It's hard to choose just one breakthrough moment; genealogy is full of them. There are plenty recorded in my Pearson line (Horace, William, Pierson/Joseph, Roy, and the list goes on), but there are other lines in my family to discuss. One line that gave me trouble belonged to my great grandmother, Thelma Linnea (Robertson) Swanson. Great grandma Thelma was the only child of Signe Jonsson and Hugo Robertson, but that was as far as I could trace her father's line. When he died of tuberculosis in 1911, his wife was the informant, but the blanks for mother and father held only the depressing words 'don't know.' I knew Hugo was Swedish, and I had his birth date, so I visited what I have found to be one of the most helpful pages on Facebook for those with Swedish ancestry - the Swedish American Genealogy Group.
I threw myself on the mercy of the group and provided what little information I had about Hugo Robertson. In less than an hour, someone located the record below. What it provided was a breakthrough on several fronts, although (as is typical in genealogy) it left more than a few questions unanswered.
1st breakthrough - I now had the names and birthdates of Hugo's parents!
2nd breakthrough - Hugo's last name was not Robertson. He was actually Carl Hugo Robert Jonsson, son of Johan August Jonsson. If the family had been continuing the patronymic naming system, he would have been Carl Hugo Robert Johansson, but regardless, Robertson was apparently the surname he selected when he immigrated.
3rd breakthrough - Hugo was actually a twin! His twin sister was Anna Elvira Augusta Jonsson.
That third breakthrough triggered a memory. When I first found great grandma Thelma's baptism record, I had been frustrated because I didn't recognize the names of her sponsors, Charles and Elvira Blomberg, but now I had a suspicion.
With a name and a birthdate, I was able to flesh out Anna Elvira's profile. She came to the United States in 1889 (perhaps with Hugo, as there are conflicting records about his arrival - anywhere from 1887-1889), and in 1906, she married Charles Blomberg in Lake County, Indiana. In 1910, she was living not far from Hugo in Chicago! Sadly, in 1911, the March 13th baptism of her niece might have been the last time Elvira saw her brother. Hugo would succumb to tuberculosis just two weeks later.
I'm still searching for additional breakthroughs on this line. It seems that Johan came to the United States the same year his daughter, Ebba Amalia Albina, was born. I don't know if he remained in the United States or if he returned to Sweden. I have been unable to find any further information. Ebba and her mother, Augusta Annette, remained in Sweden. Augusta died in 1923, and Ebba died in 1962. I have no other information on either of them. What does seem likely is that my great grandma Thelma was the only child of her generation. Charles and Elvira did not have any children, and I haven't found any record of a marriage or children for Ebba.
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