I haven;t updated in a while because there's really nothing to update. I sent out for Bessie Hibbs' death certificate, we'll see if Jersey decides to let me see it. Right now, I'm really just waiting for that.
I did find out some more cool stuff though. My grandma's birthday was on the 21st, so my mom called to tell her Happy Birthday. However we lost her number, so we had to call her daughter--my aunt--Penny. Turns out Penny had a crapton of information about my grandma's mother, Helen. The information is in the mail so I should get it soon.
I also went by the church to get my Ordinance # to get access to the website, and I was successful.The bad news is I marked my grandfather's wife as his mother, not my grandmother. I have no idea how to fix it. Oops.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
G-Pa Tom Update #8: COMPLETELY SOLVED...
If you've been following my updates, you'll know that Neva divorced Thomas LaVere, so her name was then changed to Condron (her maiden name). However she died "Neva Hammond". So who did she marry?
John Mark Hammond. That's where I get my last name from. Mystery solved.
I went to another Family History Library right here in town. The guy that was helping me, Harry, was so knowledgeable about this stuff. He pointed out things to me that I never noticed before. He showed me a new program only accessible at the FHCs that was spectacular. It's Mormon-specific, meaning the only people that update it are Mormon volunteers, and we pride ourselves on being genealogy freaks.
Now I get to research this guy and see what I can find. And maybe get some documentation providing a link between John and Neva.
One mystery down, one to go.
John Mark Hammond. That's where I get my last name from. Mystery solved.
I went to another Family History Library right here in town. The guy that was helping me, Harry, was so knowledgeable about this stuff. He pointed out things to me that I never noticed before. He showed me a new program only accessible at the FHCs that was spectacular. It's Mormon-specific, meaning the only people that update it are Mormon volunteers, and we pride ourselves on being genealogy freaks.
Now I get to research this guy and see what I can find. And maybe get some documentation providing a link between John and Neva.
One mystery down, one to go.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Great G-Ma Bessie Update #2: Well... I guess I found one good thing...
As I mentioned before I didn't really find anything at the Mormon LAFHL, and that's the truth; I found nothing that answered any of my questions. However, I realize now that it was a 100% bust. Maybe about 95%. Here is what I did find:
Check it out.
That is the marriage announcement of Bessie Hibbs and John Edward Ristow. I know the type is basically gone, but if you look at the third line you can plainly see "Edward" and the surrounding type looks like "John" and "Ristow". The important thing about that is that article is a snippet from the April 24th, 1920 newspaper the Trenton Evening Times. Now I at least have a year pertaining to Bessie.
But even I sent in a request for the marriage certificate, what would it tell me? All the marriage certificates I've seen only mention:
1) The people getting married
2) Those people's parent's names (sometimes)
3) The date of the marriage
4) The reverend conducting the ceremony
5) ...
6) profit
Nothing about birth dates, nothing about when they died (obviously), not a piece of information I need. It would be awesome to actually have the marriage certificate, but it's $25.
Also, I've found on the 1930 census that John Ristow is already married to his other wife, Beulah. My grandmother was only 9, not 10 like she first told my mother. But this begs the question: if Bessie died when my grandmother was only 9, how long did it take for John Ristow to bounce back and get remarried? It appears it took not long at all.
I'm still incredulous to the fact that there's NOTHING in any of the Trenton papers about Bessie's death. I wonder if the crash was so bad the faces were unrecognizable so the bodies remained unidentified. Well no, that wouldn't work either because John Ristow would still know that it was his wife and child in the car that crashed. I wonder if the bodies were identified after the newspaper article ran. That way there wouldn't be any names in the article.
There's simply GOT to be something somewhere...
Check it out.
That is the marriage announcement of Bessie Hibbs and John Edward Ristow. I know the type is basically gone, but if you look at the third line you can plainly see "Edward" and the surrounding type looks like "John" and "Ristow". The important thing about that is that article is a snippet from the April 24th, 1920 newspaper the Trenton Evening Times. Now I at least have a year pertaining to Bessie.
But even I sent in a request for the marriage certificate, what would it tell me? All the marriage certificates I've seen only mention:
1) The people getting married
2) Those people's parent's names (sometimes)
3) The date of the marriage
4) The reverend conducting the ceremony
5) ...
6) profit
Nothing about birth dates, nothing about when they died (obviously), not a piece of information I need. It would be awesome to actually have the marriage certificate, but it's $25.
Also, I've found on the 1930 census that John Ristow is already married to his other wife, Beulah. My grandmother was only 9, not 10 like she first told my mother. But this begs the question: if Bessie died when my grandmother was only 9, how long did it take for John Ristow to bounce back and get remarried? It appears it took not long at all.
I'm still incredulous to the fact that there's NOTHING in any of the Trenton papers about Bessie's death. I wonder if the crash was so bad the faces were unrecognizable so the bodies remained unidentified. Well no, that wouldn't work either because John Ristow would still know that it was his wife and child in the car that crashed. I wonder if the bodies were identified after the newspaper article ran. That way there wouldn't be any names in the article.
There's simply GOT to be something somewhere...
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Great G-Ma Bessie Update #1: Santa Monica Mormon FHL
In an effort to try and get some newspaper articles or something about Bessie's car accident, I went to the Santa Monica Mormon Temple, home to a big Family History Library. On their website it boasts:
Three guess as to how much information I got: NOT A DAMN THING. It was unbelievable! Basically the largest family history library outside of Washington D.C. and I couldn't find anything. I drove 25 minutes there, drove an hour and twenty minutes back (405 traffic from Santa Monica. Those who get it, get it.) and I didn't find a single new piece of info.
I think right now my only lead is to try and get Bessie's death certificate from the same place I got my grandma's birth certificate: Trenton, NJ. I think while I'm at it I'm going to apply to get her marriage certificate to John Ristow. The biggest thing I have to remember is I have to write "Bessie Hibbs -OR- Bessie Ristow" on the death cert request form.
I can't believe I can't find a damn article in the newspaper regarding her death. She, and her toddler son, died in a car accident. There's gotta be something that I'm missing...
- 86 networked computer workstations
- 18 film reader machines
- 1 microfiche reader machine
- 56,000 rolls of film
- 40,000 microfiche
- 6,058 books
- Seasoned volunteers
- Regional experts
- Rare book collection
- Calif. death records 1905+
Three guess as to how much information I got: NOT A DAMN THING. It was unbelievable! Basically the largest family history library outside of Washington D.C. and I couldn't find anything. I drove 25 minutes there, drove an hour and twenty minutes back (405 traffic from Santa Monica. Those who get it, get it.) and I didn't find a single new piece of info.
I think right now my only lead is to try and get Bessie's death certificate from the same place I got my grandma's birth certificate: Trenton, NJ. I think while I'm at it I'm going to apply to get her marriage certificate to John Ristow. The biggest thing I have to remember is I have to write "Bessie Hibbs -OR- Bessie Ristow" on the death cert request form.
I can't believe I can't find a damn article in the newspaper regarding her death. She, and her toddler son, died in a car accident. There's gotta be something that I'm missing...
Hystery of the Bessie mystery
With the "Who Neva Married" mystery on hold, I can move on to the other mystery in my family: who was my mother's mother's mother.
Here is literally all we know ('we' being my mom): my great-grandmother's name is Bessie Hibbs. No that name is not made up. Her and my grandmother's brother--name unknown--died tragically in a car accident. She was married to John Ristow. Bessie died when my grandmother was 10.
And that's it. Anytime my mom asked questions, my grandmother shot her down and didn't answer anything.
I have my grandmother's birth certificate that lists Bessie Hibbs as the mother, so we know she existed at least. I have a letter written by the husband of a woman named Mildred Hibbs who went by a shortening of her middle name "Betty". However the only connection is the last name; it could all just be a giant coincident.
I found absolutely nothing at FamilySearch.org except crap about the woman John remarried Beulah. Beulah Ristow is not Bessie, damn it...
What sucks is that the birth certificate of my grandmother had literally no other information other than her birthday, the day the certificate was filed, and her parent's names. It's nuts, I can't find anything.
My mom thinks that my grandma never talked about it because it was sort of a cursed topic. Not only did her mother die when she was 10-years-old, but her husband died when my aunt was 10-years-old also (my mother at the time was only 2).
However, since we know that my grandmother was 10 when Bessie and my grandmother's brother died, and my grandmother was born in 1921, we can assume that the car crash occurred somewhere around 1931. New Jersey Vital Statistics has it set up where it costs $25 per certificate, with an additional $1 for each year to be searched.
I suppose I'm not above spending $70 for a death certificate :-( ...
Here is literally all we know ('we' being my mom): my great-grandmother's name is Bessie Hibbs. No that name is not made up. Her and my grandmother's brother--name unknown--died tragically in a car accident. She was married to John Ristow. Bessie died when my grandmother was 10.
And that's it. Anytime my mom asked questions, my grandmother shot her down and didn't answer anything.
I have my grandmother's birth certificate that lists Bessie Hibbs as the mother, so we know she existed at least. I have a letter written by the husband of a woman named Mildred Hibbs who went by a shortening of her middle name "Betty". However the only connection is the last name; it could all just be a giant coincident.
I found absolutely nothing at FamilySearch.org except crap about the woman John remarried Beulah. Beulah Ristow is not Bessie, damn it...
What sucks is that the birth certificate of my grandmother had literally no other information other than her birthday, the day the certificate was filed, and her parent's names. It's nuts, I can't find anything.
My mom thinks that my grandma never talked about it because it was sort of a cursed topic. Not only did her mother die when she was 10-years-old, but her husband died when my aunt was 10-years-old also (my mother at the time was only 2).
However, since we know that my grandmother was 10 when Bessie and my grandmother's brother died, and my grandmother was born in 1921, we can assume that the car crash occurred somewhere around 1931. New Jersey Vital Statistics has it set up where it costs $25 per certificate, with an additional $1 for each year to be searched.
I suppose I'm not above spending $70 for a death certificate :-( ...
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