Saratoga Springs looked like it would pay-off big time. I found a family with a daughter named Ismay. I was able to follow that family back a few generations. But, did I have the right family? Was this the mother of Roberta, or was I following another wild goose chase? How could I confirm this family?
I had no answers, no assurances, but there was still that gut-feeling. You know, when the puzzle pieces just fit and yet you couldn't prove it. So I waited with baited breath for the 1940 U.S. Census to be released. I was betting that this family would be THE family I was looking for. Please, please, please, let this family be the ONE.
My genealogy instructor continued to tell us that we follow a family line back in time and then bring it forward through siblings and their families. He taught us to treat siblings as equal. Search their families as I would my own line. You never knew when you would chance upon a living individual with the answers you needed. It was a daunting task, but off I went.
I really didn't get as far as I had hoped, but eventually I felt confident enough to place this family from Saratoga Springs into my Ancestry.com family tree. I listed this Ismay as Roberta's mother, and I listed her parents from Saratoga Springs. I followed this father back another generation, and one more set of parents and children. That's when my Bet paid off BIG TME!!!
Through Ancestry.com I received a message from a guy named Roy. He told me that he was the great-nephew of the father I had listed as Ismay's father. Eureka!!!!
Emails were sent and received, and then the decision to talk on the phone. Were these two families tied together? Was Roy's great-grandmother the sister of Roberta's grandfather? Did I finally have someone who might be able to answer some questions for me? Could we tie these two families together into the one I needed? Were we really connected?
Two phone conversations with Roy resulted in an email containing the burial card for this Ismay from Saratoga Springs. On the front of the card I had her maiden name, her birthdate, and the date of her death. I had NEVER had this information. I had where she was buried, I even had her married name from her second marriage. Was this the one? Had I hit Pay-Dirt? I continued to the second image.
The back of the burial card. It listed her as the 'daughter of '... And THERE THEY WERE!!!! The parents I had found in Saratoga Springs. Hallelujah! That verified that I had parents for this woman and they were correct. Now could I connect her to my mother-in-law, Roberta? Was this the lost mother?
Just below the 'daughter of ' was listed the 'sister of '. And those siblings were the same ones I had tried to follow. The connection going back was solidifying. Next listed the 'wife of ', and that verified the married name and the second husband's full name. I could chase her forward from 1931. I had real names to search.
Now what about coming forward.... I held my breath... And there it was... 'THE MOTHER OF ', but it only listed two children.... What was going on? The first child was listed using her married name, Mrs. ...? Who was that? That wasn't my Roberta, was I wrong? Was this the wrong Ismay? But right behind that name came the PAY-OFF!!!!! The Bet that I had placed on that Race Track town of Saratoga Springs had finally paid off!
A SON! A son named... Gerald, with the same last name as Roberta. There it was! This was the connector I NEVER EVER thought I would find! There it was staring back at me... Gerald! The name of the son in the 1930 census...
I FINALLY had a mother for Roberta! A very REAL mother who had a father and mother of her own, and FINALLY I knew I had the right family. I had done it, the impossible, I had found the family of a woman whose last name I never knew, a woman only known as 'Ismay'. A woman that as far as I knew had vaporized in 1931.
My heart started skipping beats, my mother-in-law was coming to visit. Would she want to know what I had found? Would she be happy? Excited? Would she even be interested?
Only time would tell...
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