This week I’ve been caught up in Chris Dunham’s Genealogue Challenges.
I recently read one genealogist’s statement on “why I do this,” meaning research one’s family, and he or she (don’t remember which) said in what I took to be a rather superior tone that they certainly didn’t do genealogy because they loved puzzles.
I must be the inferior type because that is part of what I love about family history–solving the problems. And Chris’ challenges provide just the thing.
I do have to admit to wondering how (and maybe why) he puts them together. Whatever that process, I enjoy the chase. It provides an opportunity to sharpen my skills and learn new resources. I’ve had fairly good success with solving the challenges and what I’ve learned!!
The most recent was a chase to find out Irene Ryan’s birth name and how she was listed on the 1920 census. I learned her mother was an Irish immigrant, that Irene was born in El Paso, and that even at 17, she was listed as an actress on the census. The “extra credit” was to confirm that the woman she was buried with was her sister–I didn’t make it that far, but others did. I could make a fairly good circumstantial case, but I had to give up and go to bed before I could put the final nail in the case.
In the chase to find the name of one of the undertakers for Frank James, I discovered that “racket store” was a variety store–I thought that’s what the census said, but I’d never heard the term. Now I know. My having worked in a very old small town in western Oklahoma across the street from a former furniture store that had “caskets built” still lettered on the window came in handy on that search.
I also learned that Barnett Kulp’s “most famous granddaughter” was Sara Lee. Solving that one entailed learning where Barnett Kulp died, locating his death notice in LA that said he was to be buried in Chicago. That enabled me to find his obituary, with his survivors, including the married names of his daughters. When I finally decided to run their names through Google, sure enough, daughter “Tillie Lubin” emerged as the mother of Sara Lee–Mr. Lubin bought a chain of bakeries in Iowa and Mrs. Lubin insisted on naming the cakes for their daughter.
Big Nose Kate was a fun chase as well. That name sounded vaguely familiar, and sure enough, she was also known as Katie Elder, off and on companion of Doc Holliday. Lesser known, though, is that she lived her last 20 years with a man named John Jesse Howard and was executrix of his estate. The challenge was to find his full name, and the name of his estranged wife. The Arizona death certificates and birth certificates from that era are online, and they provided the names.
Some I haven’t done so well on–Chris wasn’t kidding when he said the one about Casey Stengel was trickier than it first appeared. I not only learned a lot about Casey Stengel, I learned to remember to use more of the free resources out there–Google books, e.g.
Did you know there really was a Chef Boyardee?
The chase isn’t always about famous or infamous people, but nearly always, I go to some of my favorite sources. There’s Joe Beine’s Online Searchable Death Indexes and Records, which includes links to the necrology index at Cleveland Public Library and the death and birth certificates in Arizona and Missouri.
Check out Chris’ site–he’s also got top ten lists, links to current news stories with a genealogical twist, and he maintains a genealogy blog finder if you’re looking for more to read.
