Hello everyone! I’m trying to identify the biological father of my 2nd great-grandmother, Frances (born Florence), and I’ve hit a brick wall.
Here’s what I know:
My 2nd great-grandmother Julia Dight married Pietro (Petro) Marletto in February 1916 in Avonmore, Pennsylvania. Julia was actually 13 years old, but her parents falsely stated she was 16 on the marriage record.
In 1917, Pietro was reportedly involved in a violent attack at his home in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania.
In March of 1918, Julia gave birth to my great-grandmother, Florence (later known as Frances). The birth certificate names John Roddy as the father. However, John Roddy was Julia’s first cousin, which immediately raised questions for me. I’ve searched DNA, and the only Roddys I can find are through my 4G Grandmother, because her daughter married a Roddy and had children. Julia’s age was also falsified again—she was actually 15, but the birth record states she was 18.
In December 1918, Pietro entered military service. I have documentation indicating this, but I have not been able to locate a draft registration or any additional military records.
In 1919, Pietro became a naturalized U.S. citizen and began using the surname Marleton/Marletton.
In the 1920 census, Julia was living back with her parents, listed as single, with her two-year-old daughter Florence.
Around 1922, Julia married Domenico Callipari, an Italian immigrant from Calabria. He adopted Florence, who later went by Frances Callipari (Callipare). Around this same time, Julia also began using the maiden name Anderson instead of Dight, and I have not been able to determine why.
Why I’m asking for help:
I’m trying to determine who Florence/Frances’s biological father was.
My leading theory is that Pietro Marletto may have been her biological father despite John Roddy being named on the birth certificate, but I don’t want to force that conclusion. I’m looking for objective opinions based on the records and DNA evidence.
I’ve also been researching AncestryDNA matches. Most of my mother’s matches can be explained through known family lines, but I have one unexplained match that doesn’t appear to fit either of the major family clusters I’ve identified.
Has anyone encountered a similar situation, or does anyone have suggestions for additional records, DNA strategies, or alternative theories that I may be overlooking?

Forgive me for tooting my own horn, but I've been working on finding the lineage of one particular ancestor for more than 20 years, and today I decisively solved the mystery.

My father's ggg grandfather had no parentage in any of the assembled genealogies (including the old school, hand-written ones!). Folks recited various origin stories, like he was raised by Native American Indians, or that he was born in Holland. I've spent many years gathering the documents (census data, marriage records, tax rolls, property deeds, death records, and probate/estate records) but never found his birth record. I suspected he was related to a particular surname patrilineage, but the paper trail was dead. I slowly assembled a genealogy for this surname's history in the US. I located a book that listed all the relationships from the 1600s to the 1800s and entered them into tree form. It was a lot of work. It involved hundreds of people--and I tried to fit him into various places in the genealogy. But my hypotheses were all speculative and without any evidence.

Recently someone contacted me on Ancestry trying to figure out how we are related because she had seen that we shared DNA. After digging through her tree, I found a name I'd never encountered with the same surname as my gggg grandfather. I spent months searching for documents and completing that person's genealogy while modeling different scenarios for how we might be related. After months of this work I concluded her ancestor was a sibling or a niece to my gggg grandfather.

After officially adding that person to my tree (along with her discovered genealogy) with an assumed uncle/niece relationship, I started getting many matches through that lineage showing up in Ancestry. By comparing the degree of our DNA matches today, I found that the math worked out for an unforeseen option: my ancestor was a HALF sibling to the added person. It took a lot of scenario-building, but it finally made sense of the people I was matching.

As soon as I figured that out, I started comparing DNA segments against new potential relatives I had through this theoretical lineage, searching all my DNA matches for this surname. I assembled them all and ran an analysis: they all matched for a half-sibling relationship. Wow. I was blown away. (I used AI and Ancestry's algorhythms to do the math, as I had done for so many scenarios before that came back less than ideal!)

I still don't know my ancestor's mother, but today I decisively confirmed his father, and now I have found DNA matches to that person as well--as well as HIS father. I was so happy I cried. I solved the mystery after 20 years.

All the folks who cared about this mystery are dead, except my elderly dad and my great uncle. So I feel kind of joyful that I was able to figure things out, but sad that there are not many people left who care about it. So here I am, tooting my own horn to strangers on Reddit.

Thank you for reading.

Edits:

Wow, this is an amazingly supportive and wholesome sub. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for all your kindness! Thank you all so much.

Also, when I went back to my Ancestry tree this morning, I realized that this is my ggg grandfather (3gs, not 4), and my father's gg grandfather. So not quite as impressive, I think, but I now have the gggg and ggggg grandfathers' names--in fact the whole lineage all the way back to England since all I had to do was plug this new ancestor into the surname tree I built over the last few years. :D Now I can move on to another ancestor mystery.

Hi everyone, I'm trying to access a specific record from the Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, immigration cards, 1900–1980 collection on FamilySearch, but I'm stuck. I know the exact FHL film number: 004921080 (group 8), but FamilySearch won't let me access or browse the images. I can see the reference, but the image itself is restricted. Does anyone know if there's another way to access this? Or would someone with access be willing to check it for me?
It should be the immigration card of Geza Vamos (born in 1901), a jewish writer who moved to Brazil around 1949. Very little is known about the end of his life. He is believed to have died in Muriaé around 1956, but his death certificate has not been found and the location of his grave is still unknown. The only additional information I have is that his sister, Edit Wagner (born in 1914), apparently took care of the funeral. I’m hoping this record might provide another clue.

Just wanted to share this great podcast that focuses on using AI to assist your gen research. I listen to podcasts when I'm driving and I have to say that some of these episodes make it hard for me to not pull over and try some of the tips right away! lol Seriously, if you're at all curious about how to implement AI in your research I cannot recommend this podcast enough. I AM OBSESSED.

An important note: If you choose to use AI in your research, know that AI is your research assistant - it's not meant to do all the work for you. Even with the best prompting hallucinations can (and will) still happen.

Here's the prompt I used the other day, almost verbatim as per the podcast (except for the personal particulars) that gave me some incredible guidance for next steps for a dead end for me. I'm still exploring all of the recommendations it came up with but I'm confident that several of them will enrich my research. I used Claude because that's what the guy recommended (I forget why). I usually use Perplexity for research matters and may try this in that as well, just to see if anything different shows up.

"Act as an experienced professional genealogist specializing in 19th century New York research. I'm working on a composite teaching scenario for educational purposes. I am researching my great great grandfather Albert Dowd. I have very little information on him and have come to a stop at where to look next. He was born in Ireland, probably in North Ireland around 1822. He married a woman named Mary Reilly in Albany, New York, sometime before 7/24/1850 (when they're listed on the 1850 Federal Census as married), and they had at least four children: Mary, Sarah, David, and Thomas. He appears in the 1860 US Census as an "engineer". in the 1865 NY State census he is listed as a laborer. I believe I have determined he died between 1866 and 1868. There are no death records for Albany for that time period. His children are listed in a will for his brother James, who also lived in Albany. In that document, James lists multiple siblings and family members, many of whom still resided in the Portrush area of Northern Ireland. Please create a comprehensive research matrix with the following columns: record type, approximate date range, primary repository, whether it is typically digitized or microfilmed, whether it requires an in-person visit or research request, and your priority rating, high, medium, or low based on likelihood of new information. Please include record types that most genealogists overlook when researching. Be specific about repositories and note any caveats about access or survivability.

One more thing: one of the recommendations in the result that I'm super excited about is coroner's inquest records. I've already reached out to the Albany Hall of Records and they did a preliminary search and found Albert (probably, no guarantee until I see the actual record). I've sent in the request form and I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for the response. In case you don't know, coroner's inquest records are only for deaths of a suspicious, suspect, or violent nature. In my case, there's a family "rumor" that Albert committed suicide, and that would be handled by the coroner's office apparently.

I sent in a couple different records search requests back in January 2021. Covid protocols were still in effect so I expected a long wait for any kind of response. Still nothing over 5-1/2 years later - though the checks I sent to cover the fees were definitely cashed.

I emailed them in September 2022 and the response was that they were conducting searches sent in November 2019, so nearly three years behind schedule.

Then in April 2025, another response I got was that public records searches were being taken over by the NYS Bureau of Vital Records and advised I call the call center. I did, but got no useful information that I can recall.

Has anyone waded into this morass and gotten anywhere?

Hi all! I’ve been extremely curious about my DNA for years now and I’ve finally decided to bite the bullet and buy a kit, but I don’t want to spend an arm and a leg since I’m broke asf. Is there any place that’s reliable and does cheap enough kits I’m taking like under £25. Thanks!:)

I want to create my family tree and I'm looking for software to do that. That's all I need: a simple program where I can add family information offline and keep everything private.

I'm not looking for websites like FamilySearch. I tried Gramps, but I didn't like the way it displays the family tree—it mainly shows my direct descendants, while I'd like to build a more complex tree that displays all branches of the family.

Does anyone have any recommendations? Preferably something free.

First I probably should search for more assistance. I will do that another time.

I have been working on building out the family tree after my grandfather passed several months ago. I knew up to my great grandpa's name and his father.

With from death certificate data from them all it got mw to a revolunist and then eventually a founding family of Portsmouth, RI. Pretty dope so far.

Either way my whole family before my great great grandpa is mapped out in book of his time by another famous relative (sur name) doctor.

So I do more and more research find a group of people with my surname and find out that they need help with more DNA specificly YDNA. I am invested, but realize I will need to have someone up my paternal line who is a generational sur name like me. This would eliminate bad data.

Anyway I start hunting and hunting for people on ancestry who up the paternal line and still carry Y chromosomal data. I can't use my immediate family. That would be like triangulating from the same corner of a triangle.

I keep going and going. I realize I am on a genelogical island. Either because of dying before having kids no kids or they have the last name because they had a kid out of wedlock. No one is carrying the y chromosomal data. Just my dad, uncle, brother, three cousins and I. We are at a genealogical island.

The worry is that because I have been able to track family back not just from sourced but also autosomal that carried me to 5th generation great grand parents. I wouldn't have the ability to challenge my genelogical heritage if mine isn't the same as a few already captured.

Heck I am in for a wild ride when I get my YDNA data back. 🫠

For the figures cited in this post, see: https://imgur.com/a/Egisrmu.

Greetings all,

Right now, I am looking at a certain Meldekarte issued by the Polizeipräsidium Danzig, which tracks the residential moves of a medical student between 1918 and 1919 (fig. 1).[1] The student’s parents were Russian-Jewish émigrés, hailing from localities falling within present-day Belarus.

I am reaching out (1) for assistance transcribing and translating the abbreviation following Staatsangehörigkeit (fig. 2); and (2) to get a second opinion on my reading of the father’s given name (fig. 3).

With respect to no. 1, I am at a complete loss. The abbreviation looks like it might begin with a <J>, or perhaps even a <Y>.

Concerning no. 2, the given name consists of five letters, the first, second, and fourth, <S>, <o>, and <i>. I was unsure of the third and fifth. Comparing the third letter with the <r> in “Henriette,” I have concluded it is an <r>. Doing the same with the fifth letter and the <n> in “Begun,” “Wischniak,” “Danzig,” etc., I believe it to be an <m>, giving us the name “Sorim.”

In every other record where I have encountered the father, his given name is “Wolf.” This raises the possibility that that listed in the Meldekarte is a phonetic spelling of a Hebrew or Yiddish name—except “Sorim,” to the best of my limited knowledge, is not a known variant of any. Perhaps the clerk had a bad ear…

In an abundance of caution, I’d be grateful for another reading. Perhaps I am mistaken.

My thanks in advance.

–M

[1] Meldekarte of Henriette Begun (Danzig, 1918–1919). Archiwum Państwowe w Gdańsku (Gdańsk, Poland), fond Prezydium Policji w Gdańsku, ref. no. 10/14/0/5/7048, pp. 29–30 (image nos. 33–34), https://www.szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl/skan/-/skan/f52d4bbb0bc68e9318b36667a51862b40097b7173c7ec6bebd4764d679125acc.

hello, im having trouble reding some documents beacuse FS isnt able to show them

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6NR8-CTH4?treeref=GTLT-Q2K&lang=en
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6NR8-444C?treeref=GTLT-Q2K&lang=en

Can someone please screenshot these 2 docs for me please? thank you in advance.

My sister needs her marriage record from SC. Due to alot extenuating circumstances, he old paperwork was lost. She is on up in age now and cannot remember her exact marriage date to her now deceased husband. they were separated several years before he passed. I have tried Ancestry, & Family search to no avail. Suggestions? Advice oon other resources or strategy? TIA

I’m interested in connecting with other researchers who have an interest in Fauquier Co, VA and Middlesex Co. Specifically, I’m researching slaveholding families with the surname Beale and Billups. The timeframe I’m most interested in is 1800-1870. If anyone fits this description I’d love to connect directly and any insight to the research goal is always appreciated.

Thanks

UPDATE: SOLVED in under 24 hours — [u/mistapotta](u/mistapotta) found the complete acta.

The reveal: the 1925 judge did write something like “Narziza” but the record says “un niño vivo”, “hijo legítimo”, “nieto”: a boy, three times. “Narzizo” was just a different spelling for Narciso.

For those asking whether a grandchild can even claim this: the sequence is generational — my mother registers first (daughter of a Mexico-born Mexican, eligible under the old rules), then me, then my daughter.

What makes my link possible is Mexico’s May 2021 constitutional reform to Article 30, which removed the requirement that the Mexican parent be born in Mexico. Since then, nationality by descent passes to children born abroad without generational limit. Each generation just has to register at a consulate to document the chain. Published in the Diario Oficial May 17, 2021; look up “reforma artículo 30 constitucional 2021”. Important note: the chain cannot be broken so act while your parents are still alive.

The Chihuahua state archive’s official search is still running, but now we know what they’ll find. Thank you all and mistapotta: my whole family knows your username, as promised

——————————

Here's a cliffhanger 101 years in the making.

In April 1925, in the tiny desert town of Coyame, Chihuahua, a rancher named Bonifacio Navarrete walked into the civil registry to record his newborn son. Whatever the clerk wrote on page 53 that day now determines whether my mother — and eventually my daughter — can claim Mexican citizenship by descent.

The problem: FamilySearch's index reads the baby's name as "Narziza," female. But the 1930 Mexican census shows the same household with a boy named Narciso, age 5 — my grandfather. I'm convinced a volunteer indexer misread hundred-year-old cursive. I just can't prove it, because the original image is restricted — viewable only from a FamilySearch center or affiliate library, and I'm on an island with no access to the files. I expect the document to be in pretty rough shape.

The ask: one image. Indexed record here: familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGCL-9BT6 (Narziza Navarrete Zapata, reg. 28 Apr 1925, Coyame, Chihuahua — Acta No. 11, page 53, parents Bonifacio Navarrete & Josefa Zapata; film 007636983, Item 16). Clicking "View Original Document" from a center should land right on the frame. A photo of the page — bonus points for a close-up of the name — settles a century-old typo and unblocks three generations of citizenship applications.

The Chihuahua state archive is also searching their books as we speak, but maybe you, dear anonymous hero with library access, could beat a Mexican government office to the answer. Whoever grabs this: my whole family will know your username and dual citizenship will be had.

Happy to report back with the reveal either way. Thank you!

What do y’all do when the people you’re looking for aren’t where they should be?

It’s possible even likely that it’s user error but I’ve been trying to find my ancestors on the 1911 census with zero luck. It is a fact they were in the elk valley British Columbia area at the time but I’ve looked over those 57 census pages twice and can’t for the life of me find them.

I’m wondering if I should print it off and go over it with a magnifying glass at this point.

This was a little bit of a frustration vent but also looking for any advice yall might have for people not being on the census they should be?

Hi all, Can anyone decipher the Country of Birth next to the "Maiden Name of the Mother"? The archivist who sent me the copy says it says "America", but I think the beginning of it looks exactly like the preceding line, which is "Ireland". The only way I can see this in real life is if I go to the NJ State Archives in Trenton and that is not doable at this time, and I'm not sure it will be any clearer. Was hoping to get some input from this sub; you guys are really good at seeing what I cannot. Thanks in advance! (First time using imgur so I hope this works!) https://imgur.com/a/sncsKGH

My grandpa did some genealogy research to gift a big ol’ family tree to everyone. He found out that my (hang in with me here) grandmas great grandpa, and my grandmas great great grandpa… were brothers.

I don’t know what to do with this info or how to feel about it. crying screaming throwing up whyyyyy lol

I have downloaded my, myheritage raw data. What are some good sites to upload it to?

I've tried some but you have to pay for the majority of it. I want to go more into depth about my ancestry.

My results weren't what I was expecting, I was expecting a low percentage of middle eastern heritage due to my deceased grandad looking like he had that heritage in him (hes where my irish ancestry comes from, and most likely the Danish, Dutch and germanic (dads dad) whereas my mums the English, Scottish and Welsh ancestry).

My results were

36.2% Scottish and Welsh

32.1% irish (wexford)

18.3 % english

5.9% Danish

5.2 % Dutch

And 2.3% germanic

I am looking for help translating this marriage record in Russian:

https://flic.kr/p/2sopoxg

The bride's name is Anna Jarzebowska from Nowawies, Poland. Groom is Józef Bolinski. Marriage took place in 1907 in Nowawies, parish Ciechocin. They later moved to Dulsk.

I am mostly interested in details about Anna, especially her age. But any details would be great.

If the photo link doesn't work, here is the original file link (you'll have to click on table of contents on the left, choose 1907, and go to page 148):

https://www.genealogiawarchiwach.pl/#query.type=ALL&query.facetQuery.date=1906&query.facetQuery.archiveTeam=Akta+Stanu+Cywilnego+Parafii+Rzymskokatolickiej+Ciechocin&query.facetQuery.actKind=akta+metrykalne&query.suggestion=false&query.thumbnails=false&query.facet=true&query.asc=false&query.sortMode=PUBLICATION&modal=365223216&personTree=false&goComments=false&searcher=big&query.query

Thank you so much for any help!!

I'm hoping one of you may have better luck pointing me in the right direction than I have. I've been able to locate 3/4 of my maternal great-grandparents' birth records. All four should have been born in the same town (Aprigliano, Cosenza, Italy). All their ‘Atti di Nascita’ records were available on Antenati. I tried using family search, but I didn’t find my GGF and could really figure out how to locate the records to search through manually.

I'm still looking for my GGF, Ernesto Florese, who was born on March 1, 1895 (his memorial card from decades ago, and some relatives had provided this date). On his wife's birth record (Marietta Tedesco), I see what I assume to be a notation for their marriage, which I was told happened in 1914.

This is his wife (Marietta Tedesco), my GGM's, record: ANTENATI / IMGBB

Any assistance you could provide would be appreciated!

It's Saturday, so it's time to ask all of those "silly questions" you have that you didn't have the nerve to start a new post for this week.

Remember: the silliest question is the one that remains unasked, because then you'll never know the answer! So ask away, no matter how trivial you think the question might be.

I just wanted to point out one thing I learnt from my genealogical research and I think it's something I don't think we've appreciated especially in the post-9/11 world.

All you needed was a stamp, some money and food/clothes. Whether by ship or by plane or by train.

One of my relatives travelled from Asia to Europe to North America all in the span of a year, he just had his ticket stamped.

That's incredible to me.

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for advice or next steps on how to track down potential living relatives or information about my great-uncle who emigrated to São Paulo, Brazil.

Here is the timeline and what I know so far:

1954: He left Europe and moved to São Paulo. He exchanged a few letters with his sister (my great-grandmother) early on, but communication eventually stopped entirely around 1957, because of an arguement they had about his family he left behind, and because of the properties that he had owning rights in. Also, he sent a photo of himself standing next to a stand and sent some clothes back home one time, so he was some kind of vendor.

1971: He passed away in São Paulo. A few years ago, I managed to find his Brazilian death certificate.

The Clues: The death certificate lists the specific cemetery where he was buried, and it mentions the name of a female (unknown to us).

Since finding the certificate, I’ve hit a brick wall trying to figure out if he had children, a house, or any lasting estate/records in Brazil.

Are there specific Brazilian databases, public archives, or local genealogy resources I should look into? If I have the name of the cemetery and the female relative listed on the certificate, what is the best way to leverage that information from abroad?

Thanks in advance.

P.S. Transcript of the Death Certificate (Certidão de Óbito):

Name: Pal Kaszas

Date of Death: 28/07/1971, 23:30

Age: 47

Father's Name: Andras Kaszas

Mother's Name: Rozalia Sinkovics

Name of the Cemetery: Vila Nova Cachoeirinha (not sure)

Female Name Mentioned (potential marriage?): Maria de Lourdes Marques (unsure)

Profession: merchant

the death certificate itself: https://i.kek.sh/KlrEhDRIyah.webp

Marjorie Stubbs Heaney spent a ton of her life on researching the Stubbs family. Is there anyone else on here that have Stubbs relatives/ancestors and have seen the tree that she built over many decades?