October 10, 2013

Death Records Can Identify Unknown Spouses

Elizabeth Roosa was single and listed with her parents in the 1880 census. Little did I know that by 1900 she would be a widow.  Had I not happened upon her death record (which resulted from a search under her mother’s maiden name of Margaret Bogardus), I would not have found her. 

Interestingly her 1943 Michigan death record named her parents fully (middle names too) but HER HUSBAND WAS NOT NAMED ! She was listed as Elizabeth Frances Wastell, daughter of William and Margaret.

Further searching did identify her 1885 marriage to Englishman Joseph Wastell who died in 1894. Their marriage period falls into that “no 1890 census” gap. 

So look at death records, they can provide lots of good “Living” information.

1 comment:

  1. Hi,

    I want to let you know that your blog is listed in today's Fab Finds post at http://janasgenealogyandfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2013/10/follow-friday-fab-finds-for-october-11.html

    Have a wonderful weekend!

    ReplyDelete