Picking one favorite find is difficult. I have learned so many things about my family and my husbands family. They astound me how resilient they are in the face of adversity. I think breaking through my great grandfathers brick wall was when I really became hooked on the search.
My great grandfather was an unknown for the most part. We knew him as Benjamin Cook but the family story was that he had changed his name at some point and he was from Germany. I didn’t know very much about how to search when I began this journey. I was very frustrated with not being able to make any headway on finding my great grandfather. So, I hired a researcher to give me a boost. She found an obituary for my great grandfather. He died very young, only 35 years old. He was run over by a train. He left a wife and three children, the youngest, my grandfather was only 4.
The obituary stated that two brothers came to the funeral from Watertown, Wisconsin. It didn’t say their names but now we had a place to search. There is a lot more to this story and the short life of Bernhard Koch/Benjamin Cook but that can be told another day. I would have to say those little news clippings have made a huge impact on much of my research.
My Tree in the Forest 