How do I begin searching for my great-grandfather with limited info?
My great grandfather's name is Felipe Gonzales (a very common name 😭). My father is the little boy in this picture, he is the youngest of 8 children, so he does not remember much about him and cannot provide info (middle name, birthday).
All we know is that my great grandfather was from Bohol, Philippines. He left to the United States for an unknown reason and died there, his body was never returned to his home country.
This was the picture last taken with his family before leaving to the US (my father believes he might have gone to California). This picture was taken around 1965-1966.
The other man in this picture is my grandfather, Gelacio Cobelo Gonzales, which would be Felipe's son.
Answers
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@Jong29 Mod note: Your post was edited to maintain the privacy of a living person. Please see the Community Code of Conduct.
If you can provide further information on your family members, place of birth, approximate date of birth, or place of death, and approximate date of death, married to, and children? Then members of the discussion group can better assist you in your search.
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Searching with limited information from the Philippines is absolutely doable and Bohol is actually a great starting point because its records are better preserved than many other provinces.
Start with the photo itself
The picture taken around 1965–1966 before he left for California is a valuable clue. Philippine studio photographers from that era often stamped the studio name on the back of prints if you haven't checked the back of the original, that could reveal a specific Bohol town name which narrows everything down dramatically.Philippine records to target: PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority) —holds civil registration records including birth, marriage, and death certificates. Felipe's children's birth certificates filed in Bohol would name him and his parents:
https://psa.gov.ph/civilregistrationLocal Civil Registry of the specific Bohol municipality birth records at municipal level often survived better than provincial records. Once you identify the town, contact that municipality's civil registry directly
Catholic parish records Bohol is heavily Catholic and baptismal registers going back to the Spanish colonial era are held at local churches or the Diocese of Tagbilaran. Felipe's baptism record would name both his parents
FamilySearch Philippines Collection — partially digitized Philippine civil and church records, free to search: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Philippines_Genealogy
For the US side tracing him after 1966:
California Death Index searchable free online, would confirm dates and sometimes list next of kin
Social Security Death Index (SSDI) searchable on Ancestry and FamilySearch for anyone with a Social Security number
Immigration records, his arrival record around 1965–1966 would be on file; search Ancestry's immigration collection for "Felipe Gonzales" arriving from the Philippines to California in that period
DNA is your strongest tool here, since your father is one of 8 siblings' descendants, testing on Ancestry or 23andMe and filtering for Filipino matches could surface cousins still in Bohol who know the family story firsthand.
The town in Bohol is the key that unlocks everything, do any of the 8 children remember a church name, neighborhood, or nearby landmark from stories about home? That one detail changes the entire search.
If you need help working through any of these steps, feel free to share more details here, I'd be glad to help you navigate the process.
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