Hello all! I'm new and I'm very happy to be here. I've enjoyed genealogy from the very early age of 7-8 years old, mostly because of my wonderful great-grandmother. I'm 29 now and finally getting deep into this stuff! I have plenty of questions I could throw at you all lol, but what I'm looking for is any help I can get with a difficult branch of my family.
My great-grandfather was Herald Edward Ashman. He ran away from home for unknown reasons at 12 years old and refused to speak anything about his family for the rest of his life. The only information I have is from documents and that's not much. He was born in 1888 so if only those darn 1890 Census records existed, I might easily have my answer!! So here's everything I have. (Supposedly another family member did hear a rumor that his parents were English - whether from England or simply English ancestry I don't know.)
Herald E. Ashman, b. 1888 in Portland, Oregon. (You can view his Find a Grave here.)
Records I already have:
Census records from 1900, 1920, 1930, 1940.
Death record.
Registers from WWI and WWII.
Marriage records from both marriages.
Some newspaper clippings.
Social security card.
War injury report and war service questionnaire.
As you can see I have a lot. Yet with all that, I still have very little info. Census records list his father's birthplace as Ohio, and his mother's as Kentucky. Herald himself being born in Oregon, there should've been some record of them there. Later he moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, and met my great-grandmother there (though he met her older sister first, and married her, then married her little sister later!) but he was an adult then so I doubt his parents were ever there. There are many Ashmans who lived in Utah, most of them Mormons who came from Kent, England. And he was a Mormon too but I can't find any relation. I've tried to research that family quite a bit but haven't found any Heralds in their line.
The war service questionnaire asks for his parent's names, and for whatever reason his mother's name isn't listed, however his fathers is. The name is Herald Ashman again, not much help there! (No middle name given)
I have exhausted every research idea I can think of. I've looked for Herald (or Harold) Ashmans anywhere else in the United States. There's a couple Harolds, none of whom match. I cannot find a female with the last name Ashman who born in Kentucky ANYwhere. I've tried looking for those with H in the name (he could have gone by a middle name but had H as middle initial, my great-grandmother on maternal side did that) but still no one matches.
Because I have his SSN, I know that I can go purchase a SS-5 and hope that he has one, and that it has the info. But that can take up to 6 months and even then they might not have it. So in the meantime I continue to research.
What I want to know - how is it possible that his parents would be NOWHERE on records?? Ashman is a rare name. Even as of the 2014 census, there were only 3,000 of us in the United States. Less back then. Shouldn't that make it easier to find them, then? What am I missing? What haven't I thought of? It is so frustrating. I just don't understand how I cannot find a trace of any records of an male Ashman born in Ohio along with a female one born in Kentucky, in the right date range, in any records available online.
Would greatly appreciate any help, any ideas on what else I can do. Sorry for long message but wanted to be thorough.
My great-grandfather was Herald Edward Ashman. He ran away from home for unknown reasons at 12 years old and refused to speak anything about his family for the rest of his life. The only information I have is from documents and that's not much. He was born in 1888 so if only those darn 1890 Census records existed, I might easily have my answer!! So here's everything I have. (Supposedly another family member did hear a rumor that his parents were English - whether from England or simply English ancestry I don't know.)
Herald E. Ashman, b. 1888 in Portland, Oregon. (You can view his Find a Grave here.)
Records I already have:
Census records from 1900, 1920, 1930, 1940.
Death record.
Registers from WWI and WWII.
Marriage records from both marriages.
Some newspaper clippings.
Social security card.
War injury report and war service questionnaire.
As you can see I have a lot. Yet with all that, I still have very little info. Census records list his father's birthplace as Ohio, and his mother's as Kentucky. Herald himself being born in Oregon, there should've been some record of them there. Later he moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, and met my great-grandmother there (though he met her older sister first, and married her, then married her little sister later!) but he was an adult then so I doubt his parents were ever there. There are many Ashmans who lived in Utah, most of them Mormons who came from Kent, England. And he was a Mormon too but I can't find any relation. I've tried to research that family quite a bit but haven't found any Heralds in their line.
The war service questionnaire asks for his parent's names, and for whatever reason his mother's name isn't listed, however his fathers is. The name is Herald Ashman again, not much help there! (No middle name given)
I have exhausted every research idea I can think of. I've looked for Herald (or Harold) Ashmans anywhere else in the United States. There's a couple Harolds, none of whom match. I cannot find a female with the last name Ashman who born in Kentucky ANYwhere. I've tried looking for those with H in the name (he could have gone by a middle name but had H as middle initial, my great-grandmother on maternal side did that) but still no one matches.
Because I have his SSN, I know that I can go purchase a SS-5 and hope that he has one, and that it has the info. But that can take up to 6 months and even then they might not have it. So in the meantime I continue to research.
What I want to know - how is it possible that his parents would be NOWHERE on records?? Ashman is a rare name. Even as of the 2014 census, there were only 3,000 of us in the United States. Less back then. Shouldn't that make it easier to find them, then? What am I missing? What haven't I thought of? It is so frustrating. I just don't understand how I cannot find a trace of any records of an male Ashman born in Ohio along with a female one born in Kentucky, in the right date range, in any records available online.
Would greatly appreciate any help, any ideas on what else I can do. Sorry for long message but wanted to be thorough.
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