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I'm kind of an aspiring genealogist, and one bit of family history I've been trying to find has hit a wall and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions. I found a bunch of notes and letters from the 60s/70s talking about how my Great Great Great Grandfather, Charles Stocker was a ship captain who saved the lives of several sailors in one incident and was awarded a medal from Chester A. Arthur, the current US president at the time. This is extremely cool to me, and as the letters mention a certain Raymond Edward Stocker (d. 1989) as the last possessor of the medal, I am trying to see if anyone is still holding on to it (I would like to see it at least, and possibly buy it).
The letters were sent by my still living grandfather who was learning about the medal from his distant cousins at the time. He doesn't really remember much about this, and unfortunately I've been doing my research, and all of the names on the letters, including their children are now deceased as of the 90s. My question is - I have the names of some people, with virtually nothing else to go on, who died in the 90s. Is there any way I could somehow use this info to find living kids (unlikely at this point) or grandkids (maybe a bit more likely but shrinking every day)? The name I have died in Australia and so I messaged everyone in Australia on Facebook with that last name Stocker (seriously). No dice. Turns out most people don't really know the names of their great or great-great grandparents, which, fair, but kinda sad. I found a newspaper clipping with Raymonds wife's obituary talking about her Will - I tried to contact the law firm which executed her will but can't get a hold of them (and doubt they'd give me anything anyways). How do you find living people off of dead people? Seems like if a kids name isn't mentioned in an obituary, you're kind of out of luck. Maybe a private investigator could help? I'm curious if anyone has any deep research skills here that may have suggestions I have overlooked.
It may be easier to find living people off of living people. If you take an Ancestry DNA test, you will be able to view the accounts of all other people who took the test and are related to you, even if they are distant cousins. Many of these people will have their own publicly-viewable family trees which you can often use to figure out exactly how they're related to you.
If your grandfather (or parent) is willing to take (or already has taken) a test, he can give you access to his results, which will make it easier to find relevant relatives. Your goal will be to find any DNA matches who either already have Raymond Edward Stocker in their trees or who can be connected to him through other relatives. You can then message these people and find out what they know.
Great idea, thanks
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