Death Certificate received!

Today's mail finally had what I have been waiting for from the State of Indiana.  My great-great grandfather, Arie Blom's death certificate!

There was a note attached to the receipt regarding the fact that many of the older records were printed on very porous paper and that due to the age and condition of the orginal document, the above certificate was the best reproduction they could make.

So, in addition to the ships passenger list, I now have a second source listing Jacob Blom as his father, but still no documentation of who Arie's mother was.

Small Brick Wall torn down

So I have been researching my great-great grandfather, Arie Blom Sr., and had gotten stuck on getting his death certificate.  I had sent away for it in the state of Illinois based on the following newspaper posting I found on Ancestry.com

So with the above article, I had decided to search in Cook County, Illinois for his death records since the article had mentioned Lansing as where his daughter and her husband were going to.  I also checked the date of the newspaper and looked up a calendar for 1943 and found according to the article his date of death was July 19, 1943.  

Well, I sent off for a copy of his death certificate from Cook County, and was surprised when I got a letter back stating no records found for the information I gave him.  Especially since I found an entry on interment.net for him and his wife buried at Homewood Memorial Gardens in Homewood, Cook, Illinois. 

I called Homewood Memorial Gardens and asked them to send me a copy of his burial record and the first one I sent was actually for his son, Arie Blom, Jr.   When I finally got the right record, I figured out why Cook County doesn't have a death certificate for him:

At the very bottom of the record, under remarks... "POD: Hammond, In.  No int order, too old".  So now, I am waiting for the State of Indiana to do their search and hopefully within a week or so I will have my great-great-grandfather's death certificate in my hands.

Yes, I am alive!

It seems like it has been forever since I've written here.  Working full time has kept me busy and I haven't had much time for my genealogy research. 

Since my last mailbox waiting game post, I have received my grandfather's death certificate and my great-great-grandfather's naturalization documents.  I've been having a hard time trying to successfully digitize the naturalization documents as they are on larger paper than my scanner can handle.  I did take some photos of them with my digital camera but it's not as clear and sharp as it could be if I had scanned them.

I am still waiting on the death certificate for my great-great-grandfather.  Hopefully by the end of this week it will be in my hands. 

Update for the mailbox waiting game

So a couple of weeks ago, I sent off for a copy of my grandfather, Wesley John Blom's death certificate.  I also sent off for my great-great grandfather, Arie Blom's death certificate and naturalization documents.

I still have not heard anything back regarding the death certificates, however one of the checks I mailed off has been cashed so hopefully I will see the one for my grandfather soon!

I did, however, get a letter today from the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County Illinois's office regarding the naturalization documents.  They found the documents and were sending me a letter detailing the cost of photocopies and mailing fees, a total of $17.94.  So once again I am playing the waiting game as I mailed off the check this morning before going to the grocery store.  At least now I know the process a bit more so that when I go to order the naturalization documents of my great-great grandfather Henry J Moes, his wife Gertrude Hillegonds and Henry's mother Jennie, I will be better prepared. 

The mailbox waiting game...

Yesterday, before work, I dropped off 4 items to be mailed out at the post office.  One was a few photos I had promised to send to my little brother.  The other 3 were genealogy related. 

I sent in a request to the state of Missouri for a copy of my grandfather, Wesley Blom's death certificate.  I have a copy of his delayed birth certificate already and figured it was finally time to get the death certificate to go with it. 

I also have a couple of requests on their way to Illinois regarding my great great grandfather, Arie Blom.  One is a copy of his death certificate, and the other is a copy of his naturalization record. 

So now, I get to sit back and anxiously await my new-to-my-genealogy-collection documents to show up in my mailbox. I think I am most excited about the naturalization records as it will be the first time I've seen a set of them.

Monday Mailbox

So my husband checked the mail this morning and a couple of documents I had been waiting on have finally arrived!

The first document was the death certificate for my great-great grandfather John A. Blom. 

A few posts back, I posted a copy of my great-great grandfather's obituary and looking over the death certificate it looks like a great deal of that information is confirmed by this.  More importantly, I now have an exact date of birth rather than just the year of birth for him.  Next up on my todo list for my great-great grandfather is a copy of his birth certificate and his SS-5.  Eventually I also want to track down academic records for him from Northwestern University and I imagine there will be quite a few church records to track down as well.  

The other documents I received in the second envelope were the marriage license applications for both great-great-grandparents, John A. Blom and Jeanette Moes, as well as their marriage certificate: 

 

So now, after looking over the applications, I am wondering what my 3rd great-grandfather Henry Moes was a Foreman of.  I am also wondering what a Hod Carrier (sp) is as that is the occupation of my other 3rd great-grandfather Arie Blom.   

Isn't it funny how answering questions in genealogy generally leads to more questions?