Surname Saturday Riordan Family Line Ireland to Wisconsin

This picture is of Johanna and Patrick with two of Bridget's children before 1898.

Tonight for Surname Saturday I am at the Riordan family line using an Ahnentefel Report.

I know really nothing about this family and have searched very little. It is a real brick wall for me.
My great great grandmother Johanna Riordan came from Ireland in the 1850's. She married Patrick Gallaher another Irish immigrant. Did they marry in Ireland and travel to USA or did they meet and marry. Sadly I have no idea.
They lived and died in LaCrosse, Wisconsin and are buried there.

For now this is what I have on this line

1. Grace Zion daughter of 3. Muriel Day and 2. Arthur Zion

3. Muriel Day daughter of 7. Grace Daly Esler and 6. William Henry Day
7. Grace Daly Esler daughter of 15. Katherine Gallaher/Gallagher and Andrew Daly. Katherine and Andrew never married.

15. Katherine was born 10 May 1874 La Crosse Wisconsin and died 19 March 1940. She married Appleton Esler of Minnesota. With Appleton, Katherine had two more children Merle Esler 1906, and Jesse Wayne Esler 1909.
Appleton had two children before he married Katherine, Tillie and Russell. They were raised by Appleton and Katherine. My mother and her siblings never knew Andrew Daly and thought of Appleton as their grandfather.
15. Katherine Gallaher/Gallagher daughter of 30. Patrick Gallaher/Gallagher and 31. Joanna Riordan

31. Johanna Riordan was born about August 1833 in Ireland and died in La Crosse, Wisconsin the 12th of July 1902. Johanna married Patrick Gallaher before 1866 ( 1838 - 1898). Together they had four children, Mary 1866, Bridget 1869, William, and Katherine 1874. Mary never married and William died early so there is no descendants from either of them.
At http://www.ancestry.com/ I have listed her father as Dennis but I need to prove this and find out her mother's name.

My clues are to see if I can get death certificates for them and then to find family that is related through my great grandmother Katherine.
She had a sister Bridget that married and had children. This will have to be my link to them.
I also have some old photo albums that belonged to Katherine and maybe her sister Mary. I will need to pull these out to see if there is any hints there.
At one time a distant cousin contacted me through http://www.ancestry.com/ . On my to do list is to contact this person again. I saved her email to me so I do know what she has found so far. Even though she offered to share copies with me this has not happened as of yet.
Thanks for stopping by.. please come back again soon.. Grace

Breaking Down The Brick Walls In Our Family Research

We all have our brick walls in our family research. You go so far and hit the brick wall. Over and over that brick wall is does not move. Then by chance some how you crack that brick wall and hit pay dirt.

I have cracked a few brick walls just by blogging about a certain ancestor right here. Next thing I know I get an email from a distant relative and I get documented information to the Mayflower on my Lockwood family. From John Lockwood who fought in the Civil War to the Mayflower because of this blog. How great is that.

Other brick walls are unmovable. But with hints from others and continual research I may get another brick wall to come down. Andrew Daly I will not give up on you.

Tonight I visited Randy Seaver to read his post about breaking down brick walls at Genea-Musings Target the FAN Club to tackle "Elusive Ancestors" problems

Briefly from the posting we are to see our family research as the bull's eye and our ancestor as the target. As we search for information on our ancestor we may find information by moving out one ring of the target. Search for family members. Next search for those who lived in the area. Search for others with the same surname. By spreading out our research we may hit our target.

After reading Randy's post I was in search for other articles on brick walls.

All I had to do was go to http://www.google/ and post the question " brick wall in genealogy research " to come up with articles, books to buy and free charts to print.

Want to read more articles just go to http://www.cyndislist.com/hitbrick.htm There is more than enough to read for many nights.

I also found from my google search a new blog for me and this is just part of her article. She keeps it simple, brief and clear, which I like.

She writes
7 Keys to Getting Over Your Genealogy Brick Wall
By Corinne Bridgewater
Here are her 7 Key steps

Post questions on forums
If you know the area where the person lived try the white pages
Check into and then subscribe to Google alerts
Join RSS feeds from good strong genealogical sites
Put an ad in a newspaper, even overseas if need be
Put up a website about your search
Put up a hubpage or Squidoo lens about your search

She also writes...
If you need to break down the genealogy brick walls try these 6 steps
Write down everything that you know
Do not assume that you wrote it all down before. Go through your notes
Know exactly what it is you are looking for. If it is maiden names, birth, death, surnames, ports of entries then go and Google it. You may get ideas from what comes up.
Try different ways of spelling their names
Come at it from a different angle. Find a small bit of information that you are missing and follow the clue.
What about the property they owned? Follow land deeds
Read the whole article at http://ezinearticles.com/?7-Keys-to-Getting-Over-Your-Genealogy-Brick-Wall&id=2413086

And for forms to help us do our research just go to http://www.cyndislist.com/supplies.htm for a start. Or you can go to family tree for more forms .. http://www.familytreemagazine.com/info/researchforms

I have always had my research on the computer and no master list on each relative to what I have and do not have. I have time lines on some and not on others. That is one of my goals to work on. Getting time lines on my relatives to see what I have and do not have on each of them.

For tonight and for a few more nights this is plenty for me to read. Hope that you enjoy some of the articles and forms. Please look around at some of my other postings before leaving and I hope you visit again. Grace

Tombstone Tuesday Col John Dickenson ? Distant Relative Through Marriage

This is such a fantastic tombstone.. just had to share it today.
In memory of Col John Dickenson who died Feb 21 1799 in Hatfield Massachuetts in the 92 year of his age
Headstone Details
Cemetery name
The Hill Cemetery
Name on headstone
Col John Dickenson
Birth
1707 - Hatfield, Hampshire, Mass
Death
1799 - Hatfield Hampshire Massachuetts

I believe this is a distant relative through marriage to my Coleman line. Need to work on linking his wife to my relatives. Will share my findings at a later time.

Thanks for stopping by.. Grace

"I Wonder Who You Are " My Brick Wall

This is my super brick wall. My grandmother Grace was born in July of 1892 in Minnesota, but her mother never married her father. Great grandmother did marry in December of 1893, to a wonderful man who raised my grandmother as his own.

I was never really told much about my grandmother's birth father while growing up.
They did tell me his name. We were led to believe that he was a no good scoundrel who took off for Chicago. I wish my grandmother would have talked about him, but she was of another generation. That is all we got, he was no good and went to Chicago.
It was not until my mother and uncle were getting older that they finally pulled out a picture of him some time in 2000. My darling uncle even whispered "Our little mama was illegitimate."
At least we have a name and a picture. This is one of my great grandfather's. His name is Andrew. I really doubt he went to Chicago.
I tried to get my grandmother's birth certificate but no luck as there is none available to the public. I have searched the census in the area where I think he may have lived and may have found him. I even found a cemetery in the area with a grave with the same name as his.
But until I find some one with the same photo on the Internet I will really never know that I have found him. All I have is this photo of a handsome young man. His name is Andrew and he is one of my grandfathers. For what ever reason they never married. He probably was a good man who moved on after he and my great grandma never got together. He probably married , had children and died.
I do know he saw my grandma Grace at least once. My great grandma's brother had died in an accident in 1911. Andrew came to the funeral. My great grandma said " Andrew this is our Grace"
How I wish my grandma Grace had talked about him and anything else she may have known about him and his family. She never did and this one photo is all I have .