Cheesehead's mom had a copy of the Peshtigo Times sitting in her things. Recently, she showed it to us because of my incessant chatter about the ancestry research I'm working on I'm sure. It had some great facts that helped me to identify some older census records for a few of those family members. It even referenced some names of Joseph Wagner's parents who were as yet unknown to me. The information from Germany/Prussia will be harder to track down, but there is a county in WI which I hope to visit some time soon.
Even more interesting though was the stories of lives long past that it told and the story of a small town in Wisconsin. Wagner, WI is a small town in Marinette county. Apparently it was founded by Cheesehead's great great grandpa and grandma according to the article. Currently the population is around 800 or so.
I've never been there, but I have a feeling that some of the nearby cemetaries would help me tremendously with missing dates for some of the ancestors I am missing information for. I had hoped to be able to find some more information on the town to share with you, but I seem to have trouble finding obsure small towns on the internet. I suppose my luck would be better if I could riffle through some local papers or books. For now I'll just have to share some of my searching tips instead.
If you don't research your ancestors, you have no idea how many people are out there who share the same or similar names and birth years. It's even crazier when you add in the common last names that many of our ancestors share. Add that to a common first name and that will help you pull up hundreds of thousands of records to sift through.
In order to gain more success, I have researched some of the ancestors with less common names. For example MIL has some relatives that are Millers. Miller is an extremely common name. I was able to find some of her dad's family records by researching his sister's name (Emmerate) and connecting the rest of the family members to that name. This strategy brings up far fewer records to sift through.
I haven't had the same luck with my husband's dad's family though. Hopefully one day soon I'll have the time to make the drive over there and see this area that mnay of his distant relatives probably still live near. At least now when I find some records indicating that some Wagners live in Marinette county, I know that it merits a closer look.
Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
7 comments:
Genealogy can be a very rewarding hobby. I find it so interesting and of course the challenge to find those missing relatives is hard for me to turn away from.Sounds like you are on the right track. Local cemeteries hold vast clues. I might give you a little help in that when you go into a cemetery to write down your Wagners, etc. if it is a small cemetery to take the time to write down all of the stones and map there locations. I have had to return to cemeteries upon finding a missing daughter that married so and so that may have been buried there along with his families parents and children.In the long run it will save you leg work and time and if someone crops up later on and you wonder about them and wish you could remember where they were buried you will have the information. In small communities everyone is practically related because they did not travel long distances and so they married in their areas. You may have already learned all of this but it is good info for anyone who is just starting and could help them.
Good luck on your searching.
Cinj, your post is interesting even though I am not into genealogy. Maybe once you get some information about the little town, you can put it out on the Internet to help others like you. My husband has been working on our families for a long time. It is his hobby. By the way, your header photo is 'delicious'!!!
Lona- I have already made that mistake. I am planning to map as many cemetaries as I can now so I can avoid making that mistake again. I am also hoping that I am able to figure out how to post my information to one of the cemetary mapping sites on the internet so I can help others find the information they need more easily.
Barbee- Funny you should mention that, I was thinking the same thing. Actually I have several obscure towns in my lineage that I was thinking about doing this for. It will take time, but I'd really like to put information into the hands of the public so it's easier to find.
I truly admire those who take the time to research their family history. It is not an easy thing to do. For us we have an old family bible. Recently my son has shown an interest but I am not sure what he'll do about it. We'll see. Good luck with all of yours.
Good luck with your geneology searches. I always take my camera along to the cemeteries nowadays, it's just easier to snap photos than write it all down, plus you save a lot of time.
Geneology is a tricky thing with many doors opened only to find another one closed. My FIL has done a great job of researching my hubbys family history. Good Luck on future endeavors with research...
That's very cool.
I had a good experience with genealogy, only it was someone else's research. My French cousin located me in his research. His Grandfather was my Grandmother's brother. Very cool. I knew my maternal grandmother was born in France, but that was it. Since then I have visited him in France and one of his daughters spent a week here in Idaho with us. It's been very rewarding.
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