How can I determine the parents names of My Great Grandfather?
I am trying to locate my great grandfather’s parents. Unfortunately, this was not something that was talked about in my family considering he died when my dad was 12. I decided to post because there are only 3 remaining of the my Great Grandfather’s children (out of 13). My dad passed in 2005 and I have no answers about my family.
My great Grandfathers name is James Henry Braxton born in Colesville Montgomery Maryland in Dec 22 1895 (per his WW1 registration card), he was listed on the 1900 census (age 4)in Montgomery County Maryland residing with an Aunt & Uncle (Marth Nelson & David T Nelson) and Edward Braxton listed as a nephew (age 7, perhaps a brother)then in 1910 (age 14) with an Aunt Sarah E. Lee. He went in the Army Drafted in 1917 and served from 1918-1919. He had 13 children (I can only name 5 to include my dad) with Cecelia L. Ford born April 8, 1907 in Baltimore, Maryland which I have no proof of marriage either which I assume was done since she’s entered with him at Arlington Cemetary. The address listed on his registration card is 1336 Cedar Street NW DC which no longer exhists in the 1300 block but maybe due to DC changing it’s boarder since there is a 1336 Cedar Street just above DC now considered Silver Spring, MD and Colesville is now Silver Spring, MD.
He died on Jan 1, 1956 and she in 1981 both he and Cecelia are buried in Arlington Cemetary. I would like to find his parents which according to the census were both born in Maryland.I also located two parental consent forms for his two eldest daughters to marry at 16 and the address as 717 Pleasent Court NW Washington, DC. I call the National Archives in Maryland and Vital Statistics and no record before 1914 is on file for him nor will Vital Statistis release that information to me since im not an immediate family member. His SSN is listed on the SS Death Index but there are occasions when looking for this information it was listed as 1896 and 1899 as his birth year which isn’t accurate since I saw his writting on his military registration card.
This is the only information I have but I did request his military file from St. Louis which may take considerable time and what if his parents aren’t listed on that. Please help, if you have any information or tips or anything to help me figure this information out please respond to the thread or email me at deborahjames1983@yahoo.com, thanks in advance.
I don’t know if you’ve seen it but someone on Ancestry has this family as being your James Henry Braxton and family. Not really sure what evidence they have for it apart from thinking that the Henry is James Henry?
1910 United States Federal Census about Henry Braxton
Name: Henry Braxton
Age in 1910: 14
Estimated Birth Year: 1896
Birthplace: Washington, DC
[Washington DC]
Relation to Head of House: Son
Father’s name: Nicolas Braxton
Father’s Birth Place: Virginia
Mother’s name: Fanny Braxton
Mother’s Birth Place: Virginia
Home in 1910: Precinct 3, Washington, District of Columbia
Marital Status: Single
Race: Black
Gender: Male
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members:
Name Age
Nicolas Braxton 39
Fanny Braxton 37
Henry Braxton 14
To obtain death records for genealogical purposes, contact the Maryland State Archives in Annapolis (telephone number 410-260-6400).
the above line is copied from the bottom of the MD application for death certs. I don’t understand them saying that you don’t qualify. That is ridiculous. You are a surviving relative.
Next..I went to the ssdi, and ran the last name of Braxton, and date of birth 1900, plus/minus 10 yrs. This gives you some names to work with (oh, also, ss issued in Maryland). It has 49 names..the women will usually be wives.
I tried working your question the other night, with familysearch.org, and find him as you mention. It would take some indepth work to do again..however, of interest was other Braxton children in the area, ALSO SHOWN AS nephews or nieces to the head of household. It suggests to me that there was some issue with the parent(s), leaving a number of children.
Assuming Edward to be a brother, gives you the clue that whatever happened, the mother was living as late as his birth ca 1903. You may want to see if you can locate any living desc. of Edward, who might know the story (ie mom died in childbirth, so forth).
findagrave.com has 53 Braxtons buried in Maryland. This gives you a chance to work those names against the census and ssdi lists. You may find a pattern.
I see you already posted at the message board at rootsweb. I also scrolled those messages and see at least one concerning Wash. DC, another about Maryland. Me, I would be reading every single one to see possible clues. I also would print off ALL census entries for that time frame in the locality, and making lots of notes.
You do have a challenge. But you also are determined. It may take time, and maybe even going to the courthouse to see if there are guardianship records.
ps
if you zoom in on census, search only surname Braxton, location = Maryland, then filter the collections down to the 1900 census. You will get the extracts..but you also can download the FULL image in jpeg to work with.
References :
Here are two suggestions. Go to the "Message Boards" of genealogy.com. There you can make inquiries of others who share the same last name as you. I did the same thing several years ago, and later found information surpassing my wildest dreams. A woman who was a distant relative had information about my paternal grandmother’s family dating back hundreds of years. That included the names and dates of birth of grandparents, and some biographical information as well. She even had a copy of a newspaper article about my grandmother’s father’s sudden death of a heart attack, while he was seated at home speaking to a nephew, in Austin, Texas in 1902. The reason it appeared in the newspaper was that he was an early settler of Austin, who had arrived upon the scene before the establishment of the Republic of Texas.
A second thing you can do is check out the county genealogy societies of the areas where you know your relatives lived at one time. For example, I knew that some of my father’s family had migrated from North Carolina and settled in the area around Tyler, Texas, which is located in Smith County. I did a search on names that I knew in the Smith County Texas Genealogical Society’s website, and discovered that they had reams of materials on my family members. I found the names of a set of my great-great-grandparents, two sets of great-great-great-grandparents, great aunts and uncles, a great-great-uncle, a great-great-great-uncle and biographies and obituaries of many of the same and more. I also found out the name and exact location of a local cemetery where many of them were buried. When I actually visited the cemetery, I found that four generations of my father’s family were buried there, including one of my great-great-great-grandmothers, who was born in 1796. So don’t sell these local entities short. They often are a treasure trove of information. So, since you know that your great-grandfather was born in Montgomery County, Maryland, do a search and see if they have a genealogical society. Chances are they will.
Here is a link to your family’s "Message Board" at genealogy.com.
http://genforum.genealogy.com/braxton/
To find it yourself later on, point to "Community" at the top of the home page of genealogy.com, and then select "Message Boards" from the drop down box. You might also want to explore all the other options listed there. You never can tell what you may find.
References :
I don’t know if you’ve seen it but someone on Ancestry has this family as being your James Henry Braxton and family. Not really sure what evidence they have for it apart from thinking that the Henry is James Henry?
1910 United States Federal Census about Henry Braxton
Name: Henry Braxton
Age in 1910: 14
Estimated Birth Year: 1896
Birthplace: Washington, DC
[Washington DC]
Relation to Head of House: Son
Father’s name: Nicolas Braxton
Father’s Birth Place: Virginia
Mother’s name: Fanny Braxton
Mother’s Birth Place: Virginia
Home in 1910: Precinct 3, Washington, District of Columbia
Marital Status: Single
Race: Black
Gender: Male
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members:
Name Age
Nicolas Braxton 39
Fanny Braxton 37
Henry Braxton 14
References :