It’s amazing to be nearly half-way through the year and on week 24 for the #52 Ancestors Challenge. Our topic this week is “Last One Standing”.  As researchers, sometimes we feel we are the only ones researching a particular ancestor. I have some well-documented lines in my family, as shown by the number of people creating family trees and showing up as DNA matches where I’ve loaded my results. Other lines do not have that many trees or matches. I, like most of my peers, have questions that we have not yet researched.

One example is my maternal grandmother’s line. I don’t have many DNA matches for that branch of my family tree. I’ve made some inroads, but I still don’t have all the answers I would like! I understand why her siblings and their families may not wish to dig too deep into this one. My grandmother and her siblings did not have the happiest, most secure home life.

I’m still trying to determine the name of my 2X great-grandmother on her father’s side of the family. There is little information on her, with some records giving her the surname of my 2X great-grandfather’s first wife. I haven’t been able to find much else about her, except that she was born in England around 1835, and living in Canada in 1871. That narrows it down, doesn’t it! I have a webinar later this week about researching Canadian ancestors. I’m hoping it gives me other ideas on documents that may be helpful in finding an answer.

I have a client project I’m working on. This woman is the second wife of the client’s paternal grandfather. She married four times, outliving them all. She had no children of her own, although she considered one stepson from her second marriage as her own. There is no DNA to use in my research as she died in 1980. So yes, I feel like I’m the only one researching who where she came from. I do feel it’s important to tell her story. No one is forgotten once their story is told.

Until next week, when our topic is “Fast”. Have a great week, everyone!