When I hear about "disappeared" people nowadays, it usually has a more sinister connotation than what Randy Seaver means for today's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun exercise.
Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission: Impossible! music), is:
1. Sometimes an ancestor or relative just disappears out of the records and we cannot find another record after a certain date.
2. Tell us about one or more of your relatives or ancestors that have disappeared and not been found since a certain date. Do you have any idea of what might have happened to them?
3. Share information about your disappearing relative or ancestor in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, or in a Facebook comment.
Based on the way Randy has set this up, I guess I can't use any of my early ancestors on my mother's side, because I haven't found them in any records yet, period, much less after a certain date. Or at least not in any records about them. I have found their names in later generations' records, which is why I have the names at all, but all I have is their names.
A relative on my mother's side for whom I have not found records after a given date is my great-grandmother's brother Sam Novak (originally Shmuel Nowicki). I have found him immigrating to the United States in 1905. I have found him with his family in censuses in 1920, 1925, and 1930 and on a 1942 World War II draft registration card. I am pretty sure it's him on a 1940 census page, but not completely sure. A daughter in the household appears to be the correct person, but his wife's name has been transcribed as "Verge", and I don't know if it's Sarah or not. The census is a different address than 1930 and 1942, so that doesn't help. And I can't seem to find him in the 1950 census. As for Randy's question "Do you have any idea of what might have happened to them?", I'm sure he died, but I don't know when or where. My guess for where is Brooklyn, but that's all I have.
Two ancestors on my father's side I don't know about after certain dates are my great-grandmother's parents. I have been able to find documents for Joel Armstrong and Sarah Ann Lippincott from their births and early lives through 1885. I believe I have found them each in 1900 and later, although I'm not always positive it's them. I think I have found Sarah living with her aunt and uncle and my great-grandmother in 1900; I know I have found her in 1905 living with her older daughter. I might have found Joel with a second wife in 1910 and 1920. At this point I have guessed that they divorced sometime between 1880 and 1900, but I don't have a record for that. And I've seen various death dates attributed to each of them but nothing with any documentation. So again I'm sure they died, but I don't know for sure when or where. My guess for where for each of them is Burlington County, New Jersey. I've seen Joel listed with a death date of 1922 multiple times, but I can't find any records to verify that. I don't remember what I have seen about Sarah, but I do remember nothing has had documentation.
You don't mention a newspaper or directory search for Sam Novak. I'm sure you checked there.
ReplyDeleteI have looked for Sam in newspapers and directories, but I have not found someone who is unequivocally him. I am not yet at the point where I am ready to research multiple men with the name of Sam(uel) Novak/Novack/Novik/Novick and create a file for each of them. Close, but not quite there.
DeleteWere they religious? Might a record be found that way?
ReplyDeleteI have not been given the impression that they were religious. But they apparently died when there should be state records. But I could easily be looking in the wrong places.
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