Debra Kitchen Sudjian, on 10/13/00 4:48 PM, said: >I'm interested in finding out more about Gerda Hawkinson Kitchen who lived >in Galesburg, in Knox county when she died after being shot by a burglar >in her home. I would like to find more relatives in this area who could >give me any info on her life. She was married to Bill Kitchen. She had >three sisters:Agnes, Olga & Ethel and her father was John Hawkinson who >was from Sweden. My father was around 3 years old when Gerda died, so it >must have happened around 1930. My father passed away in 1978 and I have >few people to ask about the mother my father barely knew and the grandmother >I've always been curious about. >My father's name was John Kitchen. Debra: With a story like this, it was undoubtedly reported in the local newspapers of the time. In order to have a decent chance of finding it, you would need a death certificate to establish the date. If you send a check for $7.00 to the County Clerk of Knox County, giving them as much information as you know, they will attempt a search for the death certificate. If they should not find it, you will still be charged the fee, but then you would know that it probably didn't happen in Galesburg. You don't mention where you currently reside; if it were near Galesburg, you could just visit the Galesburg Public Library to view the microfilms of the old newspapers in the days subsequent to the shooting. Otherwise, you might request help here from local folks or join the Knox County Genealogical Society. I'm told they often do lookups like this for members who do not live locally. Given the information you have, you would be very likely to get a LOT of information from the newspaper reports AND the death certificate. If your information above is accurate, you would be quite likely to get both items. Good luck; let us know how you fare. Tom Lundeen County Clerk Knox County Courthouse Galesburg IL 61401 Knox County Genealogical Society P.O. Box 13 Galesburg IL 61402