Family Treeee Help!?

Question

My Great Great Grandfather was Wilfred A Bernard. An organist in the New Bedford Massachusetts area. Born in Aug 1872 and died Mar 5 1939. There is a story in our family that his grandfather on his fathers side was a person named François Bernard. Who married a woman named Marie. Is this true? Can anyone Look back information on him?

Additional Information: Wilfred A. Bernard was married To Helena F. Miller and they had 16 children. In New Bedford.

Also if anyone can find any Newspaper Clippings over the internet or any documents about Leo A. Bernard a child in New Bedford in the year 1935. He was hit by a truck while playing with his friends and died. Leo A. Bernard 1922 - April 6, 1935. He was the child of Wilfred A. Bernard and Helena F. Miller

Thanks so much

Answer 1

Most geneologists block living family members from showing up on their sites. You really need a family member to give you as much information as possible, names, birth & death dates, marriages, maiden names, brothers & sisters. The more information you have to start with theeasier it will be. Having said that, I am including links to some of the free sites that I have found useful. I have also just typed in the first & last name, in quotes, of a person I am looking for plus the state if I know it, in my Yahoo! search bar. Your family name can show up in different state histories and records.

Good Luck

http://www.rootsweb.com/

http://ancestorguide.com/

http://www.tribalpages.com/

http://www.usgenweb.net/

http://www.ellisisland.org/default.asp

Ellis Island passenger list search page

http://www.familytreecircles.com/

http://www.censusdiggins.com/

http://www.archives.gov/research/civil-w...

http://www.genealogybuff.com/

http://www.gencircles.com/globaltree/

http://www.genealogysearch.com/wwwboard-...

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/s...

http://www.genealogy.com/index_a.html

http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.c...

http://www.cyndislist.com

           Cyndi's List has over 250,000 sites, some are free, some are not.

http://genealogy.about.com/gi/dynamic/of...

            Access Geneology has good resources for Native American & African American

             research as well as census records, military records and family bibles.

Don't be afraid to get in to some of the geneology forums for your family name. Sometimes that can be very helpful as well.

Answer 2

The census records seem to match what you say.

1930: Wilfred & Helena F. Bernard, New Bedford, MA

1920: Wilfred & Helena Bernard, Fall River, MA

1910: Wilfred A. & Helena F. Bernard, Pawtucket, RI

1900: Walfrid A. & Helena Bernard, Fall River, MA

1880: Wilfred, age 8, Lawrence, MA, parents Levi (age 56) & Harriet (53), both born in Canada

1900: Levi Bernard, age 77, birthplace: Canada (French)

1851 census of East Canada:

Levie Bernard, born abt 1818 ( I can't see the details on this one.)

Several family trees on ancestry list Levi's parents as François Bernard and Marie Josette Guertin of Ste. Hyacinthe, Quebec.

François: 23 Aug, 1792 - 10 Oct, 1871

Marie: 26 Jan, 1792 - ?

I haven't found any records to support that information, however.

Leo Bernard, age 8, appears in the 1930 census.  The link below (New Bedford Public Library) has an e-mail address for obituaries queries or visitation appointments.