Funeral Card Friday: Mr. & Mrs. (& Mrs.) A. J. Doran

 

Alexander Judd Doran (my great grandfather):

His first wife, Lillian Francis Stroud:

His second wife, Virginia Vandalia McCroskey:

All of whom I've written about before... so this will be a fairly silent Friday.  Have a great week-end!



Funeral Card Friday: Benana Elliott

 

Benana (Elliott) McCroskey is a darn difficult woman to find!  All I have are tantalizing tidbits.  I have a funeral notice...

I have an obituary...

which I admit is really more than tidbits.  The tantalizing tidbits are actually found in one of Alexander Judd Doran's notebooks.  It simply states:

Benana Elliott Parents names. Father Benjamin Elliott.

Her mother was Angeline Crenshaw.
Benjamin Elliott died about Feb 1846
Angeline died 1864

While Benana Elliott was in a Federal prison in Marshall Mo Saline Co. She was 18 yrs old she never got to go to her mothers funeral. A negro slave came to the prison and told her that her mother was dead.

What?!  Federal prison?!  At 18?!  Where??  And for what??  

I don't have the faintest idea.  I don't even know where to start.  Benana (Elliott) McCroskey is a darn difficult woman to find!

Funeral Card Friday: James Rosa Sr

 

This funeral notice announces the death of my great-great-grandfather, James Rosa Sr.  He was born in Vuren, in the Gelderland region of the Netherlands on the 16th of September in 1840.  The family settled in Hamburg, Calhoun County, Illinois around 1853.  His descendants live there still.  He died May 24, 1904 and was buried two days later at the Indian Creek Cemetery in Hamburg.