This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/2RB.2ACE/8488.1.1.1.1.1 Message Board Post: we were all where u are in the beginning. the main thing is not to get discouraged. this is a time consuming hobby. some lines will never be able to be traced all the way back . one of mine took four yrs of weekly searching - and one day the right kind soul read the post and gave me 150 yrs worth of ancestors in one day. just keep plugging away and u will learn to interpret the info in front of u. the notre dame records, a catholic church, are in latin, and i expect that is the source of joanna. farrand may well turn out to be the english version of ferrara - u know, so that they would fit in. the census have valuable clues -e.g how long a couple was married can tell u if the wife was the mother of the children listed and the date of immigration can narrow down the yrs to look for those records, tho census are not without errors. also, since i am going to send u the 1920 census where jennie and wm are married, u will see that her father frank is living with them and that h! e is a widower - more clues. if u had not known her fathers name, this would have given u info to request records with. give me a day, then watch your e-mail. and i will explain how i found the census i send.