Well, why didn't you tell me I was illegitimate?

A couple years back, I was searching through some of the records my father had obtained from his uncle that had recently died.  I knew my Asmussen line hadn't been explored too thoroughly, so I was excited to fund quite a number of documents on my Asmussen line.

Unfortunately, as I was searching, I realized that the information had all been recorded and the temple work for the individuals had already been completed.  That is, until I came across a shocking discovery.

I was looking upon some records regarding my great great grandfather Johan Heinrich Asmussen when I found a record pertaining to his birth.  I started deciphering the writing, expecting to find as his father Heinrich Conrad Asmussen and his mother Wilhelmina Benedicta Schmidt.  However, I noted a word in German that looked familiar, but that ultimately I did not recognize.  When I looked up the translation, it said "illegitimate."  My eyes widened when I realized what I had discovered.  My great great grandfather was not the son of Wilhelmina Benedicta Schmidt at all.  In fact, he was the child of Sophia Magdalena Lucie Schmidt, a name I had never seen before in any records.  Apparently, Johan had been born of Sophia, but raised by Wilhelmina as one of her own.

What did this exciting revelation mean? It meant that I had an entirely brand new line of ancestry that had never been researched before! What luck! What glory! I carefully studied all of the records in my father's possession and uploaded the names to Familysearch.org (here's a link to Sophia's page).  However, I have done nothing further on the line.

Project:

1) Flesh out this family tree

There is a ton of research that could be done here, but I know very little about German family history.

Ideas:

1) What we need to do is see if we can find any records pertaining to Sophia: See if she remarried, see if she had any other kids.
2) We can look for all of her brothers and sisters in records, too; see if the married, had kids, etc. (plus, I need more information on them so we can do endowments, sealings, etc.)
3) We can try and push this line back as well, starting with attempting to find more information about Sophia's parents (again, I need more information on them so we can do endowments, sealings, etc.)

Where to go first:

1) The best and easiest thing to do would be get the records from my dad, see where they came from, and look in similar records (also, they all need to be digitized for record keeping purposes)
2) Familysearch has an awesome wiki that has so much valuable information.  You could start by reading the Germany page.
3) Then, you might check out the page for Schleswig-Holstein, the area where Sophia was born.  That should give you some idea of records that are available.
4) You could always just Google it.
5) After you are done, check out my favorite German soccer team, Holstein Kiel.  Can you guess why they are my favorite? :)

This is all original research! If you want to talk about it, give me a call! I would love to brainstorm!

Harry Asmussen - Who is this guy?

I found this photograph while searching through my grandmother's old photographs:

William is my great grand uncle and Alice was his wife, but I have no idea who Harry is!  I have records of one of William's brothers named Henry, but he was born in 1887.  It is unlikely (although not impossible) that Harry is Alice and William's son, as Alice would have been 18 and William would have been 16.  Additionally, I have no idea where this headstone is located.  I don't think we need to re-photograph it, but visiting and noting gravestones close by may reveal other family members!

Project 1:

1) Find out who Harry is

2) Capture and document any evidence

Possible Resources:

1) 1900 US Census

2) 1920 US Census

3) 1930 US Census

4) Denver, Colorado Death Records (from familysearch.org or ancestry.com)

Project 2:

1) Find out where this headstone lies (use Denver, Colorado death or cemetery records as indicated above)

2) Visit the graveyard, search for any close by family graves

3) Take pictures of other graves

COMPLETED: Earl Asmussen - 1930 Census

COMPLETED PROJECT

Thanks, Stephani, for finding the following information!

Unfortunately, it looks like Ancestry.com owns the rights to the 1930s census, so we can't get an actual image unless we get a subscription or go to a family history center.  A project for another day!

PRIOR PROJECT

Earl Asmussen, my great uncle, recently died.  At one point in time, I looked at the 1930 census and found him.  While the information therein would not give any new information, it would be fun to look at and would give a more complete record of his life.

The project:

1) Search the 1930 US Census for George Asmussen, born Dec. 1924 in Idaho
2) Take a screen shoot of the census and share the results!

Resources:

Likely use www.familysearch.com

Old Homes in Denver

My great-great grandfather, John Asmussen (along with a good number of other of my ancestors) lived in Denver, Colorado.  I inherited a number of old photos of the residences John lived in in Denver.

The addresses are as follows:

3555 Franklin, Denver, Colorado (1913, residence at time of death)
3721 Marrion, Denver, Colorado
3421 Williams, Denver, Colorado (residence of my great-granduncle, Bill Asmussen, in 1915)
3421 Hombolt, Denver, Colorado (residence of my great-granduncle, Bill Asmussen, in 1913)

Here are photos of the residences (I don't know when they were taken)

The project:

Go to the homes and take photographs