Genealogy Jottings

This week I came across two databases I hoped would provide some new family information. No such luck!

Perhaps others can find something they need in these places:

• Edgar County, Illinois Death Records, 1877-1892. Family Search has digitized these records, and you can browse them online at https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/290347?availability=Family%20History%20Library. My Sherman family lived in Edgar County in the 1870’s, and two of them died there. I hoped to find their death records. Unfortunately, Rebecca Sherman passed away in 1876, the year before this record-keeping began. Jasper Sherman died in 1878, but his name does not appear on the register.
• Michigan Marriage Records, 1867-1952. Ancestry.com, a subscription site, added this database recently. After years of searching, I have not found a Michigan marriage record for my great-grandmother Laura Riddle, who is said to have married George Edmonds in the 1870’s. Would this comprehensive Michigan database reveal a long-sought marriage record for her? In a word, no. This woman’s life in Michigan continues to elude me.

Searching these databases did, however, open some new lines of inquiry:

• Did Jasper Sherman die in another county even though he is buried in Edgar County? I could check the death registers in surrounding counties.
• Who was the “other” Laura Riddle I did find in the Michigan database? That Laura, the same age as my Laura, also married a man named George (Whitney). Their marriage took place in 1871 in Van Buren County, one county northwest of St. Joseph County, where my Laura lived. The record states the Van Buren Laura was born in Kalamazoo while my Laura was born in Mendon. Are they related? Perhaps research into the Riddle family of Van Buren County can shed some light on my own Riddle family.

Even though I did not find the quick answers I sought in these databases, I have eliminated a couple of sources, and I have some ideas for further research. I will continue hunting.