TIPS FOR FINDING PEOPLE OR PLACES
Brenda Kellow
May 29, 2011
Probably all of us have gone on location looking for a particular person or family. Here are a few tips for locating someone who might be able to help you. Many years ago, while looking for a particular person buried in Hico, in Texas Hill Country, we walked along the rows in the big cemetery hoping to find that allusive person to no avail. It was not a commercial cemetery and had no one who could help us.
Luckily, we had packed a picnic lunch so we sat down in the cemetery, close to the front gate so we were in a public area, to enjoy our sandwiches. Our goal was to attract attention from someone who might be able to tell us more about the family or give us clues to where the family was buried. The first car that drove in stopped and talked, but sadly, they were rather new in town and did not know the family or other cemeteries in the area. Then the second car drove in and started a conversation with these two crazy people picnicking in the graveyard. Bingo, the couple knew the family and knew the burial place. The address they gave led us to the caretaker of an old cemetery outside of town. The nice man took us directly to the gravesite.
There have been many of these types of trips to small towns. Sometimes I searched in vain without finding the burial place. I needed a plan. I made a list of the businesses any normal family might patronize such as pharmacies, grocery stores, city cafes, library and funeral homes. Everybody has to have medicine so I usually begin there if I am looking for a living person and then go on to the other stores. It works!
In a tiny town in Pennsylvania, where there is a bigger cemetery than there are houses, the merchants were newcomers and could not help me other than point me in the direction of the local church cemetery. When the manager of the general store said it was three or four miles as the crow flies, I quickly responded asking how far in car miles. I’m no dummy! We found it in record time. There we found two of the graves we were looking for. We placed a large silk flower arrangement by the tombstone. Since the family was a sizeable one, I felt sure that family still lived in the area and possibly attended the church. We left a note in an acrylic jar asking for other searchers or family to contact us. Almost a year passed before another family researcher contacted me by phone. She had read the note in the jar.
Many descendants did attend the church. In fact, as we walked around the cemetery and the church, we were astonished to find stained glass windows dedicated to the two old families we were investigating.
After sharing this story with a friend, she told me of someone who visited a local nursing home and found information. Her friend asked at the front desk if there was someone there who might know who was putting flowers on the deceased’s grave. The aging daughter still lived in town and decorated her parents’ graves.
Faced with finding information, never leave a stone unturned. I will add ‘nursing home’ to my list. I just might need that tip the next time I run into the proverbial brick wall.
CITY DIRECTORIES: Family Tree Magazine recently offered a course on using city directories. They suggested the following five strategies:
1. Use as an aid when your ancestor is missing from a census
2. Examine alternate sources of birth information: places of worship; newspapers
3. Search for a marriage date: explore change of residence by male or female
4. Not in directory: possibly deceased; determine widows by “Mrs.” or “wid’ or “widow”
5. Land records: rent, board or own; if ‘own’ there will be a deed
Brenda Kellow has a bachelor's degree in history, teaches, and lectures on genealogy. Before retiring to publish her family’s histories in 2007, Brenda held certification as a Certified Genealogist and as a Certified Genealogical Instructor. Send reunion announcements, books to review, and genealogy queries to: [email protected].
Luckily, we had packed a picnic lunch so we sat down in the cemetery, close to the front gate so we were in a public area, to enjoy our sandwiches. Our goal was to attract attention from someone who might be able to tell us more about the family or give us clues to where the family was buried. The first car that drove in stopped and talked, but sadly, they were rather new in town and did not know the family or other cemeteries in the area. Then the second car drove in and started a conversation with these two crazy people picnicking in the graveyard. Bingo, the couple knew the family and knew the burial place. The address they gave led us to the caretaker of an old cemetery outside of town. The nice man took us directly to the gravesite.
There have been many of these types of trips to small towns. Sometimes I searched in vain without finding the burial place. I needed a plan. I made a list of the businesses any normal family might patronize such as pharmacies, grocery stores, city cafes, library and funeral homes. Everybody has to have medicine so I usually begin there if I am looking for a living person and then go on to the other stores. It works!
In a tiny town in Pennsylvania, where there is a bigger cemetery than there are houses, the merchants were newcomers and could not help me other than point me in the direction of the local church cemetery. When the manager of the general store said it was three or four miles as the crow flies, I quickly responded asking how far in car miles. I’m no dummy! We found it in record time. There we found two of the graves we were looking for. We placed a large silk flower arrangement by the tombstone. Since the family was a sizeable one, I felt sure that family still lived in the area and possibly attended the church. We left a note in an acrylic jar asking for other searchers or family to contact us. Almost a year passed before another family researcher contacted me by phone. She had read the note in the jar.
Many descendants did attend the church. In fact, as we walked around the cemetery and the church, we were astonished to find stained glass windows dedicated to the two old families we were investigating.
After sharing this story with a friend, she told me of someone who visited a local nursing home and found information. Her friend asked at the front desk if there was someone there who might know who was putting flowers on the deceased’s grave. The aging daughter still lived in town and decorated her parents’ graves.
Faced with finding information, never leave a stone unturned. I will add ‘nursing home’ to my list. I just might need that tip the next time I run into the proverbial brick wall.
CITY DIRECTORIES: Family Tree Magazine recently offered a course on using city directories. They suggested the following five strategies:
1. Use as an aid when your ancestor is missing from a census
2. Examine alternate sources of birth information: places of worship; newspapers
3. Search for a marriage date: explore change of residence by male or female
4. Not in directory: possibly deceased; determine widows by “Mrs.” or “wid’ or “widow”
5. Land records: rent, board or own; if ‘own’ there will be a deed
Brenda Kellow has a bachelor's degree in history, teaches, and lectures on genealogy. Before retiring to publish her family’s histories in 2007, Brenda held certification as a Certified Genealogist and as a Certified Genealogical Instructor. Send reunion announcements, books to review, and genealogy queries to: [email protected].