> I'm a new kid on the block and I need some help. Here is the problem: > > Following my father's line, I followed MY grandfather to his father, > Edward. Well, I found a 1870 census of Edward as a child being > raised by his mother M. E. alone. > > Now, how do I find out what "M. E." stands for, and what happened to > Edward's father? I was thinking I could go through civil war > pensions and see if he died during the war...but I don't know what > her name WAS! It's really starting to annoy me. > > I have another from my mother's branch that dates to 1769 North > Carolina. I'm not finding anything on Ancestry. Where else can I > search for information on this ancestor? > > Terrie Milligan It /might/ be easier to make suggestions if you had mentioned what state the 1870 census covered, or which state you think the man served from, but ... The Natinoal Park Service at http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/ has a list of Civil War soldiers and sailors. It's about as complete a list as you'll find, but there ARE people who aren't on it. Once you know the state from which he served -- and which side -- you can look for pensions; Confederates got state pensions and in my experience all pensions are filed by the soldier's name, not the widow; A Union soldier would have gotten a Federal pension. Did you find the parental unit in the 1880 or 1860? Did you find a marriage record for M E (almost guaranteed to give her name); Did you find a different copy of the 1870 (1870 being one of the years where there was an original and 2 hand-copies, the last of which generally reduced to initials!)? HTH Cheryl singhals <singhals@erols.com>

Cheryl, Wow, thanks for the ideas! This particular person was born in Missouri and later lived in Illinois. So, they had to have lived in Missouri during the Missouri Compromise. So, it could go either way. I have found absolutely NOTHING before the 1870 Illinois census. I only found that one by accident actually. By searching for my grandfather's father, I found him as a very young child of 9yrs in 1870. I think I'm going to put that one away for right now and really concentrate on my mother's family. By slowly chipping away. I got past the 1769 guy and am concentrating on his father. I put his information on the DAR board for a patriot lookup and got a hit. I'm sending for his DAR file. That could be a big one! I got a lot of stuff from DRT when I found two ancestors were Texas Patriots. It's amazing what I found...I just get so excited when I find something. Thank you again for your thoughtful ideas! Terrie "Terrie Milligan" <Terrie@cavibigoaks.com>