4th Great Grandparents Brick Wall

[KristleyBrickWall]

Happy Easter everyone I was wondering if anyone would want to help out with a long standing brick wall. It is for my 4th great grandparents John Crisler and Margaret Alton. I have gotten help for this brick wall. I was thinking maybe a fresh set of eyes can help out. There is a few problems though the last name of the family is spelt differently an insane amount of times and I have no clue on what town my 4th great grandparents are from as they're from Germany and have had no luck finding immigration records for them. I have had no luck finding them on the 1860 census either. Most records for these people are on there familysearch profiles. John's profile https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pe...tails/9NX9-JD8, Margaret's profile https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pe...tails/9NX9-JDF. My goal is to find the parents for John and Margaret ir more info on Margaret's father. I hope to find the town of origin.

[PhotoFamily]

Welcome to FTF!
Just starting to look at Margaret. It would have been so much easier if her mother's name had been on her death cert!

for others looking (US Death cert)
https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/...=successSource

First thought - have you looked for the obit? It looks like the Linton library has a genealogy section. If they can't do an obit lookup , they may know where you can go to get it
http://www.lintonpl.lib.in.us/genealogy/

Small town newspapers loved long obits, tho all info should be verified.

Others more familiar with Germany might comment on recovering her birth cert from 1827... without more info that seems like a tall barrier.

EDIT - obit on findagrave
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...aret-christler
(think you already know that, but others may find it useful)

[PhotoFamily]

FS has the Catholic church records for Linton, but supposedly they are indexed, and I didn't find her death there. Nonetheless, it might be useful to page thru them, but they are restricted to in-person viewing at a family history center.
https://www.familysearch.org/search/...tory%20Library

Have you looked at the Greene County histories
https://www.familysearch.org/search/...9-50,462898-50

note that there are also indexes to the histories. If you're lucky, your ancestors, or one of their children, would be in there. They were in Indiana early enough that it might have them.

Please share what happened with looking for Margaret's and John's marriage? Seems odd that Margaret would have crossed the ocean by herself, but not impossible.

[KristleyBrickWall]

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...aret-christler Here is an obituary for Margaret PhotoFamily

[KristleyBrickWall]

PhotoFamily they most likely married In Galveston since there first children were married there

[keldon]

This may be them in the 1860 census.
Census Place: Swain, Mississippi, Arkansas; Page: 691;
on Ancestry they are shown as Gresler.

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discovery...8580c6cb450805

[PhotoFamily]

So, John Sr is in the 1870 census in Washington Twp, Daviess, Indiana. Have you looked for an obit in those local newspapers?

[PhotoFamily]

This may be them in the 1860 census.
Census Place: Swain, Mississippi, Arkansas; Page: 691;
on Ancestry they are shown as Gresler.

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discovery...8580c6cb450805

Great catch!
KristleyBrickWall Likely that they were married in/near Galveston, but there are all kinds of possibilities, like, they married just before they got on the boat; he came first and established himself, then she came and they married as she got off the boat; they married and moved...

[KristleyBrickWall]

keldon thank you it's them the birthplaces and years match and are similar I have came accross Grassle or Grassler or things of that nature in German Records

[PhotoFamily]

more wish list items
https://www.familysearch.org/search/...tory%20Library

https://www.familysearch.org/search/...tory%20Library

So, pandemic shut down and distance to locations hamper research again...

[PhotoFamily]

So, he's farming - some say that land records are useful, but I think that would really be more in the context of inheritance, so I don't know that it would be useful in this case.

I think that that 1870 record says Margaret was born in Holland

[KristleyBrickWall]

PhotoFamily it is possible the could have married in Germany

[PhotoFamily]

Genetic genealogy might be of assistance. Y-DNA for a direct male line might connect with the German surname branch. FamilyTreeDNA.com is considered a front runner, but there is a German company that also does Y-DNA testing. When you buy a test, you buy the analysis, but you're also buying access to the database. If you can test at one and migrate to the other, that would be great. Otherwise, why not go with the German database
https://yseq.net/

[KristleyBrickWall]

PhotoFamily This side of the family is on my maternal line and Charles Kristley's wife Gertrude Bramble is my direct maternal third great grandmother

[PhotoFamily]

PhotoFamily This side of the family is on my maternal line and Charles Kristley's wife Gertrude Bramble is my direct maternal third great grandmother

I have recruited a distant cousin to test his Y-DNA, as well as recruiting my maternal uncle for his Y-DNA. It's a thing. I have not used YSeq, only ftDNA. Uncle was useful to prove his paternal line back to late 1500s (Puritan Migration). Still hoping for connection to the distant cousin's results.

Autosomal testing could also be useful, but with the generational distance to the unknown ancestors, it would be much more difficult to be certain of the results' meaning.

[KristleyBrickWall]

PhotoFamily, ok thanks for letting me know about the dna testing

[kylejustin]

Once you locate the town of origin, german records are quite detailed.

civil registration didn't begin until 1874, the year prussia united the german states into the kingdom of germany. Prior to this, you're looking at church records.

it's important to know what religion they were, and catholic seems to imply a western (rhineland) or southern (bavarian) origin.

once you know the town, you will be able to find their marriage (if not in the U.S.) and their births.

Generally west and central german records are more detailed and survived well from the wars, over eastern german states.

have you managed to find siblings or possible siblings?

[PhotoFamily]

Well, there's a Labor of Love that you could try (if you haven't already). FS has some Catholic church records for Galveston. I'm not finding an index for St Mary's, so...it's an exercise for someone else. St Mary's seems to be the only church in the right time frame. It would be interesting to know if it was the only Catholic church in 1850, or if it is the only one that FS has records for
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61...159&cat=190459

That said - FS also has records of Texas Marriage Licenses, and I didn't find anything for either of them. I both looked thru a film of an index (only to 1850) as well as searched the transcribed index - no joy.

The same church has baptisms, which have been transcribed - not finding John William. So, perhaps a different church?

[PhotoFamily]

You've thought about the fact that there was a Civil War going on in the midst of raising and birthing their children? It probably explains a lot about moving around. Interesting that they were in Indiana before the War ended.

[KristleyBrickWall]

kylejustin no siblings were found or any idea for them I can't find any immigration records for them either