This year I thought I’d ask GeneaSanta for some research help. There are a few research projects I’d like to make some progress on, but I need some help. Help could be in any form: help with a research plan, access to records, cousins with information, or the people in question could simply fall from the sky (wait, that would be too easy and take the fun out of it). Here are some of the cases I hope to crack in 2013.
Solomon Norton
The main question has always been if Sarah Norton, who married Aaron Webster, was in fact his daughter. I have yet to find any solid evidence, either direct or indirect, that would answer this question, other than a mention in the History and Genealogy of the Gov. John Webster Family of Connecticut With Numerous Portraits and Illustrations that she was the daughter of Solomon (p. 401) and a few bits and pieces related to where the families settled.
To be quite frank, I have no idea who his children actually are. So many claims from other peoples’ trees, some consistent across the board, others hit and miss. I really need to uncover some useful resources that can help me put the family together correctly. My current plan is to investigate Solomon further. Learn more about him, as well as his wife and children and hopefully make some sort of connection between him and supposed daughter Sarah.
To make things even more interesting, about a month ago I got an Find A Grave change request asking to add a link from daughter Sarah’s memorial to the memorial for Solomon. I didn’t even know this memorial existed (the last I checked for him at Find A Grave was in 2010 and the memorial was added in 2011). When I took a look at the memorial, I was shocked to see a second wife….what? Nowhere had I see this. But, seeing their gravestone, I had to admit, it sure looked like he had a second wife. And, yes, this is him. Through various records, I traced him all the way to Villenova, New York and surmised he died after September 1844 (the last time a pension payment was issued). The gravestone shows a death date of 8 November 1844 and he and his second wife are buried in Hamlet Cemetery, just outside of Villenova.
So I’ve started to investigate the head of household in the 1840 census for Villenova where Solomon shows up as a pensioner in the household of G B Aldrich. I know that the 90-100 aged male is Solomon and now I understand why there is a female, age 80-90, in the household; likely the the second wife that was previously unknown. The remaining people in the household are George B Aldrich (name determined by a land deed), age 30-40, with his wife (also age 30-40) and children. Could George or his wife somehow be related to Solomon’s second wife? Could she be the mother of one of them?
Emil Miller
This is the only one of sixteen great-great-grandparents that I do not know the fate of. I have written about this family several times, and while I finally learned the fate of his wife, Hulda Wach, I still don’t know what happened to Emil after 1902. Did he die, move, remarry? No clue. I know nothing about his parents or if he has any siblings. Recently I discovered a possible birth location for him, but I believe that it’s the “bigger city” syndrome and that he probably came from a smaller village near the big city. But, I’m going to investigate it nonetheless because you just don’t know until you look.
Ferdinand Schwartz and Johann Kremer
Both are third great-grandfathers who were born and raised in Luxembourg. Their children, Johann Schwartz and Margaretha Kremer came to America and settled in Aurora, Kane County, Illinois, where they raised their own family. While I know what happened to Ferdinand’s first wife (mother of Johann Schwartz; she died in Luxembourg) I have no idea what happened to him or his second wife, Anna Maria Thiel, or Johann Kremer and his wife, Catharina Terres. I hope to explore these families a little more in 2013.
So GeneaSanta, if there is anything you can do to help, I’d so much appreciate it!
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