EVER HAD ONE OF THOSE “SLAP YOUR FOREHEAD” MOMENTS IN YOUR RESEARCH?

Here are a couple of examples of those “DUH” moments we all have.  And maybe wish we didn’t.  The idea for this post came from a fellow genealogist who shared her moment.

EXAMPLE #1
 
Several years ago I was trying desperately to locate the death record and/or burial location of my 2nd great grandmother, Susan Caroline BOGGS.  She was born in 1842 in Lawrence Co., Ohio (daughter of William Allen BOGGS and Nancy Delilah LUNSFORD) and died in 1913.  Along the way she married James Gillen HUNTER with whom she had 9 children and after his death she married William CRESSE.  

At least that’s the information I had.  Some of that information was found in my research, other information was from the journal of names & dates kept by her granddaughter (my maternal grandmother).  Other information was taken from a handwritten obituary found among my grandmother’s effects.

Here is that record.
(CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT)



So why couldn’t I locate a death record for her?

I have notes of my various research strategies beginning in 2006.  I even sent a death certificate request to the State of Ohio, based on the information I had.  NO RECORD FOUND.

THE BREAK THROUGH….SLAP MY FOREHEAD  MOMENT

I had placed the obituary document in page protectors back in 2006.  One day in 2008, I realized I had never scanned the document.  

I take it out of the page protectors to scan it and…………….DRUM ROLL……….when I turned over page 3 there on the back was the following:

        “OBITUARY OF S. C. HANKINS”

WHAT?  She married a third time?  Is that what this means?

 

Yes, that’s exactly what that meant.  My next steps were:

• Check the Ohio Historical Society Death Index – Found her listed in Volume 1017, cert #13435 and the date of death listed exactly as my grandmother had it in her journal.  I sent for her death certificate immediately.
• Sent an email to the Service Director for Miamiville, Ohio, where the death index had indicated she died.  I received an email in return verifying she was buried at Evergreen Cemetery, Section B, Lots 128.  The email from the very kind Director included photos of her headstone and the headstone next to her which was her oldest son.  Surprise!  I didn’t know where Clyde was buried until I received this information.

Here is her death certificate, verifying all I had learned.

EXAMPLE #2

I was given permission to share this situation by a fellow genealogist in a group I belong to on Facebook called The Lawrence Register.  We are a group of people with ancestors from Lawrence County, Ohio.

 

Here is the exact entry she shared with us.

 

“Sometimes you just want to smack yourself up side the head, kick yourself in the butt and yell stupid!!! My gr-grandfathers 2nd marriage was recorded in the family bible so I never bothered sending for the original certificate. I have been trying to 20 years to find his mothers maiden name. 20 years. It is on the original certificate. Don't know whether to jump for joy or bang my head against the wall. Maybe I'll do both.”

 

LESSONS WE LEARNED

• Just because we have names & dates in our family Bible, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t still seek records to give further proof.  What if the person making those Bible entries was wrong?
• Scan ALL documents BEFORE you put them safely away in binders, page protectors or files.
• Look at every document you receive from anyone or any place.  Look at it again and then look at it a third or fourth time. 
• For gosh sakes – turn pages over and look on the back. 
• Maybe it’s time to take another look at your documents or Bibles?

Thanks for letting me share this with you.  If you’ve had similar “moments” I would love to hear about them.  We can all laugh and shake our heads together, knowing we aren’t alone.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST
FOLLOWING LEADS ON ANCESTRY - ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER

SURPRISE! A BIRTH RECORD WHERE IT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE

EVERNOTE - A VERY USEFUL AND FREE TOOL TO HELP YOU ORGANIZE GENEALOGY AND EVERYTHING ELSE

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2014   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

A GREAT DISCOVERY YESTERDAY–ASK FOR HELP AND YOU MAY GET IT

Yesterday I decided to work on a particular branch of the family, the BOGGS line.  I began by looking at my 2nd great grandmother, Susan Caroline Boggs 1842-1913.  She’s the nearest Boggs to me, so it seemed a good place to begin.  I already know a lot about her, dates of birth & death, burial location, three marriages, nine children etc.  And have documentation for most of that information.

Here is a screen shot of the family.

Family Group Record for James Gillen Hunter

What do you suppose is the first thing I do?

I look over at her husband, my 2nd great grandfather, James Gillen HUNTER and see that I still don’t have a location for his death or his burial. 

I checked the sources I have attached to James and here is what I see.



You can see that my source for his death date is a handwritten family tree from my grandmother, Florence Bowden Milne.  That’s it.  That’s all I have for any reference to his death.  

NOTE:  My grandmother, Florence Bowden Milne, who is mentioned often in this blog, was also a genealogist.  She kept a LOT of records on the family.  We have found very few errors in her records.  She died in 1986.  Wouldn’t she just love to be here now and have all the online resources that we all have?

Here is a screenshot of her reference to James Gillen Hunter on her handwritten family tree.  You can clearly see she recorded his death date as 25 Aug 1884.



After reviewing this information, and for what reason, I don’t know, I clicked on his parents, Rev. Isaac C. Hunter & Emily Gillen.  They are my 3rd great grandparents.  

What do I see when I look at Emily Gillen?  

No date of death or burial location.  

Family Group Record for Emily Gillen

This lack of information on both Emily Gillen & James Gillen Hunter goes back a good 8-9 years.  I have hunted and I have searched, again and again.  Because these are my direct line ancestors it is very important to me to find out as much as I can about them.  

WHAT SHOULD I DO NEXT?  WHAT DID I DO NEXT?

• I looked at all sources I had for Emily Gillen. 

• I reviewed those sources, just like I reviewed the sources for James Gillen Hunter.
• I conducted another search on both Ancestry.com and Family Search.  Nothing new found.
• What I didn’t do were any Google searches.  NOTE:  I should have, and that is a mistake.
• I decide that my next best move is to put this out there to my fellow researchers on a particular Facebook group I belong to.

TIP:  Facebook is a wonderful source for information and collaboration.  If you haven’t yet discovered the value of joining genealogy groups on the site, I urge you to do so.  You can find the groups by doing a search on Facebook for “genealogy,” entering the name of various counties or states you are researching, or find out from other genealogists how they use Facebook to assist their research.  I have been using the site for 6-7 years now for just that purpose.  Should that be a future post on my blog?  How to use Facebook?  Or do all of you already know?  I do know my readers are very smart.

• I belong to several county specific groups on Facebook.  In this case I decided to post my “problem” on The Lawrence Register group (Lawrence County, Ohio) for both James Hunter and Emily Gillen. And on the Boyd County, Kentucky Genealogy & History group for James only, as he was living in that county in 1880.

Here is the post I put on those group pages yesterday.

This post went on The Lawrence Register group page as both James Hunter & Emily Gillen lived in Lawrence County, Ohio at one time or another.

Problem: I need to find a death record and/or burial location for two people that I've been researching for 10 years. I've searched every kind of way on familysearch and Ancestry. No shaky leaves on Ancestry for them either. Hoping maybe someone out there can help. Here's the two that I need:
Emily/Emilia GILLEN born about 1810 in PA died after 1870 (last census I have for her) and she was in Illinois then. She was in Ohio in 1850 & 1860. First married Rev. Isaac C. HUNTER 1828 in Lawr Co. he died, then she married David POPE in 1846 in Columbus, OH (don't know what became of him), then she married Joel STOVER in 1858 in Lawr Co. He died after 1870 - nothing on him after that.

Second person - same problem - can't locate any death or burial records.

James Gillen HUNTER (son of the above Emily & her first husband), he was born 1832 in Ohio and died 25 Aug 1884. Where did he die? Where is he buried? He lived in Lawrence Co and then lastely in Covington, KY.
I've got census records, Civil War Draft Reg., marriage records etc. but no death or burial records for these two. Any suggestions, ideas or help welcome. Thanks in advance.

For the post on the Boyd County, Kentucky site I took out the information about Emily and only posted for James Hunter as he was the one who lived there.

These posts were put on the site at about noon yesterday, 17 Jan 2014.  I immediately began to get remarks from those I have known on the Lawrence Register site for many years.  A couple of people wished me luck.  Always good to know your friends are pulling for you.  But, then, within an hour of my post comes an entry from my cousin, Amy (a 4th cousin, once removed) who lives over in Denmark.  We have never met in person, but have been exchanging information online for several years.  She is a very good researcher and we have enjoyed sharing with one another.

This is what she wrote:
“Emily died on 6 Dec 1887 and is buried in Old Bethel Cemetery, Belmont, Wabash County, Illinois.”

What?  Where did this information come from?  Amy swears she told me this last year, but I don’t remember ever hearing it.  Was I busy at the time?  Did I miss her message?  I don't know.

The next entry from Amy was a link to Interment.net for Old Bethel Cemetery. (How nice was that?)



I immediately went to the site and scrolled down the page to the letter S.  I knew that Emily was married 3 times and her last husband’s name was Joel STOVER.  I certainly had searched under that name many times.  

Lo and behold here is what I found.



Can you see me doing my genealogy happy dance? 



Here is how Emily’s information on the Family View looks now.  Much better, don’t you think?



I still don’t have a death date or burial location for James Gillen Hunter.  But, that doesn’t mean I won’t find it or have someone share it with me.

I have created a memorial on FindAGrave.com for Emily (memorial #123610787) and requested a picture of her headstone, if there is one.

Next, I will try to locate a death certificate or record online, or send for one, so that I can verify the information posted on the cemetery website.

Now you know the story of how I found out when my 3rd great grandmother died and where she is buried.

Oh, and let’s review.  What was my original mission when I started yesterday?

       To research my Boggs line

Isn’t it funny how our paths can go off in a different direction?  Sometimes I feel bad about that and think that I’m not focused enough and should try to stay with my “mission.”  

LESSON LEARNED:  You never know where that other path may lead or what you will find.  As long as it ends with us knowing more about our ancestor than when we started, then it’s all worthwhile.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2014   Diane Gould Hall

SURNAME SATURDAY - FENNER

SURNAME SATURDAY

FENNER

FENNER, Grace Hunter (1874-1946) - she is my great grandaunt. So that makes her the sister of my great grandmother and an aunt to my grandmother. 

Grace & her first husband, Charles Henry FENNER (1859-1918) were married in Belmont County, Ohio on 16 May 1891.  They had no children.  He died during the influenza epidemic of 1918.  I have found quite a few family members from various branches of my tree who succumbed to the influenza during that time.

Charles FENNER's family business was photography.  He and his brothers had photography studios in Cincinnati and Lima, Ohio and Huntington, West Virginia.

Charles' father Nicholas Paul FENNER married Ellen MADDY in 1856 and they had 4 sons & 3 daughters. 

Here is how I am related to the FENNER family:

Nicholas Paul FENNER (1828 - 1908)

relationship to you: father-in-law of great grand aunt

Charles Henry FENNER (1859 - 1918)

Son of Nicholas Paul

Grace HUNTER (1874 - 1946)

Wife of Charles Henry

James Gillen HUNTER (1832 - 1884)

Father of Grace

Florence HUNTER (1869 - 1946)

Daughter of James Gillen

Florence Lee Nora BOWDEN (1888 - 1986)

Daughter of Florence

Patricia Anne MILNE (1924 - )

Daughter of Florence Lee Nora

Michigan Girl

You are the daughter of Patricia Anne



                     Grace HUNTER FENNER and her sisters.  Grace is in the back row, far left

I have quite a few photos from my mother's family that were taken at the Fenner Studio in Lima, Ohio.  My mother remembers "Aunt Grace." 

So with all the photos that must be floating around from this family, having owned a photography studio for several decades, I'm hoping someone out there has more pictures to share.  I would certainly love to have pictures of the Fenner brothers and any other family members. 

That's all for today,

Michigan Girl 

Lots of new Lindsay information

That's a picture of Bessie Lindsay and an article about Richard "Dick" Lindsay.

Gosh, it's been several days since I've posted. The reason is because I've been so darn busy gathering information from my newly found 3rd cousin. Well, maybe also because the internet has been up and down due to the incredible storm that swept thru here for several days. But...........where was I? Oh yeah, the Lindsay's. This new 3rd cousin, I'll call her May for privacy purposes, has provided pictures, vital records and newspaper articles galore. In exchanging photos I was able to identify the two unknowns sitting at a table with our Great GrandUncle Dick Lindsay, as my grandfather and grandmother. How cool is that? And, when she sent me all those newspaper articles about Great Granduncle Dick Lindsay (he was prominent in Detroit politics for many years) there just happened to be an obituary for his brother, William W. Lindsay. Well, William W. Lindsay is my Great Grandfather and I had not located his obituary. It's been just great connecting with May because she is as passionate about genealogy as I am and she also happens to be very nice and fun to talk to.
That's one of the unexpected joys I've found in my 5+ year journey in locating ancestors and descendants. I have connected with many cousins on all sides of the family and every one of them is a treasure. Some I've become quite close to.
So then today I was in here working and began digging around my information on Bessie Lindsay. She was married twice. The first time was not a happy marriage and according to her granddaughters she didn't talk much about it. I've been trying to locate a marriage record to that first husband and guess what? I FOUND IT! Where? In the Ontario Marriage Records on Ancestry.com. This is the 3rd or 4th time I have found a marriage record in the Ontario records. Seems it was pretty easy to drive over the bridge from Detroit to Windsor and get hitched. Why go out of country? In one case it seemed that there was an "early" pregnancy. This find today is also a bit suspicious as far as dates and could be for the same reason. In finding this record I've gotten the names of the first husband's parents, and the religion as stated by the bride and groom. I am sure this is the right couple because the parents names for the bride match what I have and one of the witnesses is the bride's sister - also a match for what I have.
I've gone on too long already. Never quit looking. While you may not locate something today you never know what you'll find next week, next month or next year. Keep good records on what and where you search, but never hesitate to go back to a place you searched before and search again. New records are being added all the time.

I better get back to "work."
Smiles,
Michigan Girl

New information on the Murphy's

Yesterday and today I've recevied some new information on the Murphy's in our line. Francis "Frank" Murphy married Agnes Lucy Thorp who is my Great GrandAunt. I always enjoy making new contacts because more often than not it leads to new information, new cousins to make friends with and best of all, sometimes you get those elusive photos of past family that you thought you'd never see.
It's supposed to rain here for the next couple of days which should make it great weather for staying indoors and working on genealogy. I'll let you know what I find.

Over and out,
Michigan Girl

Blogging about family research - Day 1

I have just created this blog as a way to try and connect with more family members. I have been researching my family, including my husband's family, for over 5 years. I've never had a blog before so this will be a learning experience.

Here are some of the surnames that I am researching. This is not a complete list, but includes some of the primary names: Boggs, Bowen, Bowden, Bright, Fink, Frampton, Gillen, Goodbody, Gould, Hall, Hart, Hunter, Lindsay, Milne & Thorp

I hope that this will be a way to share this incredible journey. I currently live in southern California, although I was born in Michigan. My parents and grandparents and many other family members were born in Michigan and many still live there. There are also family connections in many other states.

Stay tuned and let's see how this blog thing works.

Til next time,

Michigan Girl