Trying My Hand At Genealogy

I have gotten the genealogy bug thanks to a 2nd cousin who merely asked for information about my father's family - Hardmans.



I was clueless since my grandmother divorced Alfred back in 1946 and he was never mentioned.

Since my father passed away in December, 2007, I was given a box of photographs. Some have names, others have locations and date.

With what little information and pictures I had, off I went over to Ancestry.com for a free 30 day trial. Amazing what information can be found - all except Italian info. Must be the Mormons and the Cathlolics of Italy do not share information so freely.

I was fortunate to find out that someone had researched the Hardman/Hartman/Hartmann lineage but to about 1646 - Gallius Hartman in Austria. From the looks of things, I would say that 95% of all Hardmans/Hartmans and any other variation of the last name are related. I see two distinct different lines - Austria and England, with a short line in Australia. Humm, wonder how they got there?

Apparently I have several relatives - Captain John Hardman and Major Henry Hardman who served during the American Revolutionary War. Captain John died while being held a prisoner of war during the Camden squirmish. Major Henry was a prisoner of war but was freed during a prisoner exchange .

Once Hardman was involved in building the first City Hall in Frederick, MD and several others owned grist mills in MD. Add a few lay ministers within the Methodist church.

The big mystery to date is about my grandfather Alfred. All I know is he died in 1972 and is buried in a National Cemetary in Chicago, IL. It appears he had one possibly two sons - John and Alfred, Jr. John's information is unknown. Jr. was a FBI agent in the Chicago area. Several online articles making reference to him in a child killing case he worked on. He, too has passed away, in 2005? Significant other and children unknown at this time. Could family info be hidden because of his profession? I have both father and son's social security numbers, maybe I will check with Social Security on getting a copy of Jr's application for a social security number, maybe then I can find out who his mother is.

I was equally lucky in having found someone had researched the Fortney lineage. There are so many variations to the spelling of this name, it's unbelievable. What is even funnier, in Preston County WV there are two totally different lines of Fortneys - no relation whatsoever. The non-relatives meet one Sunday in July every year. I forget which week it is, for some reason I think it is the third week-end in July.

The real fun begins on my mother's side. Her father was born in Italy. His father was murdered and his mother remarried. But, her second husband - Paolo Antonio, takes on HER last name. No one has a clue what his real last name was. Some mention of the possibilty of him belonging to the "Black Hands". Who was he hiding from or who was he after, either way, just who really was Paolo Antonio.

Now, mom's mom was born in WV. Her parents - John Pegley ( of course, his name was changed from Giovanni Pagliari) and Minnie Dawson (AKA Minnie Gooch). Minnie's family - dad's line goes back to England as does her mother (Helmick). The family told stories of Minnie's mother being an American Indian. That doesn't fly. But, if you trace back several generations of Dawson's - poof an Indian - but she was born in England. I guess the British soldiers brought some of the female American Indians back to England.

Information in Italy is hard to come by via normal ways - Ancestry, Footnote, Archives, Genealogy, etc. These all lead back to the Mormons in Utah. A trip to Italy???? Need to learn Italian before I go.

To be continued.....