Another example of OUTSIDE OF THE BOX!

As you get to more "current" relatives (yet, maybe more distant), you probably will find yourself against more brick walls due to privacy reasons of possibly living individuals. You may not be able to get your hands on marriage records as easily..birth records as easily, etc.

There are ways to attempt to get the information by going in windows versus the doors.

I just did it and here is my example.


My great-grandfather is Arthur R LeMieux. He died in 1977. His father was Albert LeMieux. One of his brothers was Wilfred. Because of census records, I know that Wilfred had at least one son by the name of Robert with birth year of around 1913. Because of public records (I think they currently only show through 2000), I was able to determine his birth DATE of April 24th, 1913. Because of that information, I was able to match his death date of November 1995.

What I didn't have was a spouse for him. Unless I were to go to the Library of Michigan and pull newspapers from around the date of death for a possible obituary to get information (which, I could, but it's not very convenient with two kids under 6 and the library's banker hours), I had to get creative.

I knew from public records that he had lived on X Street in XX city. I did a basic search on ancestry.com for LeMieux in XX city.

BAM! One of the first couple of search results showed a Dorothy LeMieux in XX city. Once I clicked on her name, I found the answer I was looking for. Dorothy shared the same address AND her birth year was consistent with Robert's. Granted, I don't have CONCRETE evidence screaming: DOROTHY WAS MARRIED TO ROBERT, but it's pretty safe to assume she was married to him. Robert did not have a sister by that name and truly not one that was born within MONTHS of his own self.

I plugged in Dorothy's birthdate as shown by the public record and was able to obtain her death information, as well.

What I didn't have was a maiden name. Hm.

I went back to Robert's name, did a search, opted for others' "family trees" and saw someone that shared Robert in their tree, as well. I was able to obtain a possible maiden name.

But why couldn't I have just gone that route and swiped someone else's information and saved myself the trouble I mentioned above? Firstly, the person whose tree I saw did not provide a first name with the maiden name. Many times, by default, software will "hide" a person that could potentially still be living (especially if the person does not have a death date attached to them). In this case, Dorothy was simply listed as a "LIVING X MAIDEN NAME"

SO, I could've called it good, taken the maiden name at what was listed, and been done. But that brings us to SECONDLY. Secondly, you just really shouldn't take someone's information for truth. How do you know it's correct? How do you know research has been done on it and not just simply swiped from someone else?

I then went to familysearch.org (AMAZING website, in case I haven't given it mucho kudos prior), plugged in her first and maiden name along with the city/state of the area her and Robert lived in (that generation doesn't always stray far from where they were born and raised).

BOOM. Enter a census record from 1930 with the matching name and matching birth year in the SAME CITY.

Can I say FOR CERTAIN it's the same person and that what I've gotten is a 100% match? No, however, remember the if a=b and b=c then a=c theory. I am 99.9% certain this is accurate information for Robert and his spouse.

The next steps I could take to verify? I could go pull newspapers for obituaries for one or both of them to get survivor info. I could call cemeteries (chances are for the LeMieux family, they are in the local catholic cemetery) and see if they could give me maiden name information for Dorothy. I could visit the cemetery and see if there are family members of Dorothy (that match her maiden name) in the same cemetery...and, if they are in the next lot, for example, then I know.

Happy hunting! :)