Monday, November 23, 2009

Elizabeth Wood (nee Unknown) - Most Recent Unknown Ancestor

This weekend Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings posed this challenge as part of Saturday Night Genealogy Fun:

1) Who is your MRUA - your Most Recent Unknown Ancestor? This is the person with the lowest number in your Pedigree Chart or Ahnentafel List that you have not identified a last name for, or a first name if you know a surname but not a first name.

2) Have you looked at your research files for this unknown person recently? Why don't you scan it again just to see if there's something you have missed?

3) What online or offline resources might you search that might help identify your MRUA?

4) Tell us about him or her, and your answers to 2) and 3) above, in a blog post, in a comment to this post, or a comment on Facebook or some other social networking site.


My MRUA is Elizabeth C. Unknown, wife of William Wood, my 3rd great-grandfather.  From the research that I've done so far here is what I know about Elizabeth:
  • she married William Wood around 1845.  This is based on the birth date of her oldest child Rachel J Wood who was born abt 1847.
  • she was born in New York state but which county or town is unknown.  This is based on the United States Federal Census data for 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880 for both Elizabeth and William Wood and family.
I have not done much research on my Wood line and I really need to do so.  Finding a death date, a possible memorial on Find A Grave and also looking at the earlier census dates such as 1840 and earlier would help.  In addition, consulting the New York State census for 1845 over at Family Search would help as well.

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

3 comments:

Joanna said...

Tom, if there's a possibility Elizabeth was born in any of the western counties of New York State, here's a great website with lots of records you won't find anywhere else:
http://www.paintedhills.org/

GrannyPam said...

I am giving you the Kreativ Blogger award, see: http://xrl.in/3unn.

Sherry - Family Tree Writer said...

My husband has Wood family here in Kansas. I've not taken the search further 'back' for them than here.

Nathaniel is the oldest male that I have. Will let you know if I find any connecting threads!

Appreciate your help with my blogging learning curve!