where2look4ancestors

  • Chicago Daily News Obituaries; 18 September 1886

    Ancestors who die between census years can often be difficult to trace. Perhaps the following obituaries, published on page 6 of the Chicago Daily News on September 18, 1886 will be of some help to genealogists doing research in the Windy City. The names of the deceased (including a dozen…

  • What I Learned on Find A Grave

    Find A Grave contributors come in many shapes and sizes. I know this because I read the bios that catch my eye when I process edits. I enjoy reading the reasons people contribute memorials to Find A Grave, the stories about what brought them there and about their backgrounds in genealogy or…

  • A Tale of Two Cemeteries

    While updating memorials on Find A Grave recently I encountered two burials in the wrong cemeteries. Well not burials exactly, just the headstones. And not the wrong cemeteries exactly, just different cemeteries. The 1st incident came to my attention via email. I received the following message (from a 3rd party, not…

  • Documenting a Source that Isn’t

    Last week I mentioned a sourcing “opportunity” I had. It could complicate citing the marriage of my great-grandfather Alfred Jacob Mueller’s parents on the timeline I am preparing about his life. While drafting this post and attempting to document the aforementioned marriage, I relived the steps I took long ago…

  • Only that She Existed

    But of her? I really know only that she existed.

  • Applying Advanced Genealogy Research Techniques

    It’s time to get serious about my family history research. Particularly when it comes to breaking down a brick wall that is preventing me from getting across the pond. Toward that end, for the past few weeks I’ve been devouring reading George G. Morgan and Drew Smith’s book Advanced Genealogy Research…

  • Happy Birthday Little Sister

  • Not Buried Here

    I come across something unique in nearly every cemetery I visit. Cenotaphs (monuments erected in honor of a person buried elsewhere) exist in many graveyards. The cenotaph above was particularly interesting to me because of the wonderful genealogical clues it offers. A family historian may have stumbled upon this memorial, as I…

  • Lily of the Flower Family

    I’m a bit confused about Lily and her relationship to the Flower family. Lily is buried in the center of the Flower family plot in Jewish Graceland Cemetery on Chicago’s north side. There is a record of her death on FamilySearch that seems to confirm her parents are the people named on the largest headstone in…

  • Daily Inter-Ocean Obituaries December 28, 1874

    The Chicago Inter-Ocean was a newspaper published in the Windy City from 1879 to 1902*. The following notices of death appeared on page 8 of the Monday morning edition, December 28, 1874: “MOORHOUSE-Dec. 26, Laura Pearl, only daughter of Wm. H. and Fannie Moorhouse, aged 8 years. Funeral from residence 872 Michigan avenue,…