4/1/2006
By Allison Stacy
Do your ancestors defy explanation? You're not alone.
Last December, the
Family Tree Magazine staff visited the Anderson (Ohio) Senior Center genealogy group, one of many active family history organizations in our area. Though we'd gone to talk about ways to get organized, the conversation inevitably turned to UFOs—Unexplained Family Oddities.
You know what I'm talking about: Ancestors who defy all logical attempts to be traced. It's as if they appeared out of thin air; were abducted by aliens, or as Phyllis, a member of the Anderson group, jokingly concluded about her forebear; “He was the second Immaculate Conception.”
I've recently been pondering a UFO, too. My great-great-grandfather Charles George Michael Hauck has revealed himself in every applicable US census—except 1880. In that enumeration, I've located a nearly matching family: Wife Carrie Hauck, a 22-year-old Kentucky native; her eponymous Ohio-born daughter; aged 22 months; and her 28-year old German immigrant husband, who fits my ancestor in every respect besides his first name: Herman. Based on my other research, I'm convinced this is the same family—but how do I explain Herman? Here are a few theories I'm working on: