Colleen’s Ancestors – Page 6 – Colleen & Jeff's Roots

Discovering Two More Sets of 3rd Great Grandparents: Sanches, Ochoa, Salas, and Cerna!

Jimenes Francisco - Salas Clara - marriage - 1879 - English — The translated transcribed entry for Francisco Jimenes and Clara Salas is at the top, the final entry for 1879. New Mexico marriages, Belen, New Mexico : 1 February, 1856 – 1 December, 1900.

Two weeks ago yesterday, I set out on my now annual research trip to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, in conjunction with the RootsTech conference (I presented this year) and for the first time, the FGS conference. I got to enjoy 4 whole days of research prior to the conferences. And Day 1 started out with a bang!… my biggest score of the trip. Identifying the names of two more sets of 3rd great grandparents. This proved to be my only big find of the trip, but that’s okay. This had previously been such a brickwall line (see: Rosie Salas (b. ca. 1923): Busting Through a 15 Year Brickwall), that this find alone made the trip totally worth it.

Francisco Jimenes & Clara Salas

One of my goals this trip was to make further progress on whom I believe is my 2nd great grandfather Francisco Jimenes [Jimenez] (1841-1911), the Mexican-born U.S. Civil War veteran about whom I recently started writing. See:

It was from the paper trail I’ve been following this past year, tracking down my great grandmother Victoria Jimenez (1890-1940), that I first identified the names of her parents, my 2nd great grandparents Francisco Jimenes and Clara Salas (1863-). Victoria’s 1940 California death index entry lists Jimenez and Salas as parental surnames and her birth place as New Mexico. The 1900 US Census shows 10 year old female “Victoriana” Jimenes living in San Juan, Grant County, New Mexico with parents Francisco and Clara Jimenes, along with a bunch of Victoria’s siblings. I don’t find another Francisco Jimenes and Clara (Salas) Jimenes married to each other, with those same children’s names, in New Mexico at that time. So although I do not yet have a birth or baptism record for Victoria providing more concrete proof, I feel fairly certain that these are Victoria’s parents. Francisco’s Civil War pension applications also identify Clara Salas as his wife.

FamilySearch has an entry online for Francisco and Clara in their New Mexico, Marriages, 1751-1918 index that records them married on 27 November 1879 at the Catholic church Nuestra Senora De Belen in Belen, Valencia County, New Mexico. No further information.

Identifying Francisco & Clara’s Parents

One of the first tasks I set out to accomplish that first day in the Family History Library was to find an actual copy of the marriage record. A transcribed English-translated copy was easily located in the very well indexed book New Mexico marriages, Belen, New Mexico : 1 February, 1856 – 1 December, 1900, located on the 3rd floor. And there it was… the names of Francisco and Clara’s parents, my 3rd great grandparents. The transcribed record identifies Francisco as the single legitimate son of Manuel Jimenes and Petra Ochoa, both deceased by the time of their son’s 1879 marriage to Clara. Clara is identified as the single legitimate daughter of Trinidad Salas and Maria Jesus Cerna, with no mention of Trinidada or Maria being deceased at the time of their daughter’s marriage. Francisco and Clara both resided in Belen at the time the marriage was recorded, and the marriage sponsors (padrinos) were noted as Bartolo Chavez and Antonia Vaca. That record is displayed at the top of this post.

Two new maternal surnames to add to my list: Ochoa and Cerna! And four new ancestors!

I was thrilled, but didn’t want to just settle for a translated and transcribed copy of the marriage record. I wanted a copy in the original language and original writing. Fortunately, the Family History Library also had that on file, in its U.S. and Canada microfilm collection. I spent the next morning patiently scrolling through microfilm roll 16734 of Church records, 1793-1956 by Catholic Church, Nuestra Señora de Belen (Belen, New Mexico).

Bingo! The Spanish language marriage record entry. My hope is that this record was written in the hand of the priest who actually married my 2nd great grandparents (I assume that’s his signature at the bottom), but I have no way of actually knowing that.

Jimenes Francisco - Salas Clara - marriage - 1879 - Spanish.jpg — The original handwritten Spanish language marriage entry for Francisco Jimenes and Clara Salas. Church records, 1793-1956 by Catholic Church, Nuestra Señora de Belen (Belen, New Mexico). Microfilm roll 16734. Click the image for larger view.

Although New Mexico was ceded to the U.S. by Mexico in 1848 as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (New Mexico Territory was formed in 1850; statehood was granted in 1912), at the time of my 2nd great grandparents’ marriage in 1879, records for their church (probably the whole diocese) were apparently still kept in Spanish.

Emotional Impact

I cannot describe how exciting a discovery this if for me and my father.

Dad’s maternal line had been a total brickwall to us until just a couple of years ago, when we first learned the names of his maternal grandparents, which allowed me to find and start tracking their New Mexico roots. Not having been raised by his mother, Dad knew nothing about his mom’s family history except her maiden name, and that she was supposedly from Nogales, Santa Cruz County, Arizona. Dad didn’t know his grandparents’ names, didn’t know his mother had two older half-brothers, and had no idea that her roots were actually planted in New Mexico instead of Arizona. Until I found that marriage record in May 2013 for his parents (my grandparents), which named his mother’s parents and their birthplaces.

For 15+ years, I have made good progress on some of my mother’s lines, decent progress on Dad’s paternal Nieto line, yet nada on his maternal line until that 2013 marriage record discovery. Each time I would share a new find with Mom about her ancestors, Dad would ask if I had found out anything about his mom’s family. It always crushed me to have to say no.

So this past year’s progress on Dad’s maternal line has been a really really big deal for us. When I opened up that book at the Family History Library two weeks ago today, and saw the marriage entry for Francisco and Clara, which identified their parents’ names (my 3rd great grandparents), I sat at my 3rd floor research table — with a bunch of new rowdy genealogy buddies who crashed my table — and silently cried while they chatted away. Eerily, Dad, who rarely calls me (he usually has Mom make the calls), called me at almost that very moment to answer a question I had texted him a few seconds prior asking about a Spanish language term I encountered in the marriage record (padrinos; I was only familiar with this for baptisms as the Godparents). So I quickly ducked into a quiet area of the stacks (those rowdy ladies were loud!) and got to tell my dad the names of his 2nd great grandparents. We both got really quiet on the phone. I have no doubt he had tears in his eyes on the other end of that phone call.

Fortunately, Dad’s maternal line has started displaying some AncestryDNA matches for me, so I am hoping to escalate my progress on these new lines this year.

Ironically, Belen is about 45 miles away from where an aunt, uncle, and several cousins live in the Albuquerque/Rio Rancho area. Yet they are from my mother’s side of the family (who has no other connection to New Mexico), not from Dad’s side of the family.

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#52Ancestors: Grandfather Benjamin Robledo, So Far Away in WWII New Caledonia

My 6th entry in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” family history blogging challenge for 2015.

The challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.

Amy’s 2015 version of this challenge focuses on a different theme each week.

The theme for week 6 is So Far Away — Which ancestor is the farthest from you, either in distance or in time/generations? Which ancestor have you had to go the farthest away to research?

My 6th ancestor is my paternal grandfather, Benjamin Robledo (1919-1990). Grandpa Ben was the first U.S.-born child of Mexican immigrants Jose and Maria (Nieto) Robledo, and he was the first of three sons to proudly serve on behalf of his parents’ new country.

The So Far Away connection? Where I first find him serving during the Second World War — in New Caledonia.

I remember an airline commercial from my childhood that featured flights to New Caledonia. The name New Caledonia mesmerized me, it seemed so exotic, and I loved the way the syllables would rattle off of my tongue when I’d repeat it back. I find it odd that this airline commercial has stuck in my mind all of these years. And it was only a couple years ago that I learned of my grandfather’s tie to this exotic far away location.

Sailors man the rails as USS Blue Ridge arrives in Noumea, New Caledonia, 2011. Source: US Navy photograph.

Joining WWII

Benamin Robledo enlisted in the U.S. Navy on 8 September 1943 in Los Angeles County, California at 24 years of age. He married my grandmother Rosie Salas 10-1/2 months prior, and the couple gave birth to their first child just 4 months prior to Ben’s enlistment. At the time, Benjamin was working as a welder, and the young couple lived in Los Angeles.

The first muster (attendance) rolls I have been able to locate for Ben are the regular 30 June 1944 Quarterly Muster and the supplemental Report of Change. This leaves a 9-month void at the beginning of his military service, during and immediately after what I assume was basic training. At some point during this 9 month void, Benjamin was allowed to see his wife, because they became pregnant with their second son by the time of this first identified muster roll.

Seaman 1st class (SC1) Benjamin Robledo joined the U.S. S. Waterford ARD-5 on 28 June 1944. The 30 June 1944 Muster Roll Report of Change notes that Benjamin transferred to the U.S.S. ARD-5 at Receiving Station Noumea, New Caledonia “for duty” on a “special assignment”. Since I am missing military records prior to this date, I do not know how or when Benjamin arrived in New Caledonia.

The Archipelago

New Caledonia, now a special collectivity of France, is an archipelago located in the South Pacific, 750 miles east of Australia, across the Coral Sea. According to Wikipedia, it has a land area of 7,172 square miles and a population of 268,767. Captain James Cook gave the archipelago (which reminded him of Scotland) its name in 1774, when he became the first European to sight the islands. New Caledonia became a French dependency in 1853, and declared in favor of the Free French government after the Fall of France in 1940.

Noumea, 2006 — Nouméa centre et la cathédrale, 2009. Wikimedia Commons.

Nouméa is the capital city of New Caledonia, situated on the southern end of the main island of Grand Terre. The city sits on a protected deep water harbor, which made it an ideal location to serve as the U.S. military headquarters in the South Pacific during World War II.

WWII Base

From the the U.S. 7th Fleet, United States Navy:

U.S. forces landed on New Caledonia in 1942 when the United States entered World War II. New Caledonia became an important outpost in the battle for the Pacific during World War II. With its central Pacific location, New Caledonia provided a strategic air base as well as personnel and logistics support for the war. The memorial on New Caledonia honors the U.S. commitment to New Caledonia during World War II, deterring Japanese forces from taking the island. Over the course of World War II, over 40,000 U.S. troops were stationed on the small Pacific island nation.

According to the World War 2 Pacific Island Guide, New Caledonia “was code-named CHEEKSTRAP and later IRET. The U.S. Naval operating base at Nouméa was WHITE POPPY initially, LECTERN from February 1943, and then EPIC.”

Originally considered to be of use only as an air refueling station, New Caledonia’s value increased to the U.S. military in preparation for the invasion of Guadalcanal. The archipelago provided the base of operations for Allied troops (and their strategic victory) for and during the Battle of Guadalcanal, which lasted from 7 August 1942 to 9 February 1943. The World War 2 Pacific Island Guide points out that Nouméa “continued to support amphibious operations as the war moved across the Pacific culminating its service as the staging base for the 1945 Okinawa assault.” The base was closed on 27 May 1947.

U.S. Navy admiral looks at a photograph of Noumea, New Caledonia, during World War II. Source: US Navy photograph, 2011.

My grandfather is first identified at Nouméa on 28 June 1944, well after the Battle of Guadalcanal. He did continue to serve on the ARD in the Pacific theater until 27 November 1945, however I have not yet reviewed the ARD’s records enough to determine which, if any, Pacific battles my grandfather might have served in.

Future Vacation?

Somehow I doubt my grandfather got to partake in much RnR on New Caledonia during his wartime service there, but he had to have at least appreciated the breathtaking natural scenery. Although stunning ocean views were nothing new to Benjamin, who grew up near the Pacific Ocean in Long Beach, California.

This granddaughter too has spent most of her life living near the beautiful Pacific Ocean, and spent most of her high school and 20s-era weekends sunbathing on nearby home beaches that so many others plan vacations to. But suddenly this exotic South Pacific vacation spot is once again calling to that young girl who loved hearing the name “New Caledonia” from that old TV commercial. To walk where my grandfather walked in 1944. If I do get to visit New Caledonia, I hope to take my father. Although he is not remotely a beach vacation type of person, I know how much it would mean to him to get to see where his own father served.

This video highlights Nouméa and New Caledonia just 22 years after my grandfather’s stay.

Here is a 2013 look at exotic Nouméa.

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U.S. Civil War: Francisco Jimenez & the 1st New Mexico Cavalry

Francisco Jimenez, Civil War Pension Index Card — Civil War Pension Index card for Francisco Jimenez. Source: National Archives and Records Administration. U.S., Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000.

A few days ago, I wrote about discovering my first ancestor who fought in the U.S. Civil War — my Mexican-born 2nd great grandfather Francisco Jimenez [Jimenes] (1841-1911). I found this information through his Civil War Pension Index card on Ancestry.com, which indicated that Francisco served in the 1st New Mexico Cavalry — when New Mexico was still a U.S. Territory, that also included present-day Arizona.

I did a little more digging this week, and found additional records that corroborate Francisco’s service in the Civil War and in the 1st New Mexico Cavalry.

The versions of Francisco’s Civil War Pension Index cards that Fold3 has on file look identical to the one available on Ancestry, but include a bit different information. The Fold3 cards do not include the name of Francisco’s widow, Clara Salas, who applied for his pension after his death. The application numbers and date of filing match up with the card on Ancestry, although Fold3 shows a 3rd date of filing — 1907, due to invalid status. The Fold3 versions note a date of death for Francisco, 18 May 1911. They also provide a bit more information about Francisco’s military service (although still no actual dates of service) — he served in Company H and in Company L, both with the 1st New Mexico Cavalry. The Ancestry version only identifies the regiment, not the specific companies.

Francisco Jimenez Civil War and Later Veterans Pension Index Company H — Francisco Jimenez, Company H, 1st New Mexico Cavalry. Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900. Courtesy of Fold3.

Francisco Jimenez Civil War and Later Veterans Pension Index Company L — Francisco Jimenez, Company L, 1st New Mexico Cavalry. Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900. Courtesy of Fold3.

I was also able to find Francisco Jimenes on the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (CWSS) available online through the National Park Service. The CWSS entry notes the same regiment and company numbers that were identified on the pension index cards. What is nice here is that the CWSS provides some new information, his rank when enlisted (Wagoner) and rank when his service ended (Private).

Francisco Jimenez - Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Datbase — Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (CWSS)

Interestingly, the CWSS lists another Francisco Jimenes [Jimenez, Jemines] in Company H of the 1st New Mexico Cavalary. This Francisco Jimenes is only listed in Company H (not L), entered service at the rank of Private and left at the rank of Bugler. It is very possible this is my same Francisco, but it is also likely this is someone else with the same name. I guess this is just one more puzzle for me to investigate.

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Mexican-Born 2nd Great Grandfather Francisco Jimenez is My 1st Identified Civil War Ancestor

US Secession map 1861. Civil War. — US Secession map 1861. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. The Territory of New Mexico at this time included present-day Arizona.

Although I have been a history buff my entire life, and majored in history in college, studying the American Civil War never held much interest for me. Mainly, because I have lived in California my entire life — a state that did not actively participate in the war. No Civil War battles took place here. But my disinterest was also due to not being aware of any ancestors that fought in the Civil War. Both sides of my family primarily immigrated to the U.S. after the Civil War — from Mexico, Ireland, England, Scotland, and Canada. It wasn’t until I married my husband Jeff and started researching his family history that I found ancestor connections to the Civil War.

So what a pleasant surprise it is to finally discover a Civil War soldier ancestor of my own! And even more of a surprise to find that this ancestor is Mexican-born!

To add a bit more complexity to this surprise, this Civil War ancestor is from a family line that I only learned about less than 2 years ago — the maternal line of my paternal grandmother, Rosie Salas (b. 1923). I have mentioned before that Rosie did not raise my father and was never really a part of our lives, so Dad knows almost nothing about Rosie’s childhood or her family history. It wasn’t until May 2013 that I discovered the names of her parents, and their New Mexico origins.

My first identified Civil War veteran ancestor is my 2nd great grandfather Francisco Jimenez [Jimenes] (1841-1911).

About Francisco Jimenez

According to 1900 and 1910 U.S. Census records, Francisco was born in Mexico in April of 1841. He immigrated to the United States in 1852 or 1853 as an 11 or 12 year old boy. I don’t find a trace of Francisco again until his 27 November 1879 post-Civil War marriage to Clara Salas in Belen, Valencia County, New Mexico. Francisco was 38 years old at the time of this marriage; his wife Clara was just 16 years old. Clara and Francisco went on to have at least 6 children together, including my great grandmother Victoria J. Jimenez (1890-1940). They spent their lives in New Mexico, primarily in Grant County. Francisco died on 18 May 1911 at the age of 70. He would never know his granddaughter (my grandmother) Rosie, who was born after his death.

Civil War Service

Francisco Jimenez served with the 1st New Mexico Cavalry, who fought on behalf of the Union. This is confirmed on his Civil War Pension Index card. His dates of service and places of service are not noted. The index card lists his wife Clara Salas as his dependent and widow. Francisco’s pension was first applied for in 1898 — while Francisco was still living — due to the applicant (I assume, Francisco himself) becoming an invalid. His pension was once again applied for on 21 June 1911, one month after his death, by Francisco’s widow Clara.

Now the hunt begins to find more details about my 2nd great grandfather’s Civil War service!

New Mexico did not become a state until after Francisco’s death, on 6 January 1912. During Francisco’s life there and Civil War service with the 1st New Mexico Calvary, New Mexico was a U.S. Territory.

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Manuel Nieto Project: His Birthplace Does Not Jive with My Nieto Ancestry

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I have embarked upon the “Manuel Nieto Project” — an attempt to either prove or disprove a relational connection between my Nieto family and Spanish soldier / Alta California explorer and ranchero Don Jose Manuel (commonly referred to as Manuel) Perez-Nieto (1734-1804), because my father’s family claims we are descended from this Spanish/Mexican-era-California landed “nobility” and explorer.

Starting Source

The most authoritative source readily available in print (without requiring visiting any particular archive) that chronicles the families of these early Spanish/Mexican-era settlers of California is Marie Northrop’s Spanish-Mexican Families of Early California: 1769-1850, Vol. I, published in 1976. The library at which I work owns two copies, a non-circulating one available for reading in our Special Collections, and another circulating copy that is currently lost. But, I was able to quickly obtain another copy via interlibrary loan. Northrop’s work incorporates research previously done by early California historian Thomas Workman Temple, II (manuscripts owned by the Bancroft Library at U.C. Berkeley), as well as Early California Catholic Mission primary source records.

The Los Angeles City Historical Society describes Marie Northrop as:

a longtime member of LACHS and widely respected genealogist who had specialized in tracing the lineage of early settlers of the original El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles.

And the Archival Center at San Fernando Mission steers researchers towards her work:

Searchers are encouraged to check the three volumes by Marie Northrup on the sacraments performed at the California missions. She was a meticulous scholar whose books have withstood the passage of time.

Northrop provides basic biographical details about Manuel Nieto, his wife, and their children.

Don Manuel’s Birthplace

According to Northrop, Jose (she uses Josef) Manuel Perez Nieto was born in Sinaloa, Mexico about 1748. Other sources, such as the less-credible Wikipedia claim a 1734 birth. Now a sovereign Mexican state, Sinaloa was part of the Spanish-conquered Viceroyalty of New Spain when Nieto was born there. Regardless of whether he was born in 1734 or 1748, Nieto was born under Spanish rule. Mexico did not obtain its independence until 27 September 1821.

My Nieto Ancestral Homeland

My Nieto ancestors come from what is now the state of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, from the village of Temazcal (also spelled Tomascal and Temescal) and the larger municipality of Armadillo de los Infantes (“larger” being purely relative) outside the city of San Luis Potosi. The oldest Nieto ancestor I have identified is my 2nd great grandfather Rafael Nieto, who died before his wife Maria Aurelia Compean (1858-1963) and at least some of their children immigrated to the United States in the 1910s.

Doubtful Descendancy

Where my Nietos lived in San Luis Potosi is over 1,000km away from where Manuel Nieto was born. That is quite a distance apart, especially in the days when travel was done by horse or on foot. This makes it very highly unlikely that my family is descended from Don Manuel, since his marriage, young family life, and career travels with the Spanish Army did not take him or his family to Alta California via a big southeastern detour through the area of San Luis Potosi.

There is still the possibility that my Nietos are related to Don Manuel, sharing a common ancestor, even though we are not direct descendants. I don’t know where my 2nd great grandfather Rafael Nieto was born. I may discover that he was born closer to Sinaloa and made the 1,000+ kilometer migration to San Luis Potosi (SLP). Or that his parents or grandparents did. This is doubtful though, since I find the Armadillo de los Infantes area of SLP so heavily filled with other Nietos going back at least to the late 1700s.

However, direct descendancy may still be a far off chance. We could be directly descended through one of the collateral families into which Don Manuel’s children married.

My best hunch at this very early stage of research is that if we are indeed related, it is through a common ancestor much further back. Possibly from earlier in the Spanish conquest and colonization of Mexico, or all the way back to old world Spain.

Still, any and all discoveries will be a grand adventure!

#52Ancestors: Closest Birthday, Uncle Robledo Shares My Birthday

My 4th entry in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” family history blogging challenge for 2015.

The challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.

Amy’s 2015 version of this challenge focuses on a different theme each week.

The theme for Week 4 is: Closest to your birthday — Not too much to think about here. What ancestor has the birthday closest to yours?

My 4th ancestor is my dad’s youngest brother, who I will simply refer to as Uncle Robledo instead of by his full name since he is still living.

Rosie Salas Family — Uncle Robledo (far left), Grandma Rose Salas, Aunt Robledo (also still living), and Dad.

This is a brief post, because I have never been close to my uncle and have not seen him in years. But, we share the same birthday, so I do think of him every year on my own birthday.

Benjamin Robledo and Youngest Son — Uncle Robledo (right) with his father, my grandfather US Navy WWII Veteran Benjamin Robledo.

#52Ancestors: Great Grandmother Sarah Kennedy, a Tough Woman to Research

Kennedy Sarah Headstone — Buffalo Cemetery, Cheektowaga, Erie County, New York. Lot 3, Section F, Grave 1.

My 3rd entry in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” family history blogging challenge for 2015.

The challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.

Amy’s 2015 version of this challenge focuses on a different theme each week.

The theme for Week 3, Tough woman — Who is a tough, strong woman in your family tree? Or what woman has been tough to research?

Sarah Kennedy Prayer Card — Prayer card for Sarah Kennedy Flanagan.

My 3rd ancestor is my great grandmother, Sarah Kennedy (abt. 1898-1930), and she has been one of the toughest people for me to research.

The main reason Sarah is so difficult to research is that my grandfather Michael John Flanagan (1927-1997), her youngest child, never knew his mom. Sarah died of tuberculosis in 1930, orphaning him at 3 years old. Her husband, my grandfather’s dad, Patrick Thomas Flanagan (abt. 1897-1928) died of the same disease just 1-1/2 years earlier. Two months before her death, Sarah had become so ill that Grandpa and his four older brothers had to be committed to an orphanage, the German Roman Catholic Orphan Home in Buffalo, New York. After the boys’s brief stay at the GRCOH, they were split up, with Grandpa never really knowing his brothers well– except for one who reunited with him much later in life.

Records Challenges

Aside from Grandpa not knowing his mother, the biggest difficult in researching Sarah has been my failure to locate records for her, and inconsistencies in the records I have found for her.

I have not been able to get a death certificate for her from Erie County, New York. She died in the city of Buffalo.
I have not been able to confirm her birth year or location, or obtain a birth or christening record for her. While most other records indicate that Sarah was born in Cumberland, Allegany County, Maryland, the GRCOH records state she was born in Hyman, Pennsylvania — a locality I cannot even find. The census, death, and marriage records I have for Sarah even list conflicting birth years.
Sarah was not truthful on her marriage record to my great grandfather about a previous marriage. She indicated none, despite marrying first husband Frank Ward 12 years prior.
No other family — of Sarah’s, or of her husband’s — appear to be buried in the same cemetery as her. Someone paid to bury her in the Buffalo Cemetery (this was not an indigent cemetery or grave). The current cemetery operators confirmed Sarah’s site and service were paid for, but they don’t have a record of who paid, and they don’t have a record of any other family buried there.

No Other Researchers

Often I can use clues provided by other family members or even from strangers researching the same person or family to help break through my own genealogy ruts. But these stepping stones just aren’t available for Sarah.

None of my grandfather’s siblings are living, and few of his siblings had children of which I am aware. Because the siblings were split up and became lost to teach other, I don’t even really know which of his siblings had children and might still have living descendants.
- The brother that Grandpa reunited with late in life has some living children, but my branch no longer knows how to contact them.
- Grandpa’s half sister (who was of adult age when their mother died) does have descendants living, with whom I am in contact on Facebook, but they don’t have any info on Sarah.
I have not identified a single other descendant of Sarah who is on Ancestry Member Trees or other genealogy forums. I see her name pop up on some other public trees, but in just a brief reference as a collateral family member– no one has any real facts and records for her, or seems to be actively researching my Sarah. Just me.

Next Steps

Other than finding birth records for her three oldest children (Wards, half-siblings of my grandfather), I didn’t have any Sarah breakthroughs during my research trip last year to the Family History Library. I go again next month, so I will keep looking.

I am pretty sure that further breakthroughs will have to wait until I have the money and time to visit the localities I have identified for her, so I can search for leads and records in person.

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