Joan, The Madison county marriage certificates or at least the indexes are available through LDS from 1908 to 1935. http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titledetails&titleno=422944&disp=Marriage++records%2C++1908-1920%3B++in%20%20&columns=*,0,0 Dick Hillenbrand On Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 10:43 AM, Joan Rebholz <jurebholz@comcast.net>wrote: > Tink, > > Thanks for the very thoughtful suggestions. The story is a little more > convoluted. > > The obit for Frances Dibble (1867 - 1948) mentioned another son with the > surname Brewer. So, unless she adopted Fred and Jesse Fidell, she was > apparently married (at least) three times, and probably divorced from > Brewer. I found a marriage record for the Brewer son, and this had a fourth > surname for Frances, which I assumed to be her maiden name. She and Dibble > are in the 1930 census, having been married since ~1921. I have done first > name searches, surname searches, and in a few cases pulled the names of > everybody in the towns, everything I can think of, and otherwise Frances > succeeded in being very elusive, but I'm not even sure how much piecing > together her subsequent history would help to confirm that she and Chris > Fidell were the natural parents of Jesse and Fred. > > I cannot find a phone number for the cemetery where Frances was buried, but > I see that the funeral home that buried Frances and Jesse Fidell is still in > business, so I'll call them, although I've not had much luck with funeral > homes in the past. She's in Oakwood Cemetery where Fidell and Dibble are > also buried. Maybe I'll luck out and find out that she's buried with > Fidell. Based on Dick H.'s suggestion, I think I'll also look into some > surrogate court records. > > I do believe that there's a strong case here, as you pointed out, but it > will be a good learning experience delving into some of these new (to me) > sources. > > Many thanks again, > Cheers, > Joan > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Tink Miller > To: nymadiso@rootsweb.com > Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2010 4:47 AM > Subject: Re: [NYMADISO] Fidell family > > > > Hi Joan, > It looks like you are building a strong case for presumption of this > Frances and her boys in the obit to be the correct family. Sometimes > the absence of any other records, as documented by your research > records ruling them out, is sufficient to establish the highest > probability that these are the correct family members. I know it > isn't as satisfying as absolute proof. > > I can see you've been very thorough in your search, however a couple > thoughts crossed my mind that you didn't mention trying. If the > funeral home still exists that handled Frances' burial, contact them > and see if they have any records that they would copy for you. You > may find some new clues to renew your search. Or perhaps the > cemetery has some records. Was there a marriage license issued when > she married Edward Dibble, or a church record made? It might list > her maiden name. > > Regarding the 1900 census, if you are relying on Ancestry's > transcriptions, the surname may have been transcribed incorrectly. I > find errors like that on Ancestry constantly. I always submit > corrections for them. Since the boys are in Madison Co. in 1910, and > if you haven't already done so, you might just read every page of the > 1900 census for Madison County and see if you can find the > family. Is it Dibble in 1900? When did Frances and Edward > marry? You don't mention Frances' date ranges for birth and > death. Might she ever have had a drivers license? Did she have a > will or any estate that would have been probated? > > Have you explored who the people were that the boys were boarding > with in 1910? I didn't look up Jesse but I saw that Fred, age 19, > was boarding in the village of Canastota in town of Lenox, with an > older widowed woman and her middle-aged daughter, who was > single. Fred was a packer at a furniture factory. Perhaps these > woman are actually extended family members. > > I hope one of these ideas will give you a direction for further > research, although I realize that you may have done them already. > > Good luck. > Tink > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NYMADISO-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >