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Thursday, August 6, 2015

Finding Susie

I took on the task of researching the grandmother of the man that raised me.  You see, she passed away early in her years and only had one child who was in jail at the time.  Her grandchildren were all very young, some were not even born yet.  Two of them recalled her passing, but couldn't remember exactly when.  When Bernie told me that he had been looking for Susie, but never found her, I offered to help look. I had been researching my own family off and on for years, and really enjoyed piecing together my history.  The least I could do was try to help.  The only information he was able to give me was her name, her maiden name and the name of her husband.  I did not have a birth date, but an approximate time frame, "about 1905."  No death date, I only knew she passed when he was young, so sometime about 1960.



We had pictures of her alive about in 1958, so that helped.  I truly hoped to help locate her final resting place.  Bernie's father, "Pops" as I call him, is up in age now, and wishes to say his last goodbyes to his mother.  He's searched many times over the years, but never has found her.  He thought he remembered where she was buried, but has been there many times and can not find her.  They had been to the courthouse that owns the cemetery and they claimed to have no records of her buried there.

So I started with the basics, census records.  First I found Susie and Pops living as boarders in 1940.  I then found them in 1930 census living with her first husband, Pops' father.   This was the correct Susie.  It stated she was 20 years old and had married at 18.  So, married in or about 1928.  I found her in 1920, living with her uncle Frank and grandmother Jennie.  Checking into previous censuses for Jennie, I learned she had 3 sons: John, Oliver and Frank.  So that left John and Oliver as her possible fathers.  I couldn't find her in a census for 1910 living with either of the possible fathers, so I took a trip to the local courthouse.  I found her marriage license that listed her parents, Oliver was her father. It listed her age, so still no birth date.


I knew we could order her death certificate if we were able to gather up enough information, but I still was not finding her birth or death date.  Not on Ancestry or Familysearch, or multiple other resources.  I knew with so many local families with the same last name here in town, someone had to be related to Susie that remembered where she was buried.  I've always figured more of them had to be related than who all they claimed, as their last name is very common here.   I starting asking friends on Facebook for their parents & grandparents names.  Soon I had quite a list of people that I could connect to this same family tree I had put together.  Although most of them did not think they were related to this bunch, they were.


Turns out, after searching more, with the help of my friends, I was made aware that Susie's baby sister was still alive and well.  After speaking with her I had another person confirming that she was buried where her son remembers.  I made another trip to that courthouse with this information, I searched thru their plot books, still couldn't find her, or anyone that would've purchased her plot for her.  I was disappointed, but didn't stop looking.  I figured that I might as well put this tree together better, since I already had so much information.  One evening while looking up records for one of the family members I saw new hints on people that I had already cleared up.  I checked a person and found out that Ancestry released new information, was I in luck?  Was I finally going to find more on Susie?


Sure enough, when I went to her profile, there it was.  Her death certificate, her marriage and divorce records, all staring back at me.  I was so thrilled I called Bernie right away, he apparently was asleep as it was almost 11pm.  I had all the information I needed, but her burial location only said the city's name, and cemetery.  There is only one in the city limits, so again I call the courthouse.  I now have her birth and death date, maybe that will help.

Unfortunately, they still can not find records for her.  The funeral home has been out of business for many years.  The funeral home that took over for them has since closed down.  I was able to locate where the second homes records are kept, but they have no idea where the previous record books are.  I was hoping to find the records, maybe at least it would say the actual cemetery.  I've called around and enlisted the help of a few other historians in the area, but so far no one has managed to locate those records.


Although I know she has to be in that cemetery, I really wish I was able to show her son exactly where she is buried.  I feel as I have not reached my goal.  I like to have all of the information available for a person, and Susie's story is not complete.  I know that I brought tons of information they did not even know.  Bernie didn't even know his great grandparents' names.  I was able to trace back several generations, uncover her birth and death dates for them, plus the dates of her marriages.  I know I gave them a lot of information they otherwise did not have.  But to me, her story is not complete.  One day I will find her.


Working on finding Susie and this tree, has sparked further interest.  I found it very gratifying to help Bernie's family piece together this mystery.  I really enjoyed helping someone else with their family, and I realized this is something I have such a passion for.  I have been working on my own tree and branches of it off and on for years.  Anytime I uncovered something new, I would get so excited.  But this, was something totally different.  I knew where my family came from, and it was just uncovering the records for people I knew existed.  Finding Susie meant something I had never done before, working from no information and building a tree, connecting family members here in town to their cousins they didn't know they were even related to.  I am very proud to say that even though I still haven't found Susie's final resting place, I helped reunite some long lost family members.

2 comments:

  1. Your blog looks great! What you're doing is such important work! The fact that you love doing this, that you have a passion for it will keep you very driven towards success! I know you will be there to help lots of families! I couldn't be more proud of you Sis!

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