SNGF: Do Some Random Research

1. Go to The Random Name Generator  and click the red “Generate Name” button at the top of the screen


2. Go to Ancestry.com (or FamilySearch.org) and enter your generated name in the search box on the main search page.


3. From the results, your research target will be the first census result for your generated name.  If there are no census records, go back and obtain another randomly generated name.


4. Using whatever online resources are at your disposal, see what else you can discover about your random person and write about it. It can be a formal report complete with footnotes, or just a “research story” about what you tried, problems you overcame, or success you had. Maybe you want to create a research plan for practice?


I first got Yvette Greer, but there were no census records for her. So I tried again and I got Basil Mason. 

I found Basil on the 1930 census living in Hollis, New Hampshire. He was 31, born in Canada, immigrated in 1918, he was a farmer, and his parents were born in Canada. His wife Gertrude was 26, born in Vermont, and her parents were born there as well. Their 9 year old son, Wilson, was born in Canada. 


I then decided to go to Family Search and I found his marriage record but it's not to Gertrude. It's to another woman named Helen Emeline Morrill Hadley. They were married on May 30, 1936. His parents were Nelson George and Mary Mooar and her parents were George Jacob Morrill and Susan Parkhurst. 


Other than that, I couldn't find anything else on him.


Have a lovely day!
xoxo