New member introducing myself

Question

I hope this is the correct place for this since I just joined a few days ago, so here goes. Names Luther (I think that can be seen but just in case). I have been doing my best to do genealogy research for about 25 years. BTW, I'm going to mention some program and website names, so if a mod deletes them, I understand. I started with Family Tree Maker in DOS (before Windows for the young folks out there). I've upgraded a few times of course. I now use FTM 2017, I like it. I am also a member on Ancestry.com, Family Search.org, Find A Grave, and GENI (I don't use that anymore, didn't like it) and now on Wikitree. I looked into uploading my tree to Wikitree but it says there's a 10,000 people limit. My tree has, as of right now, 48,747. I am researching Brown, Smith, Ford, Morgan (4 of the most common names in America, yippee) Jameson, Seitz. Pretty well get the Seitz and Morgan, but the Brown (my father's) and Smith (my mother's) has me 'brick walled'. I've got a few generations started on Wikitree (just the parents so far, not the siblings, etc.) so maybe I'll have some luck here. My dad's line is back to my 2nd great grandfather Carney William Brown 1819 - ?, and on my mother's side, back to great grandfather Robert Valentine Smith 1855/6 - 1935. There are a few trees on another site that shows parents (Census) for Robert Smith, but I do not believe these are correct in that on Robert's marriage certificate to his 3rd wife, Ella Ophelia Bennett, shows that he wrote (or dictated) his parents' names as Robert Smith and Mary Jones. O well... I'm 63 and there's not a lot of time left but I would be overjoyed if I could positively break these walls. "If you know where and who you came from, you know where you are" -- me

Comments

 "If you know where and who you came from, you know where you are" 

 My own version is "I'm NOT lost. I KNOW where I am. I KNOW where I want to be. It's just that the stretch in between is presenting some difficulty." 

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Thanks Susan, That's a phrase that popped into my head years ago and I'll say it to people who think about getting into their family genealogy. Luther

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Welcome Luther.

Do you have this data?

Robert V Smith

 in the Newspapers.com Obituary Index, 1800s-current

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Name:	Robert V Smith
Gender:	Male
Death Age:	80
Birth Date:	abt 1855
Residence Place:	Muskogee
Death Date:	Abt 1935
Obituary Date:	18 May 1935
Obituary Place:	Seminole, Oklahoma, United States of America
Spouse:	Ella Smith
Child:	A L Smith G A Corsi-canna Tex J C P Both M B Both A L Both R F Hendricks Ula Smith Maud S Shankles

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Hello Betty, I am aware of this info mostly. Exceptions: residence Muskogee? could be where he died in the hospital there or something. G A Corsi-canna Tex (a town) J, this could be his son Gustav. R F Hendricks - don't know who that could be. He had no children with those initials, no record. Anyway... I can't go look at this as I am not a paying member of Newspapers.com. Thanks

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Luther,

I asked for a lookup from a newspapers.com subscriber. Let's hope someone sees it.

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Welcome.  I am curious re locations of your "Brown" members. I am brick-walled at an apparent Brown GGGF born abt 1805 in Columbia County NY.  His parents appear to have been of that county.  He married an Amanda (----) there, had 4 children there (1830-1850) by her, moved across the NY/MA border in MT Washington Berkshire Cty MA where he lived with a Maria (Cater?) and had 5 illegitimate children (1850-1858) with her before he died there Jan 1858. So, glad you got thru your brick wall and onward.

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This looks interesting. James and Margaret living with a Robert Smith aged 23 and a RH Smith aged 3 years old. I believe the H is a transcription error.

R H Smith

 in the 1860 United States Federal Census

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Name:	R H Smith [R V Smith]
Age:	3
Birth Year:	abt 1857
Gender:	Male
Birth Place:	Texas
Home in 1860:	Beat 9, Nacogdoches, Texas
Post Office:	Linn Flat
Dwelling Number:	1040
Family Number:	1014
Household Members:	Name Age James M Smith 33 Margret Smith 35 Sarah S Smith 5 R H Smith 3 Isabella Smith 2 James Gunter 12 Mary Davis 13 Robert Smith 23

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Hello Betty, I've seen this one before in several trees on Ancestry. It actually does, if you look at it with one eye, look like R V. What keeps me confused is on Robert's marriage certificate to his 3rd wife, Ella, he wrote (dictated) his parents names as Robert Smith and Mary Jones. I'm still searching everywhere I can think of for a family with those names. All but one of the Census records I have of Robert Valentine Smith, he lists his parents' birth states as Alabama and Arkansas. The one you sent me shows Tenn and Ala. The same family is in McClennan County, TX, in 1870 showing the same Tenn and Ala. If only this one had a V after his name, what a difference that would make. I wish I had records (you know, verify, verify, and then verify), such as something from Robert's that would indicate a member of his family like a sibling or something. This is one of those 'brick walls' I referred to in my original post. And on it goes...

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Luther,

I am positing that the 23 year old Robert on that census is Robert Valentine's father.

Did you look into him?

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Hello again, This is NOT the correct family (James, Margaret). I found some more info just this morning that tells me this. Yayy...  maybe. This family (James and Margaret) is still in McClennan County in 1880 and my Robert is married and in Kaufman County in 1880. Someone please tell me how much I can write per post. Is there a character limit? I would like to post several census lists and other info that I found to get everyone's opinion if I've found the correct family. Where should I post it? Names are Smith (the family in question) and Seitz. Thanks everyone.

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I don't think there is a character limit. I'm glad you found something. Post away.

Betty

Answer 1

You tricked me! I read your post before you edited it. I went to your home page and that was blank. So I traveled over to ancestry and looked around at your tree.

When I got back, you had filled in some information. I don't think anyone minds that you mention other programs or websites, unless its SPAM of course.

There is a 10,000 person limit for each gedcom you upload, but you can enter as many profiles as you are able. You will probably find that it is easier to enter the profiles one by one anyway. That way you can be sure all the information you have is included and formatted properly.

Answer 2

Hi Luther,

Nice to meet you. My maiden name is Smith, and I have a brick wall also. Have been working on it for many years. I am going to share a link with you on GedComs that might be helpful.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:GEDCOM

It explains how you can split your GedCom, and that you will not be able to upload one with more than 5,000 people.

I don't think I have seen anyone that has that many common names before.

Good luck, and happy searching.

We are always here if you need us!