Hi List, I am searching for information on Mary Elizabeth Keefer Smith Pearsall. She died on Nov. 2, 1909 in Waterloo IA. She was born in PA. on Dec 23 I847 I have her Obit.. Her obit said that she had lived in Iowa for 40 years. I am looking for her mother and father. Was the county required to file a death certificate 1909 and would it contain her parents name. What office would I contact? I can not find her on any of the census under Keefer or Smith I did find her in the 1900 census married to Pearsall living in LaPorte City. It list's her father as being born in England and her mother in Scotland. She had a son named Maxwell (Smith) Pearsall born in Sept. 1889. I believe that Maxwell's father was a Smith as Henry Pearsall first wife Fannie Ledger didn't pass away until Dec 30 1888. She married Henry Pearsall/Pearsol in Vinton in 1892. Any help or suggestions that you could give me would be greatly appreciated. Thank You Louise Westphalen

Have you borrowed or rented theLDS Iowa Death (Mortality) files for Black Hawk Co., Iowa for that time period? I did so and for both my grand aunt and my great grandmother (both in Iowa, one in Black Hawk Co.) I went to the nearest LDS Family Research room and with their help, ordered the film. It took about two weeks for delivery. Using their machines, I reviewed the Iowa Mortality Schedule, Black Hawk Co, 1880-1920 (About) which was the period of time family stories has her dieing in, and I knew that she was killed by a train while crossing a RR trestle. I didn't find my her listed in alphabetical order, so I went through the roll page by page - and there she was! The only woman to have died on May 30, 1902 and she was listed as Sadie Heskett. (I knew her as Sara McKinder, her maiden name). Anyway, it truely was her and from their I got her newspaper obituary by writing the Waterloo Courier and giving them the date of death. The newspaper story and her obituary were then mailed to me. Moral of my story -- There is an LDS church and therefore most likely a research room therein that you can go to and with the help of their volunteers, rent the appropriate Salt Lake Library films, and peruse them at your leisure. Small $6.00 per film fee, but it sure beats the frustration. These rooms can be found in your telephone book -- or by going to www.familysearch.com and seeing their list of available rooms. Also you have to look at each and every person listed on the film to ensure that your ancestor's name isn't grossly misspelled! The people taking down the data really did a good job of creative listening...misspelling every name on the form sometimes. Good hunting. Sandy in Calif. - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Louise Westphalen" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, January 12, 2007 10:19 AM Subject: [IOWA] death Certificate > Hi List, > I am searching for information on Mary Elizabeth Keefer Smith > Pearsall. She died on Nov. 2, 1909 in Waterloo IA. She was born in > PA. on Dec 23 I847 I have her Obit.. Her obit said that she had lived > in Iowa for 40 years. I am looking for her mother and father. Was the > county required to file a death certificate 1909 and would it contain > her parents name. What office would I contact? I can not find her on > any of the census under Keefer or Smith I did find her in the 1900 > census married to Pearsall living in LaPorte City. It list's her father > as being born in England and her mother in Scotland. She had a son > named Maxwell (Smith) Pearsall born in Sept. 1889. I believe that > Maxwell's father was a Smith as Henry Pearsall first wife Fannie Ledger > didn't pass away until Dec 30 1888. She married Henry > Pearsall/Pearsol in Vinton in 1892. Any help or suggestions that you > could give me would be greatly appreciated. > Thank You Louise Westphalen > > _____________________________________________ > > For additional information concerning how the list > works, how to sub and unsub and list rules, visit > http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~richard/ialist/ > _____________________________________________ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message