Don’t you just hate it when you search for an ancestor on FamilySearch and you get a hit for what you know is the correct record, and then you see the dreaded “No image available”?  Well last week in the Family History Library, the absolute nicest woman, Sister Hays, taught me a nifty little trick that just might get you around the “No image available” roadblock.  Here’s how you do it…

In my example I searched for a marriage record for Edward Barrett.  I knew from his death certificate his wife’s name was Catherine.  He was born about 1855 so I guessed he was married between 1875 and 1890.  I plugged that into FamilySearch and the second result looked promising.

​I clicked on the document icon and I could see a little more.

Note, the dreaded “No image available.”  Well, Sister Hays, sitting right next to me said “I maybe know a way around that.  It doesn’t always work, but let’s try it.”   And so we did.
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Step 1 is to copy the film number, as I’ve highlighted in yellow.  Next, go to the FamilySearch catalog search and in the box for Film/Fiche number, paste the film number, like so….

Click on Search, and you’ll get… Search Results. Fancy that!

“Marriage records, 1801-1951” is a hyperlink to the next screen.  You’ll have to scroll down to see the film notes, but lookey here, there’s a camera icon.  That means pictures!

I got an array of thumbnails of microfilm images.  For this particular film there are two batches of marriage records, the first from 1875-1884, and the second batch from 1885 to 1890.  Edward and Kate were married in 1887 so I worked my way down to the second set.  The first few pages in each set of records are an index, which appears to be alphabetical by the first letter of the groom’s name, and then in somewhat chronological order by the date the marriage was recorded.

​Edward’s index entry was found on image 396 of 768.

​This told me their marriage record would be on page 420.  (Note this is not image 420.  It’s the register page labeled 420, which happens to be on image 646.)  And look at the fruits of my labor!

It's the sideways one in the upper left corner.  And here in all it's glory...

This little trick doesn’t work with every “No image available” record.  But thanks to Sister Hays I now know a workaround to try. 

​I’m certainly thankful for the week and a half of research I’ve been able to do at this wonderful library with its incredibly helpful staff.  If you haven’t been here, definitely put it on your research bucket list.

dIn honor of Mother’s Day, I’d like to share some stories written by my husband’s grandmother, Nellie Kathleen Aldrich Roddy.    These stories are excerpted from a handwritten manuscript which starts “My grandson, Mark Robert Roddy, asked me to write about my early childhood days, so I’ve tried to go back and remember my time from 1907 thru about 1930.”

“I was born 9 Dec 1907 in our home on East High St. in Springfield, Ohio.  I already had a sister, Mildred born on Maiden Lane, Springfield, Ohio on 14 Oct 1906.  My brother, Harry P. Aldrich was born 18 Mar 1909 on Lagonda Ave, two months after our father Harry P. Aldrich died, 4 Jan 1909.

“My mother, Hannah e Allender Aldrich was born 4 Nov 1883 near Romney, W. Va. and was left with three small children to care for alone.  She could have placed us in a Home operated by the Junior Order of American Mechanics Lodge, that my father belonged to, but she never did.  She told me later, years later, that if she had had to, she would have placed us in the Home, which was located in Marion, Ohio, and got work close by, as parents were not permitted to work in the Home with their children there.  However, instead she rented a large house near the shop area where there were many working men and operated a Hotel, on a small scale.  Her brother Riley and some of his friends rented rooms and slept and ate there, and during dinner time, many other workers ate meals there during their work days.

“With three small children to care for, all under three years of age, feed us, make our clothes and do all that was necessary to grow us up, she was a busy young woman about 26 years of age.  She had hired girls to help her but she said some of them were “tired” girls…

“She was very frugal and could “make out” on what little income women were able to earn in those times.  City life was not to her liking, the only real and decent way of life was farming.  She rented a farm in the area of Enon, Ohio and with the help of her brother Riley, took up farming with her little family….
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“My mother was an exacting and honorable taskmaster and would not tolerate slipshod farming nor mistreatment of the animals, mostly horses, all all farming then depended on “horse power.”  My mother then gave up farming, her love of a way of life, due to lack of help and moved back to Springfield with her little family.

“There in town she bought a large double house (an almost unheard of event for a widow with three children) on W. High St., and rented one half of the house and we all lived in the other half.  This must have been in 1911 or 1912 because I went to Grayhill School a few months and I would have been 6 in Dec. 1913.”

I love to have these stories of Hannah written by her daughter.  In them you can hear a daughter’s pride and admiration for her mother and see the strength and fortitude of a young woman, dealt a pretty tough hand, who got up every morning, put one foot in front of the other, and did what needed to get done.  Hats off to you, Grammy Hannah and Grandma Nellie.