Some ancestors are easy to research. Others, not so much. Who has been challenging to research? Another way you could approach the prompt is an ancestor who challenged something in their life. Feel free to post your links and stories in the comments.
My most challenging ancestor to date is my fifth great-grandfather, Charles Clement. He immigrated to Louisiana from France between 1812 and 1814. He is a challenge since direct evidence likely does not exist for him, and I have to rely on indirect evidence to form conclusions.
Per my father and keeper of the family history lore, Paw Paw Laurent used to always say that the Cléments were Alsatians. While doing some genealogy, I see some references to the Clement name being spelled Klementz, which is an Alsatian spelling. I know they left from southern France at the Port of Marseille, but I’m not sure if they went to Quebec and then to New Orleans. Uncle Terry once told me they came in the 1800’s. It is confusing, but I know we are not kin to the Clements from around Thibodaux.
So, I have been focusing on the lower branches and establishing the FAN club, hoping one of them will point me in the right direction.
I plan to contact Louisiana State University’s Library to see if they have passenger listings in book form since there aren’t any available online for the specified periods he arrived. I have also sought additional resources to document the time and influences possibly affecting records, such as the Napoleonic Wars from 1803 to 1815.
He is my stop-and-go relative, and I will research him when I have time. I have to give myself a break with him because I tend to let myself get lost in the weeds playing Sherlock.
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