Question of the Week: What's a favorite discovery you've made in your research?

Question

What is one of your favorite genealogical discoveries?

Please tell us with an answer below. You could also answer on Facebook or upload the question image to any social media site. If you share it you may get family members talking.

Comments

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Finding out I have an ancestor who participated in the Boston Tea party.

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My favorite discovery is finding several ancestors who were involved in the American Revolution. I have one who actually was a Tory (“loyalist”), fighting for the British.

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Mary,

That's a really interesting find!

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I also have a relative who participated in the Boston Tea Party.

Answer 1

A coincidence that amuses me.

I am grand nephew of Able Seaman WC Ouzman [Ouzman-5] and great grand nephew of Ordinary Seaman H J Miller [Miller-68751]

Both served on HMS Northampton, William from 1901 to 1904, Henry in 1881.

Both then joined HM Coastguard Service.

Nick Miller

Answer 2

By doing research, I have been able to learn so much more about my great aunt Nora Long and her life in vaudeville shows. My mother and I loved her more than I can write without going on and on. 

In this photo, she is standing 5th from the left, and her husband is the show manager on the 4th row standing 3rd from the right. Without the time I have spent doing research, I would have never realized that she was in such a main vaudeville show that her husband managed. Knowing so much more about my beloved great aunt is certainly a favorite discovery. 

Comments

A great aunt on my mother's side was a Ziegfeld girl in the 1920s. We always knew that... but in the midst of having nothing better to do during lockdown and chasing down any info I could find on any relative, I found a charming magazine article about her later life, when she was heavily involved in small town community theater but only did backstage jobs. She hadn't told anybody that she had once played the Broadway stages. The article included a couple of photos of her in her heyday. Sadly, I never had an opportunity to meet her.

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Carolyn, thank you for your writing your interesting comment about your great aunt as a Ziegfeld girl. Glad you were able to find the magazine article; these discoveries make genealogy so much fun.

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Wow my sweet friend Alexis that is the most amazing photo I have ever seen, I admire it thank you so much for sharing this photo ❤️❤️❤️

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Susan, thank you for your sweet comment. I love being able to share discoveries about Nora. 

Answer 3

Just how closely I am related or connected to the well-known civil war veterans on both sides of the battlefield of the border war along the Missouri-Kansas line. My current pursuit is to connected veterans one to another. I literally find something new daily making IT my favorite discovery!

Comments

I can relate, K.   I'm Canadian, descended from Loyalists in the Revolutionary War but then learned I'm also a descendant of Patriots. So since some of the family stayed in the United States, I'm now finding relatives who fought in the Civil War. It is fascinating.

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As I highlight some of my findings in the Chat, I will include a slave who served with Quantrill and attended reunions after the war, also a Canadian who opposed slavery yet, fought against the Union and was not necessarily sympathetic to the southern cause. I'm sure some will be surprised by who some of the men descend from, maybe.

Answer 4

One day about 15 years ago I was viewing an older database researching my maternal G-grandmother and clicking backwards with the blue links. I got results back to the 1700s to my 4th G-Grandmother, Laodicea Langston Springfield and her 21 children. At the bottom of the page I noticed an obituary peeking out so I scrolled down, only to find more articles on this woman who was called "Daring Dicey" Langston. Turns out she was a local legend in the Laurens District of South Carolina during the American Revolution, at the age of 15! I've learned that she was indeed daring and brave in her patriotic efforts to protect her family from Loyalists who would harm her brother and father. She is a South Carolina heroine and is listed as one of the "Founding Mothers, The Women Who Raised Our Nation" (by Cokie Roberts). One of my 4th cousins wrote a book about Dicey titled "The Patriot Wore Petticoats" (Marnie Pehrson) in 2004. Dicey married Thomas Springfield, a dashing militia patriot, and they created a large clan of Springfields scattered about the United States of America. No one in my father's family had heard of Laodicea or knew of her legendary actions. I am proud to have introduced her to my family.

Answer 5

Well, the newest one I made doing research for a book I am trying to write: (the discovery is in bold type)

My 2nd great-grandmother was "bound out" at 9 years old, orphaned by the loss of both parents. She was the youngest of 9 children living near Stoneville, North Carolina, USA (that is halfway between Martinsville, VA and Greensboro, NC)   Her older brother and sister are already married and starting families of their own.  I believe my 2nd great-grandmother got separated from her other close age siblings and taken to Madison, NC. with her oldest sister and her husband. 

Well, guess who is in Madison, NC at the same time as my pistol packing great-grand maw?  Eliphalet Remington, owner of what would become E. Remington and Sons! He was just getting started making Remington Flintlock Rifels, which were better designed.

Those rifles were used through the Civil War.  And my granny was an expert with guns!  Married to an abolitionist and chased into Nebraska by bounty hunters funded by the Knights of the Golden Circle for involvement in the Iowa Underground Railroad, granny could hold her own with a Remington!  

Comments

Eliphalet Remington 5c4r who knew? Thanks David

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You got me beat K, he is my 13th cousin 4xR

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By WWI my 3c3r invented the Thompson sub machine gun best known for its use by gangsters of the 30's.

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Hello Cousin David. I'm glad you took a shot at this; it hit the bulls eye. It is wonderful story that could be made into a movie.

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I'm 11c9xr to Eliphalet Remington 

Answer 6

I've discovered many great friends and Colleagues right here on Wikitree

Comments

That's a wonderful answer, Brian. 

Answer 7

Before WikiTree, I thought my earliest USA-born ancestor was born in 1840 New York City, NY.  However, I discovered a couple 1630’s Pilgrims.

Comments

That's great, JM.  Many of us on WikiTree come from those 1630's Pilgrims.

Answer 8

My mother had talked about how my 3G-grandfather was one of four brothers who came from northern Germany (maybe Prussia at the time) and settled in Missouri. After my mother died my brother found the brothers had left seven sisters in the old country.

Comments

To help me in my research I would be very interested how they came to settle in Missouri; where and when and if they participated in the civil war.

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Since all of  my mother's ancestors came from various parts of Germany and they all settled in Missouri, detailing them would be lengthy. I don't have reasons why they chose Missouri. I think in general in the middle of the 19th Century there was discussion in Germany of creating a German utopia in the middle of  America.

As for the Civil War I have knowledge of only one who served, Henry Heuer, Heuer-243.

If you want more details, perhaps you can look at my ancestor tree, then we could discuss through private messages.

Answer 9

So many! Discovering Roger Williams was a direct ancestor was probably the biggest. Having an ancestor in the Gold Rush to California was pretty cool. Discovering the DAR Bible Record for my family was pretty big, resolving once and for all that Nathaniel was not Johnathan's father, Johnathan actually married Nathaniel's widow! And discovering that two of my ancestors fought and were wounded in two different key battles of the Civil War was pretty interesting, it brought the war to life in a way that no amount of reading could have.

Answer 10

I’m a little morbid I guess, but I love to find crimes and dramatic deaths such as my 2nd cousin who committed suicide by climbing a light standard and hanging himself at a Stevie Nicks concert.

There was also my relative the murderer; my relative the serial killer, etc. I love finding this kind of stuff.

#sorrynotsorry

Comments

I was just wondering if there is a Serial Killer category the other day!!!  I listen to Morbid, Crime Junkie, and Snapped, so True Crime on the brain.  I love it!  My 3rd great grandfather died from a shot to the leg sustained while robbing a train with the Bass Gang.  LOVE those kind of stories.

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There totally should be!

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Yes, me too. Just recently discovered that Charles Manson was my ninth cousin. And just yesterday I found out that I had an Amish fourth cousin who killed his wife and son and got away with it because he was harbored by the gay community. (They are both dead now, thus the past tense.)

My brother's brother is in prison now for murdering his wife and daughter. (My adopted brother and his biological brother married twin sisters; my brother's sister-in-law and niece were the victims.)

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@ Kirby- I see we are tenth cousins and connect thru the Woodfin-Dalton connection. Kit Dalton was a member of the Sam Bass gang, who was your 3rd gr grandpa?

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Oh how interesting!!  

Henry Collins: Henry Collins - WikiTree Profile

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Steven,

As James Brown said, "Good God, ya'll!!"

I worked for a renowned forensic psychiatrist, Donald T. Lunde, MD, who interviewed Manson, and testified against him in his case. What I learned from him about the interview and the Sharon Tate murder was extremely interesting to say the least.

We all have interesting things in our family, however, yours is up there. Thank you for sharing.

Joan Szymczak

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Kirby, I see that our common ancestor 10thggf was Mennonite Bishop Herman op den Graeff, who was a signatory to the "Dordrecht Confession of Faith", an important document for Mennonites/Anabatists. Others among his descendants are comedian Red Skelton, Pres Theodore Roosevelt, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and Brad Pitt.

Outlaw Jesse James's daughter Mary married my 5c3r Henry Lafayette Barr.

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Stephen, Kirby and Kevin are all 10th cousins connected by the Dalton line

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Charles Manson was my 18th cousin twice removed, on my father's side. The common ancestor was born in 1389! I'd guess that means the blood is quite nicely diluted by now....

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Okay, I finally took the bait, Charles Manson is my fifth cousin three times removed, so 14 degrees.  That's closer than I expected!

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9c1r #MeToo

Answer 11

My best friend for the past 27 years is Muslim. So I don't share her faith but respect her and her faith.  On WikiTree I learned my eighth great grandfather was Anthony van Salee, http://WikiTree.com/wiki/Jansen-455, who may have been the 1st Muslim in the New World. He came about 1630 and bought land in what is now Manhattan. So that's been a delightful discovery for me, and my friend.

Then comes the discovery that his father, my ninth great grandfather, was Jansz Janszoon, the notorious Barbary Pirate.  http://WikiTree.com/wiki/Jansz-459. So that's like watching a scary movie with my hands not quite covering my vision. 

Comments

Hello 23C1R Pat,

Thank you for posting this. It's exciting to know that you are descended from a pirate. With so much ancestry from the Caribbean, I too have a pirate in my lineage on my father's side. Check out the story of my 6x ggrandfather Matthew Lowe. The Research Notes section has a harrowing tale of capture and freedom on the high seas.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Lowe-2422

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Anthony Jansen Van Salee is my 11th great grandfather. That was an interesting discovery for me, too! I’ve since read the history book The Island at the Center of the World by Russell Shorto, about New Amsterdam. Anthony and his wife Grietje Reyniers even have a chapter title there—“The Turk and the Whore.” A 10th great grandfather on another of my grandmother’s lines is also mentioned in that book—Johannes de la Montaigne was the last Vice Director of New Netherland and surrendered Fort Orange (later renamed Albany) to the British.

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Thank you, Marion.  I found your analysis interesting.  On the other side of the Atlantic Pirate Jansz followed the pattern.  He was Dutch and in Algiers married a woman of mixed ethnicity whose name was not recorded.  Jansz later converted to Islam (1622).  Then his son came to New Amsterdam as a Muslim.

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Thank you, Kathryn.  I, too, have another ancestor (7th great grandfather) Casper Steynmets who was Commander of the Bergen Militia under Peter Stuyvesant who surrendered New Amersterdam to the English in 1664. We are related through Anthony's daughter Sara who married Jan Emans.

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I’m also descended through Sara! Her great-granddaughter Catherine Emmons/Emans was my 7th great-grandmother.

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What a amazingly photo sweet Pat thanks for sharing ❤️❤️❤️

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Thank you, Susan.  Yes, it's quite a portrait of the man.

Answer 12

Grandma, Cecilia THOMAS PICKETT (Thomas-42786) was not one of the nicest people in the world unless you followed what she considered her "high" standards.. 

Imagine my surprise when none of the rest of the family could find her birth in 1900 but I did. Seems her parents John Thomas PICKETT (Pickett-2612) and Elizabeth Catherine THOMAS (Thomas-36814) were married on 29 November 1900, the same day as her christening. They had always claimed their wedding was 29 November 1899.

So grandma was born a THOMAS and not a PICKETT.

Whoops.

Answer 13

My favourite discovery was finding my paternal grandfather, who died before I was born, in the 1911 census record living with his parents and siblings. That opened up that half of my paternal side  to me and I was quickly able to find my great-great grandparents also. Plus, since then I have been able to connect via Facebook with 2nd and 3rd cousins on that side. (I have yet to meet my paternal first cousins but I am in contact with one via FB).

Answer 14

One of my most favorite discoveries was dancing in front of me the whole time. 

I went to Haverhill city hall to get the death certificate for Giovanni Coppola, a man who I knew was related to me thanks to various close DNA matches to my great-aunt, my dad and myself. Giovanni also sponsored my grandfather and his mom's arrival to America and it was his house they went to in 1929. My great-grandfather picked them up and they drove the four hours to Massachusetts with two small kids in the backseat! Wow. Can you imagine?

So, I get the death certificate and I see that his parents were Giovanni Coppola and Angela Suverato. I was like "Where have I seen those names before?" I look at the San Pietro a Maida births since Giovanni was born there as well.

In 1860, his brother Francesco was born to Giovanni and Angela. Giovanni's father was a man named Francesco. 

It didn't take me long to put two and two together and realize Francesco (the first) was my 4th great-grandfather and father of my 3rd great-grandfather, Paolo.

I have DNA matches who descend from his sister, Caterini. And it turned out the Haverhill Giovanni paided for her daughters' trip to America and were his first cousins. It got me thinking.

What if Giovanni also helped some Coppola cousins? Well, my 2nd great-grandmother's sister Concetta was at an anniversary party for one of his kids. (See her pic.)  AND Giovanni was at my great-grandmother's funeral in 1943. So, I knew there was some connection. 

 I know Coppola is a very, VERY common Italian last name. But, here's the thing. There was only ONE Coppola in San Pietro a Maida. The DNA backs the connections up and DNA doesn't lie.

I hope you enjoyed this week's genealogical gymnastics!

Answer 15

When I was a child my mum always told me that I was just like her first cousin Clarice. I never met her as her family moved down south in the 1950s. Starting my family history in 2003 one of Clarices children made contact.  I eventually met him and his 3 siblings.  Guess what? I am just like their mother Clarice including looks and mannerisms- they were really "spooked" when I met them all. Unfortunately Clarice died in her 70s ansd I never got to meet her!

Answer 16

My family has recently moved to the Isle of Man, where my children attend a school with houses (Harry Potter style). The houses are named after the Viking fathers of the island. Using wikitree, I was able to determine that three of these four Viking kings are my 27/8th great grandfathers and the one remaining one was the brother of one of those. My family makes light of it, saying that *everyone* must be their 27th great granddaughter, but I still think it's cool!

Answer 17

I have two favorites, one happy and the other sad.  First I discovered that my wife is a descendant of the Mayflower Hopkins- father and daughter. Second and with sadness that one of my maternal grandfathers had been killed in France during WW1. Both my father and father in law both served in WW2 and ended up in Italy, my father on the west side and father in law on the east.

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Both glad and sad. My paternal uncle James was killed in France in WWI, before I was born. However, another uncle Fred served in WWI and was discharged before he passed away in Florida, USA. Sad and glad.

Answer 18

My most exciting find was to stumble upon a 233-year-old letter hidden for over two centuries.  It was written by Captain Charles Asgill to the Editor of the New Haven Gazette on 20 December 1786, in which Asgill challenges George Washington's version of the Asgill Affair.  I first managed to get this hidden letter published in the Journal of Lancaster County's Historical Society, Pennsylvania, in 2019, now the whole sorry saga is portrayed in my book The Charles Asgill Affair: Setting the Record Straight.  It is well worth reading how history can be manipulated by one man and how Asgill's descendant went on a mission to correct history!

Answer 19

I knew very little about my father's family before starting this research. I was amazed to learn that my dad's paternal grandparents went back to Slovakia after immigrating to the U.S., taking my then-young grandfather with them, but that he turned around and came back here all on his own at approximately 18 in 1910. I wouldn't be here if Grandpa Krisak had stayed in the Old Country! I wish he had lived long enough for me to know him better.

Comments

Several of my paternal relatives who were born in the Bahamas moved to the USA and some even became US citizens, such as my great uncle T. Bentley Ceruti (Ceruti-46). They ended up moving back to the Bahamas and did not return to the USA. I think that the reason was because so many of their family members were in the Bahamas.

Answer 20

Turns out i have a source verified family link with Celine Dion. And i've adored her for a while. Turns out a large poirtion of my family came from or through Canada.