Category: Iowa
Families that lived in the state and left records behind there.
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There are challenges to researching immigrant ancestors who came to America from Europe, but with luck, patience, and practice, you can assemble a reliable picture of their lives in their original homes.
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The burden of proof requires more evidence The most important question in any research is: “How do you know that?” If you’re lucky, the answer prompts you to say, “Huh, that’s interesting…” and you learn something new. If you saw last week’s post about William and Oscar Martin or the original “Family Reunion: Martin” post…
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Two brothers, both railroad men, led different lives In case you don’t recall from last year’s “Family Reunions” series, William F. Martin was the paternal grandfather of my wife’s maternal grandmother – he was one of Her Sixteen: That post did a quick overview of William and Hattie’s only son, Howard W. Martin, a successful…
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The search for David E. Jones (1830-1902) Depending on your sources and time frame, the surname “Jones” is about the 5th most common surname in the United States. The same can be said for “David” when you look at first names for males.1 Our work is cut out for us today, since we are looking…
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Discovering the origins of Valentine Shuffler (1853-1916) Writing an accurate history means leaving out assumptions. Sticking only to facts and evidence, and refraining from speculation about things that we cannot know, such as personal motivations or attitudes of the people involved. But writing a complete history means adding a human element to the facts—putting what…
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Going four generations back to find another line This surname can be found among my wife’s Sixteen great-great-grandparents. We have to go that far back to find the first Shepard – Harriet Jenevereth Shepard – 18 Dec 1874 – 17 Jan 1923 Hattie was the paternal grandmother of my wife’s maternal grandmother, Merilyn (Martin) Holmquist…
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Going four generations back to find another line This surname can be found among my wife’s Sixteen great-great-grandparents. We have to go that far back to find our first Ballard, the paternal grandmother of my wife’s paternal grandmother, June (Shuffler) McCullough: Virginia “Virgie” Ballard – 01 Feb 1889 – 04 Nov 1977 You might remember…
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Going four generations back to find another line This surname can be found among my wife’s Sixteen great-great-grandparents. We have to go that far back to find the first Jensen – the maternal grandmother of my wife’s maternal grandmother. Lena Marie Dagmar Jensen – 10 Sep 1874 – 04 Jan 1952 Lena was born in…
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Going four generations back to find another line This surname can be found among my wife’s Sixteen great-great-grandparents. We have to go that far back to find our first Jones – Alice Frances Jones – (9 Oct 1857 – 25 Apr 1921). The surname “Jones” dates back to Wales in about the 1270s, when it…
Mightier Acorns 