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.

*Marriage Record

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

**Michigan Marriages, 1822-1995

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

Collection: Michigan Marriages 1868-1925

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