Go with those hunches, folks!

[fudge stripe cookays]

I just had another miracle happen last night.

As some of you know, I'm writing a giant family history for my Smiths (all ten of the original children and their descendants).

Daughter Mary Elizabeth has been a thorn in my side. Her descendants have been a little harder to track than most.

Her daughter Myrtle Baldwin showed up in the 1880 census when she was about 3. So I estimated her birthdate at around 1877, but had no other info on her.

Luckily, when I was in Madison last month, I managed to find her half sister's wedding announcement in the Racine paper in May 1895.

The goldmine was the huge list of gifts given to the couple. One of them was from Myrtle! I was so excited to find that she was still alive, I almost missed the most important part.

Last night, as I was transcribing the info into my manuscript, I realized something:

“lady’s rocker, Miss Mertie Baldwin and Mr. D. Lonergan”

Back then, a man and woman usually did not just go together and buy something for someone like they do now. I wondered if perhaps they wre engaged. On a hunch, I got on the Lonergan forum at www.Genforum.com, which I use a lot, and asked if anyone knew if a "Myrtle Baldwin" had married into their Lonergan family.

I had an e-mail waiting for me this morning. A complete stranger had gone into Ancestry and done a lookup for me, and found a Myrtle born in 1877 in Brodhead, who was married to a David Lonergan and had a son named David Lonergan. Did I think it was the right one?

This family was all over around Brodhead, and several of the members were married there. So I was already excited.

Upon more inspection, her parents WERE the couple I hoped they were, and instantly I had an entire family, and three censuses worth of information to add to the book!

This is the third hunch that has played out incredibly successfully for me. It may not seem like anything at the time, but you never know. Never discount a theory because it seems far-fetched!

fsc
(still squealing and jumping up and down here...) :D

[Cooley Hurd]

1. I agree - so far, my hunches have been 100% correct...

I was having difficulty in tracing my paternal great-Grandmother's genealogy - she had a rather common surname of RAYMOND, she went by both her given and middle names, and there were no less than four female Raymonds with her given and middle names born in NY in 1855. It wasn't until I traveled back to my hometown and looked up her obit on microfilm at the local library that I knew which one of the four was her in the 1860/1870 US Censuses. Before doing that, I'd settled on one that seemed to fit - basing my conclusion on one factor: Even though her husband was born and raised in NJ, they somehow settled ultimately in Auburn, NY. I assumed they moved there because my great-grandmother was originally from the area. One of the Raymond census records was from Seneca Falls, NY (about 15 miles from Auburn).

Turns out, I was correct in my assumption, as her obit stated that she was indeed born in Seneca Falls, NY.:thumbsup:

[fudge stripe cookays]

2. Yay!

That's one thing I cannot live without, and those are my Wisconsin obituaries! 3/4 of my genealogy has been done solely with those!

GOD I wish Godfrey would add some more years of Beloit newspapers to their inventory! I'm going completely insane trying to find some of these people, and I can't access the papers.

Does anyone else live in a completely podunk town that won't get stuff through I.L.L? I tried doing it out here, and the town says Madison would charge them, so they won't get me microfilms.

The Dallas library refuses to do it, because only Dallas city residents can use the ILL. Why the hell did I move to this stupid, redneck, piece of crap town? At least if I lived in Dallas, I'd be able to get the midrofilm I need!

Congrats on finding granny, Cooley!
fsc :thumbsup: