If anyone can help Gaye, please contact her <Gjwillis@aol.com> because if you answer to the list, she is not a subscriber and won't be able to read your msg. There are two more msgs I will forward from Gaye. Thanks. Gloria >Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2004 10:36:12 -0600 >X-From_: Gjwillis@aol.com Mon Apr 26 10:36:11 2004 >From: Gjwillis@aol.com >Old-Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2004 12:36:02 EDT >To: ILMADISO-L@rootsweb.com >X-Mailer: 9.0 for Windows sub 5106 >X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.38 >X-Diagnostic: Not on the accept list >Subject: {not a subscriber} Question about resources in Alton and Edwardsville >X-Envelope-To: ILMADISO-L > >My mother-in-law is visiting in the St. Louis area and has agreed to cross >the river and do some genealogical hunting for me if I can tell her what >to do. > She has limited time and I'm hoping that folks who have experience >researching in the area can point me in the right direction of what >resources would be >best to check out. > >Our ancestor is Ira Isaac Johnson, b. 28 Sept 1860 in Alton. The family >tradition says that his mother's maiden name was Johnson and that he was >raised by >relatives. His father's surname may have been Reed/Reid/Read. I've found >Ira in the 1870 and 1880 census with a Matilda Johnson, widow of John Wesley >Johnson. I found them in the 1860 and 1850 census. They had 2 daughters, >Ellen >(b. abt 1841) and Lucy (b. abt 1843). Both would have been old enough to be >the mother to Ira in 1860. One daughter still appears to be at home in the >1865 state census, but that record only tallies females by age, not by name. >John appears to have died between the 1860 and 1865 census. The seems to be >verified by the civil war pension file for one of his sons. > >I have gone through the LDS FHL film for births in Illinois. There was no >record for Alton that could be Ira. I have tried to find a marriage for >Ellen >and Lucy to a REED/REID/READ, but have not been able to locate one. I >tried to >find them in the 1880 census by matching information there with the IRAD >marriage index, but cannot find anything that looks like a match so >far. I don't >know if they died or married. > >My goal is to determine Ira's parents. Does any one have suggestions of >local resources my mother-in-law should try? (Or resources I can access long >distance?) Are there church baptismal records or school records available >locally? Is there something else that may have a clue? > >I've wondered about checking probate or land records for John Johnson. >I've already checked the IRAD index and they responded that the possible >matches >were not my John Johnson. Has anyone access probate or land records at >Edwardsville? Can you give me any information on what it is like to >search there? >It would probably be a 2 hour drive each way for my mother-in-law. I don't >want to ask her to make that kind of effort if it wouldn't be a good >experience >for her. > >I would appreciate any ideas or tips of where to look in the area or any >other suggestions for finding Ira's parents. I'll put a listing of the >family in >a separate post in case it helps to connect with other Johnson researchers. > >Thanks in advance for any suggestions or tips. >Gaye Willis >Juneau, Alaska