Identifying Pennsylvania ancestors born early 1900s?

Question

I have hit a brickwall when trying to find any information on my great grandparents on my grandfather's side.

I found his obituary online when I was actually looking for my uncle's obituary on my mother's side. My great grandfather's name (Benjamin Earnest) is the same as my brother's name and information I find seems to go back to my brother who I know is very much still alive. My great grandmother's name is Mary Earnest (maiden name: Stevenson).

I just know that they lived in Pennsylvania and that my grandfather Ronald L. Earnest was born in Butler in 1936. (http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/ronald-earnest-obituary?pid=1000000176659910).

I tried finding a census record for 1940 since my grandfather was born in 1936 and was not able to.

I have tried Ancestry.com and Familysearch.org and I can't seem to find anything on any of them which is really frustrating. I have also asked my half brother if he knew anything and he didn't know any information. I am starting to think I am doing something wrong as I can't seem to find any information and all I want to do is identify my great grandparents.

Answer 1

First of all, everything @Hammy said - it's all good advice. Bear in mind that children don't have first-hand knowledge of their parents' precise birthplaces (I thought for years that my mother was born in the town she grew up in, and only learned differently when I started doing genealogy). In any case, if he was born in Pennsylvania, his birth certificate can be ordered for a fee from the Pa. Dept. of Health:

http://www.health.pa.gov/MyRecords/Certificates/Public-Records/Pages/20686.aspx#.VNVTECxm2Np

If the Benjamin Earnest referred to was actually born in 1911, he will also have a birth certificate available from the same source, which will list his parents (including mother's maiden name). If you're willing to wait to pay a smaller fee, the 1911 index will be available on-line in early 2017, when the certificates for that year are transferred to the state archives.

If you aren't already in touch with the aunts and uncles mentioned in the obit, contacting them would also be recommended (if you don't have contact info, WhitePages.com might be good place to start).

If Ronald Earnest's birth certificate doesn't yield any definitive new clues, you might try locating his marriage license application, although unless someone in the family knows where he was married, you may need to make inquiries at multiple county courthouses (starting with Butler, obviously). Similarly, locating the marriage license application for Benjamin Earnest and Mary Stevenson should yield information about both of their parents.

There appear to be a number of Ancestry member trees owned by other descendants of what may be the same ancestral Earnest family (although there also appears to be some confabulation of multiple Benjamin Earnests in these trees). At least two seem promising:

http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/69074045/family/pedigree

http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/53325020/family/pedigree

Contacting the tree owners may prove useful.

Answer 2

That's a tough one for sure- I don't see them in the 1940 census. I would start by looking more into the Benjamin L. Earnest that was born 14 Jan 1911 in Portage, Blair, PA, and died 8 January 1977 in Butler, PA. Him and your grandfather both seem to be in Butler in the 1950s according to military and directory records on Ancestry. If you know someone with access to the Butler Eagle newspaper, I would try to get a copy of his obit and go from there: Name: EARNEST, Benjamin L Title:
Extension:
Nickname:
Age:
DOB:
Locality: Butler Relation Info:
Newspaper: Butler Eagle Date/Page: 8 Jan 1977 p9 Film #: 447

Answer 3

You could try placing an advertisement in Pennsylvania's newspaper(s), and talk or e-mail a Religious place like a Church.

You already know your great grandparent's Name and Job.