Ancestor #6: Try This One Again

 

Sometimes, it feels like those brick wall ancestors run us family history researchers around in circles. For the third of my mother-in-law's ancestors to tackle for the upcoming year, I'll be working on a challenge from another year's to-do list. Yes, we've researched this ancestor before. Hopefully, going further in-depth will flush out an answer on this sixth candidate of my Twelve Most Wanted for 2023.

I'm not sure why some of my mother-in-law's umpteenth-great-grandparents represent such research challenges. Many of her lines have lived in the United States, going back nearly to the founding of this country. Some even were here during colonial years. Yet, true to form for many pioneers, their lives remained hidden in remote places. Perhaps that call for in-depth research is due to the need to explore more than a simple paper chain connecting direct line ancestors only to their parents. Collateral lines may help broaden the perspective.

In the case of Ancestor #6, the last of my mother-in-law's three ancestors to pursue for 2023, it may precisely be thanks to collateral lines that I find any answers. And that ancestor would be the father of two sisters who married two brothers: Matthias Ambrose, my mother-in-law's third great-grandfather.

For that exploration, we'll dive into Matthias Ambrose's life during the early years of this country. Living his entire life in Pennsylvania, he died by 1804 in Bedford County.

We've explored Matthias Ambrose's two daughters, Susannah and Elizabeth, as part of my Twelve Most Wanted two years ago. While we did discover some information on their father then, there is much more to examine. Reviewing what we learned then, we'll put Matthias Ambrose on our list for this coming June to see if we can add to our discoveries and push that brick wall further back in time.