This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: JDJames89 Surnames: Ray Pearce Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.michigan.counties.houghton/4899/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Hi there. I'm not really expecting anyone being able to help me find anything at the moment, but more perhaps suggestions. I am not acquainted with genealogy sources (particularly online sources) for this area and I am working with a frustratingly small amount of useful information on my Great Great Great Grandmother Annie Ray-Pearce. Annie was born on August 7th in the year of either 1874 or 1878 in Hancock, Michigan. I know from later census records that both her parents were Irish and that, as of 1897, she was married to a man named Andrew C. Ray and gave birth to a daughter in Butte, Montana. Andrew died a decade later and, eleven years after her first husband's death, she remarried, again in Butte, to an English man by the name of Edwin Pearce, whom she preceded in death on January 14th, 1949. Aside from that, I know nothing about Annie's early years (including her maiden name). Her death certificate is mostly blank and gives and no information on her parents. No records exist for the birth of her first child, and odds are that the marriage is too early to have been recorded either. There is the chance that her second marriage (the certificate of which I am currently pursuing) might include a maiden name, or that of her parents, but there is also the chance it just lists her as Mrs. Annie Ray, as the announcement in a 1928 newspaper did. I would say, though, given Annie's age at the time of her first marriage, it seems unlikely that she would have come to Montana alone, and I think it's likely that her parent's or some other family came as well, maybe for mining (as were most people, particularly the Irish, at the time). If anyone knows of any very early Hancock records (which I'm aware might not even exist anymore after two devastating fires to the city), or any other good sources that might be able to help me out in tracking down a family in both Hancock and Butte records, I would be extremely grateful. Thanks. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.