Librarian Terri in Clovis, New Mexico

Genealogists have the unique experience of occasionally running into a librarian who is nothing short of an angel. In pursuit of obituaries in New Mexico, I happened to pick the wrong library but did I ever get the right librarian—one Terri Gleaton at the Clovis-Carver Public Library...an angel.

The obit I was looking for (Gayle Urul Lawson, F.A.G. memorial 67717425) wasn’t in Terri’s library. So Terri sent an email to the New Mexico State Library. The library—in record time I might add—got the obit back to Terri and she very kindly forwarded it on to me. The entire exchange took two days—one day of Terri emailing me and a few hours on day two of Terri emailing the state library, and then forwarding the obit to me.

Terri also explained the process for getting obituaries in New Mexico.

1. Enter the request with the local library. If you’re looking for an obituary in Clovis, they have an index you can check: http://www.usgwarchives.org/nm/curry/currobit.htm
2. If the local library can’t find it in their collection, the library can forward your request to the state library to see if they can fulfill your request.

If the state library finds the obit, they forward a PDF to the local library, which can then forward it on to you. In the case of the Clovis-Carver Public Library, the service is free as long as you are able to accept a PDF via email.

When I checked the Clovis obituary index, I found five entries for obituaries I need. The Clovis-Carver Public Library has made this remarkably easy to do. Terri makes the entire exchange a pleasure.

Same Deppe Boys...a Few Years Later

From left to right, Clifford, Aril, and Ernest. I don't know anything about the dog. Perhaps a member of the Deppe family can tell me the dog's name.

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Three Deppe Boys

From left to right, Clifford Earl (b. 18 Jul 1915), Bourbon Ernest (b. 24 Jan 1918), and Aril Eugene (b. 4 Feb 1917)

They are the older children of Thomas Earl Deppe (b. 6 Sep 1889 Steeleville, IL) and Hazel Cliff Leary (b. 15 Dec 1897 Millstadt, IL).

Hazel died suddenly in 1929. You can find more information for Hazel on her Find A Grave memorial #67450296.

Here is Hazel's McKee line back:

Hazel Cliff Leary-->Margaret Susanna (Leemon) Leary-->Margaret Susanna (McKee) Leemon-->William C. McKee

Corbitt Marie (Collins) Knopp went by Marie

I've continued to pursue death dates and obituaries for everyone in my list with a custom ID of D (dead or probably dead based on their date of birth). It's been slow going as I've been tracking down local libraries and contacting them to see if they offer an obituary lookup service.

In addition, I've added a few requests to Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness. RAOGK volunteer Raymond in the Dallas, Texas area responded almost immediately with an obituary for Marie.

Marie already had a memorial on Find A Grave; however, it was under Marie. Most of the records I have found for her were under Corbitt. Therefore, I added a second memorial and cross-referenced it to the first momorial. See 6734531 and 67581124 on Find A Grave.

Raymond also told me that he couldn't find an obituary for Marie's husband:
Donald Richard Knopp
b. 12 Jun 1926 Minneapolis, MN
d. 18 Mar 2005 Irving, TX

Marie is buried in a national cemetery. Therefore, I'm assuming that Donald was also buried in the same cemetery. I've requested a photo of Marie's gravesite in the hopes that the F.A.G. volunteer will notice and take a photograph of Donald's gravesite too. We'll see.

In the meantime, I'm still in hot pursuit of the right library. When I'm successful, I usually end up making a donation to the library when they don't have a fee for the service. I figure if I have to go back to them a little bit of cash will grease my way into their good graces. After all, many times, librarians are looking up obits for me in their spare time...time that they could use for their own pursuits.

Joseph went by J. C.

One of the best aspects of using the Custom IDs for each of my family members is that it causes me to concentrate on the entries that need work. As I've said, I'm working my way through the Ds (dead or should be dead based on DOB). I do two things with D entries:

1. Concentrate on getting death info if it's missing (date and place).
2. Figure out where I might find an obituary.

Thus it was with J. C. who was missing a date and place of death. Based on city directory entries in Ancestry, I knew his DOB was 30 Jul 1934. Based on family member's obituaries, I knew he was living until about 1995 but was dead by 2005 and that he lived in Mascoutah, Illinois. This information gave me a framework to search SSDI. But I couldn't find anything under Joseph. I finally searched for all McKee entries in Illinois with a date range and found him under J. C. with the correct DOB. Here's the entry:

Name: J. C. McKee
SSN: 494-36-0495
Born: 30 Jul 1934
Died: 15 Oct 1994
State (Year) SSN issued: Missouri (1951)

My next step of course it to try to figure out what newspaper his obituary might have appeared in. I'll also know to look under J. C. as well as Joseph C. Based on Pipl entries (www.pipl.com), J. C. and his wife Carol, have children, which puts me in touch with living relatives.

P. S. Forgot to mention that J. C. is the son of Ivan Joseph McKee (FAG memorial 7907325) and Emma Merdell Deppe (FAG memorial 7907322).

Genlighten Update

The researcher found half of the obituaries I requested. The only surprise was for John William and Jennie Elizabeth (McKee) Knierim. In looking at death certificates, they indicated that Oakhill Cemetery was in Illinois (I assumed the Sparta area). However, the obits indicated that Oak Hill was in Kirkwood, Missouri. When I checked Find A Grave, I found several Knierim in there, including John's father. So I was able to add the following memorials and request photos:

John William Knierim = 67267285
Jennie Elizabeth (McKee) Knierim = 67267620

Since I finally had a location for Jennie too, I got to publish the following as part of her memorial:

The Plaindealer, Sparta, IL, 25 Nov 1887
ONE SHOT, TWO TURKEYS
Miss Lizzie McKee, of Six Mile, should be voted the blue ribbon by the sportsmen of this section. One day last week a drove of wild turkeys made their appearance on the McKee farm and there being no men folks about the premises, she took down the old shotgun and went forth to do battle with the invaders. She fired one barrel and killed two, then the other barrel and killed one. Is there a better record in the Sparta Gun Club this season?

I spent a total of $30.00 to have a Missouri researcher look for 12 obituaries. The researcher found six. In addition, I now know that the six the researcher didn't find were not published in the Saint Louis area. I can switch to the Sparta, Illnois newspaper to see if obituaries were published there.

I've yet to hear from the researchers from Washington or Colorado.

Genlighten Update

I'm waiting and waiting...the researcher isn't communicating...you'd think that the researcher would at least give me a time frame...

Genlighten Update

The Genlighten researcher turned down the searches for James and Roger because I don't have an exact date of death. Can anyone reading this blog help? If yes, please post a comment.

James William McKee, d. Jan 1964, Maplewood, MO
Roger McKee, d. Mar 1979 Saint Louis, MO

Genlighten and Obituaries

As the editor of Florida Lines (FSGS newsletter), I try to keep abreast of anything new that develops so that I can alert users. So it was with Genlighten, which is a service that matches an info seeker and a local researcher. In most cases, researchers charge a minimal fee to look up info for you. I haven't been to Genlighten much lately. Mostly because they didn't have many researchers in geographic areas that were of interest to me. While I've been away, the list of researchers have grown. So I've booked the following obituary searches:

Earl C. Crain, d. 13 Aug 1999, Baldwin, MO
John William Knierim, d. 12 Jun 1940 Kirkwood, MO
Roy O. Mangano, d. 26 Jan 1996 Saint Louis, MO
Olive (McClure) McGuire, d. 14 Dec 1919 Colorado Springs, CO
Mamie Alice (Boyd) McGuire, d. 10 Jan 1974 Colorado Springs, CO
Ellen Ida (Jones) McKee, d. 7 Jan 1949 Firman Desloge Hospital, St. Louis, MO
Helena (Reitz) McKee, d. 8 Sep 1951 Saint Louis, MO
Ira Jesse McKee, 29 Jul 1954 Maplewood, MO
James McKee, d. 6 Jan 1924 Saint Louis, MO
James William McKee, Jan 1964, Maplewood, MO
Katheryn M. McKee, d. 20 Dec 1989 Saint Louis, MO
Roger McKee, d. Mar 1979 Saint Louis, MO
Minnie Florence (Plumber) McKinley, d. 9 May 1908 Saint Louis, MO
Roy George Paglusch, d. 19 Aug 1947 Saint Louis, MO
Roy Leonard Steele, d. 11 Mar 1986 Puyallup, WA

We'll see how good the Genlighten researchers are.

Ruby Thea (White) Bogue

My run of luck in locating death info on women continues. This time it's Ruby. You can find her details in the Find A Grave memorial 66740589. Here's Ruby's line going back.

Ruby Thea (White) Bogue-->Virgil Lee White-->Alice Mae (McKee) White Howard-->Jesse Alexander McKee-->Alexander McKee (Jr.)-->Alexander McKee (Sr.)

You can find brief bios for both Alexander (Jr.) and (Sr.) on this blog.

In the late 1800's Jesse Alexander McKee moved from Randolph County, Illinois to Williamsville, Wayne County, Missouri where he bought land and made a living as a farmer. On 4 Dec 1890 Alexander married Ceclia Adeline Skief in Butler County, Missouri. Jesse and Ceclia had six children. Alice May McKee was their youngest child.

Alice Mae McKee grew up in Williamsville, and on 31 Aug 1914, she married Grant Washington White. Alice and Grant had nine children. Virgil Lee White was child number three.

Virgil Lee White grew up in Southern Missouri--mostly in New Madrid County. On 18 Apr 1942, he married Mary Josephine Hayes. Virgil and Mary had five children. Ruby was their oldest child.

On Find A Grave, you can track back through a few people. The details of their lives are included in bios.

Billie Jo (Green) Neal

Billie who was born in 1937 had a custom ID of L (lurk), which means that I should be checking the Web for an obituary. I've been through my Ls at least three times in 2010 and never found an obituary for Billie. However, in this pass, I was looking for her husband and found her instead.

Billie was married to J. C. Neal. I've found all sorts of records for J. C.; however, none of the records say what J. C. stands for. At this point, I'm about convinced that his name is just the initials J. C. and that the initials don't stand for anything. I'm hoping that somebody reading this post will correct the error of my ways and tell me what J. C. stands for.

Anyway, Billie's obit opened the door to so much information. Her obit included her marriage date and place, the date of J. C. Neal's death, and of course, a list of survivors.

Billie's burial location also lead me to the Sulphur Bluff (New) Cemetery Registry, which included information that I was missing on J. C.'s parents: John Plenket Neal and Effie Mae Jackson (who is a Burns/Booth decendant). Both of J. C.'s parents are in the same cemetery. With dates, I was able to backtrack into records and correctly identify records for John and Effie.

You can find the following on Find A Grave:
Billie Jo (Green) Neal - 41324538
J. C. Neal - 66226816
John Plenket Neal - 66226983
Effie Mae (Jackson) Neal - 66227070
James Henry Jackson - 59886089
Pearl Elizabeth (Burns) Jackson - 59886062

Pearl is the daughter of William B. Burns (F.A.G.7029432)and Sarah C. Booth (Bill and Sally).

In this period of searching for my Ls, I've found lots of women. The obituaries help so much in identifying exactly who they are.

Next, I'm going to be concentrating on my Ds. These are people who I know are dead (I have a death date and record), or based on their date of birth, are most likely no longer living. I need to find dates of death and then pursue obituaries.