Category: Research

Taking a Break from Ancestry.com

10/1/2013

Since I first started researching my genealogy and my husband's genealogy almost three years ago, I've had a pretty constant relationship with Ancestry.com. I have a U.S. membership on a six-month renewal schedule. Up until recently, I know that what I paid to maintain the subscription was well worth it, as far as the quality and quantity of records that I found through the site. My subscription is up for renewal in early November, and I have decided that I am going to cancel it, at least for now. I feel like, even when I manually search some of their non-indexed and more 'obscure' data sets , I still struggle to uncover new and/or helpful documents pertaining to our families. So now, I don't feel as if the subscription cost is justified, especially when I can use the money I save to order other state and government documents that will be of more help. I know that Ancestry is constantly adding and expanding document sets, but none of their recent additions have been helpful to my family. That could change in the future, so our relationship is really just 'on a break' right now.

I've also found Ancestry to be a bit of a time sink for me; I wander randomly through different branches of our trees, searching for anything new to add. After doing family history research for several years, I now know of so many other ways in which to obtain documents - other websites, genealogy libraries, government agencies - and I have a backlog of non-Ancestry leads to pursue that I feel like I may never get to if I keep 'putzing around' on Ancestry too much.

Of course, I have electronic and paper copies of all the records I've found on Ancestry, and I maintain my own family history websites where they are located as well, so I don't feel like I'm losing anything by not having access to the documents through Ancestry. I also will still continue to use my Family Tree Maker program on my desktop computer.

I feel like this will be a 'liberating' experience for me - being away from Ancestry for a bit. What about you fellow family history researchers? Do you ever take a break from Ancestry for awhile?

©2013, copyright Emil Kowalski Schroeder

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Sophia Krupa's Birth and Baptism Record

8/28/2013

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My great-grandmother, Sophia Krupa, immigrated to America in 1910 and married my great-grandfather, Michael Bodziony in November 1911. According to her naturalization papers, she was born in Skrudzina, Poland, a small town that was, at the time of her birth (1888), part of Austria-Hungary. When I first learned of her birthplace a couple of years ago, I went to FamilySearch.org to see if they had a microfilm that covered this geographic area and time frame. I saw that they DID have microfilmed records for Skrudzina, but I did not order the film at the time because I had no time to go to my Family History Center and look through the reel. So instead, I ordered a copy of Sophia's application for a Social Security number. Since this form was filled out directly by Sophia herself, it's first hand knowledge of her birth date and parents' names. On it, she lists her birth date as 30 Mar 1888, which is exactly the same birth date as what is listed on her naturalization documents. Her parents are listed as Joseph Krupa and Katherine Mourdas.

Fast forward to about six weeks ago. Some of the birth records on the Skrudzina microfilm have been indexed and are now searchable on FamilySearch. I find two Krupa families in Skrudzina that are having children around the time Sophia is born:

1.) Joseph Krupa and Catharina Czyrpak, House #16: Children born 1883, 1884, 1885 (none named Sophia)

2.) Paul Krupa and Sophia Hejmej, House #51: Children born 1886, 1890, 1892 (all boys)

So, there IS a Joseph and a Catharine there; Catharine's maiden name is different than what I was looking for, but no baby in 1888. Apart from these families, there is one more 'Krupa' birth record from Skrudzina that I find in the index:

Indexed Baptism Record for Sophia Krupa, FamilySearch

The child's first name and birth date match exactly from what I have found in other sources. Her mother's first name matches the Social Security application and her last name matches my great-grandmother's. But no father listed. I requested a copy of the record through FamilySearch's photoduplication service. Here it is, record #4:

She was illegitimate and no father is listed. Her mother was Catharina, daughter of Jacob Krupa and Mariae Kotodziej. Also, Catharina lived in House #51, which is where Paul Krupa and Sophia Hejmej also lived at the time. Paul and Sophia Krupa were likely related, but how? And were there any other Krupas living in Skrudzina (other than those of child-bearing age)? I need to order the microfilm and look through the whole thing carefully.

I did a quick search of Jacob Krupa and Mariae Kotodziej, and found six indexed baptism records for their children, ranging from 1843 to 1865. However, none indicated the name of Catharina or Paul. The family lived in Obidza, Poland, which today is just a 20 minute drive from Skrudzina. These records are on a different microfilm, so I have a feeling I'll be ordering that one, too.

Did Sophia live her life believing that her parents' true names were those she listed on the Social Security application? Perhaps she was raised by the Joseph and Catharine Krupa in House #16 and she genuinely thought that they were her biological parents. Or maybe she knew the complete truth. That's probably something I'll never find out, but hopefully ordering these microfilms will help me learn more about her mother and the other families in Skrudzina and Obidza.

©2013, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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Visiting Ancestral Places...From Your Living Room

6/29/2013

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Family history researchers usually do a 'happy dance' when we discover a clue that leads us to that exact village or city where our ancestors once lived before "crossing the pond." And rightfully so - knowing exactly where great-grandma was born opens up so many doors as we try to research generations further and further back in time. And, once we find those special places in our family's history, we immediately feel a desire to go there - to see the buildings our ancestors may have lived in, to walk down a street they walked down everyday of their lives. But, let's face it, traveling thousands of miles is oftentimes not possible. Not to worry: Internet to the rescue! Below, I've listed some Internet resources and tools I have used to "see" these villages that are so far away. Give them a try, if you haven't already!

1.) Google it! Try seeing what an 'old-fashioned' Google search will get you if you type in the name of your ancestor's village. Nowadays, even some of the smallest European towns and villages have websites of their own. This is exactly how I found this website about my great-grandmother's village of Skrudzina, which is located in southern Poland. Using the Google Translate feature on my toolbar, I've been able to learn a little about the village's history from the site. Even if your ancestral village does not have its own website, there is a decent chance something from Wikipedia will pop up in your Google search. Also, when doing your Google Search, don't forget to click on the 'Images' button at the top of the search bar. Doing so will often return images of the town itself.

2.) Google Maps The Street View feature of Google Maps is a wonderful way of simulating a walk down the street of an old family neighborhood or town, as it looks in the present day. The Street View feature is still not available in all locations, but their coverage is getting better and better. I was surprised when I recently looked up my maternal grandmother's birthplace and found that there is indeed Street View available for Iselle, Italy, a very small town on the Swiss-Italian border. Isn't this a gorgeous view? I just love seeing all of the mountains in the background. (Click on photo to see the image directly from Street View.)

Google Street View in Iselle, Italy.

3.) Google Earth If you haven't yet downloaded Google Earth, do it...now. Like, stop reading my blog post and do it. The aerial details of the satellite images are scary-amazing - vegetation, land use, and urban development can all be deduced from looking at these images. Links to user photos posted via Panoramio are posted right on the satellite image, so all you have to do is click on the photo icons and the user-submitted photos pop up right there. Below is a screen shot of one of my husband's ancestral towns, Coesfeld, Germany. There are many, many photos available for viewing! And when I click on an icon, there is the photo! (That, by the way, is a photo of the church where my husband's ancestors were baptized and married; the present structure was built post-WWII because the previous building was destroyed by bombings.) The ability to view satellite imagery and photos is just one of the many great features in Google Earth that can be applied to genealogy; I highly recommend watching this video about Google Earth for Genealogy by Lisa Louise Cooke.

Google Earth Satellite View of Coesfeld, Germany.

After Clicking on a Photo Icon. Jakobikirche in Coesfeld.

4.) 360cities.net I recently discovered this website and really cannot express to you how much I love it. On this website, you can find 360 degree panorama photos for locations all over the world. Right now, it is the larger cities that have more "coverage," but their database is growing all the time as users continue to add to it. This, like Google Earth and Google Street View, is great for seeing what locations look like in the present day. Below is a screen shot of a panorama from a rooftop in Palermo, Sicily, Italy, where my great-grandfather was born. The detail of the photos is just wonderful and, of course, I can rotate it all the way around if I choose. There is also this cool street map utility on the left side that shows you exactly what your field of view is in this image. The map also can be zoomed in or out and closed and opened at your convenience. (Panorama shown below by Martin Kacvinsky.)

Rooftop in Palermo from 360cities.net

5.) WhatWasThere I have blogged about this website before, so I'll direct you to that post for the details about this site's features. WhatWasThere helps users upload historical photos and overlay them onto the Street View feature of Google Maps. Site users then have the ability to fade in and out between the old photos and the present-day street view. This site is a lot like 360cities in that the places YOU are interested in may or may not have photos associated with them. But, also like 360cities, their photo database is continually growing, so it's worth checking back often.

6.) Postcards. Old vintage postcards are GREAT for looking into the past. In the world of postcards, those that show scenes of villages, countrysides, city streets, buildings, etc. are referred to as 'topographical.' eBay is, by far, my favorite place to find postcards of places. I especially love that eBay is international and that purchasing items through international sellers is relatively easy using PayPal. Through eBay, I've been able to find and purchase the three postcards shown below. two of them depict ancestral villages as they were almost 100 years ago. When looking for postcards, don't forget to search for postcards of old buildings that may have special meaning to your family. That postcard of the hospital in the center is where one of my great-grandmothers died in 1919. She was only 29 years old and my grandfather was only four when she passed away, so nobody in our family knows anything about her, other than that she was a Polish immigrant. This postcard gives a little more substance to her story. (The building itself was torn down decades ago.)

Iselle, Italy, birthplace of my maternal grandmother

Cleveland's St. Alexis Hospital

Réchésy, France, one of my husband's ancestral villages.

7.) Facebook. Type in the name of a town or village in the Facebook search bar at the top, and see what comes up. Just like with traditional websites, many of even the smallest towns have their own Facebook pages. Recently, I even found a personal Facebook blog all about one of my husband's ancestral villages, Hannonville-Sous-Les-Côtes in France. The page manager posts some lovely photos of the village and surrounding countrysides on a regular basis - I truly feel like I have been there. And, thanks to the fact that she knows some English, we've also been able to 'talk' a little bit about genealogy and family surnames, too!

8.) Books. Yes, I said it. Books are still a great way to learn about ancestral places. Genealogists can spend hours in libraries and archives trying to dig out information about specific people in their family trees, but what about the places where those people came from? Sometimes locating information about a small town will mean combing through a book about a larger administrative district or state. OR sometimes you may get lucky and find a book or pamphlet that is specifically about your town of interest. I was recently able to find (on eBay again) a book about Lauterecken, Germany, one of my husband's other ancestral villages. It is being shipped straight from Germany, so I have not received it yet, but I'm excited to learn more about the town and to see what types of images are included in the book.

©2013, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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Wedding Wednesday: Gottfried Wimmers and Maria Eva Müller

6/25/2013

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Yesterday, just after dinner, I received an email from the LDS Family History Library's photoduplication services. On May 29, I sent an email request for an electronic copy of Gottfried Wimmers and Maria Eva Müller's marriage record. (Gottfried and Maria Eva are two of my husband's 3x great-grandparents on his Mom's (Tumbusch) side of the family.) I had found the record in their online index, so I provided them with the film number and reference number. I had heard of other researchers waiting for months for their requests to be fulfilled, so I was surprised to get the record less than a month after I requested it. (I believe most of these requests are handled by volunteers, and the service is provided free-of-charge, so I understand the longer turn around times.) Click on each image to view a larger copy.

Wimmers-Müller Marriage Record, Page1

Wimmers-Müller Marriage Record, Page 2

Of course, like most original genealogical documents, these papers contain MUCH more information than simply what is listed on the searchable index page. The name of the town where the marriage occurred IS listed on the index, but the document itself states more specifically what governmental department the town is located within. So, if the name of the village is common throughout Germany, you are better able to pinpoint exactly where THIS town is located. Also, the spelling of the bride's surname and her hometown on the original is slightly different than the spellings on the index. Her surname is listed as 'Müller' on the original and 'Mueller' on the index, which I understand is a common way to substitute the u with umlaut, but it still could be an important clue when searching for other records. I now also have names, ages, and places of residence of witnesses to the wedding, which can be huge clues to figuring out other family members and close friends.

Gottfried and Maria Eva were married on January 31, 1833 in Garzweiler, Germany. The village of Garzweiler no longer exists; instead a huge lignite open-pit surface mine is in the location where the village once stood. The couple immigrated to the U.S. with their children in about 1852 and settled in Mercer County in western Ohio.

For more information about FamilySearch's photoduplication services, including a link to their new online request form, go to: https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Photoduplication_Services

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Timelines at The Indiana Historical Society

6/22/2013

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This morning, I went to the Indiana Historical Society in downtown Indianapolis and attended a talk about family history timelines presented by Betty L. Warren, one of the Historical Society's professional genealogy researchers. She showed us several timelines and personal chronologies that she had set up for her family and one of her client's families (actually, the current governor of Indiana). It was very helpful to see a couple of different formats for timelines. She even showed us a way to incorporate some basic source citations into the timelines themselves. I also really like how she showed us how to visualize overlap among family members of different generations using simple colored posterboard:

Sample timelines made by Betty L. Warren.

To summarize her main points, timelines are great for genealogy research because:

1.) They allow you to visualize an ancestor's major life events all at once. Very helpful for making sure that dates make sense (for example, if a U.S. land grant happened before the person's immigration date, you know something is wrong there).

2.) Timelines enable you to see the gaps in your data. So, timelines themselves are a very helpful research tool that should be used even when you don't have a lot of life 'events' to put into the timeline.

3.) Placing a historical timeline next to a personal timeline can help you understand WHY your ancestor immigrated, or moved, or joined the military, or contracted cholera, etc.

4.) Making timelines, either on poster board or on a computer, is inexpensive. Most genealogy software these days does have the ability to construct timelines for you, but you don't NEED those programs to do it. She showed us a simple way to use Microsoft Word to construct a basic timeline.

5.) Timelines are great ways to get kids involved in family history research. My children are still too young to understand many genealogical concepts, like generations and historical context, BUT they DO understand life events, like being born, going to school, getting married, having children, etc. I can make a timeline for my great-grandmother and visually show them that she did all of these things, even if they don't yet 'get' the scope of how long ago these things occurred.

Betty L. Warren's contact information can be found on this web page.
Cyndi's List also has a great collection of websites that can help you create family history timelines and world history timelines.

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I Paid for a Document and It Paid Off

6/18/2013

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I've only been doing genealogy work seriously for a couple of years. My main sources of documents for my and my husband's ancestors have been FamilySearch.org, Ancestry.com, GenealogyBank, and Fold3 (only used free trial period). I recently was able to do some on-site library research and will certainly be doing more of that in the future. Up until a few weeks ago, I was reluctant to order and pay for documents like death certificates, because I've heard stories about researchers paying for them only to find that, in their ancestor's case, it didn't provide any clues helpful for further research. (Or, even worse, the next-of-kin who filled out the death certificate provided incorrect information about the deceased's place of birth and/or parents!).

Several weeks ago, I read this blog post by Judy G. Russell a.k.a. The Legal Genealogist, entitled "Ordering the SS-5." The SS-5 form is the form one uses to apply for a Social Security Number. It is filled out by the person requesting the number, or for more recent cases, by the parents of the child that the number is for. So, the information listed on this form is often (not always) first-hand information from the applicant herself! (A person must be deceased in order to obtain his/her SS-5 form.)

My great-grandmother, Sofia Krupa Bodziony, immigrated to the U.S. from Poland in 1910. I was able to find her village of birth on her naturalization forms, but I did not know the names of her parents. The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, Ohio makes it pretty difficult to obtain parish marriage records (where the parents of the bride and groom MAY be listed), but the Diocese also states on their website that parental information is often withheld (yes, even if they were married way back in 1911.) So, I decided to order my great-grandmother's SS-5 form using the online order form. The document cost $27, which I admit I sort of cringed at when I submitted my credit card information.

The turn-around time on this request was pretty darn quick. A couple of weeks later I received an envelope from the Social Security Administration with a letter explaining what document they sent me AND a photocopy of the document itself. It turns out my great-grandmother filled out an IRS form to obtain a Social Security number, but the form itself contains the same information as the SS-5. (Gotta love government bureaucracy.) While she did not list the name of her ancestral village, she does list the names of her parents, 'Katherine Mourdas' and 'Joseph Krupa'.

Obviously, I was more than happy when I saw the information on this form. Having these names will surely help me find family records once I am able to find/read birth and sacramental records for her ancestral village. It was money well spent, and I am thinking about ordering a couple of other SS-5 forms for two of my other great-grandparents.

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Tuesday's Tip: I Love Wills!

6/10/2013

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Queen Isabel la Catolica dictating her last will and testament (Eduardo Rosales, 1864)

Over the past few days, my new favorite genealogy document has become the will. You know, that document you write before you die so that people know what to do with your home, land, and possessions. FamilySearch actually has a pretty decent online collection of Ohio Probate Records, and I've found many wills belonging to my husband's ancestors. (Unfortunately, the records are not recent enough to include the wills of any of MY ancestors.) And, let me tell you, just in the two days I've been looking through them, these documents have helped me solve some family tree mysteries. I'm even thinking of having a regular 'will' theme day on my blog maybe biweekly, in which I discuss individual wills and the mysteries that they helped me solve. Of course, after reading a will, you may have more questions about the family than you originally had, so wills may also put you out on the hunt again for more information (which certainly isn't a bad thing!)

What can you learn from wills?

- Name deceased person (testator) went by. For example, one of my husband's ancestor's was born Johann Heinrich Rolfes, but his will is signed 'Henry Rolfes.' So, now I will search for Henry Rolfes in other records and search engines because this is likely the name he used.
- Residence of testator and location of any land holdings.
- Sometimes date of death of testator, although I've found that it's not always directly stated.
- Name of spouse, if still living.
- Names of children and, sometimes, grandchildren and/or siblings of testator. This often includes daughters' and granddaughters' married names, which can be so difficult to figure out sometimes.
- Residences of children and/or grandchildren. Sometimes this may just be a state (if they live in a different state from testator) OR, if they are more local, it may be an actual town.

Pay attention to:

- Witnesses of Will: Often extended family members, close friends, or neighbors. If you have an ancestor's will, but cannot find him in, say, a census schedule, try searching for these witnesses instead. It may lead you in a roundabout way to YOUR ancestor's whereabouts.

- Date on which will was created/signed by testator. If great uncle Johnny is specifically excluded from great granddad's will, and the will was created ten years before great-grandad's death, whatever happened that angered the 'old man' happened *before* that will was created. Just a little clue if you are trying to figure out family relationship dynamics. (And, yes, I recently just found a will of one of my husband's ancestors who specifically excluded two of his sons from most of their inheritance due to "disobedience," but there was, of course, no elaboration on said disobedience.)

I have seen some incredibly detailed wills in which the testator is very specific about which possessions go to which descendant, but I've also found wills that only consist of a sentence of two, in which the testator leaves all of his land/possessions to his spouse. In any case, they are definitely documents that are worth looking for in order to help you tell your family's stories.

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Church Record Sunday: Catholic Directories on Google Books

5/18/2013

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Over the past week or so, I have been (slowly) researching one of my husband's distant uncles, Henry Drees, who was a Catholic priest in Ohio during the late 19th and very early 20th centuries. I have been using various Catholic directories on Google Books to trace his career and places of residence between census schedules. Wikipedia does a nice summary of the evolution of Catholic Directory publishing in the 19th century.

What makes these directories so helpful? The directories, usually published annually, provides a listing of every Catholic-run church, hospital, school, college, orphanage, asylum, convent, seminary, and missionary in the United States. And, actually, many of the directories that include the U.S. also include British North America as well. This one, from 1876, includes a listing of clergy from Ireland, too:

Each diocese/archdiocese is given its own sub-section; within the city proper, the parishes are listed alphabetically by name (left). Then, every smaller town in that diocese that has a Catholic church is listed alphabetically (right). If the church has full-time pastor and assistants, their names are listed. Some of these directories will provide a church's "ethnicity," if its services were typically conducted in a language other than English or if the majority of its parishioners were of a particular nationality.

Sadlier's Catholic Directory, 1891,

Sadlier's Catholic Directory, 1891.

Obviously, if you have relatives who were Catholic priests, these directories are wonderful for figuring out which institutions they served at and when. As I mentioned above, these directories also list Catholic schools and hospitals, which were often run by women's religious orders. The directories DO list the names of the women in charge of these institutions, BUT many women serving in Catholic religious orders adopt new religious names once they take their final vows. So, unless you know the name your relative took at the time of her vows, you might not be able to find her if she is listed, say, as Mother Superior of a convent.

The directories also have an obituary section in which the deaths of priests and other female and male religious members that occurred over the past year are listed. Typically, due to space constraints, not much information is listed: Date, name, location, age, order - SOMETIMES place of birth and cause of death are listed, but not always. The bonus in the obituaries is that women religious often have their birth names listed next to their religious names and titles.

Even if you do not have ancestors who were priests or other Catholic religious members, you may find these directories helpful. Perhaps you know your relatives were Catholic and you know the town in which they settled. Use these directories to figure out what church they attended (and then try to track down those sacrament records!). Perhaps you don't know where your Polish Catholic immigrant great-grandparents attended church in a bigger city, like Cleveland. Use these directories to figure out where the Polish Catholic churches were located and start researching those churches first. Remember that Catholic churches and schools are not static entities; new ones open, old ones close and merge with other parishes. These directories give us a snapshot of which parishes and schools were open and active every year in just about every location in the country.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how many Catholic directories from the 19th and early 20th centuries can be viewed and downloaded for free through Google Books. Simply go to Google Books and type "catholic directories" in the search box. You will be able to browse through them and, if you are looking for a specific year or range of years, you can narrow down your search even further.

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Preparing for the OGS Conference

4/21/2013

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Cincinnati, Ohio (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Over the past few days, I have put my research on hold in order to spend my few free moments preparing for the annual Ohio Genealogical Society conference that I will be attending next Thursday through Saturday in Cincinnati, Ohio. This will be my first genealogy conference. I'm excited, but a little nervous at the same time. I've been researching my and my husband's families for a couple of years now, but I know I am still very much a newbie in the world of genealogy and family history research. I'm a pretty fast learner, so I'm not too worried about 'getting lost' in any of the sessions or anything, but I am hoping there are other non-professional 'hobbyists' there too so I won't feel to out of place next to the professionals. I'm also nervous because I won't see my husband or kids for three days, which will be a nice break for me, but it's something that is out of the ordinary for me, so, of course, I worry. :-)

The conference this year is in Cincinnati, which is great because I am already very familiar with the city. (We lived in northern Kentucky for nearly five years and during that time I got to know the city very well.) The conference organizers have arranged for the Main Branch of the Cincinnati Public Library to stay open after hours on Thursday so that conference attendees may do some evening genealogy research. Today, I've been going through the library's online catalog and printing out holding information for books and microfilms that I may like to look at. I've also been spending some time looking through the conference's schedule and syllabus (notes for each presentation), and deciding which sessions I will attend. Because the conference is in Cincinnati this year, there is a pretty heavy focus on German genealogy and heritage. My husband has a lot of German ancestors, so I will hopefully learn a lot about how to learn about those lines, but I'm also a little bummed that there doesn't seem to be much to aid me in tracing my Italian, Croatian, and Polish ancestors who settled in Cleveland. They have the conference in a different part of the state each year, so I'm sure at some point I will have a chance to attend one of their conferences that will help me more with that aspect of my research.

So, hopefully I will be able to write a blog post or two while I am at the conference, just to summarize what I've learned and to talk about the experience overall. Stay tuned!

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Tuesday's Tip: Crossing State Lines

3/5/2013

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Kindergarten sign-ups have started in my town, which means that I get to register my eldest child sometime within the next few weeks. (Not even sad or sentimental about it; he's ready to go - he NEEDS to go :-) Of course, that means I had to get out his birth certificate. I haven't really looked at it much since his birth (maybe once for t-ball registration?), so I spent some time staring at it. When my kids were born, we lived in northern Kentucky, but both of them were born in Hamilton County, Ohio. (I was very high risk and needed care from specialists at one of the major Cincinnati hospitals.) I looked at the birth certificate through the filter of a genealogist's eyes and thought to myself, "Man, if one of his descendants is ever searching for his birth records, he or she may really have trouble finding them." We never had a residence on the Ohio side of the river, neither me nor my husband ever worked there, and we weren't registered at any churches there. (Of course, I'm *hoping* that all my meticulous genealogy record-keeping will ensure that none of my kids' descendants will ever have to search for this kind of stuff :-)

Once you've been doing family tree research for a little while, you learn to check a neighboring state's records if your ancestors lived and/or worked near the border. But, if you are just beginning your research, you may run up against a bit of a "brick wall" when trying to locate certain records. Soon enough, you realize that finding records "across the border" can be quite common. My husband's maternal grandfather lived in Mercer County, Ohio, which is on the Ohio-Indiana border; however, he passed away in Indiana because that was where the nearest big hospital was located. A ggg-uncle of my husband's was married, worked, and lived in Cincinnati for most of his life, but in his old age he went to live with his son, who lived across the river in Kentucky. He passed away and is buried in Kentucky.

So, if you are ever stuck looking for a particular birth, death, or burial record, AND if the person lived relatively close to another state, check records from that state. You just may find what you are looking for!

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