I discovered by paternal grandfather (Jasper Bennett Ross) was born 28
Apr 1884, in Puerto Rico. He died 13 Jan 1972, in Hawaii. One of the
documents he completed showed that his father (Fredrick Bennett Ross)
was born in "Europe," and his mother (Josephine Rivera Villahermoza)
was born in Puerto Rico.
Despite searching everywhere, I cannot find any additional
information. on my grandfather nor his parents.
Can anyone point me in the right direction?
Many, many thanks in advance.
iuki
Ancestry.com is great, but doesn't have all the answers.
Get his birth and death certificates. They will often have information
about parents.
For Puerto Rico, try http://www.prfaa.com/services.asp?id=44
For Hawaii, start at
http://www.hawaii.gov/health/vital-records/vital-records/index.html
You may need to examine LDS films. Start here to see what they have on
Puerto Rico, http://www.familysearch.org/
Library tab then Family History library catalog tab, then do some
searching for Puerto Rico.
Good luck
Thanks for the input.
iuki
If you are just starting out, get as many birth, death, and marriage records
as possible. This is a good site: http://www.vitalrec.com/ Most states keeps
records back to maybe 1885, then county anf town records might take you back
another 30 years (except in new England where they go back to the 1640s).
Before that, you need to go to church records.
Are you familiar with the library in Salt Lake (world's largets genealogical
library)? From your local FHC, you can borrow anything from Salt Lake for
<$3.50 and you do not need to be Mormon. See what is there using this
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhlc.asp
See where your nearest FHC is uysing this:
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHC/frameset_fhc.asp
Also, very imporatant, interview the oldest members of your family before
they die. http://genealogy.about.com/library/authors/ucbishop3a.htm
http://genealogy.about.com/cs/oralhistory/a/interview.htm
Peter
<iu...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:6cdf6dfe-00c0-4912...@s12g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
Thanks Peter. I had already accessed the websites you mentioned. I
was just hoping that I would find a website that would at least
"confirm" the birth place before I send in a request for a copy of the
birth certificate. Three different websites showed different
birthplaces, one Hawaii, one in Spain, and one in Puerto Rico for my
paternal grandfather. My maternal grandfather showed the last name as
De Silva on one website, and Silva on the other; and two different
birth dates for him, one for March 3, and another March 24, not to
mention one showing 1892 and one showing 1895.
I think the best way is to call, unless they will not give me any info
over the phone.
Thanks for your help.
iuki