It's been a while since I've written about “reverse genealogy,” the phrase I use for researching from the past to the present. And when I write about this topic, it's usually in the context of rescuing orphan heirlooms, those items that stray from family hands only to resurface in a flea market, antiques store, or other venue. Many of you have contacted me in the past and shared information about orphans that somehow came into your possession, and together, we've done the detective work to return them to the family of origin.

What I don't explain very often, though, is the fact that I acquired most of my reverse genealogy skills working with the U.S. Army. I'm part of the Repatriation Project and it's my responsibility to locate the families of servicemen who were killed over fifty years ago in Korea and other conflicts. So I've decided to write about a different sort of “rescue” in this article. Although I have to mask some details in the interest of privacy, I'd like to walk you through one of my actual cases to demonstrate the research process involved.

Without a Trace
As many of you know, there was a fire in 1973 at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri, that destroyed many of the military personnel records for those who served for the U.S. in the twentieth century. Consequently, my cases usually start with skimpy information. This one was no exception.

I had a name, a birth date (but no birth place), and the soldier's mother's name and address circa 1950. I usually like to start with the every-name index of the 1930 census, but this particular soldier was born in 1932, so he obviously wouldn't appear in it. And it clearly wasn't going to be productive to search for his mother because all the names involved—first and last—were frustratingly common.

The mid-century address suggested I should start my hunt in North Carolina, so I commissioned a couple of rounds of research at the Family History Library to try to find the soldier's birth. I hoped that by doing this I would learn details that would lead me to family members—perhaps his father's name, his mother's maiden name, the approximate birth dates of his parents, or some other tidbit. No such luck. Every search came up empty.

Realizing this case was going to be tougher than most, I then turned to one of my “old reliables”—the Social Security application. I wrote to the SS Administration requesting a copy of the soldier's application, knowing that this only works in about half of the cases. From this, I would learn his birthplace and parents' names. Once again, I had no luck. The soldier apparently hadn't gotten around to applying for Social Security during his all too brief life.

Now What?
Several months into my search and I had nothing to show for it. It was time to try another approach. Although it's a hit-and-miss tactic, I decided to try local libraries. Some are extremely helpful, while others have been so hard hit by budget crunches that it's difficult for them to offer any assistance to non-locals. Fortunately, the first librarian I spoke with was both an Army “brat” (I'm allowed to say that because I'm one, too!) and a former service member herself. In fact, she had even served in Korea.

I explained the situation and the few details I had. My intent was to ask for city directory searches, but she took it upon herself to dig deeper. In doing so, she found a couple of obituaries that gave me a few leads and suggested I should be looking in a neighboring county.

Now I turned to Internet resources, trying to locate the soldier's living relatives. A few phone calls later, I understood why this case had been so challenging. The soldier had been the only child of a young couple who went their separate ways shortly after his birth. His parents had long since passed away, as had a pair of half-siblings from his father's second marriage.

Following the Trail
In addition to finding the next of kin, I need to find relatives with the appropriate DNA to potentially test for identification purposes. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which essentially follows the mother's line, is used, so I focused my efforts on the maternal side of the soldier's family tree. Fortunately, the round of phone calls I made had netted me his mother's maiden name—a valuable piece of information!

Turning to online census records, I found his mother as a youngster with a large group of brothers and sisters. A search of the SSDI revealed that all of the brothers had passed away, so I turned once again to the Family History Library and requested copies of their death certificates. These helped me confirm that they were all from the same mother—an important issue when following the mtDNA trail and a much-needed clarification due to some conflicting information provided by one of the people I had interviewed by phone.

Still, they didn't lead me to the married names of any of the sisters, so it was time to try for more obituaries. Since I was now researching in the neighboring county, I didn't know how helpful the libraries there might be. I called one and was politely given the run around, so I called another. Fortunately, I found a kind soul who faxed me a pair of obituaries in just a couple of hours. The details contained in them revealed the names of the people I needed to find. A few minutes of Internet surfing led me to some promising phone numbers, and that evening I was delighted to find myself speaking with exactly the folks I had been seeking all these months.

Another Soldier's Family Found
After working several hundred cases for the Army, I've learned that persistence, creativity, and asking others for help are the keys. In this instance, the last ingredient was paramount. Without the assistance of others—Family History Library researchers, several librarians, and assorted local residents, I would still be stumped. I'd like to take a moment to recognize Felicity MacGrain of the Washington County Library in particular. Ultimately, it was her persistence and creativity on my behalf that made it possible to find this soldier's family. W. J. Corey from Brown Library was also essential in this quest. Here's hoping that you picked up an idea or two for your own research from reading this article, and better yet, that you, too, benefit from the kindness of strangers!

Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak, author of Honoring Our Ancestors (HOA), In Search of Our Ancestors, and They Came to America: Finding Your Immigrant Ancestors. She can be contacted through the ancestry website.

After hibernating a while to write another book, Megan is ready to get back on the orphan heirloom trail and once again invites you to write to her about any items you might like to return to the family of origin. You can read additional articles about the Repatriation Project through the organization's website.

Upcoming Events
- West Florida Genealogical Society Spring Conference; 6 March 2004, Pensacola, Fla.
- Indiana Genealogical Society Annual Conference; 3 April 2004, Bloomington, Ind.
- Ohio Genealogical Society; 22-24 April 2004, Wilmington, Ohio
- Westchester County Genealogical Society; 8 May 2004, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
- Central Jersey Genealogical Club; 11 May 2004, Mercerville, N.J.
- Ontario Genealogical Society Seminar 2004; 28-30 May 2004, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Details and links to upcoming events

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