This week’s Saturdan Night Genealogy Fun challenge by Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings asked us to:
Tell us about one (or more) of your ancestors that have no given name and no birth surname who has perhaps married an ancestor with a given name and surname from whom you are descended.
Well, I don’t have millions of these unknown individuals lurking in my tree — but I do have eleven!
None of these eleven are direct ancestors. Instead, they represent a few different types of “unknowns” that have popped up over the years as I research:
- Descendancy research: cases where a spouse’s name is missing.
- DNA connections: when the parent of a DNA match is unknown.
- Obituary research: when I find an obituary for a surname and place of interest but can’t yet link the individual to my known family.
So while I only have eleven individuals who are truly “unknown” in both name and lineage, I have many more with missing surnames — usually spouses of descendants of one of my known ancestors.
Even though these “unknowns” appear in my genealogy file, I don’t devote much time specifically to identifying them. My focus remains on researching my ancestors, their descendants, and their FAN clubs (friends, associates, and neighbors). As I document those lives in detail, the puzzle pieces often fall into place — and now and then, one of those “unknowns” becomes known after all.