Reproving my Ancestors

I was working a different branch on my family tree and couldn’t quite make a connection. I explored a possible connection and was able to follow the line for 5 generations. I felt excited and discovering all these new people was great. The issue was that I could not actually define a solid link between the person I had been at a dead end with and this new found family line.

I realized at that point that there could be other assumptions in my family tree. Since I did not research every person in my family tree, I could have an error in the tree. This is not to put down the work of my cousin or my aunt, but if they had information that was not completely true or if the “family member” used as a source wasn’t actually from my family tree.

With that information, I started my tree from scratch within Ancestry.com. I started with what I know and then proved every single item in my tree.

My current quandary is my Caroline Tollefson, my 3x great-aunt. I have not been able to prove she is married to the person I have connected to my tree. The issue is that she disappears from the 1870 census, when she would be 17. The Caroline that I found to be married Mr. Perkins, is still living with her family in the same county as him in 1870.   There are 3 Caroline Tollefson’s in Wisconsin that are close in age during the 1860 census. In 1870, there is a third Caroline, about the same age, living in another town and the birth is listed as Norway and not Wisconsin.

The only proof that I have is the obituary of Tollef Edward Tollefson [located on the About page], that includes the sentence “He is survived by three brothers, Nels of Sioux City, Charles of Elk Point, and Ole of Woonsocket, and four sisters, Mrs. Albert Perkins of Waukesha, Wis., Mrs. H. L. Collins of Vermillion, Mrs. C. B. Smith of Fairburn, S. D., and Mrs. Wm. Headley of Orlando, Fla.” So while the information I found missing official document could not proof her link to Mr. Perkins, the obituary did.

Author: Chris

Originally from South Dakota, but no longer living there. I enjoy family genealogy and researching.

One thought on “Reproving my Ancestors”

  1. hello did you by any chance find anything on Caroline Tollefson dob about april 1860 – germany and dod about 1927 • Kendall, Monroe County, Wisconsin, US. She is married to Friedrich Wilhelm Koehler. Shes my 2nd great grandmother and I have totally dead ended on finding anything out about her. Since you have done lots of Tollefson research I figured you might have found something about her. I did find her find a grave but its vague and not much help.

    thanks!
    Karla

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