The Advantages of having an Online Collaborative Tree.

I thought I would share with you something that happened this week.

I have gradually been adding ancestors to the Family Search Family Tree and follow any changes to direct ancestors.

I noticed that someone had added an image to one of my ancestors which turned out to be a copy of a marriage certificate.

As this was her second marriage and I descend from the first marriage I had not sent off for a copy of the certificate, so was pleased to be able to confirm some of the details.

Marriage certificates are not cheap so I decided to contact the person who added the image and say thank you. I also thought that maybe they could have a cousin connection.

Today (2nd July) I received a reply and although we have no genetic connection, as this individual is a descendant from the first marriage of the husband, it is interesting that we have both found the information contained within the certificate to be of value in establishing the father of an ancestor. The first marriage for each party took place prior to the father being named.

In the 1861 census my gt grandfather is to be found in the same household as this person's 2 x gt grandmother. The following year she is marrying in Salt Lake City, Utah.  
She appears to be one of the Utah Pioneers. 
Her name was Huldah Ponton and she was baptized in Warminster, Wiltshire, England on 17 March 1834. Someone on Find a Grave  has entered her birth as London but this does not fit her census record and the fact that both her parents were born in Warminster. I have not been able to find any passenger records for her or her sister Eliza who appears to have married in Salt Lake city in 1857. A third sister also appears to have gone to Utah but exactly when is uncertain.

I would be interested in finding out more about how they traveled all the way from Wiltshire to Utah.