My personal research just got a major boost in the last two days! I was named for one of my Dad's great aunts. She is the half sister of my great-grandfather. We have been trying to get more information on her father for years. And I just found stuff.
A while ago, using Ancestry.com and the census, I found a man who might have been her father in the 1880 Census living with his mother, Caroline, and his three children: Rufus L, Mary A, and Sarah O or E. They were living in Arkansas. In 1885, he married my great-grandmother whose first husband was the sheriff killer discussed a few posts back. The only tie I have between this Arkansas family and my family is the 1900 Census where Caroline is living with her son, John Washington Pool, Eugenia Pool (my great-grandmother), her two sons by her first husband and their four children. Other than the ages of Caroline agreeing, that wasn't much to go on.
Two days ago, I used Pilot.FamilySearch.org. I looked up Texas Deaths. And I plugged in John Pool(e). I got hits. His son, John Morgan Pool, listed his father. I already knew that one. The other three half-siblings of my great-grandfather died outside the date range. I did get a hit on one Mary Anna Cook with father John Washington Poole. It also listed a mother, Lucinda Brown. Mary Anna matches Mary A.
The next morning, I found under the same search, Sarah Ollie Parker, with father John Poole and mother Unknown Brown. Sarah Ollie and Sarah O or E.
Then I went back over the Censuses again. 1900 census in Texas shows Sarah Ollie Parker one county away from her father. 1910 Census, after John Washington Pool(e) died, shows Caroline Poole living with Sarah O Parker in the last known town that the Pools lived in. They live a little ways away from my great-grandmother, who now lives by herself.
I found Caroline Poole's death certificate. She died in 1914, 15 days shy of her 94th birthday. WOW! I shouldn't be that surprised. Aunt Clorinda, whom I am named for, lived until she was 95.
I think I have a preponderance of evidence. I have only summarized it all here but when you look at all the names, dates and places, it all seems to fit.
As a genealogy hobbiest in general with a decent background in professional research, I have always been interested in the story behind people. I can't look at a name and a date without thinking about what was going on at the time, how this person may have been affected, and what could I do to find out more. I enjoy nothing more than fleshing out the story of a person. If something doesn't seem right, I pursue it until I know more.
