Finding our Direct Ancestors Using Collateral Relatives

Direct or Collateral Ancestors:  What is the Difference? 

Over the years I have been making every effort to encourage my genealogy cousins to do the research for their ancestors, rather than fill in the gaps in their family trees by copying from online trees. Online family trees are a great resource for genealogy research and without them I wouldn’t have gotten a jump start to research my second and third paternal Lee line great grandparents. However, I used the online trees as a guide and found the records to prove I had the correct ancestors before adding them to the family tree.

This might seem a simple task, but one thing I’ve realized is that others either don’t take the time to find the records to prove their ancestors; or just don’t want to research their ancestors. It’s much easier to just add names to family trees and claim them as their own. It is easy to get carried away in building family trees; however, we want to have our ancestors in our family trees.  Perhaps because I began my research with very little information and not having family stories passed down to me, I have a broad view of what a family is. My mindset is that who belongs on my family tree is set, and it is important that I research my ancestors and prove they are mine. This helps others who are researching the same line tremendously.

The plan must be to research those direct ancestors and their children one family at a time. Until I’ve tied down the people I’m descended from, (some of whom are elusive) one family at a time, one generation at a time then I move to the next family and generation. I spend time tracing the parents, children, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. It is very helpful to research collateral lines to identify our ancestors at each generation.

How did I begin my research? With my direct ancestors. These ae the ancestors who are responsible for my existence – parents, grandparents, great grandparents, great great grandparents on and on. You get the picture. My parents’ siblings are not responsible for my existence, although they are related to them, their siblings are collateral relatives. That is, they are relatives who share my blood to a certain extent. Their siblings are not in my direct line; however, they are part of the family. 

Many times, when researching our ancestors, we get so focused on our direct line ancestors that we forget about the collaterals. One of the reasons for that is to make genealogy research less overwhelming. But we build our genealogy on a direct line ancestor, and take advantage of the information from each generation. That is, when I research my parents, I find information about their parents and that leads to information about others. 

If you are stuck on an ancestral line in researching your ancestors, then research the children of the ancestor.  The ancestor's children may provide valuable clues that help verify a person being researched is the right person. There may also be clues in records for a collateral relative that will provide leads to a record that will lead to further research. When I began the research on my paternal line great grandfather William Alfred Lee, I had very little information to go on. A family member provided the small amount that I used to research my great grandfather. With that information I researched William Alfred and set out to prove my lineage to him. Then I researched Emma Meadows his wife, and their children, James William, Dollie Ophelia, Robert E. and Alice Lee, my grandmother. The records were available to link Alice Lee to William Alfred and Emma. Once I completed research on this family I moved on to William’s father Benjamin and his family. The further back time the more difficult it is to find records to link children to parents. It can be done; however, it takes time and is a painstakingly slow and tedious job to find records. Once Benjamin’s family was complete I began to research Jordan Lee and Lidia “Letty.

The only information that I had for Jordan Lee of South Carolina was from online family trees. Jordan and wife Lidia “Letty” and their supposed children were listed in those trees. This was information that I didn’t have and didn’t know how I would have ever identified Benjamin Lee, my second great grandfather or his parents, without the online family trees. I used that information from those online family trees to jump start my research on Benjamin and Jordan Lee.

Benjamin’s family was placed in my family tree once I felt confident I had the correct family. Next, I set out to research Jordan and Lidia Letty Lee. Jordan died about 1848 in Tallapoosa, so the only censuses were the pre-1850 censuses. There were a couple of land records that showed where Jordan acquired land in Tallapoosa County, as did his sons Burrell and Benjamin. Jordan was also mentioned in the Revolutionary War pension for Benjamin Hodge, his father-in-law and in the inventory of the estate for Benjamin Hodge, his father-in-law.  So, with all that information I knew that I had the correct Jordan Lee and wife Lidia Letty.

After Jordan died, Lidia was a little more difficult to locate. She disappeared after 1850, but with perseverance and using all the clues that I could find about that family I found her. How did I find Lidia? I started looking for each of the “supposed” children, starting with the oldest, and researching them.

While researching online for Letty Lee or Lidia, name varies depending on the records, I found her living with this unknown family in another county, not Tallapoosa County where I had found her previously. Also, the county where Jordan died about 1847.

The records used in determining the known children of Jordan and Letty Lee, was gleaned from online family trees, DAR records, and the 1850- 1870 censuses. In 1850 Lidia Lee was living alone in Township 24, Tallapoosa County, Alabama. She was living in dwelling 1933, family number 1933, and her son Zachariah Lee, his wife Martha E. and their daughter Susan F. were living in dwelling 1932, family number 1932 nearby. In 1860 Letty Lee was listed on the United States Federal Census for N. Hastin living in Post Office Friendship, Precinct 6, Butler County, Alabama. Letty Lee was seventy-five years old at that time. This was her daughter, Neomy’s family. Finally, in 1870 Lettie Lee was living with her daughter Elizabeth “Betsy” Fetner and her husband James in Township 22, Randolph County, Alabama.

When we hit a dead end in our research then we come to the realization these collaterals are a part of the family. We need to research them to complete the family. You also may find a direct line ancestor by researching a brother or sister. There may be clues in records for collateral relatives that provide leads to records for an ancestor.  Our collateral relatives may be the link to that hard to find ancestor when we have exhausted all avenues of research. If we adhere to the standards of accuracy, reliability, and proof of our direct and collateral line ancestors then we must not mind recording the information in our family trees.

In other words, research your direct and your collateral ancestors and verify and record information for them as you go along in your research, then share your family tree online.