Genealogy????????

Question

I can't find anything about my daughter's great great great grandmother Neelie Johnson.Johnson was her married name and she is from South Carolina.Neelie children were Recell Johnson-Porterfield,Arthur Johnson,and more.I don't know much about her and who her husband was and who her parents were.Maybe born around 1890-1905 and died in the 1950's.

Answer 1

www.ancestry.com--Social Security Death Index

Name: Recell Porterfield

SSN: 248-40-6515  

Last Residence: 29205  Columbia, Richland, South Carolina, United States of America

Born: 7 Dec 1919

Died: Oct 1984

State (Year) SSN issued: South Carolina (Before 1951 )

Could this be Neelie's husband?? Dates fit the timeline:

South Carolina Death Records, 1821-1955

Name: Charles C Johnson

Death Date: 20 Jun 1928

Age (Years): 64

Estimated Birth Year: 1864  

Gender: Male  

Color: Non-White (White)

County of Death: Aiken  

Volume Number: 16

Certificate Number: 9616

Answer 2

Hi, I have a membership at Ancestry.com, and have spent some time trying to search based on the clues you provided.  Unfortunately, I would need more specifics to be able to locate the relatives you've mentioned.  It would indeed be best if we started with your grandparents or greatgrandparents (someone you know some facts about), and then work backwards from there.

In my Ancestry.com search I've found very few Neelie Johnsons, but none born in South Carolina (did you mean she was born in SC, or that she lived there at one time)?  Do you know where she died?  Of course it would be helpful to know if you are sure of the spelling of her name and what her maiden name and husband's name may have been...  In general, genealogists tend to identify women by their maiden names.  Do you know what ethnicity she was?  Do you know if Neelie was a nickname for a longer name?  You don't have to know ALL these details, just a couple of them should help tremendously.

I found zero Recell Johnsons, again are you sure of the spelling?  Do you know her approximate birth and death dates, and what her husband's first name was?  Do you know whether she hyphenated her name or whether Porterfield became her last name?  More information about Recell could lead us to more information about Neelie...

The good news is that the names Neelie and Recell are not very common, so with a few more facts we could have better luck.  The name Arthur Johnson with very little other info would make it next to impossible to locate the one you're looking for.

I wish I had better news for you, sometimes Ancestry goes straight to a rare name and it's the right record - - but not the case so far with Neelie or Recell.  I'd be willing to try another couple of facts (even on a descendant of theirs who is no longer living), if you can get those to me.

Best of luck with your search!

Answer 3

You should start by asking all your living relatives about family history.  Then, armed with that information, you can go to your public library and check to see if it has a genealogy department.  Most do nowadays; also, don't forget to check at community colleges, universities, etc.  Our public library has both www.ancestry.com and www.heritagequest.com free for anyone to use (no library card required).

Another place to check out is any of the Mormon's Family History Centers.  They allow people to search for their family history (and, NO, they don't try to convert you).

A third option is one of the following websites:

http://www.searchforancestors.com/...

http://www.censusrecords.net/?o_xid=2739...

http://www.usgenweb.com/

http://www.census.gov/

http://www.rootsweb.com/

http://www.ukgenweb.com/

http://www.archives.gov/

http://www.familysearch.org/

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/...

http://www.cyndislist.com/

http://www.geni.com/

Cyndi's has the most links to genealogy websites, whether ship's passenger lists, ancestors from Africa, ancestors from the Philippines, where ever and whatever.

Of course, you may be successful by googling: "john doe, born 1620, plimouth, massachusetts" as an example.

Good luck and have fun!

Check out this article on five great free genealogy websites:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article...

Then there is the DNA test; if you decide you want to REALLY know where your ancestors came from opt for the DNA test. Besides all the mistakes that officials commonly make, from 10% to 20% of birth certificates list the father wrong; that is, mama was doing the hanky-panky and someone else was the REAL father. That won't show up on the internet or in books; it WILL show up in DNA.

I used www.familytreedna.com which works with the National Geographics Genotype Program.