Lemonade from Lemons
We often see comments in the Community "Someone has changed my tree.” We’ve probably all said or thought the same when we find the information we have carefully sourced has been changed or connected to the wrong person/family.
A few days ago, I noticed duplicates for a family I had researched earlier. I had already merged 3 duplicate sets of parents and children of the family a few years ago. Now there were 3 more sets of duplicates.
I made a fresh cup of tea and started patiently and carefully checking and then merging the family. It’s a blended family, with stepchildren in the household, sometimes enumerated in the census with their stepfather’s surname. Teasing them apart and matching them with the correct parents takes time and care. Step by step.
And – then I noticed – one of the duplicates had a married name for daughter Mary. Mary was born in 1885, and I had lost track of her after 1905. I hadn’t found a marriage record or a death record. She wasn’t enumerated in her father’s household in 1910. She wasn’t buried in the family plot. I hadn’t found her mentioned in the local newspaper. But this contributor had a married surname for her. No marriage record was listed; no death record was attached; there was only a note that her maiden name was listed on the marriage of one of her sons. Not proof positive, but a clue.
I started digging. I still don’t have Mary's marriage record, but I have found proof positive. I looked up the marriage record of her son, finding the name of Mary’s husband. Then I found them together in the censuses, with their several children. I found the death record for a son who died young, and then marriage records for the rest of Mary's children.
Mary lived a long life, dying in 1972. Someone – probably her daughter, with whom she lived – wrote a loving obituary filled with details, with her parents' names, even her mother's maiden name. Her father died in 1911, and her mother died in 1896 when Mary was only 11. An obituary with those details, so many years later, is rare.
The time it took me to merge those extra duplicates was well worth it. I was able to document a treasured member of my extended family and tie up those loose ends.
Lemonade from Lemons
Or, if you prefer, since I noticed and merged those duplicates on Easter Sunday, an Easter Egg.😎