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Below is a sample of how I conduct genealogy research.

Finding the Parents of George Holiday

What is known

1. Born 1857/1858 Indiana

2. Parents both born in Indiana

3. Married in Indiana 1877 to Lucinda Rogers

4. Died 1900

The Search Process

I first made a list of possible alterations in the spelling of George's last name.  This is particularily important because census takers often wrote down a person's last name by the way it sounded. 

Alternative Last Names

1. Holiday

2. Holliday

3. Holladay

4. Halliday

5. Hollady

6. Hollyday

I then conducted a search in the federal censuses of 1860, 1870, 1880, and 1900 for all George Holidays born in Indiana, including all surname variations.  For each year, I only found 4 Georges that had been born in Indiana between 1856-1860. I listed their names, year of birth, parent's names, and residence location for each year.

I assigned a letter of the alphabet to each George I found in the census records as seen below.  I was then able to sort these records based on names, locations and so forth.

Name

Birth

Father

Mother

Spouse

Residence

Res Year

A

George Holliday

1856

John

Pheba

 

Turman, Sullivan, IN

1860

B

George Holiday

1856

Abner

Malinda

 

Washington, Taylor, IA

1860

C

George Holiday

1860

Jesse

Anna

 

Boone, Harrison, IN

1860

D

George B Holiday

1859

James

Mary

 

Prairie, White, IN

1860

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A

George B Holiday

1856

John

Tebithe

 

Lewis, Clay, IN

1870

B

George Holiday

1856

 

 

 

Douglas, Effingham, IL

1870

C

George Halliday

1860

Jessey

Annie

 

Peoria, Peoria, IL

1870

D

George B Holladay

1859

James

Mary

 

Prairie, White, IN

1870

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A

George Hollady

1857

 

 

Lucinda

Wright, Greene, IN

1880

B

George M Halliday

1856

 

 

Hanna

Effingham, Effingham, IL

1880

C

George Holiday

1860

 

 

 

Washington, Rush, IN

1880

D

George B Holiday

1860

 

Mary

 

Round Grove, White, IN

1880

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A

George Hallida

1858

 

 

Lucy

Red River, White, AR

1900

B

George Halliday

1856

 

 

Hanna

Canton, Fulton, IL

1900

 

George Holiday

1859

 

 

Mary

Joplin, Jasper, MO

1900

 

George W Holliday

1860

 

 

Laura

Harmony, Union, IN

1900

Since I already had the 1880 and 1900 census records, I was able to determine that George "A" was my ancestor through the process of elimination.

To further back up my research, I looked into other people's family trees.  I located George "C" in a personal family tree as married to an Anna Hill. 

From all of this, I came to the conclusion that George's parents were John and Tebithe/Tabitha.