http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library/article.aspx?article=11276&cj=1&o_xid=0000252276&o_lid=0000252276&o_xt=252276 This is an excerpt from an Ancestry article... the whole article can be read at the site above. Enjoy, Chris Unmarried Relatives; Please Don't Overlook Them /by Paula Stuart Warren / It's important to research every member in your ancestors' families. I cringe when I hear a family historian say that they didn't trace their great-grandmother's two sisters because neither of them married or probably had no children. They might be missing some of the greatest tidbits of their family history and even the old family Bible or scrapbook. I would guess that some of you readers are today's single sibling and are caring for the older generation or live in the old family home. * The Last Child at Home* Unmarried relatives may have been the last of the siblings to leave the family home or may have been the one to stay and take care of Mom after Dad passed away. Often, they continue to live in the house after Mom is gone. This might be the sibling who ended up with the family pictures, Dad's letters from the Spanish-American War, Mom's old address book, or that family Bible. Without such a connection to unmarried collateral relatives, I would never have seen the picture of my great-grandmother Betsy and the two sisters who also left Sweden and settled in the Midwest. * Obituaries* One set of my Irish great-great-grandparents were a bit tough to research. They lived in a relatively big city and had the common name of Cook. I had concentrated on their son, John, who was my great-grandfather. I remember great-grandpa John and can still visualize the apartment where he used to live. Of course, it helps that his widow, my Nana, survived him by a number of years and lived in that same place. Once I thought I had exhausted all the possible records to figure out more about them, on a whim, I decided to track a son of theirs, William Cook. He died as a young man, was still living with his parents, and due to his age, I assumed there were no children. I was correct in this assumption. However, I neglected to check for an obituary in the big city newspaper and finally did so after a year. I figured the obituary would not even exist in 1899--after all, he was not famous or infamous. Imagine my surprise some twenty years ago when I did check and found a short two line notice that included: "Faribault papers please copy." With a little additional help from my grandmother, I now knew where to look for more family records. This led to connections with a whole passel of relatives, the name of the parish in Ireland, and some records from that parish. What if I had not researched this unmarried family member? (more..............)

Hi, Chris, Good reminder! I've found a couple of married relatives by looking for the unmarried ones. For example: My gggrandparents( John and Bridget Doherty) had five known children. Three girls, two boys. One of the girls, Ellen A. (Nellie) Doherty became my ggrandmother. Her mother, Bridget Doherty, lived with Nellie and her husband, Patrick Howe in Boston for several years, as did another of the Doherty girls, Margaret. Margaret never married, and left the Howe household sometime after 1880. By looking for Margaret in 1900, I found her living with another sister, Roseanna, (Rose) whom I'd never been able to find, because I did not know her married name. The two of them were living with one of Rose's married daughters. So- here's two whole families (Collins+ McGuiness) to check out. Rose's married name turned out to be McGuinness -she had 10 children, five of whom were alive in 1900. Because of the spinster sister, I've been able to find a whole new set of cousins. Ann

Glad you have had such success, Ann... isn't it wonderful when you find new relies....especially in batches! My poor husband, Jeff, keeps asking if I have enough cousins as yet. This week, we have had two visit and next Saturday, there are about 15 of us going to my Dad's place to have lunch together... almost all are 1st or 2nd cousins and even a couple of the partners are distant cousins to the others! Chris > Hi, Chris, > Good reminder! I've found a couple of married relatives by looking for > the unmarried ones. For example: > > <snip> > So- here's two whole families (Collins+ McGuiness) to check out. > Rose's married name turned out to be McGuinness -she had 10 children, > five of whom were alive in 1900. > > Because of the spinster sister, I've been able to find a whole new set > of cousins. > > Ann > >