Exactly! I looked for years for Frank Simmet, son of Michael Simmet/Zimmeth and Catherine Eisenmann in Erie County for years. This year after my last trip to Buffalo, I put his name into ancestry as Frank Simmet, born in NY and came up with him in Michigan (which is where I am from) of all places. Remember, when you are using search engines, sometimes Less is Best! In other words, the less amount of information you plug into that search engine, sometimes you get more info, or what you are looking for. The other strategy of looking for people with similar surnames, is a great one. It can be very difficult to locate family members if you don't have a given name to search by, but it can also be very helpful, as given names are frequently switched around on census. Your Mary Paul can likely be indexed as Marie or Maria. Or for all you know she could be Mary Gertrude, and if you keep looking for Mary, you might not find her, but if she is German, it is likely you will find her under Gertrude. Since both the French and German frequently name children in this manner (i.e. Marie Catherine, Marie Anne, Marie Gertrude or Johan Friedrich Victor, Johan Friedrich Georg, Johan Friedrich Gerhard) looking for just that first given name may get you nowhere. Above all, be open to possibilities. Good luck, Anne (Percival) Kruszka Researching Bowman, Chinn, Davidson, Kettler, Kirtley, Klijewski, Knost, Kruszka, Maitland, Oliphant, Percival, Synos, Zalot & Zimmeth -----Original Message----- From: Cynthia Van Ness [mailto:bettybarcode@yahoo.com] Sent: Saturday, July 09, 2005 7:47 PM To: NYERIE-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [NYERIE] Questioning premises I like the way Dianne suggests questioning your premises, and the following anecdote is not directed in any way at the person who started this thread. I occasionally see a stubborn refusal to do this in my library patrons. Often they are the same patrons who are frustrated that they haven't found Great-great-great-whoever and tell me long stories of all the years and places they've looked for him or her with no success. Sometimes it seems like they have become more satisfied by *not* finding that elusive ancestor, because otherwise they might have to own up to flawed research efforts or strategies. I can confess to the same weakness. I was looking for a prominent Newport, RI African-American family in the 1870 RI census to no avail, so I posted to some relevant Rootsweb bulletin boards. Someone quickly found the family in Washington, DC, because they weren't as stuck on Newport as I was. I should have been smart enough to cast a bigger geographic net, because I had already collected enough clues about this family to suggest looking elsewhere. Duh! --- Dianne Erickson <wasieerick@milwpc.com> wrote: > Why do you think Mary was born in New York? > > My Regina/Rachael Langenfeld's census reports often stated > that she was born > in New York, but instead, she came to the U.S. in 1831 from > Hanviller, > Germany/France when she was about one year old. I was thrown > for a very > long time, looking for her birth record in the U.S. > > Maybe go back and examine the premise? Where is the > birthplace of Mary's > parents? Did they come from another country? Where is the > ship record? > You might just find Mary on that ship. > > Dianne > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "grace w gathman" <wallace26@juno.com> > To: <NYERIE-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Saturday, July 09, 2005 11:50 AM > Subject: Re: [NYERIE] Bader/Schmidt plus Paul > > > > Zona has her Bader, Jillaine has her Leonard, and I have my > Mary/Maria > > PAUL. I would give almost anything to find her birth in NY. > I know, for > > as sure as one can be, that she was born July 4, 1832 in > Erie County, NY. > > I have her on all further census and state records etc after > 1860 in the > > UP of Michigan. Her subsequent "paper trail" has her date of > birth as > > 1832. If anyone has any ideas where I might find her I would > be eternally > > grateful. I have had a researcher from the list try, and he > was unable to > > find her. Thanks, this is a great list. Grace > > > > > > ==== NYERIE Mailing List ==== > > List Administrator: Dick Rose <dtrose@cox.net> > > My Genealogy: http://members.cox.net/dtrose/ > > Archived Messages at: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/ > > > > ============================== > > Census images 1901, 1891, 1881 and 1871, plus so much more. > > Ancestry.com's United Kingdom & Ireland Collection. Learn > more: > > http://www.ancestry.com/s13968/rd.ashx > > > > > ==== NYERIE Mailing List ==== > List Administrator: Dick Rose <dtrose@cox.net> > My Genealogy: http://members.cox.net/dtrose/ > Archived Messages at: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/ > > ============================== > View and search Historical Newspapers. Read about your > ancestors, find > marriage announcements and more. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13969/rd.ashx > > *:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:**:-.,_,.-* Cynthia Van Ness, MLS, bettybarcode AT yahoo DOT com www.buffaloresearch.com "My heart is moved by all I cannot save: So much has been destroyed I have to cast my lot with those who, age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world." -Adrienne Rich ==== NYERIE Mailing List ==== List Administrator: Dick Rose <dtrose@cox.net> My Genealogy: http://members.cox.net/dtrose/ Archived Messages at: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/ ============================== Find your ancestors in the Birth, Marriage and Death Records. New content added every business day. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13964/rd.ashx