Census Reports & Death Certificates in Genealogy

I learned about census reports and death certificates when I began my genealogy research with my great grandpa Pete Gann who was born in California in 1852 and died in Lake Co., California and my great grandma Laura. That’s all I knew. Not very good and now I have to start filling in the many blank lines on this family group sheet. Where do I begin? I was in the dark and didn't have a clue as to who or where to go to for help or advice. This would lead to locating census reports, death certificates and land information.

I knew land information could be found at the Bureau of Land Management site so I made a visit their site. Searching would show if Pete had land in Lake county, and he did and I found out he had lived in Lake Co. as far back as 1909. I then went to familysearch.org which has free genealogy records and found Ephraim and his family on the 1900, 1910, 1920 U.S. Federal Census reports. The census of 1900, Bachelor Valley, Lake Co., CA showed Ephraim P. (Porter) was born in Feb 1852 in CA.; his father was born in Tennessee, his mother was born in Illinois. He was married in 1883 and was married 17 years. Besides his wife Laura, there were three children still at home.

This is helpful but how would I find out who were his parents? Did he have any brothers or sisters? He was born in the gold rush period so maybe his parents settled here. His wife Laura was born in Texas, did they meet there or in California. Many questions and many unanswered.

While on a trip to the Bay Area I detoured and headed to the small town of Lakeport which is the county seat of Lake Co., CA. After spending a while in the old courthouse I received a copy of his land patent. I also got a copy of Pete and Laura’s death certificates and discovered valuable information.

Pete died in 1832 and his wife Laura supplied the information for his death certificate. His father was T. W. Gann born in Tenn. and his mother, Allie Ann Porter, was born in Missouri. I also found what caused Pete’s and Laura’s death. I was thankful my great grandmother had provided information that was very helpful. I’ve seen death certificates that were primarily blank so you can never be certain of what your getting.

Laura’s death certificate showed she died in 1947 and was born in Texas. Her father’s name was John. W. Horrell, birthplace unknown; her mother was Susan unknown, born unknown. The informant providing the information was Laura’s son Alfred B. Gann.

I now had enough information on Pete’s parents and did a census search on familysearch.org and found an 1880 U.S. Federal census for Isaac W. Gann and Aleyan Gann as spouse. Bingo! Pete’s parents had lived in San Joaquin Co., CA and Isaac was born in 1814 in Tennessee. A family tree search found the family of Ignatious Nathan Gann and more searching showed Ignatious the grandfather of Isaac with Isaac Sr. born in 1783 as his father and Anna Clark Gann as his mother.

Pete’s mother was a bit more difficult. I did find they married in 1841 in Buchanan Co., Missouri and I did find an Ephraim Porter on an 1840 census in the same county but there are many mysteries surrounding Ephraim and he hasn’t helped by changing his age on every census. His death stone reads: 1812-1889. His daughter Aley Ann was born in 1822, a slight problem here .... I now have a new family to search for in Missouri. What databases or archives do they have online for genealogy research?

One clue leads to another and it just goes on and on. It's a huge family puzzle and finding all those missing pieces can take a while. Some pieces will never be found because the scant information you find dead ends...period. As you find pieces of the puzzle you'll be surprised with the information you've found. It really will make your day...

Happy Hunting!