Another Encounter with a Kind Librarian

I asked and Deb delivered.

Late (too late) last night, I emailed The Millicent Library asking about the procedure for requesting an obituary, and if there was a fee, could I send it electronically. I've learned from past requests to include the details of what I'm looking for. In this case it was an obituary for Alfred John Chasse.

Before noon today I had the scanned obituary in my email.

Fairhaven Star, Fairhaven, Massachusetts, 25 Jun 1964

ALFRED J. CHASSE

Funeral services for Alfred J. Chasse, 69, of 14 Harbor View avenue took place Friday morning at the Fairhaven funeral home. Mr. Chasse died June 16 at Union hospital, New Bedford.

A native of Biddeford, Me., he had lived here for the last 27 years. Prior to his retirement, he was employed by Revere Copper & Brass, Inc., New Bedford. He was a veteran of World War I.

He leaves his widow, Mrs. Sarah Jane (Anderson) Chasse; a son, John A. Chasse of this town; a daughter, Mrs. Homer Gracia, also of Fairhaven; a brother George Chasse of Staten Island, New York City; five grandchildren, and three great grandchildren.

Again I have no burial location. I've created a Find A Grave memorial for Sarah (76103139) and I requested a photo, hoping to get a shot of a double stone with Alfred. I'm assuming he was buried back in Biddeford with Sarah. I'll check with the funeral home if possible too but I haven't had much luck with that method. The other option, since I now have a complete date of death, is to look for a death certificate and see if the burial location is on it. I'll update when I find out more. 

Puzzling Your Way Through to Answers

When you start researching the spouses of sixth cousins, the chances of actually knowing the person (or your cousin for that matter) are pretty slim. Don't get me wrong, I have introduced myself to extended family via mail, phone, and Facebook. Facebook is particularly fun because you get a window into distant relatives' worlds and they get to peek into your world too. I have several distant cousins in far flung places who have become Facebook friends.

When I search, my usual modus operandi is to do wide and then targeted Google searches and Pipl searches. Between the two websites, I can usually match up someone who is still living (or recently dead) and lots of time I end up with contact info in case I want to contact the person. These types of searches rarely fail. However, when they do, it can be a long slog to finding the info you need.

The search for Harold Iverson was one of those rare failures. I had a problem...too little information and too many search returns. A Google search returned several results for Harold Iverson...but no hint on which Harold is the right one.

When I started, here's what I knew: Harold Iverson was married to Consuelo D. Mangano b. 22 Sep 1931 Saint Louis, Missouri. Consuelo is a McKee cousin of mine via her mother. Consuelo's parents were:
Roy O. Mangano
b. 18 Feb 1917 Saint Louis, Missouri
d. 26 Jan 1996 Saint Louis, Missouri (FAG 60855895)
Mildred H. McKee
b. 12 Aug 1911 Central Township, Saint Louis County, Missouri
d. 14 Mar 2006 Saint Louis, Missouri (FAG 60062371)

Roy's obituary said that Connie was married to Harold Iverson but it gave no location for the Iversons. Mildred's obituary said that Consuelo was married to Hal Iverson and it also gave no location. However, I still had a new piece of information. Consuelo and Harold went by the nick names Connie and Hal. When I searched for Connie and Hal Iverson, I found an obituary...and a location...Lakewood (Pierce County), Washington.

Robert Gene Iverson 1953 - 2002
Bobby left this life on March 20th to meet Grandpa Roy. He left behind countless memories of love and beauty with his mom and dad, Connie and Hal Iverson of Lakewood, WA; his twin sister, Betty Jean Ashby-Iverson of St. Louis, MO; his sister, Karen Porras of Aurora, CO; his brother Steven of West Palm Beach, FL; his brother Kenneth of Tacoma, WA; and his beloved partner, Michael Lyons of North Bend, WA. Memorial services will be held at 2:00 PM Monday, April 1 at the Bonney-Watson Funeral Home, Capitol Hill, 1732 Broadway, Seattle; (206) 322-0013. Cremated remains will be committed to the waters near The Dry Tortugas, FL at a later date.
Pub Date: 3/29/2002 Tacoma News Tribune 

Other circumstances (Grandpa Roy and the Saint Louis connection) gave me the confidence that I had the right family and the right location. From this point forward, finding an address in city directories was easy. I could match the addresses for Hal and Connie. In addition, the city directories included Hal's date of birth, 19 Aug 1928. 

Having a date of birth meant that I could search the social security death index. I found that a Harold Edward Iverson b. 19 Aug 1928 had died in Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington on 23 Jul 2006. Lakewood, Washington is a suburb of Tacoma. In addition, the index noted that the social security number had been issued in Wisconsin before 1951. Perhaps Hal was born in Wisconsin. 

For cross confirmation, I checked the Tacoma newspaper (The News Tribune) and found a death notice that said the Harold E. Iverson of Lakewood had died 23 Jul 2006...no birth location. 

I'm continuing to work on tracing information for the Iverson family, including hunting for a burial location. If I get too antsy, I can always contact Connie. However, from my point of view, I still have lots of work to do before I try contacting Connie. I'll post an update when I find more to say about the Iverson family. 

In the meantime, the point of this post is to examine what you know and see if you can put the puzzle pieces together. The most benign pieces of information--in my case, nick names--might be just the thin trail of info you need for success. 

Staying Connected Pays--Hinerman Update

When we last left Catherine Agnes (McKinley) Hinerman, I had requested a death certificate. Requesting the certificate was the suggestion of a kindly stranger, who sent me the address for an ordering spot. The objective was to see if the certificate included the name of the cemetery where Catherine is buried. It did!

You can find Catherine's memorial on Find a Grave (76781021).

So with a little hint and $9.00, I was able to change Catherine's custom ID from O for obituary to FO for Find A Grave and obituary. If you missed the posts about the custom ID field, I use a series of IDs in a custom ID field that my software includes to help me target my searches.

Find A Grave Bonus

Well, what I didn't get on the two obits that came in today, I did get from a Find A Grave photo request. I asked for a photo of the grave site of Elsie M. (Beane) Anderson (74316732).  The volunteer added Elsie's husband's info since he also appears on the grave marker. I've asked the volunteer to transfer the memorial to me.

Edward Michael G. Anderson
b. Dec 1901 Ashton Under Lyne, County Lancashire, England
d. 1964 probably in Massachusetts, possibly in Palmer but maybe in Springfield (FAG 76508332)

I can't find a social security death index entry for him...the quick and easy way to death info. However, with at least a year of death, I can begin to search for more records.

Pitfalls of Obits with No Burials

I tracked down two more obituaries. The problem is that neither one includes a burial location so that means no Find A Grave memorial...yet. My next best bet is to write to the funeral home, which is in the obits, to see if someone there can look up where they are buried. I'll post again when I figure this out.

• Janet (Chasse) GraciaNew Bedford Standard Times, New Bedford Massachusetts, 21 Apr 1990, Page 5 B
• Homer Gracia
  New Bedford Standard Times, New Bedford, Massachusetts, 7 Sep 1993

Staying Connected Pays--Hinerman Update (29 Aug Post)

When you create a blog with few restrictions on it and start posting, it's like putting a message in a bottle and dropping it off a cliff into the sea. You have no idea what the results might be.

In addition to maintaining my own blog, I follow several of them, I'm active on Facebook, and I'm a member of a genealogy group on LinkedIn. I'm a great believer in posting info anywhere and everywhere because you never know where a person might be searching. Also, posting anywhere and everywhere improves your chances of having your entry turn up in a general search using a search engine...any search engine.

Responding to a Question Pays Off in Unexpected Way

The LinkedIn group is particularly active. Members of the group post questions. I read them and the responses, and occasionally post a comment myself. One post that came through recently was asking for tips on newspaper research.

If you've read just a few posts on my blog, you'll see I'm in constant pursuit of obituaries along with other newspaper articles so that I can post information on Find A Grave. In response to the LinkedIn question, I posted a comment with links to examples of successes in my blog. I've been told that part of the value of my blog is that I tell readers how I'm doing what I'm doing rather than simply reporting my successes...sort of case studies on the go.

Well my email this a.m. brought an unexpected result. A fellow researcher and LinkIn genealogy group subscriber (Betty) seems to have read my post on LinkedIn and followed the links to read the posts that I included as examples. One of the examples was the Hinerman post. In that post, I lamented that I have all of this info about Hinerman but I can't add it to Find A Grave because all I know is that she's buried in Belleville, Illinois. I did a quick look for an index in Illinois but didn't find much that would help. Since I do zero research in Minnesota where Hinerman died, I moved on to other searches.

In her email, Betty sent me an address for the Minnesota Historical Society, which has a death certificate index. For $9.00, you can order copies online (I ordered). As Betty pointed out to me in her email, death certificates frequently include burial locations or the local funeral home that might be able to tell me where Hinerman is buried.

Betty also suggested I try Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness for a volunteer. Again, if you've read my blog, you know that RAOGK is near and dear to my heart. However, I decided that $9.00 was cheap enough that I just ordered the certificate. The $9.00 is also a passive way to donate to a historical society...another activity I try to engage in as much as I am able.

Upshot of this Post

Responding to other people's questions--attempting to help--frequently is returned in kind. However, no one will know about your questions/problems unless you're out there and engaged in the give and take of information. My advise to any genealogist is to get involved in technology. Being engaged in technology allows you to advertise your project and your challenges. Kind strangers...who sometimes turn out to be distant relatives...will help you when they know what you're looking for. You can see that truth time and again in posts on my blog. Creating a blog is easy, interactive, and fun. So if you've hesitated, you might want to reconsider and get in on all the action.

Sarah Jane (Anderson) Chasse 1892-1979 England, Maine, Massachusetts

The McArthur Public Library in Biddeford, Maine comes through again.

BIDDEFORD--Sarah J. Chasse, 89, of 179 Hill St. died sudenly Wednesday at the Webber Hospital.

She was born in England, April 9, 1890, daughter of Joseph and Julia Pierce Anderson, and came here when she was two years old. She attended Biddeford schools.

She and her husband Albert Chasse had lived in Massachusetts for more than 40 years. Mrs. Chasse retired to Biddeford 10 years ago, after his death.

Mrs. Chesse was a member of Christ Episcopal Church.

Survivors are a son, John Chasse of Fairhaven, Mass.; a daughter, Janet Gracia of Rochester, Mass.; a brother, Richard Anderson of biddefore; two sisters, Elizabeth Anderson and Jessie Anderson, both of Biddeford; and several grandchildren.

Calling hours will be held tonight from 7 to 9 at the Dennett and Craig Funeral Home, 365 Main St., Saco.

Friday calling hours will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Fairhaven Funeral Home, 177 Main St.

Services will be held Saturday at 9 a.m. at the funeral home. Interment will be in Riverside Cemetery, Fairhaven.

Here are Sarah's details:

Sarah Jane Andersonb. 9 Apr 1892 Ashton Town, Ashton-Under-Lyne, Lacanshire, England
d. 29 Aug 1979 Biddeford, York County, Maine
m. Before 1920 (I don't have exact date or place)
Alfred John Chasse (Albert in obit but that's an error)
b. 4 Oct 1895 Biddeford, York County, Maine
d. Jun 1964 Fairhaven, Bristol County, Massachusetts

Child 1:
Janet Chasse
b. 31 Dec 1920 Biddeford, York County, Maine
d. 31 Mar 1990 New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts
m. (I don't have date or place)
Homer Gracia
b. 27 Aug 1915 Where?, Massachusetts
d. 5 Sep 1993 New Bedford Bristol County, Massachusetts

Child 2:
John Anderson Chase
John and his family are still living as near as I can tell.

I've created a Find A Grave memoral for Sarah (76103139) and I requested a photo. I'm hoping she has a double stone so that I can find Alfred too. I've also started seaching for obit and buial info on Sarah's daughter and son-in-law. I'll post updates when I find out more.

Frances A. (Rich) Eastman, 1910-1985, Maine

France A. (Rich) Eastman FAG memorial 75991662.
Gordon M. Eastman, Sr. FAG memorial 75991557.
Gordon M. Eastman, Jr. FAG memorial 75989267.
Patricia Lorraine (Eastman) Bryan FAG memorial 75992026.

If you are looking for information on this Eastman family, be sure the check http://network.mainegenealogy.net, which is the Maine Genealogy Network. Gordon (Sr.) was a Lovell Selectman and he gave several interviews through his life, which you can find at this website.

I've added basic info and linking to the Eastman memorials and I've requested photographs. I've been parked on the Maine Genealogy Network and have lots of info to add to Gordon's FAG memorial...but it's late. So this task will have to come at a later date.