I tried and found out some interesting stuff, but I haven't gotten very far back. Mostly had oral history to go by and then try to piece it together. I use family search also.
On my maternal side, my grandparents immigrated from Poland. I was able to find Ellis Island records on my grandmother, but nothing on my grandfather. My mother passed in Dec 2019. Upon cleaning out her stuff, I found my grandmother's naturalization certificate. That was pretty cool. As far as I know, my grandfather never went through the naturalization process. I am stopped there. I can't piece together anything from Poland.
On the paternal side, the story goes that an ancestor came from Germany, married a Dutch/Indian (as in NA) and here we are. Other oral tales were that my Great grandfather was a Marshall in a small town. Well, I have proved that wrong. Obviously, we have some relation to who was a Marshall, but I haven't been able to make the connection. I did find news articles and documents that my great grandfather actually went to prison for 3 years. When I presented that info to my dad, he made me promise not to tell his sister because she adored their grandfather and it would devastate her. Records stalled with him and I think it is because there was a fire that destroyed the records. So, I can only speculate the ancestors with similar spelled names beyond that and who it would have been that came from Germany. I started researching my great grandmother, then, trying to make the Dutch/Indian connection. I found her death certificate. Cause of death - frozen. I asked my parents what they knew. Story goes that one winter night my great grandfather was coming home drunk, again, and my great grandmother, apparently fearing another beating, ran away into the night. She was found in a ditch. I was able to go back to her mother and father and found out that my great great grandfather served in the CW Ohio 95th E, if I recall. Still trying to connect the dots, I was able to get my great great grandmother's parents. Now the name of the 3x great grandmother's documents extend back to PA and is a Dutch name and would explain the Dutch blood. The name of the 3x great grandfather could possibly be the NA side (if at all). A death certificate stated he was born in USA. That's it. Can't find anything else on him, only speculation.
So, that is where I am at. Everything is in a folder waiting for me to continue. It is quite a challenge to dig into your genealogy.
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