Guest Family help

Question

Hello. I have been researching the Guest side of my family and I've hit a road block. My Great Great Grandfather's name is Joseph Jackson Guest. He was born May 25, 1877 in Banks County, GA  and deceased June 26, 1968 per his obituary and Findagrave.  He was married 3 times. 2 of them I have found and 1 I think I found. My road block is his parents. His obituary says his parents were William Guest and Armenda Brown Guest. I can't find anything relating a William Guest to a Armenda Brown Guest.

Please if anyone has any information,  documents  or suggestions I'd greatly appreciate it. Below is the ID to Joseph Jackson Guest,  the son of the ones I'm trying to find.

Comments

Have you tried FamilySearch?

Try looking for William A Guest, and Martha Amanda Brown.

Answer 1

William A. Guest, Georgia, County Marriages, 1785-1950

William A Guest married Martha A Brown 23 May 1872 at Banks, Georgia.

Comments

William Adolphus Guest on FamSch --

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KHT5-6MQ

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Good find Melanie.

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This was fantastic. Thank you. It will help me so so much ❤

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Thank you ❤

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Joe J and Lillie had a son around 1910, named only as "infant" in the 1910 census.  There is no matching child in the 1920 census, so I think it's fair to presume he died - and he may have died unnamed.  

I don't do much in the way of US research, so have no way of finding such a death record.

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I found a 9 year old female named Mary Guest in Elbert GA in the same Cemetery.  She was born March 1910 and died Jan 1920. That has to be the one you referring to. I was asking a family member about this when I came across it but she didn't know anything. You may have answered yet another mystery for me. Thank you so so much. Ya'll have been complete blessings. I'm just starting to really dig into parts of my ancestors and am learning as I go.

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The child on the census is clearly marked "son".  If it had been "male" I could see a possible error, but son isn't anything close to daughter.  Unless the enumerator simply saw a baby and assumed "male".  If you decide to create a profile for the baby, I would mark it either male, or no gender.  Without more evidence, I would not presume female.

I've updated two marriages - Lou and Stella - because they are the only ones I have found.  I don't know how to turn an image found via ancestry library into an actual source, or I'd have added that.  (What I did find is in the change logs as my reason.)

I made a Research Note on Lou's profile - not finding her as Mary Lou, just Lou - so you should probably change her preferred name to Lou instead of Mary.

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Ok. I'll change her name. I had put Mary Lou because of his obituary but on findagrave.com, it has her headstone marked as Lou also.

As for the child, I would like to add the Census info and just put infant. I'm going by memory when I say this, but I believe all the Guest's buried in this particular Cemetery are related and on the family search link you provided. A lot of the names are definitely there but Mary is the only Guest child I saw and she matches the dates as far as being on the 1910 census and not on the 1920 census. I definitely do not want to add information that's not certain but I'm hoping I can find out more information on her somehow.

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As I said - the census may be incorrect on listing the "infant" as a son.  But without an actual birth record to show the parents, I would hesitate to claim the 9-year-old Mary as the same child.

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I absolutely understand. I'm just going to add an infant and no gender like you suggested and just add notes of the infant being on the 1910 census as a son and not on the 1920 census. I'll leave everything else as unknown until I can confirm any information on the child.

How do you find all this information? I've been looking for 2 days for information on my Great Great Grandfather's parents and you and Frank found them in an instant.

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I have access to ancestry library, which helps me find some things FamSch doesn't have (until I add info to FS, when -  miraculously - the sources suddenly appear).

I have no idea how to translate an image on the library to an actual citation, though.

You need to be cautious, though, of the transcriptions on FS, as they aren't always reflective of the actual documents.  The Guest=Thompson marriage is an example.  FS now has that, but indexed as having been on the 5th June 1925, instead of the 7th June - all because the transcriber saw the crossbar of the t as being the upper bar of a 5.

Thing is, they didn't even apply for the license until the 6th, so could not have legally married prior to that date.  (And the image I used is the full page, not a small card notation, as the FS source appears to be.  (I can save it and upload it to NOT Wikitree, if you'd like to see it.))

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Yes please. I'd love to see it. The ancestry library that you speak of, is that a subscription thing? If I get a subscription,  would i have access as well? I'm asking because I have another family mystery I'm trying to figure out in reference to birth certificates and want to see what I can find.

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My understanding of ancestry library is that the subscription is through a library, and your library has to subscribe.  Many libraries are allowing "at home" access due to the pandemic.

Buying a subscription to ancestry has hidden pitfalls, not least of which is them automatically re-upping you after whatever the time period is, when you may not wish it.

Most of the time Family Search is sufficient.  But sometimes they don't have the images, just a transcription - and the transcribers make errors (as do we all), which is why it's good to check the actual documents (or images of them).

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Ok. I'll have to see if my local library has something like that

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Sent you a link to the cropped page (the original was the double page, and the right-hand entry was not related to Joe and Lou).  Check your email.  (Private messages go to your email, but the sender does not see your email address unless you choose to reply.)

Answer 2

United States Census, 1860. Banks, Georgia, 9th Militia District.

Sanford Guest 39, Frances 35. Children are Mary C 15, William A 10, Emery B 5, Elijah 2 and Elisha 2.

Parents and children (one daughter and four sons) were all born in Georgia.