Unable to verify my great grandfather’s information his name is Henry John Bruns
Unable to verify my great grandfather’s information his name is Henry John Bruns Born October 19, 1863 in Germany came to America in 1881 lived in St. Louis Missouri married in 1891 to Elizabeth Wegescheide. per his marriage certificate parents are Herman heinrich Bruns and Maria Anna leiger?? Unable to verify mothers last name. Henry died on May 20, 1934 in St. Louis Missouri. Also unable to verify if Henry had any siblings. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!
Answers
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Hello @JBruer1
We found Henry John Bruns L1KM-RHJ in Family Tree and see that there are a number of sources attached to his record, but not the marriage certificate you describe. It sounds like you have a copy of the marriage certificate but cannot make out the last name of his mother. Is that correct?
If you have a copy of the marriage certificate you could add as a memory item and then others would be able to view it and perhaps help you out with the interpretation of the mother's last name.
Even if you add just the given names of his mother, that would give the FamilySearch "system" something to work on as far as record hints.
Another couple of ideas -- you might want to join the Germany group here in Community and/or schedule a virtual genealogy consultation:
Best wishes and good luck with your research!
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Hello @JBruer1
We again checked out your Henry John Bruns L1KM-RHJ in Family Tree (FT). You had said: per his marriage certificate parents are Herman heinrich Bruns and Maria Anna leiger. When we look at his Person Page in FT, and look in the rightmost column under Latest Changes, we can see that you deleted his mother back in May 2021. In FT, we should only delete a person if that person never existed. Instead of deleting a person, you can usually merge duplicates, or delete a relationship. Apparently Maria Anna Leiger did exist, as a spouse to Herman Heinrich Bruns. If you click the Show All at the bottom of the Latest Changes, and scroll down, and click on the name: MARIA ANNA LEIGERS, it will say: Person Deleted. When you click at the bottom of that card on PERSON, you should be able to click on the next screen, at the far right in the next box, on Restore Person.
Again on the Person Page for Henry John Bruns, we see there are 7 Sources. We can see that you added three of those sources. There seems to be a conflict in the sources. You have an immigration of Heinrich in 1881, and also a 1880 census listing Henry Bruns, age 17, living in New York, in the household of his uncle, John Bruns. If he was living in New York in 1880, he wouldn’t have immigrated the next year. It appears there must be more than one Henry.
The source for the 1880 census has a little box, saying, This source has not been attached to all people found in the record. Click on the link within the box that says: Unfinished Attachments. You will see that the source has been attached to Henry, but not to anyone else listed on that source. That is because all the other people listed on that source, are not even listed in FT. If you would add them to FT, and then connect that source also to them, you might be able to find the parents of Henry, listed as a nephew. To add a new person to FT, click up on Recents, and scroll down to the bottom, and click on Add Unconnected Person. Then add in the head of household, John Bruns, from information in the census record, name, birth, etc. Then when John is added, and you then go to his Person Page, you should see a hint about this 1880 census, and you should be able to use the Source Linker to easily add in the rest of the family. When this new family, John Brun and spouse and three children are listed in FT, new hints might show up, showing the parents of John, and perhaps his siblings, which would include the father of his nephew Henry. You will likely find that this Henry is not your Henry. If that is the case, you could remove this 1880 census source from your Henry.
It does appear that your Henry has been confused with some other persons. You can see this when you go to the Person Page for the listed father of your Henry. There are Possible Duplicates listed with a child, Herman Henrich Bruns 30 June 1862 – Deceased • G89T-2GG, about the same age as your Henry. When you straighten out all the records for these other Bruns families, and check out all the sources, you will likely find some additional information about your Bruns family.
Since there has been confusion regarding these different Bruns families, you might want to create a story, similar to the one above, and add it into the Memories, as a Story, for your Henry, and any other Henry that has been confused with your Henry, so that you, or any other person looking at these families, will know what has been done for these families.
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