Wordless Wednesday: Sena "Senie" (COLLINS) TOLLIVER

Sena "Senie" (Collins) Tolliver. C. 1920s. Original photograph privately held by Lorna Kennedy, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Auburn, California. 2010.

Surname Saturday: TOLLIVER

My children's paternal grandfather's paternal grandmother was the last in their family to be born with the TOLLIVER surname. The surname was often spelled "Toliver" and occasionally "Taliaferro."

There is a very famous Southern family with the surname TALIAFERRO which is pronounced "Tolliver." I have recently learned that my children's Tollivers are not related to the Taliaferros (DNA has proved this out), although there are many other families out there with the surname Tolliver that turn out to actually be descended from the Taliaferro family.

The earliest roots that can be traced are to a Mr. TOL(L)IVER (first name is unknown) who with his unknown wife, parented five sons and two daughters: William, Moses, Jesse, John, Charles, Lucy and Sarah/Nancy.

Stories and History:

Ahnentafel #288 - [--?--] TOL(L)IVER (1730? - 1774?) - This man is believed to have the given name William or John, based on the names of tax payers in Surry (later Wilkes) County, North Carolina in 1771 and 1772, and may have died in 1774 in that location. It is know that the father of the five sons and two daughters lived along the Rappahanock River in Prince William (now Fauquier) County, Virginia as early as 1756. The family then moved to the James River area about 30 miles from Richmond. In 1770, they removed to Surry (later Wilkes) County, North Carolina. This Tolliver patriarch is believed to have died there in 1774.

Ahnentafel #144 - Jesse TOLIVER (1756 - 1838) - Jesse was born along the Rappahanock River in Virginia. He served with two of his brothers, John and Moses, in the American Revolution, enlisting at five different times as a private, all under Captain William Lenoir, in different companies for North Carolina. He married Martha Frances "Frankey" STAMPER in 1782 and they had eleven children. After the war, he moved over the Blue Ridge Mountains with his mother and brothers and their families to the western part of what was then Wilkes County, North Carolina; later this became Ashe County, and later yet, Allegheny County. Jesse is recorded as owning two slaves in the 1800 Federal Census, but not on the 1790, 1810 or subsequent censuses. Much about what is known of Jesse comes from his Revolutionary War Veteran's Pension and the Widow's Pension that Frankey applied for. Apparently, both Jesse and Frankey were illiterate, but whenever they had a visitor who could read and write, they would have him write down all the family members' names and birth dates in the family Bible. Pages from this Bible were submitted with Frankey's Widow's Pension application.

Ahnentafel #72 - Starling TOLIVER (1806 - aft 1870) - married Mildred Ann "Milly" SPURLIN and had nine children.

Ahnentafel #36 - Jacob F. TOLIVER (1831 - 1898) - a Confederate Veteran of the Civil War. I wrote about him here in my Civil War Soldiers and Sailors series.

Ahnentafel #18 - Clark Pleasant - or Pleasant Clark - TOLLIVER (1861 - 1918) - I have written about him here.

Ahnentafel #9 - Margie Ethel TOLLIVER (1889 - 1971) - born in Nebraska, she came west with her parents to Colorado, where she met and married a widower, John Franklin MIDKIFF, Sr. They lived all over the West: California, Idaho, and Washington.

Ahnentafel #4 - John Franklin MIDKIFF, Jr. (1910 - 1957) - see the Surname Saturday: MIDKIFF post for more information on him.

Ahnentafel #2 - my children's paternal grandfather (living)

Ahnentafel #1 - my children's father (living)


More about the TOLLIVER family:

1. Online database (I update this at least once a month): TOLLIVER ancestors and relatives (no info on living persons available)

2. Posts about TOLLIVER ancestors and relatives on this blog

3. Some scanned TOLLIVER documents

5. Some scanned TOLLIVER photos

6. My TOLLIVER Virtual Cemetery on Find A Grave

7. The TOLLVER Family Website

8. The TOLLIVER / TOLIVER / TALIAFERRO DNA Project


My children's TOLLIVER immigration trail:

Prince William (now Fauquier) Co., VA > Surry (now Wilkes) Co., NC > Wilkes (now Allegheny) Co., NC > Madison Co., NE > Delta Co., CO > Montrose Co., CO > Mesa Co., CO > Custer Co., ID > Los Angeles and/or Butte Co., CA > Yakima Co., WA > Thurston Co., WA > Clark Co., WA > Spokane Co., WA

Clark Pleasant TOLLIVER (1861 - 1918)

Source: Tombstone of P.C. Tolliver, Evergreen Cemetery, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., California. Digital photograph taken by "Guardian," Find A Grave photo volunteer, at the request of Miriam Robbins Midkiff. 11 September 2006. Digital copy in the possession of Miriam Robbins Midkiff, Spokane, Washington. 2006.

Clark Pleasant TOLLIVER...or was it Pleasant Clark TOLLIVER?...was my ex-husband's great-great-grandfather, born 25 May 1861 in North Carolina, probably in or near Glade Creek, Allegheny County. His parents were Jacob F. TOLIVER (1831 - 1898), a Civil War veteran, and Matilda HIGGINS (1829 - 1906). Clark had two older siblings (Amanda Phidella and Rose Phidella) and two younger siblings (Solomon and John Houston) before his parents divorced sometime before 1882. That was a time when divorce was not as common nor easy to obtain as it is today, and I hope to someday obtain a copy of their court records to discover more about that situation.

In 1882, Clark's father remarried to Caroline CHEEK (1849 - 1927), with whom he had one known son, Clayton. Clark was a young man by this time, and not long after, he removed to Battle Creek, Madison Co., Nebraska, where he met and married Senna "Senie" COLLINS (1870 - 1950) on 3 July 1886. The couple had five children while they lived in Nebraska: a child who died young; Margie Ethel (my ex-husband's great-grandmother, whom he remembers well); John Houston; Zada Elizabeth; and Emma Leah. The family then moved further west to Hotchkiss Twp., Delta Co., Colorado, where they had four more children: Mae; Mitchell Luther; Elsie (who died in infancy); and Lorna Ermine.

It was in Delta County that they met the MIDKIFF family. Margie married a widower in 1907, John Franklin MIDKIFF, who had four older children, including Edna Susan, whom Mitchell married 13 years later in California. Thus there were Midkiff and Tolliver cousins who were doubly related: first cousins on the Tollier side of the family and half-nieces and nephews on the other.

Sometime before 1915, Clark and Senie moved once again, this time to Los Angeles. Clark died there 22 May 1918. Senie lived until 1950. They are buried in separate cemeteries: Clark at Evergreen and Senie at Forest Lawn in Glendale.

Wordless Wednesday: Grave of P. C. TOLLIVER (1861 - 1918)

Source: Tombstone of P.C. Tolliver, Evergreen Cemetery, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., California. Digital photograph taken by "Guardian," Find A Grave photo volunteer, at the request of Miriam Robbins Midkiff. 11 September 2006. Digital copy in the possession of Miriam Robbins Midkiff, Spokane, Washington. 2006.

A Civil War Soldier: Pvt. Jacob F. TOLIVER (1831 - 1898)

Source: Signature of Jacob F. Toliver from Compiled Service Record of Jacob F. Toliver. Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of North Carolina. National Archives and Records Administration. Publication M270. Digital image purchased at Footnote [http://www.footnote.com/].

How Related: My husband's 3rd-great-grandfather

Born: 17 February 1831 in Alleghany Co., North Carolina

Parents: Starling TOLIVER (1806 - aft 1870) and Mildred Ann SPURLIN (c. 1812 - aft 1870)

Siblings: Jacob was the eldest of nine children:

• Calvin (1832 - 1931)
• Frances (b. 1834)
• Andrew (b. 1840)
• Solomon (b. 1842)
• Mary (1846 - 1914)
• John (1848 - 1941)
• Margaret (1851 - 1909)
• and Rosa Ann TOLIVER (1853 - 1938)
  

Married: first to Matilda HIGGINS (1829 - 1906)--my husband's ancestor--on 1 October 1851 in Ashe Co., North Carolina; divorced. Married second to Caroline CHEEK (1849 - 1927) on 4 April 1882, probably in Allegheny Co., North Carolina.

Children: with wife Matilda, Jacob had five children: Amanda Phidella (1853 - 1918); Rose Phidella (1857 - 1919); Clark Pleasant R. (1861 - 1918) - my husband's ancestor; Solomon (1864 - 1950); and John Huston TOLLIVER (1867 - 1949). With wife Caroline, he had one son, Clayton TOLLIVER (1884 - 1952). During his children's generation, another "L" was added to the surname, originally spelled TALIAFERRO.

---



Compiled Service Record Jacket of Jacob F. Toliver. Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of North Carolina. National Archives and Records Administration. Publication M270. Digital image purchased at Footnote [http://www.footnote.com/].

Enlisted: 15 September 1861 in Co. K ("Alleghany Tigers"), 37th North Carolina Infantry at Alleghany Co., North Carolina; private. Promoted to Full Private (Reduced to rank; Estimated day) on 30 March 1863.

Side Served: Confederacy

Discharged: Absent without leave on 28 January 1865.

---

Biography or Information of Interest: Jacob's compiled service record consisted of 23 images at Footnote, plus a couple of cross-reference cards. The reason it is so long was his "interesting" career in the military, which began15 September 1861, when he first enlisted as a private in Company K (also known as the "Alleghany Tigers") of the 137th North Carolina Infantry in the Confederate Army. His compiled service record contained a brief description (five foot, six inches tall; 30 years old) and his signature. On November 20th of that year, he mustered in at Camp Fisher, promising to serve for one year. On the January/February 1862 Muster Roll, he was listed as a drummer, although his record states he was not promoted to Full Musician until March 1st, and then promoted again to Full Musician on March 30th. On April 3rd, he re-enlisted for the duration of the war, at Kinston, Lenoir Co., North Carolina. Less than a month later, he was listed as a deserter, having taken off from Kinston on May 2nd. For eight long months, he remained away from his company. On 9 January 1864 at Liberty Mills (Virginia?) he returned to his unit. I don't have his full military record, so I don't know if he received a court martial for his offense, but I can't imagine that he got away without some sort of consequence!

He served with his unit until he was captured by the Union Army on May 6, 1864 during the Battle of the Wilderness in Spotsylvania Co., Virginia. He ended up a prisoner of war at Point Lookout, Saint Mary's Co., Maryland, arriving there May 17th from Belle Plains, Virginia. On July 23rd, he was transferred to Elmira Prison in Elmira, Chemung Co., New York, where he remained a prisoner until he was transferred for exchange on October 11th. On 15 November 1864, Jacob and 3,022 other Confederate POWs, including four citizens, four surgeons, and 74 officers, were exchanged at the Federal battery at Venus Point along the Savannah River in Georgia.

Apparently, all that was not adventure enough for Jacob, or perhaps he thought he had had enough of war. On 28 January 1865, he was reported as absent without leave from his company, and evidently never returned before the war ended on April 9th.

Died: 22 July 1898, probably in Allegheny Co., North Carolina, although it is possible that he removed to Battle Creek, Madison Co., Nebraska in the mid-1880s with some of his adult children.

Buried: unknown

Research Log: MIDKIFFs in the 1920 Census

I spent some time this morning looking for John Franklin MIDKIFF, Jr. in 1920 U.S. Federal Census (it was his future wife and in-laws, the WESTABYs, that I recently discovered at long last, on the 1920 census). Since John was only an almost-ten-year-old boy, I searched mainly for his father, John Franklin MIDKIFF, Sr. The household should look like this:

John Franklin MIDKIFF - age 49, born Texas
Margie Ethel (TOLLIVER) MIDKIFF - age 32, born Nebraska
Edna Susan MIDKIFF (from John's first marriage) - age 15, born Colorado
Ruth Ethel MIDKIFF - age 11, born Colorado
John Franklin MIDKIFF, Jr. - age 9, born Colorado
Dorothy Zada MIDKIFF - age 5, born Idaho

The family could also include any of the older married children, in-laws, and grandchildren of John, Sr. and his first wife, Ella Lydia WILLIS. They are:

Charles Nathaniel MIDKIFF, Sr. - age 25, born Oklahoma
Marie Marcella (WELLS) MIDKIFF - age 23, born Idaho
Charles Nathaniel MIDKIFF, Jr. - age 3, born Idaho
Edna Marie MIDKIFF - age 1 6/12, born Utah

Myrtle Mary (MIDKIFF) ARTER - age 22, born Oklahoma
James Montgomery ARTER - age c. 31, born Pennsylvania
Agusta Mary ARTER - age 4, born Idaho
possibly Jim-or James-ARTER - details unknown
possibly Edith ARTER - details unknown

Iva Ella (MIDKIFF) HURST - age 17, born Colorado
James L. HURST - age 22, born Nebraska
James N. HURST - age 3/12, born California

I started doing some simple searches on Ancestry.com, but did not get any matches to this family. I have lots more possibilities, but this is just a start. Below are the search terms I used and the subsequent results. I used my Online Research Log to keep track of my research.

john, midkiff, exact search; 45 hits, no matches

john, midkiff, soundex search, birthplace: texas; 3 hits, no matches

john, midkiff, soundex search, birth year: 1870 +/- 2 years; 12 hits, no matches

j, midkiff, exact search; 57 hits, no matches

j, midkiff, soundex search, birthplace: texas; 5 hits, no matches

j, midkiff, sounex search, birth year: 1870 +/- 2 years; 10 hits, no matches

john, exact search, birthplace: texas; birth year: 1870 +/- 2 years, father's birthplace: tennessee, mother's birthplace: illinois; 2 hits, no matches

j,exact search, birthplace: texas; birth year: 1870 +/- 2 years, father's birthplace: tennessee, mother's birthplace: illinois; 10 hits, no matches

[blank], exact search, birthplace: texas, birth year: 1870 +/- 2 years, residence: idaho; 106 hits, no matches

[blank], exact search, birthplace: texas, birth year: 1870 +/- 2 years, relationship: head; residence: washington; 150 hits, no matches

[blank], exact search, birthplace: texas, birth year: 1870 +/- 2 years, wife: margie; 18 hits, no matches

[blank], exact search, birthplace: texas, birth year: 1870 +/- 2 years, wife: marg*; 352 hits, no matches

I then went on to try various other children in this household:

dorothy, exact search, birthplace: idaho; birth year: 1914 +/- 2 years, father's birthplace: texas, mother's birthplace: nebraska; 1 hit, no match

john, exact search, birthplace: colorado, birth year: 1910 +/- 2 years, father's birthplace: texas, mother's birthplace: nebraska; 1 hit, no match

john, exact search, birthplace: colorado, birth year: 1910 +/- 2 years, residence: idaho; 17 hits, no matches

john, exact search, birthplace: colorado, birth year: 1910 +/- 2 years, residence: colorado; 90 hits, no matches

john, exact search, birth year: 1910 +/- 2 years, residence: butte county, california; 100 hits, no matches

j, exact search, birth year: 1910 +/- 2 years, residence: butte county, california; 100 hits, no matches

Theories:

1) This family is not on the census at all due to moving around the country (probably from Idaho and/or Utah to Northern California). However, given that it was winter, that probably doesn't make sense.

2) They are on the census, but "Midkiff" is badly mangled in the index...or was written as METCALF(E), a different Soundex code.

3) They are living with other relatives, and I need to look for all adult children and siblings of John and/or his wife, Margie.

Scanfest is Coming...But Not Until September 30th

Scanfest is coming! For those of you who are regular Scanfesters, you may have accidentally marked September 23rd for the next Scanfest Day, since that is the fourth Sunday of the month. However, there are five Sundays in September, and our usual meeting time is the last Sunday of each month. Therefore, we will be gathering Sunday, September 30th at 11 AM, Pacific Daylight Time, and scanning and chatting until 2 PM, PDT.

For those of you who are wondering what Scanfest is, it's a time we genea-bloggers have set aside to scan our precious family documents, records and photographs for preservation's sake. Scanning can be one of those monotonous chores, put off until never. So in order to make it a little more interesting, we've agreed to meet online for three hours every month while scanning, and chat using Windows Live Messenger. It's a great way to get to know one another and exchange ideas about preservation, technology, and genealogy.

You don't have to have a genealogy blog to join us. We are always open to new "faces" at our Scanfest sessions! Here's how to sign up:

To join us, you'll need a Hotmail or Gmail account, and Windows Live Messenger downloaded to your computer (Mac users go here to download Microsoft Messenger for Mac). Although WLM states that it is compatible with Yahoo! e-mail accounts, we have had difficulty adding Yahoo! users to our chat conversation. Once you have gotten set up, send me an e-mail (see my profile in the right-hand menu) and I'll add you to our chat list. You'll receive an invitation message from me in the e-mail account that you've set up for Messenger, and will need to verify that I can add you as a contact. My Messenger account is identical to my Gmail account, except that it's "@hotmail.com".

Here's a list of some of the things I've scanned, either in part or fully, over the last seven months:

• * The Family Record Book of John Martin HOEKSTRA and Lillian Fern STRONG - my great-grandparents' family tree book (see scanning progress here).
• * Photos of my husband's TOLLIVER and COLLINS ancestors, loaned to me by my father-in-law and sister-in-law
  
• * Journals and investment documents of my grandfather, Adrian DeVRIES
• * Other family papers and photographs from the estate of my grandmother, Ruth Lillian (HOEKSTRA) VALK DeVRIES (here, here and here)
  
• * My black-and-white wedding photos - for the eventual creation of a Wedding Memory Book at MemoryPress.com

I have so much more I need to scan! I'll bet you do, too! Won't you join us?

Connecting with Cousins on Memorial Day

Three years ago, my husband, children and I traveled across the state of Washington to spend Memorial Day weekend with my in-laws in Vancouver, Washington, which lies just across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon. I always enjoy this cross-state visit, as the longest leg of it--driving along the Columbia River on the Oregon side--follows both the Lewis and Clark trail and the Oregon Trail. I enjoy imaging the explorers and pioneers traveling the same route, and seeing Mt. Hood towering in the distance.

While in Vancouver, we went with Norm's parents and sister to Park Hill Cemetery in Vancouver, to visit and photograph the MIDKIFF, TOLLIVER, DAVES (step-ancestor), LUKE, and CHAPLIN graves. The following year, 2005, we made the same trip, and I insisted that we were going to travel down to the Willamette Valley to visit and photograph the grave of one of Norm's great-great-grandmothers, Rebecca Catherine (SNOOK) WESTABY, buried in Salem, as well as the graves of my great-great-grandparents, Charles Frisbe STRONG and his wife, Mary Lucy WRIGHT. Charles and Mary are two of only four of my ancestors buried west of the Mississippi River, and the other two are nowhere near my home! My paternal grandfather, Robert Lewis ROBBINS is buried at Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas, and a 4th-great-grandmother, Lura Ann (JACKSON) PECK CRAPSEY, is apparently buried in St. Paul, Minnesota. So to actually be able to be within a few hours of an ancestor's grave is a big deal to me, and I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity.

When we arrived at Belle Passi Cemetery in Woodburn, Marion Co., Oregon, where Charles and Mary are buried, we found that the graves had already been cleaned and decorated. They were surrounded by other graves, obviously of the family of their daughter, Ethel Melissa (STRONG) HASTIE, who is buried there along with her husband, the Rev. Ezbon Roy HASTIE. I remember visiting the widowed Aunt Ethel in 1979, when we first moved to Washington State, and remembered meeting her son.

We were rather rushed on that visit, and so I didn't have time to try to find out how to contact the family. But on the way home, I had a couple of ideas that could work for you to help you connect with cousins on Memorial Day. Obviously, I could have looked up the Hastie family in the phone book in Woodburn, or on Dex Knows when I got home. But what if you are looking for descendants of an ancestor, yet you don't know your cousins' surnames?

First off, you need to know where your ancestor is buried. If their grave is in your hometown or nearby, you're in luck. If you are like myself and live far from your ancestral cemeteries, it's important to obtain death certificates and/or obituaries of your ancestors to determine their final resting places. I use Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness quite frequently to get obituaries of ancestors. They're easier and less expensive to access than death certificates. Once I have the name of a cemetery in hand, I use Find A Grave, Interment.net, Dex Knows, or Cemetery Junction to find an address and telephone number (check out Cyndi's List of Cemeteries as well).

My next step is to cold call the cemetery office during local business hours. I have had so much luck with this! You would be amazed at how helpful cemetery employees are! From phone interviews I have discovered the names of other ancestors and relatives buried in the same cemetery, the names of the funeral homes that provided services (I'll post more about this in the future), the names and addresses of the lot owners (which may be obsolete, but may provide relatives' names). I always try to obtain the lot number of the grave(s) I am interested in, and sometimes the employee will mail me a cemetery map. I ask the cemetery employee if it's okay to send them an info packet that they could place on my ancestor's grave (see following paragraph). In fact, I have been so successful in this type of research, that I've created a form that I use to help me remember all the questions I want to ask when I call.

The fourth step is to write a letter explaining that I am a descendant of the ancestor buried in that cemetery, and that I am doing genealogical research on the family. I leave contact information: a phone number, mailing address and e-mail address. This letter is folded and sealed in a zip-lock bag and then placed in an envelope which is addressed either to the cemetery office or to a volunteer in the area that I've contacted through the local genealogical society or Random Acts. The cemetery employee or the volunteer can then place the info packet (my letter in a zip-lock bag) on the grave, hopefully weighted with a small rock or wedged into a crevice of the headstone, so it won't blow away. If this is done about a week before Memorial Day weekend, there's a chance that I could connect with another descendant of that ancestor who has come to the cemetery to clean and decorate the grave! If the cemetery doesn't allow an info packet left on the grave itself, ask if your letter could be placed in your ancestor's file at the office.

So what's the purpose of this? To hopefully connect with other relatives of a common ancestor and exchange information...photos, documents, stories, etc. It's likely that the two of you have missing information that the other may be seeking. Perhaps you'll break down a brick wall! Memorial Day weekend is only two weeks away, so I hope you'll take advantage of this tip. Good luck to you!

Report on April Scanfest

Last Sunday, I hosted the April edition of Scanfest. It was a small group that met and we were not all online at the same time; nonetheless, we enjoyed ourselves as always, and I for one was able to get a lot of materials scanned. Joining me were Amy, Lee, Jasia, the footnoteMaven, and my daughter, Missy. I scanned some photographs my sister-in-law had recently shared with me, along with the listing of my ancestor Jan Martens HOEKSTRA in the Musekgon County, Michigan Probate Records Index, as well as many materials of the DeVRIES family that my uncle recently sent to me. These items can be seen on my Picasa Web Albums account in the following albums: Collins Photographs, Tolliver Photographs, Midkiff Photographs, Hoekstra Documents, and DeVries Documents.

The May edition of Scanfest will be hosted by Susan, and will be held Sunday, May 20th, from 11 AM to 2 PM, Pacific Daylight Time. This is not our regular meeting time, which is normally the last Sunday of each month. It has been changed to an earlier day due to Memorial Day weekend. Please read the other posts on Scanfest to find out how to join. You don't need to be a blogger; we always enjoy new people and it's a great way to get to know each other. Stay tuned to Susan's blogs, Family Oral History and 20/20 Hindsight for more information.

Happy Birthday - March 3

Happy Birthday to:

Dorothy Zada (MIDKIFF) JOHNSON BENJAMIN, my father-in-law's paternal aunt, who--if she had not died on 16 April 1963 at the young age of 49--would be 93 years old today. She was born on this date in 1914 in Idaho (probably in or near Challis, Custer County), the youngest of John Franklin MIDKIFF, Sr. and Margie Ethel TOLLIVER's three children. She also had four older half-siblings on her father's side. Below is a photo of Dorothy's family, taken about 1912. Taken before her birth, she does not appear in it. But this is the home in Challis in which the Midkiffs lived (click on the photo to go to the album and read the caption).

Dorothy does appear in the photo below. She is the little girl sitting on the fender directly in front of her father (again, click on the photo for captions).

Dorothy first married Al JOHNSON and had two daughters. After their divorce, she married Bill BENJAMIN. No one in the family seems to remember where Dorothy died, and my father-in-law is out of touch with his cousins. But I was able to take a photo of her grave at Park Hill Cemetery in Vancouver, Clark Co., Washington on Memorial Day 2004:

Research Log - Obits for Norm's Ancestors, Part 2

Heard from Christine Gray, RAOGK volunteer for Multnomah Co., Oregon. She will be looking for obits for Emma Alice LYTON and John Franklin MARTIN. Requests reimbursement of 25 cents per obit (copying fees) and $1.25 parking fee. She's done a lookup for me before; found Leona Mary MARTIN's obit a month or so ago, and did a great job.

Also heard from Joyce Obland, RAOGK volunteer for Rosebud Co., Montana, willing to look up obits for George Rice WESTABY, II, Reuben Wohlford SNOOK, and Elizabeth NEARHOOD. She requests reimbursement for gas (50 cents per mile is the standard donation...however, she has a 60-mile round trip to do her lookups), plus $1.00 per obit copy. I e-mailed her back and told her I will have to wait until after the holidays, as the $30.00 for gas is a little much right now.

Lastly, I heard from Linda Kolinski, RAOGK volunteer for Los Angeles Co., California. She had done an online search in ProQuest Historical Newspapers in the Los Angeles Times (1881 - 1985), and was unable to obtain an obituary for either Clark Pleasant R. TOLLIVER or Senna COLLINS.

Research Log - Obits for Norm's Ancestors

Requested obituaries though various RAOGK volunteers for Norm's ancestors:

Peder Johnsen LERFALD
Regina LERFALD
Clark Pleasant R. TOLLIVER
Senna COLLINS
Emma Alice LYTON
John Franklin MARTIN
George Rice WESTABY, II
Reuben Wohlford SNOOK
Elizabeth NEARHOOD (step-ancestor, second wife of Reuben Wohlford SNOOK)
Angelia Rebecca LUKE.

Ordering Vital Records

This morning I mailed off applications for vital records for ancestors of my husband. I was prompted by the posting at GenealogyBlog a few days ago that mentioned that there was a bill before the Colorado State legislature that, if passed, will prevent access to Colorado marriage records. Ridiculous! Of course, the reasoning behind this bill is identity theft and terrorism prevention, but once, again, paranoia has driven things too far! I can understand protecting records that are less than 50 or even 60 years old...but tell me how restricting access to marriage records that are 100 years old will prevent identity theft and terrorism? I can see it now...members of Al-Quaida are meeting to figure out a way to get counterfeit ID, and decide they will use Norm's great-grandparents' marriage record of 1907 to show proof of residence and thus citizenship. Oh, wait...that couple married 101 years ago! So I guess that member of Al-Quaida looks a little young to be married in 1907! Nevertheless, we must protect our citizens. Quick, shut down access to public records in the name of Homeland Security!

OK, off my soapbox. I ordered a marriage certificate from Colorado for John Franklin Midkiff, Sr. and Margie Ethel Tolliver; a birth record for Helen Mary Westaby (Norm's paternal grandmother) from Montana; and a death certificate for John Franklin Midkiff, Jr. (Norm's paternal grandfather) from Washington (State). To get applications, I simply went to www.co.gov, www.mt.gov, and www.wa.gov. I looked for "vital records" or "public health" links on the main pages of each website. All three sites were user-friendly, and I was able to find what I needed right away. If I hadn't been able to, I would have looked on the main page for a link to a site map, or done a site search.

I chose mail-in applications which I printed (all were .pdf files which I viewed with Adobe Acrobat) over online applications, which used third party businesses and were rather expensive. The mail-in applications may take some time, but they were reasonably priced. I didn't pay more than $17 apiece for the certificates.