Looking for information on my Great, Great Grandfather?

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Question:

When I was in High School I did an interview with My Grandfather for an extra credit project!. However, for some reason, I never thought to ask my Grandpa for his Grandpa's name!. What I do have is that he was an ober-lieutenant in the Prussian Army and that he migrated to the United States in the end of 1862!. Once over here, he joined our military and trained our soldiers!. His last name was Kelker!.
What would be the best way to find more information about his life!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

You share your grandfather with your first cousins, of which there are probably a dozen or so, your great grandfather with your second cousins of which there could be 144, and your 2nd GGF with your third cousins, who may number in the low thousands!. The best way would be to find the third cousin who was the eldest son of the eldest son !. !. !. and has the family Bible, the letters your 2GGF wrote home from the war, and his sword!.

If you did that you'd be in what we genealogists call "Hog Heaven!." The chances of it happening are 10,000:1 against, but you asked what would be the best way!.

http://wc!.rootsweb!.ancestry!.com/cgi-bin/!.!.!.
gas 800+ entries for Kelker!.

The LDS 1880 census has just one Kelker who was born in Prussia:

Household:

Name Relation Marital Status Gender Race Age Birthplace Occupation Father's Birthplace Mother's Birthplace
Christian KELKER Self M Male W 46 PRU Farmer PRU PRU
Minnie KELKER Wife M Female W 26 IL Keeps House PRU PRU
Louis KELKER Son S Male W 9 IL School PRU PRU
Minnie KILKER Dau S Female W 7 IL School PRU PRU
Anna KILKER Dau S Female W 5 IL PRU PRU
Eliza KILKER Dau S Female W 1 IL PRU PRU
August NEMIRE Other S Male W 18 PRU Farm Laborer PRU PRU
--------------------------------------!.!.!.
Source Information:
Census Place Lincoln, Ogle, Illinois

Your 2GGF may have died before then, got recorded or indexed as "Kelher", "Keller", "Kelcher" or "Belker"!. (Not all enumerators wrote with a fine round hand!.) His wife may have told the enumerator he was born in Pennsylvania, out of fear or ignorance!. The fact this is the only one who matches your description doesn't mean this is him!.

If your parent remembers his/her grandfather's name, that will give you Ober-Lieutenant Kelker's son/daughter, by which you might be able to track down his name and where he lived!.

Once you have his name, you can try for his Civil War service record, and his Civil War pension record!.

As to more info about his life, he might be in a county history book!. These were the 1870 - 1920 version of "Who's Who in American used Car Sales"; if you bought a copy, they "selected" you as one of the leading men of the county and wrote a page or so about your virtues and family history!. They are 75% fluff, but the 25% meat is invaluable!. You'd have to know what county he lived in - and his first name - to find him in one!. They usually have 100 - 400 biographies!. Most people are not in them!.

The resolved questions are full of we top 10's stock answers on "How do I find my family tree for free!?"!. If you search the resolved Q in this category for the word "free", you'll find lots of them!. I focused on how to find out more about your 2GGF's life, once you find him!. You'll have to find him first!.
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I would start out looking at the census records to try and find him living with your grandfather!. You know your grandfathers name and most likely his date of birth and if ya know some of his brother and sisters names it will make it even easier to locate a census record if they were recorded!. I would start with the 1880 census just because it gives the most information in that time period if you can't find it there then go back to the 1870 census!. If you can find names that are likely to be him then you can start doing further research to verify if it really is him or not!. Census records although not completely accurate have been the biggest help in getting leads for further research for me!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

Well, couldn't you just ask you other older family members!? I guess you've already done that!. So you can try to find out more people who are closely or vaguely related to your family and ask them!. Www@QuestionHome@Com