AN INTERESTING FIND TODAY ~ Author/Professor - Ida Gertrude Riley Duncan 1892-1989

I began poking around in my Legacy database this morning trying to figure out which ancestor I wanted to work on.

On my desk was a blank application for a vital record for Ruth Duncan Cunningham Hogue.

Ruth was the only daughter of my maternal grandmother’s beloved sister, Edna “Denny” Mabel Bowden.  I was debating whether I “needed” that death record from 1978, from Missouri, or could I live without it?
 
Next thing I know I’m looking at Ruth’s father John Brown Duncan.  He and Ruth’s mother divorced in 1911, after just 4 years of marriage.  John later married Ida Gertrude Riley.

Here’s a screenshot from Legacy. What stood out to me was the absence of a cause of death on either John Duncan or his second wife, Ida Gertrude Riley.

(CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT)  


I’m know I haven’t been able to locate an image of John’s death certificate, but I do have index records for it.  I also tried to locate an obituary for John Duncan, but was unsuccessful.

UPDATE - Thanks to a comment from a reader, I now have John's death certificate.  Thanks Marian.  It was on familysearch.org and I'm not sure how I missed it.  But, I'm sure grateful for the help.  I was able to fill in that space for his cause of death and here's the new screenshot.

  







As far as Ida, different story.  Remember from my recent post, I talked about the research notes I keep?  Here is my research note from Ida’s death notes.

12/30/12 - Date & place of birth and date & place of death are from the Lake Family Tree owned by tucker08 on Ancestry.com. 
The dates have not yet been verified.

This note tells me two things.  I last looked at Ida’s death information in Dec 2012 and that I have not verified the information.

Since that date, I know that the Detroit Free Press has been put online on Newspapers.com.  It’s allowed me to find over 100 obituaries and other articles for my family.
 
Maybe I could find an obituary for Ida Gertrude Riley Duncan, since she died in the Detroit suburb of Livonia.  If the information from that family tree I found on Ancestry is correct, then Ida lived for 44 years after John Duncan’s death.  She could have remarried.

I went to the newspapers.com website and here was the search criteria I used.

Screenshot from Newspapers.com search

There were 136 matches, but the first four were the ones I needed.

I selected the first article and was surprised to find it was quite a write up.  Not your normal, short obituary.  And….look there’s a photo included!

Compiled screenshot of article published in Detroit Free Press, 10 Jul 1989, page 23

Ida is not a blood relation to me, but I can’t help but find this interesting.  She was an author and a professor.  According to this article she was well liked and witty.  Sounds like a lady I would like to have known.

From this obituary I learned that she had remarried after John’s death in 1945.  I haven’t located any records on that marriage….yet.

Next, I thought I would take a look online and try to find some of Ida’s books, mentioned in her obituary.  I located all five of her books, available on Amazon.com

The Complete Book of Progressive Knitting
Knit to Fit: A Comprehensive Guide to Hand and Machine Knitting and Crocheting
Pattern Drafting and Foundation and Flat Pattern Design
The American woman's complete sewing book
The Complete Book of Needlecraft

In looking further I located a couple of knitting bloggers who have written about Ida’s wonderful books.  They give them high marks.

http://chicknits.com/rambles/?p=lehzeryrnjayzg&paged=506
https://string-or-nothing.com/2005/03/04/oop-book-review-knit-to-fit/

I don’t know what became of Ida’s second husband (whom I believe may have been a man named Harry Higginson).  That belief is only based on a couple of references in online trees and has not been verified.

Whatever happened, Ida is buried with her first husband, John Brown Duncan and their daughter Alice Jean Duncan Lake, at Woodlawn Cemetery in Toledo, Lucas, Ohio.

Here are links to their memorials.  There is no way to send a message to the person who took the headstone photos so I cannot ask permission to use them.  Note:  I do find it frustrating not to be able to contact a FindAGrave contributor.

Memorial for John B. Duncan #131983103 (there is an error on this memorial page regarding a son named John Duncan born 1901)

Memorial for Ida R. Higginson Duncan #131983166

Memorial fo Jean Duncan Lake #131983221

Even though Ida was the second wife of the husband of my Grandaunt, this was an interesting story to research.  Sometimes…you just “have” to know more.

If you have any information relating to this family, I would love to hear from you. 
 
Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2017   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

COUSINS, COUSINS AND MORE COUSINS

1. What could be better than finding new cousins? 
2. Why are cousins so important to your research?
3. How do you find your cousins? 

Those are the questions I will be covering today.

• Let me start by saying that finding your cousins can not only bring you information about your family, but can also bring new friends into our life. My family was pretty small growing up. Just my Dad, Mom, my younger brother and me. Yes, I knew there were some cousins out there and I remember meeting a couple way back when, but we never stayed in touch. We moved away from the core of our family when I was only 7 yrs. old. My Dad was an only child and my Mom's sister had two sons. Not much in the way of cousins there.

Once I began researching the family my first cousin experience came when looking for a 2nd cousin. Fortunately she had kept her maiden name and surprisingly lived just 3 hrs. from me.  Next it was a cousin up in Detroit, after that it was my Mom's first cousin, after that a 3rd cousin in Detroit and on and on it goes.  Over the past 8 or so years I have now expanded my family, met many people I never knew existed and learned oh so much about my family.

Why are cousins important to your research? 

• They can provide new information that you were unfamiliar with
• They can have family photos that may include your direct ancestors
• They may know other family members who have a wealth of information
• They have a different view of the family than you do

Here are some examples of FANTASTIC FINDS from cousins:

1. Many photos left by our grandmother, Florence Milne.
2. Also from Florence Milne, a journal including 183 family member names, dates of birth and sometimes dates of death.  Also in this journal were old recipes, wedding anniversary dates and other tips from life back at the turn of the 20th century.
3. A portrait of my 2nd great grandfather, Horace Thorp, hanging on the wall in my 3rd cousin's house.  Also from that cousin (now my friend), have been other photographs of family and stories & information previously unknown to me.
4. Another 3rd cousin sent me a photo and said she didn't know who the 2 people were in the front of the photo.  THEY WERE MY GRANDPARENTS!!!
5. Names of other living relatives you never knew about.
6. Copies of birth, marriage & death certificates and other important documents.  

 Here are a couple of those finds I mentioned above.  

Birth dates & some death dates from January from my Grandmother's journal

Portrait of my 2nd Great Grandfather, Horace Thorp

So, keep hunting for those cousins.  I've found them by using Intelius.com, which I covered in a recent post.  A few have contacted me from my posts on findagrave.com and Ancestry.com, and others I've met from various facebook.com pages I belong to. You can also use the old fashioned method of checking phone books or the yellow pages online, in those areas you think cousins might be living.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl