Hello all! :) ...I'm a newbie, so please forgive me if I ask the wrong way. :) ...I have a very allusive relative. His name is Jesse Gaylord Hathaway, my great grandfather. I'm trying to find out who his parents were. I've already tried everything I know to do... He was born in Brainerd (according to family stories and his Australian death certificate). I recently got a copy of his WWI draft reg. card which gave his birth date as June 28, 1884. My gr. grandmother was a very secretive woman and left no trace whatsoever about her husband's family. I sent away for his birth records and found none. I sent away for the census records (1880, 1900) and did not find his family. Grandma insists that he had five sisters (not sure of their ages in comparison to his). She remembered as a child visiting her aunt (approx. 1925-1936). Her name was Maude (Hathaway) Wadsworth and she was married to a man named Dave. She said they lived in Brainerd and that they would take their crops up to Minneapolis to sell/swap for staples... ...All that to say, "help!" anyone have any ideas? I was thinking that if Grandma was right about her Aunt Maude, that perhaps, they would have been married there in Brainerd. But I wouldn't have any idea what year to even begin looking... Would marriage certificates of that era have information about the parents or anything like that... (I'm rambling) ...Again, forgive me for my "newbie-ness", would love any help I can get, even if it's just to say that I'm way off base. :) Thanks, Kristine ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | Family History: | | Alden-VT,NY,MN/ Denney/Denny-VA,KY,IN,OR/ Farwell-NY,MN/ | | Hake-York Co. PA,WI,MN/ Hathaway-MN,WA,OR,Australia/ | | Hicklin-VA,IN,OR/King-IN,OR/ Walling-RI,NJ,NY,OR | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~