KISSIN’ KUZZINS
Carolyn Ericson
1614 Redbud Street
Nacogdoches, Texas
75965-2936
Kissin Kuzzins is an East Texas query column entering its 40th year. It appears weekly in two East Texas newspapers: The Lufkin Daily News and The Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel. Queries are free, but they must pertain to a Texas ancestor. They may be submitted by e-mail, snail mail or by FAX to 936-552-8999. Please remember to include your snail mailing address.
November 16, 2009
Have you tried GoogleBooks yet? This site is one you should visit soon. If a book is out of print, it has probably been scanned. You may search for a name or a locality. If you find something, you may print it out free of charge. If it is from an out of print book, you may get a copy of the entire page, and the title page. If the book is still under copyright, you may get only a portion of the page, but it will contain the information you desire.
It is exciting to do research these days with so much information available on the internet. I remember when I first began doing genealogical research how many long hours I spent looking for a name on microfilm. Now you can do a search and find it in an instant. You don’t have to copy the record in your notebook, but can print out a facsimile copy. Modern technology has revolutionized research methods.
Have you looked for the World War I Draft Registration card for your ancestor? Registrants in 1918 had to name their nearest relative and give that person’s address. A married man usually listed his wife, and an unmarried man might have listed his parents. This may give you a clue which will definitely identify the father or mother.
Need marriage date and place and to whom, names of children, etc, their birth dates and place and birth date and place on Aileen LAWSON of Killeen, Texas, daughter of Gaylord James FERGUSON and granddaughter of Charles A. Levi FERGUSON and Ily (BYRD) FERGUSON.
Would like to hear from anyone having information on this family and/or their descendants.
Charles N. Ferguson, 811 So. Market, Shawnee, OK 74801
Many people use the card file of obituaries at the New Orleans Public Library. Now, thanks to The Historic New Orleans Collection and NOPL, it is available online. This collection is a compilation of approximately 600,000 citations dating back to 1804. The electronic index is the culmination of an 8-year endeavor.
Now researchers can easily search the thousands of entries, each comprising the name of the deceased, along with publication information, title, date, page number, and column number for death notices published in New Orleans newspapers, which are available on microfilm at both the New Orleans Collection and the New Orleans Public Library. The electronic database also includes biographical sketches and narrative obituaries in many cases.
To access the Louisiana Biography and Obituary Index, and to view a list of the newspapers and other publications referenced, visit <http://www.nutrias.org/~nopl/obits.htm>
Another early Nacogdoches obituary:
Tuesday, December 17, 1904
MRS. HALE DEAD
“Mrs. G. M. Hale, wife of Prof. Hale, of the Appleby High School, died yesterday at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Tom Crawford, in this city, after an illness of several weeks. Mrs. Hale was a noble, Christian woman, loved by all whose pleasure it was to know her, and her death is deeply and universally regretted. She was the sister of Mrs. T. J. Pack, who recently moved here from Jacksonville, was the aunt of Mrs. Polk Roberts, of this city, and has a large connection of relatives in other portions of the county, who are bent with sorrow over her death. Her remains were taken today to Chireno for interment.” [born October 1856, died 16 December 1905]
Thursday, January 12, 1905
“Rufus P. King, son of Davis King, deceased, was born in Nacogdoches County, State of Texas, on the 28th of October A. D. 1830 and died of pneumonia at his residence near Woden, Nacogdoches county, Texas on the 7th day of December A. D. 1904. He professed faith in Christ and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church South about 1873.
“Brother King was never a very active Christian but ever seemed to be humble and submissive to the will of God and we trust he has found a home with the children of God. Brother King only preceded his wife nine days and leaves his six children and two brothers with many friends to mourn their loss. God bless the children, relatives and friends.” [Rufus P. King, born 28 October 1840, died 7 December 1904 (3 December on tombstone, 7 Dec on Death Certificate). He was a Confederate veteran.