One of our clients asked us to trace his Italian ancestry. Through census records, death certificates, newspaper obituaries, and naturalization records, research in the San Francisco area determined that one of his immigrant ancestors was Lazzaro Raffanti (1878-1922). Lazzaro’s name could not be found in the passenger arrival lists for the Port of San Francisco.

Richard Chisholm was one of the earliest residents of the Texas Colony, documented there in the Atascocita Census of 1826, the first census ever taken in Texas. Richard married Hardenia Taylor, whose brothers and nephews provided most of the manpower for one side of Texas’ famous Taylor-Sutton feud. In 1831, Richard and Hardenia became the