Obituaries, Headstones...and how they can work for you!

As I was sitting here working a line for a friend of mine, I came across a situation where I had to "think outside of the box" a little bit to get the information I needed.

I knew from a marriage record that the main person I was working on was married once, but didn't know about a second marriage until I came across his headstone as his headstone does reflect a different spouse.

That is why you've GOT to love cemeteries. They do NOT lie.

Headstone:




With that in mind, I decided to do a search for Mary L. Brand.

VOILA. Because the dates matched the headstone, I knew I had the correct person:

Mary Louise Brand, 97, of Oskaloosa, formerly of Fremont, died Saturday, Dec. 20, 2008 at Crystal Heights Care Center.Open visitation will be at the Fremont Funeral Chapel 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday. Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Fremont Funeral Chapel, Rev. Todd Holman officiating. Interment will follow at Cedar Township Memorial Cemetery (South) in Fremont. Memorials may be made in her name to the Fremont Fire and Rescue.Mary was born May 21, 1911 in Kirkville to William Boyd and Mary Elizabeth Walker Nash. She graduated from Fremont High School in 1929 where she held the honor of being Valedictorian, a title she maintained for several years.She was united in marriage to Carl Anderson May 21, 1930 in Eddyville. He passed away in 1952. In 1952, Mary started working at the telephone company in Fremont as a switchboard operator and was employed there until retiring when the business closed. She also helped at the Fremont Funeral Chapel for many years. She was united in marriage to Vernal Brand in 1964. He passed away in 1983.Mary enjoyed gardening, building doll houses, raising fowl, reading, word puzzles, current events and college basketball, especially the Cyclones. She never missed attending the Fremont School Alumni Banquets until her health prevented her from going.She is survived by her sons, Rex (Dee) Anderson of Rose Hill, and Clair Anderson of Albany, Ore., 12 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents; both of her husbands; a son, William Charles Anderson; a daughter, Joy Lee Anderson and two grandsons, Allen and William Todd Anderson.Fremont Funeral Chapel in charge of arrangements.Obituary may be viewed at: www.legacy.com/ottumwacourier/Obituaries.asp


Look at ALL of that information in that obituary!!!! It's CHUCK FULL of good stuff!
We know Mary's parents (and her mother's maiden name). We know where she was born. We know where she went to school. We know she was married previously and we know her kids from her previous marriage!

Utilize cemeteries if you are able to. Most cemetery offices are very willing to look up a person for you. If you aren't able to find cemetery information, call the funeral home. If you don't know that, call more than one. It isn't like there are hundreds of funeral homes in any given city, realistically. :)

The information *IS* out there to be found :)