It can be tempting to quit when you’ve found the person you want and not spend time looking up “all those other possibilities.” But that’s how missing people and people you never knew existed are located. Always consider alternate spellings–even when you find people using the “correct” spelling. If I had quit when I found Henry Trautfelter, I would never have located Christian Troutfetter in the same city directory.
Don’t stop until you’ve searched for them all. 
5 Responses
Good point, I am willing to go back and look at all my papers & information again with all possible spellings and close neighbors etc.
An excellent tip!! I cringe to think about all the resources I stopped looking at when I found the person I was looking for, especially when I was new to genealogy!
Christian Trautfelter (1843-1871) is my freest-great/grandfathet. Are you working on his tree?
The Christian in the illustration is a first cousin to my gg-grandfather, John Michael Trautvetter (1839-1917). The Christian in the illustration was born in 1850 in Thuringia, Germany, and died in Thomas County, Kansas, in 1917. He spent some time in Hancock County, Illinois, in the 1850s-1860s which is where my gg-grandfather died.
Sorry,
Two different Christian Trautfelters. Mine was born in Baltimore in 1843 and was murdered there on June 2, 1871 But I’m sure they’re related. I believe that our Christian’s father (Johann Trautvetter), mother (Eva), and sister (unnamed) came to Baltimore in September 1837 aboard the ship Phoenix from Bremen. They are listed as residents of Seeburg, a town in SAXONY.