Find an ancestor by locality

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Success story using a locality to help find an ancestor

Knowing a locality can be very helpful in locating information about an ancestor. Following are the steps taken to find an ancestor who had lived in Miami County, Ohio.

Known facts:

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• The ancestor's name.
• His probable birth state (New York).
• The location where he spent most of his time in Ohio.
• Names of his wife and family.

Unknown facts:

• His exact birthplace
• How he got to Ohio
• Documented sources for his marriage
• What happened to him (he disappeared and was not heard from again)

The Search Process:

1. Searched the Miami County, Ohio article to see what information was available there.

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*There was a link to the Miami Valley Genealogy Index under the heading of Genealogy.

*The link led to a page on the internet for the Miami Valley Genealogy Index.

*That page had the option to search for someone with the first letter of their surname and then the surname, itself.

*The surname was entered and the ancestor's name appeared with a list of transactions, including deeds and his marriage year.

*This was an index, so no further information was available, but there are book and page numbers listed for further research. That will be pursued at a later date.

2. The Miami County, Ohio article also had a section for "Local Histories"

*There was a link for "The History of Miami County, Ohio", published 1880, W. H. Beers & Co., which was available at FamilySearch.

*Following that link led to the book, which had been digitized and could be viewed and downloaded.

*Searching through the book revealed information for the ancestor that included:

*His birthdate

*His occupation

*Other places of residence

*The names of his wife and children

*Birth information for his wife

3. With the information found, another search was made on FamilySearch.org for this family with results that led to images for:

*The marriage license and certificate for the husband and wife.

*Death certificates for some of the children

4. Further research will be done to get images of the deeds from the Index, and to verify birth information given in the history.

This was a very successful outcome, accomplished by following information and links in the Wiki.