Saturday, June 8, 2013

Finding the Herr Women

Females present more of a challenge than males when researching genealogy.  This is true in my own family.  I'm looking for all the siblings of Charles William Frederick Herr, the father of my father's mother, Clara Herr.  Charles Herr, or "Charlie" as he was called, came from a HUGE family.  His father, Frank Herr, who was born in Alsace-Lorraine, France, married Hannah Christine Whilemina Nolty in Canada.  She was born in Germany.  Together they had 14 children.  Not all of the children lived.  The first to be born were a set of twins.  The couple had moved down to Fort Wayne, Indiana and the twins were born and died there.  Two daughters died in infancy in Michigan as well. 

So trying to find the daughters has been tough.  Family Search has helped by having the Michigan marriage records available, which enables me to see who they married.  That was a huge help.  So I've been able to trace and track all of Frank and Hannah's children except one daughter; Mary Herr.  I know who she married, I've found her in the census records, but she is the only child I have not been able to find a death record for.  Is it because she remarried and I don't know her husband's name?  Is it because she moved out of Michigan?  That's possible because one of her sisters, Minnie, married a Russian man and the entire family moved west, first to Nebraska and then to Washington state.  One of Mary's sons moved out to Washington state as well, living in the same county as Minnie's family.

But not being able to find when Mary died is eating at me.  She was born in Michigan in 1882, married a man named George Jamieson, and had 12 children herself.  Where did Mary Herr Jamieson die, and when?