legacy solve brick walls for researchers

October 04, 2008 01:23 am

— When we can solve one of our brick walls, it is a day to celebrate. How many years we have waited to find the answer to one of our family questions and suddenly one little piece of paper can solve the puzzle. This week I had one of those days, when I received one of the many obituaries that I have been requesting from various Indiana libraries.
Mary Hines Stevens, my great-great-great-grandmother was listed on the 1850 Surry County, N.C., census with her husband Archibald, three sons and three daughters. By 1860 the family had moved to Parke County, Ind., and Mary was not with the family. I assumed that she had died in North Carolina or died after she arrived in Indiana.
This week the obituary for Joseph A. Stevens arrived as requested and what a well written obituary it was. It told how Joseph, now 84 years old, had gone to live with his daughter after the death of his wife in 1912. When his daughter came home from a Tuesday night meeting she thought her father had retired early so she in turn went to bed. The next morning she found her father at the bottom of the basement stairs, unconscious. They took him to the Vermillion County Hospital where he died the next day, April 21, 1938.
Joseph was born March 8, 1854, to Archie and Mary Hines Stevens in the state of North Carolina. While he was young they moved to Indiana, but on the way his mother had died in Tennessee.
This finally answered the question as to the place of death for Mary. I may never locate the exact site in Tennessee, but if I knew the route they had taken (they moved between 1855-1860) it might make it easier to search for the specific county. A study of the routes used during that time period could help find the area they traveled through on their way to Tangier, Parke County, Indiana.
When Joe was 18 years old he united with the Methodist Linebarger Chapel near West Union, Ind. He married Miss Martha Alice Life April 2, 1874. There were 11 children born of this union, four dying in infancy.
In March 1909, the oldest daughter, Mary Elsie Stevens Dill died leaving two small children, Joe and Doris Dill. Because two Dill children are buried in the Sixteen Graveyard at Tangier, Parke County, Ind., with the rest of the Stevens family I had again assumed that these children died as infants.
When I searched the census records I did find Doris Dill living with an aunt at the age of 16, but have not found Joe.
Joseph's survivors were listed as three sons, John of Peoria, Ill., William and Frank of near Attica, Ind.; three daughters, Mrs. Fred Shalley of Montezuma, Mrs. Helen Bowman and Mrs. Irene Huerger of Indianapolis.
I have been successful in finding Alice M. Shalley and two of the sons, but the rest of the family has eluded me for now. At least the children have been identified.
The funeral services were held in the Friends Church in Tangier and burial took place in the Sixteen Graveyard. The Friends Church is across the street from the cemetery and it was convenient for the services. Most of Joe's family have been buried in the cemetery including his father Archibald and they all have tombstones.
On Wednesday I took my sister to the Oklahoma Historical Society Library to do some newspaper research. We did not know the name of the person we were looking for nor the date, but it was something that my sister remembered happening when she was a child and she wanted to see if she could learn the man's name.
There was an oilfield accident when we lived in Pauls Valley and members of the injured individual's family stayed with our parents. Our father gave a blood transfusion (while sitting in a chair) to the injured man and all this made an impression on my young sister. I did not remember anyone staying with our family so it was determined that I was away attending college at East Central in Ada. We then determined the date based on where we lived at the time and when I began my college year.
We found the newspaper for Pauls Valley, Garvin County and my sister found the article about the man's death which stated that he lived in Seminole before coming to Pauls Valley. With the name of the individual and the death date we were then able to find the Seminole County newspaper with his obituary listed.
It took us approximately two hours to find both the articles and make our copies. While my sister was searching for her article, I took time to look up two obituaries. It was much easier to have the names and the dates of death to search for mine, but if you are determined you can find your information using either method.
When sending in queries or sharing information write to Relatively Speaking, P.O. Drawer 1058, Norman, OK 73070 or e-mail Darlene Shawn at Djshawn636@aol.com.