Finally ~ A Breakthrough

Sorry, I have no idea who these people are. I just felt like putting up a picture for a change.

My husband and I took a trip to the courthouse to try and find information on my great grandfather. I have been searching for weeks now and no place else to turn for answers. So off we went to the courthouse in the county where he lived.

The information desk pointed us in the direction of the Register of Wills which also housed the Orphans Court and Marriage Licenses. That room offered a huge array of very heavy books containing some of the most beautiful handwriting I have ever seen. Not all by the same person though, but I guess you knew that.

Right off the bat I ran into a problem. They didn't cover the year my great grandfather was born, nor did they cover the year he was married. I needed either his birth certificate or his marriage license to obtain his parents' names. They suggested we try the library or the historical society. While getting instructions as to where the library was, I mentioned the fact that my ancestor had moved into another family's home at the age of 9 (or earlier) according to one census.

That proved to be fruitful as I was told that maybe he was an orphan, something I hadn't thought about. But I am getting ahead of myself because there were five books with recorded deaths in them and I had to go through all of them looking for the name I was seeking. The range of his death falls within a ten year span...not an easy task to track him down.

While I was laboriously paging through those books my husband was going through the orphans court records. It wasn't long before he called me over to check something out. Suddenly that brick wall I hit weeks ago was no longer there. We had finally found my great grandfather on my father's side of the family.

To say that I was elated is putting it mildly. I wanted to hug and kiss everyone within that room.

What I found out about him is that he was an only child and an orphan. I don't know when he lost his parents but when he was 8 years of age, his grandfather passed on and he had been living with him. Imagine losing your parents and your grandparents before you are nine. He was then appointed a guardian, a distant relative. The same person he was living with when I first found him on that census when he was nine.

When he turned 21 in September he moved out and married that same year. According to my grandfather (his son), he had 17 children. Probably because he was an only child. My grandfather also said one of his relatives was a rum runner during the Civil War and I am thinking (if it's really true) that it was my great grandfather's father. I haven't found anything to back that up...yet.

Besides the information I found out today about him, I also discovered his father's name and his grandfather's name, as well as an uncle (who is the one who petitioned the court for a guardian on behalf of the grandfather's estate).

I can finally move on because now I need to know what happened to his grandmother and his parents as well.

I know some of you might think this is boring stuff, especially since you don't know the people I am talking about, but I just want to say that my day in that courthouse was one of the most productive days I have had in a long time.

For those of you who have not traced any of your ancestors, I suggest you do. It is very gratifying when you find something elusive...like my great grandfather.