22 June 2012

How And Why I Started Researching My Great-Grand Uncle's 1st Wife's 3rd Husband

The twists and turns of a typical search or how I got from here to there!

As I was browsing posts in the Google Reader, the updated online databases at FamilySearch.org were mentioned.  Hmmm....time to check out the list.  The update that caught my eye was Illinois probate but it was too labor intensive at that late hour, so I landed on Minnesota instead (no, I wasn't playing Monopoly).  After finding a couple of miscellaneous items, I started searching for Ingeborg Peterson in Minnesota.  Ingeborg was married to my great granduncle, Harry Gilman Powers, as his 2nd wife.

Hmmm...perhaps it was time to search at GenealogyBank.com for information about Uncle Harry's first wife, Lillian Cramer*.  Issues of the Flint [Michigan] Journal newspaper are online there and browsing through issues of the Journal is one of my favorite pasttimes.  It was late and getting later, but what the heck.

Lillian, who married Harry G. Powers in 1898, married John Baird in 1901**.  Lillian wasn't done marrying yet.  On February 19, 1908, she married David Delton Foerch*** (whom she later divorced).  Foerch struck me as an interesting and fairly unusual surname.  David Foerch was born in Canada and his mother was a Butler; was there a connection to Butler's Rangers?  Inquiring minds want to know.

My search has taken me way beyond the parameters of the Powers genealogy, but has now piqued my interest.  Could I justify continuing with David Foerch because the Butlers might take me back to the Niagara Peninsula where my Powers family used to live?  Okay, I'll go with that.

Because of the links I found researching my great granduncle's first wife's 3rd husband (David Foerch), he and his family will be the featured on a separate blog post.


Groom name: Harry G. Powers
Groom age: 21 years
Groom birth year: 1877
Groom birth place: Canada
Bride name: Lillian M. Cramer
Bride age: 17 years
Bride birth year: 1881
Bride birth place: Genesee, Michigan
Marriage date: 15 Mar 1898
Marriage place: Flint, Genesee, Michigan
Father of groom name: John N. Powers
Mother of groom name: Agnes Kennedy
Father of bride name: Dennis Cramer
Mother of bride name: Rellie H. Green
Collection: Michigan Marriages 1868-1925


Groom's Name: John Baird
Groom's Birth Date: 1873
Groom's Birthplace: Saginaw, Mich.
Groom's Age: 28
Bride's Name: Lillian M. Cramer
Bride's Birth Date: 1880
Bride's Birthplace: Genesee, Mich.
Bride's Age: 21
Marriage Date: 30 May 1901
Marriage Place: Flint, Genesee, Michigan
Groom's Father's Name: Hamilton Baird
Groom's Mother's Name: June Brown
Bride's Father's Name: Dennis R. Cramer
Bride's Mother's Name: Nellie Greene


***Groom name: David D. Faerch [Lansing resident]
Groom age: 24 years
Groom birth year: 1884
Groom birth place: Ontario
Bride name: Lillian Cramer
Bride age: 25 years
Bride birth year: 1883
Bride birth place: Flint, Michigan
Marriage date: 19 Feb 1908
Marriage place: Lansing, Ingham, Michigan
Father of groom name: Andrew Faerch
Mother of groom name: Susanna Butler
Father of bride name: Dennis Cramer
Mother of bride name: Nellie R. Moss

P.S. I marvel at genealogists who stay on point!

2 comments:

Carol said...

I marvel too! LOL This sounds like my day, err, week, err, month, oh, heck, my life! LOL

Congrats on the finds!

PalmsRV said...

Glad it's not just me Carol! Cathy @ palmsrv