I recently broke two brick walls when doing my own family research; I thought it would be nice if I shared them with you all.
First Brick Wall,
In my Garza family line I had only gone as far back as to my great-great-grandpa, I only knew his name to be Martin Garza but I could not figure out his wife’s name. I searched every possible way I knew how. I did ask my father but he did not know who the wife might be. I thought if my dad does not know no one knows. Then I thought to myself what if I ask my dad’s sister tia Amelia. So I called my cousin Yolanda who is the eldest daughter of my aunt and she agreed to ask my aunt if she knew who that wife of Martin Garza might be. She called minutes later and told me that the name was Ruperta Lopez. Once I hanged up I could not wait and headed to www.familysearch.org and found their marriage record listing their parents also, and guess what tonight I’ll be researching them.
Second Brick Wall,
I was doing research on one of my wife’s aunts by marriage. I knew she was from the area of Abram Texas and I also had her parent’s names but could not find any more information about them. So I went over to www.texaslandrecords.com and searched for her mother first, there I came across a 1955 Oil and Gas Lease listing her and her husband. What caught my eye where the other names listed on the lease with her same last name. I then went over to www.familysearch.org and searched for one of those names which I had assumed was one of her brothers and there it was a U.S. 1910 Census matching three of the names in the Oil and Gas Lease, and listing also the parents. The same happened once I started to search for her father’s information, I found a 1956 Oil and Gas Lease and found him listed in the U.S. 1920 census listed as Amidio instead of Amadeo. It listed all the siblings and also their parents.
The Lesson,
- Reach out and ask
- Try and go around the brick wall by searching for siblings instead
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