Hi, just to put my two cents worth in. I am a Californian, having been born in Indiana, lived in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Washington State and now here. Census records here are the greatest. Ancestry.com has the best website. LDS has earlychurch records. Frontier towns had more bars than churches, but the Catholic church in CA has records that go back to their settlement long before the Revolutionary War. You might have to get a Spanish translation, but the words are there written by the hands of the padre in either Latin or Spanish. As you say, Cheers John Dods <johndods2002@yahoo.com> wrote: Hi me again, I've added my tupence worth on Scottish research, now I'll tell you of my Californian experence. (lets all hold hands, LOL.) One of my Great Grandmothers was a Californian, her grandfather was a Methodist missionary to the Native American's in the Sierra Nevada. Unless your man was caputured in a census (remember they go back to 1790), then you might be out of luck. There are several problems with getting Vital Records (as the American's call them) out west. 1. The US system is decentralised, based arround local court houses. 2. As the west was opened up, there were almost continuous boundry changes of US counties, as well as State and Terirtorial Borders. 3. In general the further west you get the later BDM's start being registered, some places don't start till just till the early 20th century! It's nor impossible but I am saying unless he was born in a major population center, then getting a birth date & place is going to have be from other sources, like Newspapers and Census. Census are by far the best thing about US research, they contain heaps of info. If you have any questions, just feel free to ask. cheerrs John Dods Wellington, NZ --- Elizabeth Allan wrote: > I have read with the interest the back and fro of > this thread. > > > > I am an Australian with ancestors in many parts of > England, some I have > successfully traced but one line is illusive. Roy is > right when he says we > must find as much information as possible ourselves > before posting a request > but what if there is no information? > > > > My Yorkshire ancestor is my biggest brick wall. My > GGG grandfather's death > certificate has no parents or first wife's name > listed just Yorkshire as > birth place and married in Yorkshire (first wife) > with no year stated and > America (second wife). Checking the birth > certificates of the two children > born in Australia one states York and the other > Yorkshire for place of > birth. Checking my GG grandfather's marriage and > death certificates I find > he was born in California. The information in > Australia is very limited > especially on the BDM for 1800's and I have decided > that I may never be able > to trace this family especially as they also have a > common surname. > > > > So for Roy and other's on this list it is not always > as simple as you may > indicate to trace family who migrated from the > "mother" land as the > information is not always available in the "adopted" > country. > > > > Elizabeth > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email > to ENG-YORKSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and > the body of the message > Proud to be a transcriber for the freeCEN Project and volunteer for Random Acts of Geneological Kindness Ask me how you can contribute to either of these worthy projects or for other ways of helping our hobby. Researching BATTERS in all Yorkshire BENNIE in Lanarkshire, Dunbartonshire & WLN BENNING in Lanarkshire & Montreal COOPER in Pickering,Yorkshire DODS in East Lothian, Berwickshire, British Columbia, Montreal, Manchester, South Africa, Hong Kong, India DOUGLAS in Innerwick,ELN & Lanarkshire EASTWOOD in Holmfirth,WRY FENTON in Edinburgh FISHER in Leconfield & Pocklington, East YKS HAYTON in EastYorkshire HEWAT in East Lothian HESSELGRAVE in West Yorkshire LAMONT in Lanarkshire MCLEAN in Straclur,Argyll PAVER in Sherburn in Elmet, Yks RANKINE in Dunbartonshire, Perthshire SHIRREFF in East Lothian SUFFILL/SUFFIELD in West & North Yorkshire TROTTER, Islay,ARL,Lanarkshire, West Lothian WALTON, Bradford & Denby, Yorkshire WILLIAMSON in Edinburgh & North Berwick ____________________________________________________________________________________ Got a little couch potato? Check out fun summer activities for kids. http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=oni_on_mail&p=summer+activities+for+kids&cs=bz ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-YORKSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message --------------------------------- Building a website is a piece of cake. Yahoo! Small Business gives you all the tools to get online.