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Archiver > GenMassachusetts > 2008-07 > 1216253917


From: "" <>
Subject: Re: [GENMASSACHUSETTS] New to ancestry
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:18:37 -0000


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Author: Surveyor1790
Surnames:
Classification: queries

Message Board URL:

http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.massachusetts.unknown/6793.1/mb.ashx

Message Board Post:

Welcome to the fold! Genealogy is an exciting field.

It sounds like you have your mother's side well in hand. Your father, on the other hand, is going to be harder to get started. Since you do not have his birth date, you must resort to WAGs (Wild Ass Guesses). A good start is to assume he was about the same age as your mother. Ok, the guess may be off a bit, but it is a ballpark figure. Next, Do you have ANY guesses as to where he grew up? Where did your parents get married? Or did they? For that matter,
you should investigate any (all) records from your mom's church. Also ask to speak to other church members familiar with your mom. Casting your net far and wide can yield surprising results at times.

>From the sound of your story, your parents are too young to show up on various census records as yet. There are alternatives, however. Look for church records, military records, tax records, civil and criminal court records, Elks Clubs, VFWs --- the list goes on. Another avenue to explore would be to check with your mom's siblings (if any). Sometimes, they know a great deal more than they let on in public.

Home births were very common years ago. The vast majority of them were recorded after the fact --- either by a church or by a civilian (government) agency of some sort. Thus, such events usually prove to be surmountable. It is a matter of finding the right agency! If a birth date is not available, try looking for a baptismal record! The key to success, is of course, having a name, a place and a date. From that point forward, it is a matter of locating the usual suspects (types of records). As the data mounts, the chance of finding parents gets greater.

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