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First Case Study

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 I have been working on my first case study.  My husband has a remarkable group of ancestors in his family. One of them is the Morse family, who arrived in America in 1635. My husband has an amazing group of ancestors in his family. One of them is the Morse Family. They came to America in 1635.  The Morse family served as community leaders, soldiers, farmers, and much more. The women in this family were strong and made waves of their own. Some of the profiles I have written about the women are longer than those of the men. They were preachers; they raised their grandchildren when they should have been enjoying their retirement, raised over ten children, moved across the country, and one lived long enough to see five generations generations.  I am discovering the challenge of finding genealogical records for women. I have been able to use the lives of their children and spouses to fill in some of the blanks.  A few of them made such an impact in their communities...
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Missing Census for Mother and Children

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 I have been researching Fielding and Jane Dunston and their children. Some of the census records for their family are missing.  I have searched for them with different spellings of their last name: Dunson, Duncan, and Dunston.  (Both on Ancestry and Family Search).  In an earlier post, I shared how Fielding went off to fight in the Civil War and died. The family does pop back up in the 1870 census, either married or, in the case of the mom, Jane (Cartmel) Dunston, living with family.  I have looked at the census records of all the Dunston siblings, and none of Fielding Dunston's family is included in their  1850 and 1860 censuses.  I have not looked for them page by page in the 1850/1860 census records.  The thought of that sounds time-consuming. Are there any other options? 
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Great Courses

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If you love learning as much as I do... I highly recommend The Great Courses.   In my spare time, I  have started watching genealogy courses and  I have learned so much in the three lessons that I have completed so far.   They also offer a course on  Germany, which is where a portion of my husband's family is from. We are spending time watching those courses to explore the culture, and the food, and see the landscape and historical landmarks.     I am fascinated by our ancestors who fought in the Civil War, so I am planning to watch their courses on that topic as well.  Since genealogy is a form of history, I look forward to watching some of their history courses, too.   I hope to develop a deeper knowledge of what our ancestors experienced and how those experiences may have shaped their characters and family lives.  I will continue to share some of my continuing education opportunities and experiences... so check back often. 
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Is he really a son?

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I have been researching the children of Thomas Dunston from Logan County, Ohio. While attempting to read, his will,  I noticed that one of his sons was missing from the division of assets. (see below) Based on the evidence that I can find, James Dunston (also spelled Dunson) was born about 1790 in Virginia. And likely passed way after 1850.  He married Cynthia Bainbridge (as spelled Bambridge) on 20 February 1812 in West Virginia. Before 1820, he relocated his family to Lake Township in Logan County, Ohio.  James and his sons worked together on the family farm, where they cultivated oats, rye, and wheat and raised pigs, sheep, cattle, and horses.  James and Cynthia had four children- Stephen, James Morgan, Thomas and Cynthia. Two of the children stayed in Logan County where they raised families and farmed; while the other two moved to Illinois and Indiana.  It has been enjoyable to discover snippets of their lives on genealogy websites and online books. I have b...
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The Missing Soldier Burial Site

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  Lately, I seem to be trying to solve mysteries related to the Dunston family.  I took a break to fill in some gaps regarding earlier family members.  I realized that I didn't have a burial site for a Fielding Thomas Dunston.  Records indicate that he served in the  Civil War with the 14th Virginia Regiment, Company D.  He became ill during his service and shortly thereafter was subsequently  taken prisoner of war at Gettysburg on July 3 were he  died  in the Union's camp.    Unfortunately, I did not have any family records to provide insight into his life during or after the war.  I do have his date of death:  8 August 1864.   To investigate further, I researched his regiment using the following sources:    Civil War in the East- Confederate US National Parks Service Battle Unit Virginia 14th Regiment Wikipedia- Fort Delaware As I examined these sources, I began to notice a pattern:  he was likely ta...
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In Search of a Daughter

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 I am continuing my search for  John S. Dunston's daughter. In the course of my research, I discovered more information about her father that I hadn't expected.   I was examining  John Dunston's census records in detail.    Year:  1880 ; Census Place:  Richwood, Richland, Wisconsin ; Roll:  1445 ; Page:  163c ; Enumeration District:  240, Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  1880 United States Federal Census  [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. 1880 U.S. Census Index provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints © Copyright 1999 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. I noticed in the middle of the census where the tick marks are that he was blind.  In the 1900 census, he was recorded as a homeworker and was unable to read or write, likely due to his blindness.  It also seems that he moved off the family farm and into a house wi...
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The Case of the Missing Daughter-- Updated!

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Every few weeks, I revisit our family genealogy to fill in the blanks (I am researching my family and Hubby's family).  This weekend, I focused my energies on the  Dunston side.   I made good progress until I reached the John S. Dunston  profile. I was able to locate some new information for his first two children. But I hit a roadblock when I started working on his daughter, Mary .   When I began her profile on October 12, 2022, I struggled to locate information about her after the 1860 census, when she was five years old and living in Grant County, Muscoda, WI.  Her mother passed away the year she was born.   In the 1870 census, I found her father, his new wife, and five new siblings but Mary is not listed.  I checked the census records for her older sibling census records but nothing was found.  I am considering looking into her aunt's and uncle's census records from 1870 for any clues.  I have been unable to locate any death records ...
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