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Maybe I am unreasonable?
I am from the northeast (NJ). Many of my ancestors were among the earliest settlers in this area and further north. None of my ancestors moved west or even south. (Wash DC was the furthest and that was only for a short time). I find it is VERY frustrating to engage in online groups and surname queries because a majority of entries are inquiring for everywhere except HERE.
Has anyone else experienced this? Any theories on why?
Has anyone else experienced this? Any theories on why?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John Newmark on
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I suspect anyone whose family remained relatively stationary - anywhere - will find the majority of queries focus on everywhere but where they are looking - since there are a lot of different places, and only one place you're looking. The more places someone is looking, the more likely you will find someone else looking in that area.
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Permalink Reply by Eileen Cogan on
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Perhaps, but the longer a family is in one spot, the more descendants come from that area. Also, this area is in the midst of New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington and even Baltimore. LOTS of people came through here.
I have been searching a long time for some lines, at least 10 years online and before that, Everton's Genealogical Helper. To give you an example : the name, Wiley. I have not run across a single query for Wiley that was from this general area. As best as I can remember, most of them were in the midwest.
Now, I am not talking about the census. Sure, I can find census records of that name all over but when I want to look for a lead or browse a surname list or even find another researcher looking for the same name and area, they don't exist.
Finding Cogans is a nightmare. I have always sworn they were aliens that just dropped down out of the sky. There is one person who has found TONS of Cogans and they are ALL in Massachusetts. So much for locality.
The most frustrating thing is to do a Google search and get all excited when I see a posting listed that I don't recognize and then find out it is one of my own that I posted years ago and forgot about.
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Permalink Reply by Kathleen Fox Allen on
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My family is similar. Most of them started in Massachusetts and never got any farther south than the Jersey Shore (where I live) or farther west than Hazelton, PA. However, I've found that it can be a good thing, since, like your family, most of them came over early on. I've found a decent number of published family histories (often privately published) from the 18th & 19th centuries that have helped me with new leads. Also, since the family didn't move around that much, I've been able to use local history resources (especially older histories) to help out.
My bigget problem is that although I have some very common surnames in my family tree, my branches rarely seem to intersect with any other researcher's. Sigh.
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hey, we might be related. I have early ancestors who came to the shore from MA.
You are right. I am very spoiled by being descended from some finely researched lines. Then there are other lines that don't go any further than a great-grandparent. That's a difficult pill to swallow when there are other lines that I lose count of how many great-greats I need to put before the "grand"
I have been lucky to find other researchers looking up the same family but they are ALL from the lines that have already been thoroughly researched by someone else.
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I know what you mean. I can tell you about all 17 of my ggggggg.... grandparents' children on one side (ok, I'm probably exagerating the g's, but still) but all I know about my Great Grandmother on my dad's side is that her name was Mary McEvoy. The woman lived in New York (or at least Bergen County NJ) - you'd think I could find something on her by now!
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That's a surname I wouldn't want to look for. The different spellings must drive you nuts.
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You can say that again... but I just did the "genealogy happy dance" because I finally found her on the 1900 census! (Under her married name, I still can't find a good match under her maiden.)
I now know that she was born in New Jersey in May 1864. Yay!
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Yes, that warrants a happy dance.Do you have access to Heritage Quest? They have some really nice search options for the census. Since you've come upon that nasty old 1880 - 1900 Bermuda Triangle, it might come in handy.
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I found 2 Mary McAvoys in 1880, although both birth years conflict with 1864.
This one is REALLY hard to read. The page was very faded. Maybe you'll have better luck on Ancestry. It looked like her mom had the same name and she was 52 yrs old in 1880.
Series: T9 Roll: 771 Page: 508 Previous PageNext Page
Surname GivenName Age Sex Race Birthplace State County Location Year
MCAVOY MARY 20 W NJ NJ BERGEN FORT LEE 1880
This one shows her as a servant. Her parents were born in Ireland.
1880 > NEW JERSEY > BERGEN > RIDGEFIELD TWP
Series: T9 Roll: 771 Page: 524 Previous PageNext Page
Surname GivenName Age Sex Race Birthplace State County Location Year
MCAVOY MARY A 20 W NJ NJ BERGEN RIDGEFIELD TWP 1880
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Thank you Eileen! I'll let you know if either of these lead to another happy dance :-)
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Permalink Reply by Bob Page on
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A solution I have found to the faded pages (or chopped off ones) on Heritage Quest is to do a browse on the LDS census records. You know the page/area already so you don't have to browse the whole thing. Works for me. (most of the time.) ;-)
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Thanks Bob - good suggestion
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