I managed to find a record in a 1930 census showing my great grandfather is a William Naratzka born 1851 in Germany. That is the ONLY reference I can find for him and I have no idea of his wife's name. I have went though sites all day and am getting no where. Anyone have a suggestion?

His sons and daughters are all dead. In fact all that is left is me and I had never heard of him until I came across an old census record. Due to the Flu epidemic of 1918 most of my realatives were all shipped off to live elsewhere. I have managed to track one relative line back to the 1700's. I just wondered if anyone had a thought I might not have come up with yet.

I see the one you're speaking of:

MacKford, Green Lake, WI
Charles Prochnow 56
Louise Prochnow 50
Irwin (or Irvin) Prochnow 29
Mildred Prochnow 18
William Naratzka 79

The page further shows that he came to the US in 1878. If you don't have paid access to the other censuses, you can access the 1880 for free here.

... unfortunately I don't find him there... which means they either missed him, or butchered his name so bad that even a soundex search does not reveal it... I couldn't find him in the 1900-1920 censuses either.

Do you have access to the other censuses? Since we know that he was Charles' father in law, you should also check the 1880 for Prochnow's... and browse the pages near where you find them - looking for William. It's a bit of a long-shot... but not too unreasonable to think that by 1880 he may have been in WI already.

There are 35 Prochnow's in Wisconsin in 1880. I'd look at each one... then use the links that go to the households all around the ones you find.

And interestingly, there are only 83 Prochnow's in the entire US in 1880... so if you don't find what you're looking for in Wisconsin, look at them all.

... and if you know Charles' father's name, that would help narrow things down a bit.

As you can see, researching this stuff can be quite tedious... and good notekeeping is crucial - which is why I so strongly recommend using software. See here.

Did you subscribe to the censuses at ancestry.com? If not, then do some hunting in the 1880 and I'll search the 1900-1920 censuses for the Prochnow's, where we might find william living with them.

PS. There is no Naratzka message board at ancestry.com or genealogy.com, but there are boards for Prochnow. And in them I see people asking about the Prochnow's of Wisconsin... so you should check them out and post there too. Here they are:

Genealogy.com Prochnow Board
Ancestry.com Prochnow Board

Also be sure to check the other sources mentioned in the sticky (like local genealogical societies in WI, USGenweb, USGenweb Archives, etc)

Your great as always thank you! I have downloaded the software you mentioned and I just signed up for Ancestery. The Day/Prochnow family side is hard on me because all I know of them is that my great grandfather was a gambler and wanderer and my great gma ended up shipping all of her kids out to others when the flu of 1918 hit. Thankfully the other side stayed in one place. :)

Let me offer a suggesion (expansion of this) - using that 1930 Census find as an example.

Remember that every bit of info you find or know is from a SOURCE.

1. Set up 1930 Census as a Source: Edit > Source list > Click New Button > Fill in the blanks that describe the source.

2. Enter each individual (Add > Individual, or Add > Family), and the info you know about them from that census... and be sure to click the Individual Sources button to indicate that you know what you do from the 1930 Census.

Now, each of those individuals will have "1930 Census" assigned as a source with them.

Do similar for all subsequent entries... and of course if you find other sources where you learn about them, add the new source and assign the new source(s) to the people also.

No doubt you've got living family members who knew your ancestors, so do similar for them. Add mom, grandmother, etc. as a source...

... so in short, your goal should be assigning a source to all info you enter. I know it sounds like overkill but it's not. You (and anyone who you share your research with) should be able to easily see where you got your info.