I was stuck on a certain relative who apparently left the area where she grew up sometime after she was enumerated in the 1910 census in Hancock County, Illinois. She seemed to evaporate and appears in no later records.
In 1915, in the church she attended as a child, she and her husband have two of their children baptized. The baptism records list the maiden name of the mother. While I’m not yet 100% certain it is her, it’s a very good lead. One child has her maiden name as it’s middle name and the other child has her mother’s maiden name as it’s middle name–another good clue.
Did you relatives bring the kids “back home” to be baptized?
5 Responses
I know of a family where 4 of the 5 children were BORN back home (about 2 hours away) and not in the town they lived. Ironically, I never thought about whether that would apply to my own ancestors. Thanks for pointing out that option!
In the early part of the 20th century, it was common for young mothers to return to their hometowns to have their babies. They remained with their parents until they had recovered their strength before returning to their own homes. This could take several weeks. These days, mothers and babies are discharged from the hospital right away.
That makes complete sense as I know a classmate who married a gentleman from Norway. When she had her children she would come to r area. Several years later they moved to the states and back to r local area. I have thought of that scenario with family history. So not a complete surprise.
My grandfather gave as his official place of birth Philadelphia PA. His baptism at age 7 weeks is recorded in the “home” church in a land locked town in Bavaria Germany.
How likely do you think it is that he actually “returned” there for that event? This was in the 1880’s.
The first arrival by ship to America that I can locate for his mother (with his two older sisters, not him even) was 10 months after his birth…
My ancestors did not “go home” to baptize their children but I did. My husband and I were born and raised in Illinois but moved to California right after we got married. No one could come out for our first child’s baptism so I decided that if there were more children, we would “go home” where family was. We did that for our second and third child. They were a little older than the infants being baptized with them but we didn’t care because both families were able to be there.