MARY KIRCHER RODDY
  • Home
  • Coaching and Research
  • Lectures
    • Upcoming and Past Presentations
  • Searching For Stories blog
  • Publications
  • Contact
  • Resources
  • Privacy Policy

Searching for Stories

Wringing Hidden Clues from Documents

7/25/2017

2 Comments

 
Boy, wouldn’t you like to be able to find your great-grandparents marriage record?  But you feel like you have no idea where to start.  Just take it one step at a time, and wring every clue out of every document, even those clues that are hidden.
 
I’m searching for the marriage record of Joseph Lawson and his wife, Katherine Fay.  They married in 1894, according to a history book about the maritime history of the Great Lakes.[1]  Though the 1890 US Federal census was destroyed, I’m fortunate that New York State took a census in 1892 and I’ve found likely candidates for both Joseph and Katherine in Buffalo.

But the big problem with that 1892 census is there are no addresses on it.   If I knew what her address was in 1892, I’d have some idea where she likely went to church, which might give me a clue where she was married so I can get the parish register.  But with no address on the census, and the young lady I’m looking at a servant girl who isn’t listed in a city directory, I’m kind of stuck. 
​
Katie is listed Fourth Election District of the Sixth Ward.  I could probably do some research to figure out what that is, but it may be a big area, and I still won’t know her address.   But I can dig a little into Katie’s household. 



Picture

​The 1892 census in Buffalo doesn’t separate the households in any way.  Katie is the third name down, then I see a different surname, and then a bunch of people named Dechert, which looks like a new household to me.  So I just need to scroll up Katie’s household in the previous column to see if I can find someone who looks like the head of Katie’s household.

The household has clerks and laborers, a hostler and some others, but as I scroll up, I see Francis McSherry a hotel keeper.  This looks like his household and the dozen or so names beneath his are boarders in his establishment.  

Picture

And I know a man with a hotel is likely to be listed in a city directory.  ​
Picture

393 Ellicott.  I have an address for Francis, which give me an address for Katie.  And using that same city directory I can see Joseph Lawson lived at 420 Fargo in Buffalo.
​
With that address it ought to be pretty easy to map the Catholic churches around their two addresses, and start looking for their marriage record.
 
Wring every clue out of your documents, even those hidden clues.


[1] Profile of Joseph Lawson from History of the Great Lakes,( http://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/GreatLakes/Documents/HGL2/default.asp?ID=s683 – accessed 25 July 2017)

2 Comments
Jackie Corrigan link
7/31/2017 07:25:29 am

Exactly! That's my favourite part of doing research, puzzling out all the different ways to find what you're looking for!

Reply
Judy Webster link
8/31/2017 12:10:15 am

What a great example of lateral thinking!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Mary Kircher Roddy is a genealogist, writer and lecturer, always looking for the story.  Her blog is a combination of the stories she has found and the tools she used to find them.

    Read more of Mary's writings at "Adventures of A Broad Abroad" and at Letters from Limerick

    Archives

    April 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016

    Categories

    All
    Achard
    Ahern
    Aldrich
    Amador County Genealogy
    Ancestry.com
    Archives
    Blair County
    Bradley Family
    Brannack
    Brannock
    Brown
    Brown Family
    California Genealogy
    Cemetery
    Census
    Citations
    City Directories
    Clark County
    Death Records
    DNA Strategies
    Education
    Enslaved People Research
    FamilySearch
    Family Stories
    Fields Family
    Freuhauf
    Genealogy Conferences
    Genealogy Education
    German Research
    Germany
    Graham Family
    Grandparents
    Hardy
    Hartmann
    Indexes
    Ireland
    Kircher
    Letters
    Lunenburg
    Map
    Mapping Tools
    Midwest Resources
    Midwives
    Military
    Newspaper
    Newspapers
    New York
    Ohio
    Pennsylvania
    ProGen
    Railroad
    Records
    Research Techniques
    San Francisco
    Sonoma County Genealogy
    Spreadsheets
    Springer
    Tiburon
    Timelines
    Virginia
    Virginia Genealogy
    Vital Records
    War
    Webster
    World War II Research
    Writing

     Subscribe in a reader

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Picture
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Coaching and Research
  • Lectures
    • Upcoming and Past Presentations
  • Searching For Stories blog
  • Publications
  • Contact
  • Resources
  • Privacy Policy