Finding a Way Through: Overcoming Brick Walls in Your Family Tree Part 3

Photo Courtesy of @anniespratt

In Part 1 of "Finding a Way Through" I provided a list of tips to break through Brick Walls in your Family Tree.

In Part 2 of this series, I had great intentions of jumping in to researching my great-great-grandmother, Margaret Griffin, who had been a mystery to me for many year.

Since clients always come before my personal projects, four week went by before I was able to work on my family tree Brick Wall.

Fortunately, I have had great success with my research into the life of Margaret Griffin. If I didn't, I would tell you that too! But this time, it turned out great, and I always love a chance to tell the story of the women in my family, since historical record tends to focus on men.

Today I am going to tell you about how I discovered the truth behind my great-great-grandmother's family line, and in Part 4, I will summarize my results.

Following My Own Advice and Finding a Way Through

I like to start with a new sheet of notebook paper to create a Fresh Start, free of the frustration and conflicting documents about Margaret's life.

Then I tried to Break It Down into smaller steps, and I wrote these down on my notebook paper with a few lines between each one to leave room for notes later on. This included
Backing up a Generation to see if Margaret was living with one of her children when she passed away.

Margaret Roden(?) Griffin

"When and Where did Margaret Griffin die?" 
1. Margaret was living in Gadsden, Alabama, when her husband died in 1925. Start by looking for records of Margaret in Gadsden after 1925.
2. Then see if she lived with one of her surviving children in her later years
a. James Griffin of New Orleans
b. Cora Griffin Jones of Texas
c. Louie Griffin of Birmingham
3. Create a timeline for each of her children in the 1920 census, 1930 census, and 1940 census as well as any significant events in this same time period.

Next, I got back in touch with two DNA Relatives I found through my dad's Ancestry.com DNA test. One is a third cousin and the other is a second cousin once removed. They did the DNA test at the request of their children, but they have been happy to answer my questions about their Griffin family history. It had been a year since we had been in touch but one of them was able to share some new information about Margaret's husband, John, which didn't help me in this project, but might help me later when I work to break down the Brick Wall in John's family line.

Using the information that I have gathered today, I got to work, looking for a record Margaret's death which might tell me something about her parents or when and where she was born.