A Nice Trip to Princeton

I enjoyed giving the evening presentation on "Tightwad Ancestors" for the Bureau County Genealogical Society in Princeton, Illinois. The group in Princeton is always a great one to work with.

The society was recently involved in a filming of a episode of the Danish version of "Who Do You Think You Are." There is a Danish actress whose ancestors immigrated to Bureau County in the mid-19th century, leaving behind their oldest son from whom the actress descends. Some of the society's research was used for the episode. Did your immigrant ancestors leave any children behind in Europe? We tend to think of entire families immigrating, but sometimes adult children were left behind.

There was also a story passed on by one member of a researcher who discovered that for unknown reasons, a set of "grandparents" did not marry until they were in their sixties, well after their children were born. The marriage was almost not located because the only reference to a bride and groom with that name was "way too late in the entries." Sure enough it was the correct ancestors--right name and right ages. The researcher was surprised to find the couple marrying that late.

Any chance your ancestors really did not marry when you think they did?

And it sometimes pays to look later in the records than you think you need to.