The Family Tree Problem Solver: Tried-And-True Tactics for Tracing Elusive Ancestors (6 page)

It is always worth checking for records at the church, library, and historical society in the community where you believe your ancestor attended church. I have had two unusually good experiences with this approach. I learned from another researcher that a volunteer had transcribed the church minutes from the Rocky Springs Presbyterian Church in Highland County, Ohio, and that they were housed at the Ohio Historical Society. I had the records copied and sent to my home, where I found a record of the baptism of my second great-grandfather and the baptisms of many of those in my family. Even more delightful were the minutes, which told of the “sins” — including horseback riding on Sunday and irregular church attendance — committed by members of my family that were brought before the elders for deposition. To my delight, my third great-grandfather, John R. Strain, had to apologize more than once to the ruling elders.

On the other hand, researching Butler County, Pennsylvania, from my home in Missouri brought nothing but frustration. Finally, on a trip there in the 1980s I visited the courthouse, which allowed me to sort out many of the dilemmas I had encountered. In addition to there being a plethora of people named Hoffman in the area, I found two men named Michael Hoffman born the same year and both married to women named Mary. However, I was most interested in finding the ancestral home and, as the naturalizations had not provided the location, I had just about given up hope. To my surprise, translated versions of the marriage, death, and baptismal records of St. Peter's Reformed Lutheran Church in Zelienople, Pennsylvania, were housed in the town's historical society. There, I found the following entry in the death records for my second great-grandfather:

What a gift! I photocopied the translations. I also copied the originals of the records, which were kept in the kitchen cabinet of the house behind the reconstructed church. Although the translation of the records was very good, it did contain at least one omission from the originals: the birthplace of my second great-grandfather. Remember that if there is one mistake in transcribed records, it is most likely to be for the ancestor that you are seeking.

As your research moves to the frontier regions of the upper south and middle west, you will encounter the more evangelical churches, such as various sects of Methodists and Baptists. The likelihood of finding vital registration in these churches is slim. These denominations primarily kept membership rolls, and usually the most useful information you can glean from these is a death citation.

When researchers think of church records, they usually think of the minutes or regular records of the church's proceedings and activities.
Too often, denominational newspapers are over-looked.
Some excellent obituaries were printed in the late nineteenth century, for ordinary church members as well as the more prominent ministers. One of the advantages of religious newspapers is that they cover a wider geographic area than local church registries. Thus, one can trace migration patterns as well as locate vital records in ancestral towns. I don't know how I would have ever found the origins of James Miller if it had not been for an obituary in a published abstract from a newspaper:
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Another often-neglected source for vital records is religious colleges' alumni records.
Figure 2-3 on the next page is an example taken from the alumni bulletin (1903) of Miami College, a Presbyterian school in Miami, Butler County, Ohio.

Newspapers can be a wonderful substitute for vital records even though they are not always completely accurate. Although comprehensive obituaries did not become common until the late nineteenth century, short notices of deaths and marriages were usually included from the beginning of newspaper publication. Whether your ancestor or his family members appear will, of course, depend on their prominence, their proximity to the town where the newspaper was published, and the drama of their demise. In other words, a man dragged to his death by a horse team was more likely to make the paper than a woman who died in childbirth.

From the
Vermont Gazette
:

When you read newspapers, do not limit yourself to the small section reserved for birth and marriage notices or obituaries. Birth and death announcements can appear in other sections as well, especially if the event was unusual in some way — if it occurred in a peculiar place or there were multiple births.

Here are two death notices buried in news stories from
The Bolivar Weekly Courier
, Bolivar, Missouri.

Figure 2-3
Miami College Bulletin, 1903.

This news story can certainly be viewed with a jaundiced eye, but it does report the death of Mrs. Davidson. The story, however, was not over. From
The Springfield Mirror
, Springfield, Missouri:

It's possible there is justice in the world. Now consider this birth notice from the
Spring River Fountain
(Lawrence County, Missouri):

Newspapers also contain letters from citizens who migrated and later wrote back to inform the community of deaths of former citizens.

Col. Blodgett, master of several wagon trains west, published a list in 1852 of over a hundred and fifty graves he found along the Oregon Trail from Devil's Gate [Wyoming] to the Missouri River. I submitted this list to the
National Genealogical Society Quarterly
, where it was published in December 1988, pages 302-04.

I had terrible difficulty establishing the death date of Rebecca McConnell Strain, my second great-grandmother.
She had applied for and received a military pension for her husband's service in the War of 1812. The last notice in the pension file was a complaint from her son, James Strain, that Rebecca's pension payment was supposed to have been transferred to the pension office in Topeka. In the letter, dated November 1876, he stated that his mother was 86 years old and “a great deal troubled about it.” At that time, James Strain was living in Concordia, Kansas. Searches were made of the cemetery, probate, and death records. No sign of Rebecca Strain.

I began a week-by-week search of the local newspaper, starting with the issues from when I knew she was living in Concordia — November 1876 — hoping a death notice would appear. The first notice in the
Concordia Empire
was a nice surprise. On 23 February 1877, the newspaper reported that “Mrs. Rebecca Strain has just attained the age of 87 years. She was prostrated by a recent illness but is again able to sit up and handle her knitting needles.” Before finding this, I had only a year for her birth. Surely I was close to finding the death notice. She couldn't have lived a lot longer and was unlikely to be traveling at that age.
Wrong!

The following spring the newspaper reported that she had boarded a train and left Concordia: “It is with great regret that we hear of the purposed [
sic
] departure of three of our most respectable and respected people: Mrs. Rebecca Strain, mother of Jas. Strain, Esq., Mrs. Margaret Gilmer, mother of Dr. Gilmer, and Miss Franky Gilmer, sister of the Doctor.”
Where did she go? And who were these people with her
?

A month later, on 15 June 1877, the newspaper reported, “Mrs. Rebecca Strain, Mrs. Margaret Gilmer and Miss Franky Gilmer, left Concordia for their future home in Illinois…Mrs. Strain and Mrs. Gilmer will reside in Sandoval.” Although hope of finding a death notice dwindled, I kept reading. On 27 September 1878, the
Concordia Empire
notified its readers, “Died at Sandoval, Ill. Sept. 20, 1878, Mrs. Rebecca Strain, mother of James Strain, Esq. of this place, in the 89th year of her age.”

Figure 2-4
Coroner's report on Daniel W. Foster.

Success in finding dates of birth, death, and marriage in newspapers does not require any particular skill. It does, however, require patience and tenacity — two critical traits for a successful genealogist. Searching newspapers also requires innate curiosity and the ability to distill important items from a nongenealogical context. Mrs. Gilmer was not just a traveling companion for Mrs. Strain. She was a previously unidentified daughter.

Coroner's reports are issued when an inquest is held to investigate unusual or unknown circumstances surrounding a death.
When the inquest is complete, the report includes the causes of death and other valuable information (see
Figure 2-4
). These records are public and difficult to locate; they may be kept in the coroner's office of any court of record, whether city, county, or state.

Elizabeth Barnes was buried in an unmarked grave in Greene County, Missouri. The newspaper states only that she “died within the past weeks.” The application for letters of administration listed her exact death date and her heirs (see
Figure 2-5
).

If the death date cannot be found in the probate record, or if the probate record is missing, other court records may be helpful. In the case of James H. McBride (see
Figure 2-6
), the circuit court minutes of June 1873 gave his date of death as 1863 — ten years previous. In November 1873, the court minutes state that both the widow and a daughter of James McBride had also died (see
Figure 2-7
). Interestingly, James H. McBride did not die in the county where this record was created. He died a hundred miles to the east, but had left property in Greene County that needed disbursement.

Although birth dates in court records are relatively rare, I have found a few in apprentice or guardianship records. Following is an example of the latter, when in January 1807 the names and dates of birth for Joseph Gash Sr.'s children were recorded: “John Gash will be 21 years April 19 1816, Rachel Gash will be 18 years February 19 1815, William Gash will be 21 years old March 11 William Gash will be 21 years old March 11 1820 and Joseph Gash will be 21 years April 14 1822.”
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