One mystery solved

 As I wrote a couple of blogs ago.  I have 2, apparent, death certificates for one of my ancestors, Minerva Odell, but, on closer inspection I began to think they were death certificates for 2 different people.

Generally, when researching family history, you go backwards looking at each person on a direct ancestral line: maternal or paternal.  After a while, though, you look at family groups, the children of each couple.  After that, you can start to look at the family group for each of those offspring; cousins, etc., and, your family tree grows and grows.  You don't always get to each individual in a family; there isn't always a need nor an interest.

So, as I previously wrote, I had immediately emailed the Meredith town clerk about my mystery and I got a response.  Thanks to Liliane Briscoe, Town Clerk of the Town of Meredith, for solving the mystery.  What she found was that Minerva June Odell, was the daughter of Ancel Odell and Gertrude "Florence" Gransbury.  She was born in 1928 and lived only 3 days; very sad.  Ancel was the grandson of Minerva A. Odell so little Minerva, her name sake, was great granddaughter of Minerva A. Oliver Odell.  2 death certificates for 2 different family members.

There was one other family member that had a baby for which I have no name.

Historic Note:

I decided to include these historic notes, from time to time, because I occasionally read or refer to local history books that have been written about the geographic areas where my family branches lived.  These local histories are usually written by people living in the area who have talked to people about their memories and who often have access to local documents.  Many history books cover major historical events that affected the country's economic and political landscape with little attention to how those events affected local towns and individuals at the time.  Local histories are, generally, just the opposite; they begin with local historic events and have details often missed in more general writings.

I often run across interesting things in these books that relate to towns and people I'm familiar with that I think might be of interest to other family members and others researching in the same geographical area.

Because of copyright restrictions, I can only include small quotations but, hopefully, if you're interested, you can get a copy of the book quoted and read more. Brackets [] are usually mine, for clarification.

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    "...Less than 200 miles south of the Mohawk lies the Minisink Valley and the Wyoming Valley, both of which have also received much historical recognition for the battles which transpired there.

    The territory between the two, though less familiar, is of no less importance in the total picture of the border wars of the American Revolution in New York State.  The same brutal fighting that characterized the two places also erupted in the area between, in the midst of which was the former trading center and missionary outpost called Onaquaga [Oquaga].... 

    ...The name Onaquaga was also used for an are[a] of the river valley, an expanse of perhaps twenty miles running in a north-south direction, as well as the village itself.

    ...Its exact location is 1 1/2 miles north of present Windsor.

    ...This important carrying place went to Cookhouse, now Deposit, on the Delaware River, a favorite haunt of Indians and fur traders.... Cookhouse, or Cookose, meant "Owl's Nest" or "Place of Owls", and then contained "Two Huts of Delaware Indians...

    ...Heading up river from Onaquaga, at the junction of the Susquehanna and the Unadilla Rivers, was the white settlement of Old Unadilla or Johnstone Settlement, present day Sidney.  This village, like Onaquaga, also became a prominent base of operations for the Tories and Indians...."

from Onaquage: Hub of the Borders Wars by Marjory Barnum Hinman, self published, 1975.

Joseph Brant set up operations there.  It was a very interesting area.

News

I continue to work on the family tree at WikiTree.  I joined a couple of projects there and I think I need to back out of one because I don't have access to records outside the U. S.  And, I think I've taken on more than I can do.

I continue to digitized documents which has been helpful in taking another, closer look at them and finding more information, or, more questions.

Once you get bitten by the family history bug, it's an endless process; I'll never be finished.

I'm at brick walls just about on every branch.

I'm about to send out 2 new documents requests.  It's always interesting to see what comes back.