Many Thank you's for your response and interest Robert. I am near on 100% sure that Gertrude Snitska/Kohler (nee Odonnell) died in Hennepin. Most records for her and her family are there. I am dubious as to whether she actually did remarry or whether Joseph frank Snitska for whatever reason temporarily used the name Joseph kohler. The reason I have for saying this is that On one of my father's old high School records I came across mention of a guardian Joseph kohler mattress maker. On my father's marriage certificate to my mother it refers to his father as joseph Snitska mattress maker. All other mention of parent or guardian refers to Gertrude Odonnell. The Snitska family was very large. Joseph Frank Snitska had 14 other siblings, I have just recently discovered. They appear to have gone under several variations of Snitska and I have just heard that some of the boys also used the surname Walter at one stage. Probably due to anti german sentiment at the time. I found also a mention of some names in one of the online directory's with reference to 'Kohlas'. I wondered if they had some connection as some of the given names were the same as the Snitska siblings. As mentioned in my first letter the family name was actually keschnitzke. I hope that Gertrude II's death has an obituary somewhere. For some reason my sister thought she may have died when she was 25. This would have made my father 9 and his brother 7. Giving the year of death as approx 1922. Her brother's names were: THOMAS ODONNALD, b. 1893. 1900 u.s. census: district 979, chicago ward 31, cook, illinois 1910 census: Mn, district 63, 3-wd minneapolis, hennepin WILLIAM J ODONNELL, b. 1894. 1900 u.s. census: district 979, chicago ward 31, cook, illinois 1910 census: Mn, district 63, 3-wd minneapolis, hennepin JEREMIAH ODONNALD, b. 1898. 1900 u.s. census: district 979, chicago ward 31, cook, illinois 1910 census: Mn, district 63, 3-wd minneapolis, hennepin JOSEPH ODONNALD, b. 1902, Minneso I have not been able to trace her brother's. Also I have not found any record of gertrude having an occupation. A kind soul has just sent me this info for Joseph Frank Snitska: However he lists 2 sons (unnamed) under 12 who are dependent on him. Lived at 2132 Wash No., a mattress worker for Bergstene Bros All military records for Joseph Frank were destroyed in a fire and I have been unable to request a copy of them. I thank you kindly again for your interest in this. Melinda Kohler > Message: 2 > Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2006 21:05:51 -0600 > From: robert p mosedale <rmosedale@juno.com> > Subject: Re: [MNHennep] Desperately seeking help on locating > information on my grandmother (with focus on death record). > To: mnhennep@rootsweb.com > Message-ID: <20061203.210551.-273957.0.rmosedale@juno.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > Well I was looking for someone in New Zealand from long long ago, so i > will see if i can help here. > > State of Illinois has good records available on web, so you might find > marriage and birth and death records, and then onto local history by > county.. > > Folks often migrated in groups and many Germans came from PA in this era. > Irish were everywhere, it seems. > > 1909 Mpls City Directory - on web - has Snitka and Zeppenfields. > > Now Gertrude IIs death should lead to an obit, and her bros name might > lead to somewhere. > > I did do an extended soundex search on names at Minnesota Historical > Society records index and developed zip. > > And more census records and City Indexes might lead somewhere, and you > could provide more info on occupations, where folks lived and name of > Gertrude 2nd's husband, and there should be a draft card for him, > perhaps, etc....... > > Do a time line and maybe it will help you focus. > > > > Happy Historical Trails, > > Robert P. Mosedale > Bloodhound Research, P. A. > rmosedale@juno.com > > >