A situation in which no amount of research can find a particular ancestor or generation of ancestors is called a “brick wall” by genealogists. An example is presented below. Names are changed for privacy and simplification.

Q: From censuses at my public library and passenger manifests on the free site www.ellisisland.org, I determined the year (1908), country, and town of birth of my grandfather, Joseph Brown. The catalog at the free Mormon site https://www.familysearch.org shows that civil records for his European birthplace exist for the years 1809 through 1910.

The information is on several microfilms that I ordered, including 1893–1910. There I found my grandfather’s birth record, with his father’s name (Henry Brown) and age in 1908, and his mother’s name. I figured my great-grandfather’s birth year as circa 1887.

Going back through the birth records, I found information on other direct ancestors: my second-great-grandfather Michael Brown, born in 1858; his father, Peter Brown, age 27; and his mother, Maria Smith, age 25.

Here is where the problem starts. Their ages in 1858 show that my third-great-grandparents, Peter and Maria, were born in about 1831–1833. However, birth records from 1830 through 1834 are missing. Having gone this far, it’s frustrating to know records before 1830 are available and may contain more information, but I can’t “connect” to those records because intermediate records are missing. What can I do?

A: If you show the same persistence, you may extend the record. Working with the microfilms you’ve mentioned, search the birth records around 1858 to determine if Michael Brown had any siblings. Ages of parents on birth records often were off by one, two, or more years, and their ages on siblings’ records may show that they were born before or after the gap in records. Finding the missing information may be as simple as looking at the 1829 or 1835 records.

Failing that, check film lists at https://www.familysearch.org/ and see whether there are records other than birth records. If so, order them. Records of marriages for the years preceding 1858 may contain the marriage record of Peter Brown and Maria Smith. That may show their parents’ names and if they were living or dead in 1858. Then go to the pre-1830 records to search for their parents’ births, to extend the “tree,” even though you don’t know the exact birthdays of some relatives.

For your ancestral town, check whether there are microfilms available for death records. If so, order them. Search for the death record of Peter Brown. It’s after 1858, when his son was born, so check the death records after that year. It’s tedious, but if found, it may give Peter Brown’s parents’ names and if they were living or dead when he died.

While searching for Peter’s death, look for his wife, Maria Smith’s, death record. That should say whether she was a widow or not, which can help you zero in on Peter’s death year. Her record may give the names of her parents, who, of course, were also your ancestors.