Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 30 Jan 2016.
I’ll be traveling for my primary job over the next few days so I decided to save my Kinship Determination Project (KDP) in several places – the cloud (I use Dropbox), a thumb drive, my desktop, my husband’s computer’s desktop, and a hard copy. Yes, I’m a little paranoid that my hard work will disappear!
This trip could not have come at a worse time as far as the KDP is concerned. I was really on a roll with it and then company arrived last Sunday so I wasn’t able to spend as much time as I wanted to do. Had a very busy week of classroom visits and meetings, took a webinar, and was fighting off a cold so the KDP was put on the back burner. I really don’t want another week to go by without progress on it so I thought maybe I could edit the hard copy on the plane and make an update via the cloud when I land.
I resolved a few confusions – the first had to do with a death certificate not matching a tombstone; the second was too many people with the same name in the same place at the same time but they were all of vastly different ages so that was a quick analysis, too.
I’ve gotten a lot of the first and second generation written but I’ve identified two areas I need to do more exhaustive research in – I need to find a deed and a will. Other than that, I’m feeling good about the records I’ve uncovered.
So after awhile of analyzing records I decided I needed a break and I took a look at a different line that I’ve hit a brick wall with. Last month I found the obituary and it wasn’t very helpful. I’m trying to identify parents but it didn’t mention them; neither did the death certificate or the cemetery records. The obit did say the individual was a lifelong member of a church so I decided to contact the church to see if they had a baptism record that might list the parents. It’s been 6 weeks and I’m getting a little frustrated. I’ve emailed, called (several times), written a letter, and posted on their Facebook page. I’m feeling like a pest but persistence pays so I’m not giving up yet. How hard can it be to look this up, especially since I gave them the date of birth, too! I offered to pay. I sent a stamped return receipt envelope. Still received nothing. I know no one that lives in the area that could go in person on my behalf. I contacted the library, museum and the local genealogy society to see if they had any ins with the church. Nada! If anyone has any brilliant ideas for me I’d appreciate hearing!