Family studies can be very helpful, but at the same time it can also be very unpleasant, especially when it comes to the fact that it is impossible to find records. It happened to me not so long ago, and the unexpected discovery turned out to be an incredible find.
Eliza Jane Kidd was the sister of my great great grandfather James Kidd. They were both born in Ireland and emigrated to the USA. Eliza and her sister Jane were in Boston, both were married and historically found in West Wisconsin, where they spent the rest of their days with their families. James arrived in the US later, and he also settled in the same area near Kolfax with his family.
On May 5, 1857, Eliza married Arthur Simpson in Blackstone, Massachusetts, and then moved to Tainter Township near Kolfax in April 1868. Eliza died on October 13, 1911 and was buried in Hill-Grove Cemetery, near Kolfax. Almost the whole family was immediately buried in Hill Grove Cemetery. I was able to check out most of the information about Eliza’s life, including her Hill Grove headstone. I could never find her death certificate. I always thought it was strange, because her obituary indicated that she died in Tainter Lake, which is also located in West Wisconsin, where Collax is located. And she died at a time when the states of Wisconsin demanded a death certificate. After filing an application in Wisconsin, there was no record of her death.
So what happened to her death certificate? I historically applied for a death certificate in the register of officers of Dunn County located in Menomoni County. I thought it was worth a try, although I thought that if the state had no record, why would the county have it? So I filled out the form and processed it. An assistant clerk called me to register cases from Dunn County about two days after sending my request. She mentioned to me that she thought she had found the death certificate of Eliza, but the interesting part was “DESTINATION FOR A DEATH CERTIFICATE!”. All information was correct, including the name of her parents, dates of birth and death. The certificate simply did not have a name. The clerk also informed me that there was a note attached to a nameless testimony from the former Register of Acts several years ago. This man indicated that Mrs. Eliza Simpson most likely had this certificate, as she remembered her.
I could not believe what I heard, and only a few days later, when I received a letter from Menomonius, I saw a nameless death certificate. I stand there for a few minutes, not believing, but, of course, this is evidence of the death of my great, great, great aunt. What I learned from all this should be unbiased when searching for family records and never give up.
