "relationship viewing", and this individual is apparently my 1st cousin 3x removed.

Is it possible that edits made by FamilySearch staff would show up under their name instead? Why would this specific name show up? Or is it just a coincidence somehow?

I sent a short message to them out of curiosity but they have not replied.

Looking at the rules, I see this community includes "Discussing research methods and strategies." I asked a question about genealogy software but the post was removed. Is there some specific community that is this nuanced that wouldn't fall under "Genealogy"?

https://7news.com.au/news/families-gather-to-mark-110-years-since-battle-of-fromelles-tragedy-c-22598032.amp

https://fromelles.info/the-search-for-the-missing/

https://fromelles.info/association/how-you-can-help/

https://www.defence.gov.au/news-events/news/2026-04-28/unknown-no-more-two-wwi-soldiers-identified

https://scispace.com/pdf/naming-the-unknown-of-fromelles-dna-profiling-ethics-and-the-smnkcpg5sn.pdf

this is probably a dumb question, but.

I was doing research for a school project and located bits and pieces of my family tree via family search. is it worth the time and effort for me to go in and piece it all together?

I know probably no one in my family cares, I guess I’m mostly just thinking of in the future if someone needs to do what I did and trace their lineage back and they only know like one person in the family. I traced it from my grandfather but his line stops with him, there’s two more generations after him. it doesn’t even show that he ever married my grandmother.

but I know it’ll be meticulous and I don’t have too much infiltration myself, just immidiate aunts and uncles/my cousins. I guess on the note of cousins I’m a little hesitant to add the ones who are still kids. I mean I imagine they’re already in the database since like census information but 🤷‍♀️

Hi,

Would somebody lookup an article on the British Newspaper Archive for me please? Here is the link:- https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/search/results/1940-01-01/1949-12-31?basicsearch=john%20blenkinsopp&somesearch=john%20blenkinsopp&retrievecountrycounts=false&newspapertitle=blyth%2bnews

It should be the first article to pop up on the list of results, it dates from the 3rd of August 1942, and is in the Blyth News. It relates to John Blenkinsopp, a storeman in the Blyth Shipyard. It may have the subheading "Witness Tells of £10 Weekly Gift." Thank you very much. If you can find it for me, that would be great.

I' trying to figure out how many children under 5 my 6th great grandfather Joshua Heidler Jr put down on the 1830 census , seems like he put something and then scratched it out to replace it but I can't definitively say what it is ? any ideas? https://imgur.com/a/rJj2mLH

Boa tarde!!!

Depois de muito tempo, eu finalmente achei o registro de nascimento do meu tetravô, mas infelizmente é restrito o acesso, apenas sendo possível nos centros do FamilySearch... No momento, moro um pouco longe de um centro, e eles demoram para responder.

Se alguém que consiga ir em algum, ou mora perto, poderia me ajudar??

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6VWR-7S2X?lang=pt

Alguém poderia me ajudar com esses registros bloqueados do familysearch ?

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9L1-MQVZ?view=explore

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9L1-9ZM9?view=fullText&lang=pt

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9L1-989K?view=explore&lang=pt&groupId=TH-1942-46771-8126-27

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9L1-9ZMD?view=explore&lang=pt&groupId=TH-1942-46771-8126-27

I have recently lost touch with my last French relative. I have sent many emails and a hand written letter sent to her 3 weeks ago. I think she may have passed away. Can anyone help me try and find out if she has? I am happy to send her name and address if someone can help me.

For 25+ years I've been slowly and painfully tracking my very elusive great-grandfather. I can find no record of him anywhere after my great-grandmother divorced him and don't know where to look. Where would you look for him? Below are his movements to the best of my knowledge:

B. 1874 Kent Co, MI

1889 - 1893 Chicago, IL

1895 Grand Rapids, Kent Co, MI

1900 Ross, Kalamazoo, MI

1901 - 1903 Grand Rapids. Separated and living apart from his first wife.

1902 married second wife (while still married to first) in Oceana Co, MI.

1907 2nd wife filed for and was granted a divorce on the basis of desertion. He was back living with his first wife and their daughter by then.

1910 Seattle, King Co, WA

Left first wife in 1913, she divorced him in 1914.

1918 Portland, Multnomah Co, OR

1919 Spokane, Spokane Co, WA. Married my great-grandmother in 1919 in Seattle, King Co, WA.

1920 Portland, Multnomah Co, WA

1922 my great-grandmother divorced him in December, said she hadn't seen him since February and he was living in some sort of men's gambling club.

1927 my grandmother was adopted by my great-grandmother's 3rd husband. My great-grandfather had never made contact with my grandmother.

Where would you look for him? I haven't found him on the 1930 census. He's not mentioned in obituaries of siblings who died after 1922. Any suggestions would be amazing!

Hi everyone, I am facing a complex genealogical cold case and would love to hear your ideas on how to approach this without knowing the US relative's last name.
The Backstory:
My ancestor, Jan Kucera, was born in 1838 in Bohemia (Czechia) as an illegitimate child of Veronika Kucera.
His biological father (identity unknown) likely emigrated to the US, settled there, and had another family.
1940–1941: A probate court in the US (likely Illinois/Chicago area) was searching for Jan Kucera as an heir to a very large estate. Since Jan was a half-brother through his unknown father, he naturally had a different last name than the deceased.
Official requests for Jan’s birth certificate (and his daughter's marriage certificate) reached a local parish in Bohemia in 1941 through a banking association.
Unfortunately, WWII broke out, followed by the Communist takeover in 1948 (during which our family's advocate tragically died), and the paper trail on the Czech side completely went cold.
The Problem:
We don't know the father's name or the US relative's (testator's) last name—only that they were looking for Jan Kucera (b. 1838, son of Veronika) in Bohemia around 1940–1942.
My Question:
What strategies or databases would you use to tackle a search like this? Are there ways to query US court/probate records, alien property custodian files, or public notices using only the heir's details (Jan Kucera, Bohemia) rather than the deceased person's name? Any creative search angles, wild ideas, or recommended archives would be greatly appreciated!

Another important detail from family lore:
According to family stories (supposedly mentioned in that lost/burned letter), the inheritance was not just cash or a farm, but involved an industrial asset / business (such as a mine, lime kiln/quarry, or foundry) built by the unknown biological father or his family.
Since this is strictly from oral tradition and not backed by surviving Czech records, we can't be 100% sure. However, if true, the probate or property seizure around 1941–1942 might have gone through corporate channels or the Office of Alien Property Custodian (APC) under a company name rather than an individual's surname.
Does anyone know if there's a way to query 1941–1942 APC records or court notices involving industrial assets/mines linked to unnamed heirs in Bohemia?

I’m trying to locate the naturalization paperwork for an ancestor who immigrated from the British Isles to Chicago, IL in the 1910s.

Any ideas on where to start looking?

Thanks!

Noticed that when I attempted to open some family tree’s created in an earlier version of Windows (pre 11), the files would not open in Legacy Family Tree 10. The files were said to be corrupted. I actually had to go to a previous computer with the older OS and open the files there, but even then the GEDCOM files created would not open in LFT 10 on the Windows 11 OS. And, yes, I did attempt to download Legacy Family Tree 9 to see if they would open, and it was hit or miss between files with most not working and LFT 9 not working at all in Win 11.

I attempted to contact anyone with LFT to see if they could help me or provide some workaround. Even if the problem is exclusive to me, I was hoping for help, but zero response. I’m wondering if there is any level of tech support at all with this software.  

Looking for help finding an 1885 birth record in Balta (Odesa/Podolia). Name: Moishe / Morris / Maurice Schwarz (b. 1 Jan 1885). Father: Wolf (Vulf) Schwarz (b. ~1851, carpenter). Mother: Anne / Anna (b. ~1857). Family transited through Port Said to Australia in 1905 on SS Grosser Kurfürst. Any assistance searching Odesa State Archive (DAOO) Metrical Books or JewishGen Ukraine indices for Wolf/Moishe Schwarz in Balta any information would be deeply appreciated!

He was born 1930 and died 1962 in South Africa. Is there a listing for anyone with those general details on Ancestry?

I currently only have a photocopy of his discharge papers from a family member and my dad has his war medal (defence medal and Newfoundland volunteer service medal are both in the family somewhere). The issue with him being a Newfoundlander who joined the RAF with the RAFVR in 1944 before Newfoundland was a part of Canada. He was a “Maintenance Assistant” or bomber mechanic as he always said, was ranked as “Leading Aircraftsman” and his service number was NFD.798821
I first enquired to the Canadian archives, who then referred me to the Newfoundland “rooms” archive, they didn’t have anything and told me to apply to the UK records.

I applied to the UK records months ago with a copy of his death certificate (died in 2006) but apparently the UK archives are having a massive digitalization of records and therefore the backlog is ginormous. I sent a follow up email last month that went unreplied. I’m wondering if theres any other avenue I can explore to try and get them? I know he was posted to RAF Oulton through letters he sent his mom that we have, he served from 1944-1946.