Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:
It’s Saturday Night again —
Time for some more Genealogy Fun!!
Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission — and execute it with precision.
- What are your major genealogy challenges — the family mysteries you haven’t been able to crack (yet)?
- Tell us about five of your real genealogy challenges in a short paragraph each, and link to blog posts if you’ve written about them.
My Current Genealogy Challenges
At first glance, my tree might suggest that I don’t have many brick walls. After all, I can identify all of my third great-grandparents and almost all of my fourth great-grandparents. But as we all know, having names is not the same as having proof. I definitely have challenges.
1. The Missing BRILES Wives (North Carolina)
One of my earliest frustrations involves my BRILES ancestors in North Carolina. In most parts of my tree, land records are my best friends. A wife’s release of dower often confirms her identity.
However, in early North Carolina, the law did not require a wife to release her dower in land sales. As a result, her name frequently does not appear on deeds. That small legal detail has left multiple BRILES wives unidentified — and me wishing for just one properly recorded signature. [Dower Rights post]
2. The Many Hiram M. Curreys
In my CURREY line, I appear to have four generations of men named Hiram M. Currey, possibly extending back to the Treasurer of Ohio in 1819.
My third great-grandfather, Hiram M. Currey, appears in the 1840 census in Peoria County, Illinois and is mentioned in a few county histories in the early 1840s. After that? He disappears. He is missing from the 1850 census, and I have very little documentation tying him solidly to either his father or his son.
The paper trail is thin — but DNA evidence supports the lineage. So I sit in that uncomfortable but familiar genealogical space between documentary proof and genetic probability. [Gone Missing post]
3. Dutch Naming and Spelling Challenges
With several Dutch lines in my tree, spelling inconsistencies are a constant obstacle. Two-syllable surnames like Van Arsdale invite creative spelling, depending on the clerk, the language, or the decade.
On my father’s side, the Dutch surnames are manageable — challenging, but manageable. On my mother’s side, however, the Nevius surname presents greater difficulty, with multiple spelling variations and overlapping families that require careful sorting.
When spelling shifts generation to generation, certainty becomes elusive. [Spelling post]
4. The SMITH Problem
And then… there is the SMITH surname.
My third great-grandfather, Nelson G. Crawford, married Martha Smith. Based on cemetery records, I believe Martha’s mother was Hannah. Beyond that, the trail grows cold.
Adding to the complexity, Nelson Crawford’s mother was Sally Smith Duggins, who married James Crawford. Sally’s mother, Ann, was married to a Shoemaker. So while I can identify several women in these interconnected Smith lines, the men remain largely unknown.
Smith may be one of the most common surnames in America — but that does not make it any easier to research. [Saturday Night Genealogy Fun post – Research Plan]
5. The Crawford Brick Wall
The challenge that occupies most of my time is my enduring Crawford brick wall.
I have yet to identify the parents of my fourth great-grandfather, James Crawford. Complicating matters further, several men named James Crawford were living in the same region of Kentucky and Ohio at the same time. I have successfully separated my James from his neighbors in those states. [Untangling James Crawford]
Virginia, however, is proving more difficult. In Augusta County, multiple Crawford lines are intermingled, and older compiled genealogies — many of which appear on FamilySearch and WikiTree — often contradict the yDNA evidence. [DNA and Trees: Accuracy Matters]
Theoretically, yDNA should help clarify the situation. In practice, reconciling genetic evidence with long-standing published trees has created its own set of challenges. [yDNA R1b-01A]
Final Thoughts
While I may have names filled in back to the early 1800s and beyond, these five challenges remind me that genealogy is never “finished.” It is layered, complex, and occasionally stubborn.
But perhaps that is what keeps it interesting.
What are your five biggest genealogy challenges?