His first name was traced back to annual US censuses back to 1900. In all of those censuses (censi?
), he was in my hometown, being a poor struggling laborer, getting married and having a bunch of kids.
The 1890 census does not exist; burned in a fire.
The 1880 and 1870 censuses did not have him living in my hometown. He was born in the early 1860s...
A national search turned up a lot of guys with his first name, but we knew nothing about his siblings or parents -- all a complete blank. The similarity of names was key to narrowing the search. That is, as stated above, a lot of first names in my family ran in one of the two midwestern candidate families I was thinking I might be descended from. But it was all hopeful speculation, until the DNA match showed that a guy I've never met and I have the same great-great grandma in the family in question.
Some (more) observations about this whole DNA/genealogy thing:
1. Life was rough for a lot of ancestors, at least in my family. Hard-scrabble jobs, a zillion kids, extended families jammed together in one house, very limited or no education, and disease and death everywhere. In 1919-1920, on both sides of my family, at least seven relatives (six only in their twenties, at the flower of their youth) died of Spanish flu. And infant mortality was everywhere. We have it GREAT compared to what our ancestors went through. There is MUCH for my generation to be thankful for.
2. There are always amazing inaccuracies in the records, so look for general trends of proof. I have ancestors who were siblings, and each spelled their last name differently in official records! This may be because they had limited education, but geez!
3. There are a lot of surprises, some good, some not so good. For example: Good: While many of my ancestors were European immigrants, I learned that at least one line in my family runs back to pre-revolutionary colonial America. I did not have a clue about this till I did the genealogy. And bad: a great-grandfather was likely murdered, according to the coroner's notes on the death certificate.
4. The following observation may be viewed cynically (which I don't intend), but: Most of us are born, and if we have children and grandchildren, they remember us. After that, IF we have a descendant who cares to look, we are a name, a birth date, a death date and an entry on findagrave.com. (And again, that is only if someone looks you up.) Otherwise, generally, you are eventually forgotten. Most people cannot remember the names of their grandparents' siblings, let alone their great grandparents' names.... SO: I try to look at all of this as a reason to live in the moment! Now is all there is, genealogy or no genealogy. But at least technology, like genealogy websites and DNA tests, are making remembrance a bit more doable to the curious descendant.
) the mongol invasions killed maybe 5% of the humans on the planet. 
