So I don’t appear to be completely negative, I thought I would tell you about a totally cool experience I had a couple of weeks ago.
I received a copy of Louise Burkley Lunte’s obituary a while back. On a Sunday night I decided to actually read it and much to my surprise, she was survived by a brother, living in Seymour, Jackson County, Indiana in 1940! Now, this, in itself, was huge, because I hadn’t been able to find her in the census before she married and I didn’t know if she had any brothers or sisters — I hadn’t even been able to independently determine who her parents were.
So, I got busy trying to find him. He was easy to track down and, because I was able to find him, I was also able to find her.
But, I digress . . .
I had no death date for him, but he was in Seymour in the 1930 census, and I had Louise’s obituary putting him there in 1940. Because of the census work I had done, I knew he was in his 80s in 1940, so I guess he probably died between 1940 and 1950.
I found the website for the library in Seymour and sent them an email telling them what I was looking for (William’s obituary) and asking what resources they might have — microfilm available through ILL or an obituary index — that might help me. Then, I settled in to wait. I mean, really, this was going to take awhile, right? I mean, even if I did hear back from them, in probably a week, or maybe two, (I understand how busy they are and this type of request is usually handled by volunteers who aren’t there everyday — so don’t write to tell me how cynical and nasty I am!) there would be letters to send, etc., etc. I figured I’d probably have something in a month or two.
No. Nothing like that.
First thing Monday morning, not even 24 hours later, what did I have in my hot little hand? That’s right! William’s obituary was scanned and emailed to me! At no charge! WOW!
“No charge for the service but donations to the Jackson County Public Library Genealogy Gift Fund always are welcome.”
I wish I could say I was as quick to send in my donation — which I most assuredly did! — as they were to send me the obit. I was, and still am, flabbergasted.
There are many obituaries that I will never have because the library I have to go through is charging $20.00 a pop — can you say “California?” I am convinced that these places have priced themselves out of the market because they don’t want to be bothered — so I won’t be bothering them. I will say, though, that the Jackson County Library will, over the years, receive quite a bit more than $20.00 from me, and it will be well-spent.
I so wanted to tell Charlotte — that’s the name of the nice lady at the library — how much this obit meant to me, but to my credit, I was able to restrain myself.
I don’t have to do that here!
Not only did she find William’s obituary, but it was an absolute gold mine! It mentioned his father, his mother, his sister, Louise, and two other sisters that I suspected — they weren’t with William and Louise in the 1870 census, so I wasn’t sure they were connected.
This hobby can get pretty expensive. I’m just not willing to throw all kinds of money at it. I want to make sure I squeeze every penny until it squeals, and I also want to make sure that the person or company that ends up with my hard-earned nickles and dimes deserves them.
The Jackson County Library certainly does!