My sister and I are trying to discover our family history, which is very
difficult, because we're having trouble getting started on finding any
information about our grandfather, John Russell Parker.  On my father's
birth certificate, my grandfather listed his own birthplace as Middlesex
County, Virginia.  I have my grandfather's US Navy dog tag, which has a
line entry 10-23-96.  I presume that's his birth date.

A while ago, I went to the Library of Virginia and looked all through the
Middlesex County birth records for 1896, but didn't see any listing for him.

Using the data on his dog tag, I was able to get a copy of his US Navy
service record, which is a good history of his time in the Navy, but no
information about his life before or after that period, of course.

This past weekend, I searched through the US Census for 1900 in Middlesex
County, and, although I saw a lot of Parker's there, I didn't see him.

I keep finding a Russell Parker, also born in 1896.  I talked to a lady in
the Middlesex County Court House Museum who knew Russell, and she said no,
that Russell had never been in the Navy.

My sister searched the Social Security Death Index, and found a match in
Indiana for the name and birth date, and we are anxiously waiting for the
data from that.

Is there any other place we should be looking for information?

Regards,
Dan

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