Dang! Brick Walls

My latest brick wall is a Nance. I have been searching, and searching for Paul Nance's parents with no success anywhere.
I know that he was born in 1889 where is though is up in the air. As he died in Detroit MI in 1952. What I can find out however was he born here in Indiana or Mi? I've looked on Rootsweb, Ancestry, and Genealogy.com.,various places nothing so far turns up anything.
even googled his name thinking I could find him that way since I had found one of my bushes through there.
 Can't even locate him in any census's for that year.
I do know He married Naomi Booker marriage date unknown at this time.  
I'm also trying to figure out Surname Country origins.


How on earth do you conquer a brick wall with very little information?

Gravestone Mystery Solved

Hello Genealogy friends remeber that recent posting when I put on my blog about the eluded gravestone emblem. I have finally solved the mystery. It was Knights_of_Pythias It turns out that the inner upside down triangle represents end of life. So I Thank Those that have helped me on this little mystery. Soo happy to have solved this.

Stuck! Help! Unknown Gravestone Carving

I have been trying to figure out this symbol, I have searched all over the net for this symbol but, can not find it anywhere.  I don't suppose anyone out there can help me out here.



Here is a piece of a picture with this symbol . I realize the clarity of the image isn't so good but if you can help I would be grateful.

It's been awhile since I posted.

Been sorting through all the Information still from last posting. And also today sorting through photographs of Cemeteries that my mother had collected over time with her Cousin. Trying to find some photos that might be possible of my lines.
  I did find several with the same surnames as the ones that I have. But, Verifying whether they are one of mine is tricky. Hopefully, I'll be able to find out for sure.

The Chi Ching of The Genealogy world (Finding the Goldmine of information on your ancestor)

Edit and Correction :7:55Pm

The night before I ran onto info on one of the lines I have been researching, the Wright-Cooley line once again produced a goldmine of information that I did not have.  I have managed not only to find Celia/Sela or Selah  Wright-Cooley's Mother and Father's name William R. Wright and Martha Besty Morgan.

But, I found  out that they were in middle of a migration Kentucky (counties not known actually )Then To Bartholomew and Jackson co for a time then settling in Washington county where they are buried at the Wright Cemetery.

This is only a small amount I have found I'll post more later once I have sorted through everything.

Part 2 Newbie starting out .

Sorry that this so long to get back to this post but, I have found some useful links on genealgy,webdesign,and templates.



http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/ You might find some old land record here.
(found this one by accident.lol)

http://www.findagrave.com Both of these links have gravestones you can look through
http://www.interment.net/

http://www.rootsweb.com (Has Free search as well as paid.)


HeritageQuestOnline http://www.heritagequestonline.com/hqoweb/library/do/index
free and you need to just imput your library card number to search.

and your local library ,  History Society, Healthdepartmen for birth and death certificates.

http://www.worldgenweb.org/countryindex.html If you have ancestors from another coutries this is the place to start looking.


For those that need to learn html css or could use good templates

http://www.webtechu.com/  (two week classes)


http://www.genealogy-web-creations.com/   Owned and operated by Pat Geary.


Also Join roots web lists for your surnames. and free pages list for web help. Pat Geary is also apart of this list.
http://rsl.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ (You can ask questions there and you can even find some people whom have the same name your looking for.


http://www.genealogy.com/index_n.html
http://americanancestors.com/home.html

There is also
genealogy tip of the day.

http://genealogytipoftheday.blogspot.com/
And
http://www.cyndislist.com/

I will continue to search for more. As I know how hard it is to find place like this that are free.

Newbie Starting out (How hard it is to do researching a first timer)

(edited Post 8:37pm.)


In recent months I have found out how hard it is to find information on my surnames. Not to mention learning how to source citations. I'm actually still not sure if I have my citations right or not. LOL
Luckily, I found a great place a yahoo group for helping those in citing sources.  So hopefully I will get the hang of this.

Then there is the matter of finding the person your looking for the ancestors. It took me months just to find information on my bush line of what country they came from. I even found out what boat they came on.
Which was rather cool for me, And would be for any researcher looking for an ancestor.
I still struggle to find info on them. especially on finding German sites.
It sometimes does feel a little intimidating researching as I don't know what sites to always turn to for research.

And then there was the programs, My mom recommended Roots Magic and Legacy.
At first I was a bit wary about using them but, once I figured out how they worked it began to become easier and easier. I especially love the part of the programs where you can create pages.
I've also discovered an abundance of genealogical magazines recently that my mom had.  Which I found to be filled with lots of great links to places that are helpful.

To help anyone else that is first starting out on this genealogy ride. I'll put up some links in this post to help you out and ease some of your frustrations.

These programs have a try it before you buy it. Which is always a good policy. Especially not to have to pay for something you may not like. These are both great programs.

Roots Magic 


Legacy

ancestraldata.com

linkpedium.com/genealogy
And always remember Free sites are just as gold as pay or even more.
These are a couple off the top of my head. I'll find more for you and add them to the next posting.

Those Ah Ha Moments when you found something.

The night before last I was searching for info on John Cooley. And boy if  I didn't find not only a gold mine of information on him and two other people on Ancestral Data Site.. But, I now know what he looks like.  Not to mention I'm always hunting for old pictures of other relatives from that era.

On the information side I found something interesting, that I did not know about John Cooley, He was born in Salem Indiana, He was a farmer there.Then He was a Mail carrier via Horseback. Going from Center ville and  Cincinnati, Iowa.He was first Married to Laurinda Akin. From what I can gather no one can find whether she died in Washington Co. In or somewhere else they have also found that she my have  had family in Northern Indiana in a place called Carlyle, Indiana. He then Married a year after his first wife past away Elizabeth Pring in Sullivan County MO as far as I can tell they had no children that I could find.


  Also John joined along side his two sons into the Union Army becoming a  private in Company C, 42nd Missouri Volunteers. One of his sons Dill Cooley died during his service in the Civil War.




This is still a research in progress and absolute verification. But, it is definitely a great start.