Ida Siggins Birth Certificate

Ida Siggins is my grandfather's Aunt. Birth certificate provided confirmation of info I already knew, but interesting anyway.

Marie Antoinette Wrigley's Death Certificate

Marie Antoinette Wrigley was my grandmother's natural great-aunt. It turns out that my grandmother's natural father was living with her and her family when they were growing up (I've not yet discovered what happen to the parents -- my grandmother's natural grandparents). It's also a good lesson in why we should look at collateral lines: it is the only place so far that I have found the father's first name (John Williamson).


Note that Marie had a rough fight with cancer. Her death certificate states that "the cause of her death was...cancer, of some 5 years duration, first of the breast which was amputated by Dr. Mallard Wood. It broke out again on the left side of the neck."

Maria Williamson's Death Certificate

As part of my big breakthrough a few weeks ago, I've been able to trace my grandmother's natural ancestors back to the 1870 US census. One of the finds is my grandmother's natural great grandmother, Maria Goodale Williamson. I was able to locate her death certificate (below). This is another great find because I was stuck at the 1870 census for this line, but had noticed a similar family living in Sag Harbor, New York. According to this death certificate, that is where she was born, so that is probably the same family. Other new info: her maiden name is Goodale, her father's name is David Goodale and her mother's name is Elizabeth Paine and she was buried in Sag Harbor. Notice that Maria was born about 1820 and that both her parents are listed as being born in Sag Harbor. If this is true (and death certificates are known to have errors in this type of info), it means that this particular line of the family has been in the U.S. from at least the very early 1800s!

Oh yea, Maria died from Old Age (that's what the certificate says).

Harry Mathias Williamson's World War I Draft Card...and an unexpected breakthrough!

Harry Mathias Williamson is my Grandmother's natural father. This is his World War I draft card.
What immediately caught my eye was his birthdate (4 May 1880) - I didn't have that before now. Also, this gives his address and his occupation (he was a truck drive/teamster, or in this case "Delivery Helper"). But the real breakthrough is also the most curious: he listed a sister, Mabel Thompson, as his closest relative. Why is this curious? Because he was married to my great-grandmother at the time. I would've expected to see her there. So why is this a breakthrough? Because by looking for both Harry and Mabel, I was able to locate their family in 1900. That simple discover has led to two additional generations of Williamsons.

But that's not all. Harry's birthdate, 4 May 1880, which was unknown until now, is exactly 1 month prior to the 1880 census (1 Jun 1880). That made it very easy to find his family in the 1880 census. Again, that coupled with a little luck gave me two more generations on that side of the family.

I'll detail what I found in another post after I organize and file all the census pages that I pulled.

Hambsch Map

Google Maps announced today a new feature that allows you to save and publish customizable maps. Maps are a great tool in family history research because you can use them to help determine where your ancestors may have gone to church, school, etc. Since Martin Hambsch is on my brain (see my previous entry), I used him as my first Google Maps Experiment. Click here to see where Martin lived after he arrived in the U.S in 1891.

Naturalization Records for Martin Hambsch

Martin Hambsch is my Grandmother's natural maternal grandfather (my great-great Grandfather). Today I received a copy of his naturalization records. Before 1906, there were two steps to becoming a U.S. citizen. First, you had to declare your intent to become a citizen, then, five years later, you petitioned to become a naturalized citizen. Martin declared his intention to become a U.S. citizen on 6 November 1893 in the Superior Court of New York City (while living at 34 Rector St in Manhattan). He petitioned for U.S. citizenship on 6 April 1899 at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. By this time, he was living at 41 Ralph St in Brooklyn.

The petition clearly states he arrived at the Port of New York on 9 Jun 1891, lived 5 years in Manhattan, then lived in Brooklyn from then on.

Here is Martin's 1893 declaration of intent:

These are the two pages of Martin's 1899 petition to become a U.S. Citizen: