Genealogy: A Parthenia By Any Other Name…

I am working on Husband’s family tree.  We kid because they all come from the same area (“holler”). It actually makes it a little more difficult in the searching because everyone named their kids the same things at the same time.  ARRGGHHH

I have found a couple of fascinating things about his people:

• Parthenia can be misspelled into: Parthona and Carthonia and Parenthia per census records.  Don’t get me started on GGpa Maletis!  For Maletis, I found his name in the WV Will Book.  Thing is, it was just his name, did not mention heirs or anything.  When I get to the archives I hope they can explain why that is.
• Folks used to LOVE to name their kids after high profile political figures.  This is evident in Husband’s family with a Martin Van Buren Fry and an Andrew Jackson Hudnall
• People also like to rhyme up their kids: Guy Fry is my favorite so far!
• I have found two photos of potential great grandparents for Husband that I am excited to show his Dad to see if they are actually his Grandparents.
• I am still finding “researchers” who are total asses for willy nilly adding just everything into their family trees without first researching for accuracy.

I am headed this weekend to the state capitol where I understand is one of the greatest WV archives to be found. I am fortunate that it is open on Saturdays which keeps me from having to burn a vacation day for genealogy research located so close to me.

My goal:

• Starting with Husband’s grandparents – locate birth and death certificates to confirm accuracy of dates of birth and specific full names of parents going back four generations.  Find as many pictures as possible to associate with the paper trail.
• There are a number of relatives within three generations back who do not have grave photos on Find A Grave. I hope to visit the grave-sites with Mom and Dad to see what we can find and to chronicle the grave locations properly.  Also, some of the Find A Grave memorials have sparse information regarding the individuals.  I would like to work on that as well so future generations are able to tie in their own information with greater ease.
• I need to get Husband’s DNA test wrapped up and in the mail so we can start exploring his potential connections and where that might lead us.

A week from tomorrow is our next Historical Society meeting in Huntington.  I am excited to have my queries written down and to see if there are any books that might be of use for this tree’s mysteries.

Primarily I use Ancestry and Find-A-Grave for my searches.  It is harder to use Newspapers online for Husband’s side because his surname appears to be more common than the three I have in my family searches.  I was able to find the newspaper article for his Mom about her Father’s death (a car hit him while he and his brother walked home).  I have been trying to narrow the dates down and use a specific newspaper that was common to their announcements to find their information.

Once I am able to establish a solid foundation of information for his tree I will then branch out to other genealogy websites to see if there is additional information.  If I do that too soon it becomes somewhat of a sensory overload for me.

Are there particular websites that you have found success with? I would LOVE to hear about them!!!