User:GayelKnott

I've been doing family history research for about 15 years and have finally decided it's time to get some of what I've found out in public. The ideas (and sponsors) behind Wiki/WeRelate look good, so thought I'd give it a try, especially for some of my brick walls.

One brick wall I'd really like to break is for my great-grandmother's family, the KRAATZ family. The stories behind their move to the United States sound a little far-fetched to me, but possible. Her father was said to be in the Prussian military, helped teach Kaiser Wilhelm II to ride as a child, and came to the US after he was severely wounded in the Franco-Prussian War. The problem is, I can't find anything in the way of records in Germany to either confirm or disprove the stories.

And I have the dreaded JONES family, along with more good stories. The problem here is my great-great grandfather James JONES, who was a lead miner in Wisconsin beginning in the late 1820s when Wisconsin was still Indian territory. He was said to have fought in 3 wars (I've found the records for the Blackhawk War, but not the records for the War of 1812, and haven't a clue what a third possible war might be). He is also said to have been born in Pennsylvania.

As for the SCOTT family, again, lots of stories, and for this family lots of cousins who would like to verify the stories, but no luck. The earliest documented person is my great-great grandfather, William Hazelton SCOTT, who is said to have been born in Willmington, Delaware in 1805, the son of a miller (or maybe a mill wright, or maybe . . . something to do with milling, in any event) also named William. This miller/mill wright was also supposed to have served in the War of 1812.

I'm currently working on Abner DUNN, my ggg-grandfather. And guess what -- he also served in the military during the War of 1812, in Indiana (I'm trying to get the records). He is supposed to have been born in Kentucky about 1790 (I suspect more like 1795). He and his wife were both illiterate (no family bible), and the family had a tendency to move with the frontier -- sometimes ahead of any government organization, and sometimes "squatting" before actually gaining legal ownership of the land.

While I'm working in Indiana, I'm also looking for more information on the family of another great-grandmother, Polly MEADOWS. I call her "Poor Polly", as she certainly had an up-and-down life. She's not a brick wall, just a very interesting person.

Also in Indiana are the JOHNSON and REECE/REESE/REASE families.

I am hooked on family history for so many reasons -- you get to meet all kinds of people living today; you are constantly challenged by new puzzles; and you certainly get to learn history from a different perspective, one that I find interesting.