The Baca / Douglas Genealogy and Family History Blog

16 April 2007

Searching for Nancy's Dunn and Anderson ancestors

Greetings:

This is the first installment of my Research Blog. This is a blog within a blog which you may access independently by clicking on the Robert's Research Blog link on the right hand side of the Baca Douglas Genealogy and Family History Blog.

Recently, Nancy asked me to do a little more research on her family history. Specifically, she was interested in her Dunn and Anderson ancestors. Nancy's maternal grandfather's parents were William Thomas Dunn and Annie Livingston Anderson. According to Nancy, William first married Annie's sister and then married Annie. He then married another woman after divorcing Annie.

I already knew that William and Annie's son Carroll Livingston Dunn (Nancy's grandfather) was born in 1900 in No Creek, Kentucky. (The family joke is that the town was so poor that it didn't even have a creek in it!) I discovered that No Creek was in Ohio County, Kentucky; therefore on Saturday, I began searching 1900 and 1910 census records for that county. The search was a bust. I didn't find anything.

On Sunday, I searched Rootsweb and found the two of databases below: "Brazzell, Shipman, McKinley Family Tree" and "Beeler, Anderson, et.al." Both show William Thomas Dunn's marriage to Annie Livingston Anderson, and include their children. the "Beeler" database also includes Dunn's first marriage to Annie's sister Florence Clementine and an ancestry for the Anderson sisters going back 6 generations. The "Brazzel" database shows William Thomas' ancestry going back three generations. The source for the "Beeler" information comes from Nancy's uncle Tom Dunn, while no source is mentioned for the "Brazzel" information.

Although I now have a wealth of information on Nancy's family, I am always cautious about using information from the web. I like to build my genealogies from primary sources or reputible secondary sources. Since anyone can post on the web, I do not to take the information I find there as gospel truth. However, this information is still useful. I now have dates, places and names that I can verify. I also know where I can find this family's census records: the 1900 Ohio County, Kentucky; the 1910 Montgomery County, Illinois and the 1920 Coles County, Illinois censuses.

I hope to do another search of census records this coming Saturday. I'll post on my blog what I've found.

Databases and websites that contain the Dunn/Anderson Genealogies

Ancestors of Leslie (Henderson) Hastings

Bazzell, Shipman, McKinley Family Tree

Beeler, Anderson, et al



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