I need help with two major brick walls in my ancestry research.

Question

First, I have traced my fourth great-grandfather, Jonas Bomberger, Bomberger-18 back to research. But nothing after his death in 1839.  No grave information, very limited information.  But the major one is I can't seem to find out information on is my mother's side of the family.  I've tried census'; did locate my grandmother's grave though.  The trouble is they were Smith, a very common surname; Smith-115959 is my mother's profile.  Please direct me to where I can find information.  Thank you.

Answer 1

Hi, Vonda. Welcome to WikiTree!

I wanted to clarify your question since I see for Jonas Bomberger https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bomberger-18 there is a whole group of ancestors listed for him. So are you working on the proof side to fill that out in the sources?

As for the Smith side, I definitely feel your pain. I also have the complication of my 2GGf (John Smith) being an orphan at about 10 during the Civil War in Missouri. I'm not even sure that was his given name.

For Alex Smith, is this possibly him in the 1870 census in Mansfield, Tolland, CT? It appears he is with dozens of other children at what appears to be a possible orphanage. Maybe we have more in common that we realize, just in different parts of the country.

https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/8459411?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a223266306631363850774b69544a49752b536976587147625a5168436b37724b656f696c67344c304d7835633d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d

This link should work with or without an Ancestry.com account.

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