52 Ancestors in 2022 - Week 2: Favorite Find

It's time for another 52 Ancestors post. This week the prompt is 'Favorite Find'!

For me, that is a little hard to answer because there are so many and it changes over time! My answer today is different from what it was last year and what it will be next year. Five years ago, my favorite find was finding two children that were born to my great-grandmother's sister. I had not known of either of them. Both died as very young children and no one ever spoke of them. I blogged about Fara Gallacci and her brother Francesco in early 2017.

Three years ago, my favorite find was the discovery of a previously unknown marriage. I heard stories about my Dad's bachelor Uncle as I was growing up. I'm not sure if my Dad or his siblings knew of the marriage, but they certainly never talked about it. It was quite a surprise to me to discover a marriage record for him. I blogged about that discovery in early 2019.

A year later, my favorite discovery was source—a California newspaper on Newspapers.com. This led me to several obituaries and other articles about my Weiss family that had migrated west. I blogged about that discovery here.

My latest favorite is a little different. It wasn't a total surprise to discover that my great-grandfather's brother, James, and his wife had another child. I'd suspected it based on census records. The 1900 census record states that Mary had 2 children with 1 living. The 1910 census states that Mary had 4 children with 3 living. James and Mary married in 1892 when Mary was 23 years old. So I was not surprised that there was a child born between 1892 and 1900. What I did not expect was to ever FIND that child! There was no statewide registration of births in Illinois before 1916. Finding a record at the county level before that time was hit and miss. 

As you probably know, during the COVID pandemic Ancestry offered home access for the library edition. I used this access regularly to browse records. I was beyond happy to one day discover that Ancestry had the records for the church where James and Mary were married.

Baptism Record for Albertum Kolk
Register of Baptisms for St. Mary's Church - Alton, Illinois
Accessed on Ancestry.com - April 2021

 I was happier still to discover the March 1894 baptism of a child born to James and Mary, Albertum Joannem. There was also a record of his death one year later, in March 1895. There he was, the child born to Mary and James between 1892 and 1900! My suspicions confirmed! Even better, I was able to find other family marriages, baptisms, and confirmations in the church records! And I learned a little about reading latin church records along the way. My next step is to try to find a cemetery record for little Albertum.

For more information about, or to sign up for, Amy Crow Johnson's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks (or 12 Ancestors in 12 Months) Challenge, visit her sign-up post.