Persistence really does pay off

I just knocked down a brick wall that has been bugging me ever since I discovered one of my great-great grandfather's siblings was married twice. But the discovery wasn't about the husband, but rather his wife's FIRST husband.

I started trying one of the newest databases at FamilySearchLabs and for a lark if nothing else I started going through my Wilhelm names and those associated with it and thought I would take a stab at Charles L. Wilhelm's second wife, Elizabeth (Wear) Hahn. Wear is her maiden name and Hahn is the surname of her first husband. She had three children with him but I hadn't been able to find his first name, until just a few minutes ago.

I typed in Elizabeth's name and used Hahn not Wilhelm, since in the database parents of the deceased person are sometimes, but not always listed. As I scrolled through the list of names looking for anything familiar I spotted Elizabeth with her MAIDEN name of Wear. In that one listing was her daughter from her first marriage, Lillie, who died in 1898 (I didn't have this information either). And there in the column 'Spouses and Children' it said JACOB HAHN and Elizabeth Wear. BINGO, there he was just waiting to be found, her first husband.

I still can't believe that I finally found him but it really is true, persistence DOES pay off. Now that I have his first name I can see what else I can find out including his parents and perhaps I can even locate him in the census records and find out why he didn't live with Elizabeth and maybe even when he died.

Knocking down these little brick walls are what make genealogy research fun, thanks to FamilySearchLabs this is one brick wall that I am glad to have finally knocked down.