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.

This and That

I've been corresponding with my newfound Henderson/Uptergrove cousin Jackie. We've been trading pictures. I've sent Jackie a gedcom so that she can review what I have and fill in missing info where she is able and/or suggest corrections. I've already had to go through and change Trueman to Truman. I've also sent her a few scanned documents just so she has them.

The weather this past weekend must have improved or people got cabin fever because I had lots of pictures posted to Find a Grave memorials. One gentleman posted eight.

I've successfully located obituaries that I've missed in the past. Look at the following Find A Grave memorials:

--Harry Thompson McGuire: 34993552
--Helen Berdelle (McGuire) Hager: 47060373

With Helen's obit, I could finally marry off her daughter Mary Olive Hager to John Ed Wiebers. Thank you Newspaper Archive. In a routine search, I found that the Wiebers had received an award that is bestowed on a family or individual who has provided support, dedication, and loyalty to Northeastern Junior College over the years. The award is presented during the college’s commencement exercise each spring. The Wiebers famiy received the award in 2004. Click here to read more about the award.

And now it's back to lurking for obits...such a ghoulish activity but necessary.

Custom IDs and Barbara Jean (Boyce) McGuire

I've written before about having a custom ID that I use to code my files. Here's a list.

F = I've made an entry on Find a Grave.
O = I've found an obituary. The ideal custom ID is FO.
D = The person is dead or probably should be dead. I may or may not have a date. If I don't have a date, I have to look for one. If I do have a date, I need to find an obit.
L = The person is getting older and I should be searching the Web for an obit.
- = The person is most likely living and not about to die anytime soon.

The genealogy world with its vitals can sometimes have a bit of a ghoulish aspect to it. My brother-in-law fell over laughing when I told him that L stood for lurking and that I routinely lurk on the Web looking for obits. He immediately demanded to see the custom ID on his entry in my database. He's not quite old enough yet to have earned an "L" status.

All of this leads to Barbara. I was lurking on the Net...looking at all my L people...when I came upon Barbara's obit. As usual it provided all sorts of information that I didn't have before. Click here to see the obit.

Unfortunately, the obit doesn't include a burial location. So I've changed Barbara's custom ID to O. If a memorial doesn't turn up on Find A Grave in the next few weeks, I'll have to decide whether to contact a family member. I can use Pipl.com to get contact info for the people mentioned in the obit.