help with info on where to look next
Hello! I'm new to genealogy, and hoping to get some ideas on what I can do to find info, or where else to look for it. I'm stuck on my third great grandfather, and haven't been able to find any info on him, or his family in the six months Ive been searching. I'm hoping its because I'm new to this, and not because there is nothing to be found. Id be looking for info in Alabama, Arkansas, and maybe Texas as that's where his children went. His name is Morgan Vassar, born approx 1830 in AL, married Nancy Harris in Tuscaloosa, AL in 1856, and from there I have him living in Pike County, Arkansas until 1900 when the census shows him living next to his son in Clark, Arkansas. After that there is nothing I can find on him. I have an Ancestry account, but there isn't any info there that I can find, and I have also looked through FamilySearch, but again I have found nothing. Is there any other places I can look? Or ideas on what else I should be doing? I did dna with Ancestry, and see many distant matches to Vassars, but the few that have answered my message do not know anything about the family.
I appreciate any help or insight you can offer. I would really love to know more about this side of my family.
Thanks!
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By 1900, he would be around 70 which was a fairly long life in those days. If he is not with any family in Texas, perhaps he died and is buried in Alabama? FamilySearch Research wiki can help identify what kinds of records would be available in those counties and time frames. Suggest looking deeper in context, which it sounds like you are doing - look at those who made up his life, such as his wife, son (and other children), parents, etc., and see if there might be additional information on him, through them. FamilySearch Centers have free premium sites such as newspaperarchive.com, as well as myheritage, ancestry, etc., that might be helpful. Wills and probate records might be useful, as well as vital records in those identified counties, or at the Alabama state library. Ancestry is doing away with rootsweb.org sometime this year, but if still functional, there might be links to county genealogical organizations who could answer questions or do lookups. You might also see if there are any facebook county genealogical sites that you could query. Happy hunting!
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Here's some things that I've been doing when researching this time period.
Look at Morgan's siblings. Where did they live? Are there any obituaries or newspaper articles about them? Did the siblings leave him anything in their will?
Look at events in his children's lives. Is dad mentioned in any of them? Sometimes marriage and death records will tell you if the parents are already deceased. Or there might be a newspaper article about a child/grandchild and it's noted that the parent/grandparent attended as well.
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Thanks for the suggestions! Ill look more into his family, and hopefully find some answers there. I did search wiki, but unfortunately did not find anything. Im hoping its because Im new, and have missed something so Ill try that again. I also found a death cert for his son that mentions Morgan, but Im afraid it left me even more confused as it states Morgan is from Ireland, and everything else I have found says Alabama. Im thinking that could have been a misunderstanding as he was from Dublin, AL, and maybe it was confused with Dublin, Ireland. Again, thanks for the suggestions!
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I think your judgement is correct - depending on the informant, and whoever reported the death to the county, a clerk hearing Dublin would probably think Ireland! You mentioned you are new - it does take a little time to get used to using the different search tools such as the research wiki, catalog, etc. I looked up Alabama, then clicked on Pike county at https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Alabama,_United_States_Genealogy
What was listed for Pike county is at https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Pike_County,_Alabama_Genealogy
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Thank you so much!
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The link below provides quite a bit of information on Morgan Vassar including his service in the Civil War, subsequent pension records and lists his death in Antoine, Pike, Arkansas, USA in 1907.
Morgan 'Mark' Vassar - Facts (ancestry.com)
From this link you can see additional details on who posted the information and hopefully learn more about your ancestors.
Good luck!
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