The domino effect does not only happen in world history, as we saw in the call for acceleration in the Vietnam War. The allies, who had fought, side by side, in World War I, World War II and Korea were afraid of the growing threat by the communist regimes around the world. They calculated that if Vietnam fell into communist hands, then other countries would also fall. Of course the domino effect did not happen as the allied scenario suggested, but it could have happened.
Well, the domino effect can happen on a family tree; finding one obit, can lead to finding another and another and another…
In February of 2018, while looking through some old newspapers, in the Google News Archive collection, I came across an obituary for Mrs. Fred Boals.
Whenever I find a news item that I want to work on, I follow certain steps.
- Capture a screen print of the item
- Create a text file; a transcript of the information that is in the news item
- Search on Ancestry dot com for other family trees that are related to the item
- Contact the tree owners to notify them about the news item link.
- Create a tree to hold the news item.
- Finally look at the data on records or on existing family trees for clues to find other news items.
When I found the obit for Mrs. Fred Boals (Alta May Bullock), I only followed steps 1 thru 4. I don’t know why, in February of 2018, I decided not to create a tree for Alta May. I typed up a text file, found some family trees and contacted them; telling them about the obit and sending them a link to the item.
While typing up the text file for Alta May, I noticed that there was a death date for her husband Fred. Having the general date – ”husband: Fred Boals (died Sep 1959)” I looked for an exact date on the family trees and records that I reviewed. There was a death date on one of the trees. Since I did not want to create a tree, I just noted the date and looked for his obit on the Ludington Daily News newspaper, where I had found Alta May’s obit and I found it; an obit for Fred.
Note: “If a family obit, wedding, anniversary, birthday or achievement is found in a local newspaper, like the Ludington Daily News, then perhaps other news items, for the family, can be found (the domino effect).”
Having the links to Alta May and Fred obit’s I included his link on the Mrs Fred Boals text file, that I sent to other family tree owners.
====================================
Ludington, Mason, Michigan
Ludington Daily News – Jan 27, 1960
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=n90KAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Qk8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5010%2C1118636
================================
her husband
Ludington Daily News – Sep 21, 1959
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=htgKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8E4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=7025%2C885846
======================
Below is the text file I sent to other tree owners.
I am not part of the family or tree; I just saw this and thought her family would like to know about it.
Alta May Bullock
Mrs. Fred Boals
age 67
born: 08 1892
in Kewadin
died: Jan 1960
husband: Fred Boals (died Sep 1959)
a son Marian Boals died in Feb 1954
survive:
two (2) daughters:
Mrs. Winifred Paradis – Kevadin
Mrs. Clarence (Wilda) Fonnesbeck – Ludington
one (1) brother:
Cleve Bullock – Muskegon
burial: Williamsburg Cemetery
====================================
Ludington, Mason, Michigan
Ludington Daily News – Jan 27, 1960
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=n90KAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Qk8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5010%2C1118636
================================
her husband
Ludington Daily News – Sep 21, 1959
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=htgKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8E4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=7025%2C885846
======================
Having contacted other family trees, I put the text file “Bullock Boals obit” into my folder labeled “No Tree”, and I went on to do other things. That was back in February of 2018.
A few days ago, in September of 2018, I got a message from Joanne, one of those tree owners, telling me that “Yes, Alta May is part of my husband’s family line.” I had to do a search of my computer folders to find what Joanne was talking about.
I found the one page text file “Bullock Boals obit” and once again read what I had sent out to the family tree owners. I replied to Joanne, thanking her for her reply to my Feb message. Having looked at the text file once again my curiosity was peeked and I decided to create a tree for Alta May and Fred.
Dominoes started falling once I filled out, in full, the text files for the two obits; Alta May and Fred. Once I created the tree and put in some basic information, records started coming in as hints and I captured those that I could verify. Those records had names and dates which I used to look at newspapers for obits. After two days of work I was able to find the following:
burial – Lorenzo Bullock Jan 1946 – Traverse news
Elaine Boals – 1959 – Ludington HS year book – Mich
funeral – Fred Boals – Sep 1959 – Mich
funeral – Fred Boals – Sep 1959 – Mich 2
funeral – Marlen L Boals Fe 1954 – Mich
funeral – Marlen L Boals Fe 1954 – Mich 2
Linda Boals – 1955 Ludingtion HS – Mich
obit – Alta May Bullock Boals – Jan 1960 – Mich
obit – Clarence Fonnesbeck – 2005 – Mich
obit – Fred Boals 1959 – Mich
obit – Fred Boals 1959 – Mich 2
obit – Lavona J Boals-Granger Nov 2002 – Mich
obit – Marla Lynne Fonnesbeck – Feb 1958 – Mich
obit – Marlen L Boals – Feb 1954 – Mich
obit – Marlen L Boals – Feb 1954 – Mich 2
obit – Winifred Boals Paradis – 31 Aug 1974 – Mich
Travese City newspaper – 1946 – Lorenzo death
“When I can’t find a newspaper for the date, I use the following on the family tree profile box No issues”
note for profile box
“This keeps me from looking for that particular obit. over and over again.”
“The two photos of the girls come from two different Ludington High School year books.”
Linda Boals – 1955
Elaine Boals – 1959
When I decided to create the tree, I went back to the original Alta May text file and expanded it. I also created a text file from Fred’s obit. Below are the two text files, notice all the details that is shown in the transcript.
Alta May Bullock
Mrs. Fred Boals
age 67
born: 08 1892
in Kewadin
died: Jan 1960
at James Decker Munson Hospital
in Traverse City
husband: Fred Boals (died Sep 1959)
survive:
two (2) daughters:
Mrs. Winifred Paradis – Kewadin
Mrs. Clarence (Wilda) Fonnesbeck – Ludington
one (1) brother:
Cleve Bullock – Muskegon
gchildren, nieces and nephews
preceded:
one (1) son:
Marlen Boals died in Feb 1954
formerly of 106 1/2 W. Danaher St
lived in Ludington many years
with her husband who was employed by
C & O Railway Co.
funeral: Dockery Funeral Home in Elk Rapids
burial: Williamsburg Cemetery
====================================
Ludington, Mason, Michigan
Ludington Daily News – Jan 27, 1960
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=n90KAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Qk8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5010%2C1118636
================================
her husband obit
Ludington Daily News – Sep 21, 1959
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=htgKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8E4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=7025%2C885846
======================
Sent to Family Trees:
———————
Now here is Fred’s text file. Remember I did not create one for him back in Feb, I just added his link to Mrs. Fred Boals text file.
Fred Boals
age 69
born: 26 May 1890
in Forest Home Township
[Bellaire, Antrim, Michigan, USA]
died: Sep 1959 – Saturday
at home
in Torch Lake Village
father: [John Boals]
mother: [Sarah E West]
spouse: Alva Bullock [Alta May]
married: 1912
survive:
widow
two (2) daughters:
Mrs. Glen Paradise – Kewadin
Mrs. Clarence Fonnesbeck – Ludington
two (2) brothers:
Clarence Boals – Kewadin
Glen Boals – Kewadin
one (1) half brother:
James Frame – Grand Haven
two (2) half sisters:
Mrs. Lewis Montieth – California
Mrs. Jack titus – Detroit
10 gchildren
5 ggchildren
preceded:
one (1) son:
Marlen Boals – Ludington
two sisters
—–
formerly of Ludington
lived in Torch Lake Village as a small boy
1912 after marriage resided in Central Lake
1929 moved to Ludington
employed by
Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Co.
1958 retired
1958 moved back to Torch Lake Village
—–
funeral – Dockery Wilhelm Funeral Home
in Elk Rapids
burial: Maple Grove Cemetery, Elk Rapids
================================
Ludington, Mason, Michigan
Ludington Daily News – Sep 21, 1959
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=htgKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8E4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=7025%2C885846
======================
his wife obit
Ludington Daily News – Jan 27, 1960
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=n90KAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Qk8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5010%2C1118636
================================
Sent to Family Trees:
———————
So as you can see the domino effect occurs when you have good information about a family, a huge newspaper collection for a particular location that you can look at and a family that stayed in the area for a number of years, over a number of generations.
The screen prints of the news items are shown below.
The link to the Ancestry dot com “Alta May Bullock – obit – Jan 1960 – Mich – Family Tree” is: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/154465354/family
You will notice in the following slide show that some of the items have been cropped to fit better in the family tree profile page but both long form and cropped form are put into the gallery of the tree.
On the tree (see link above) you will find not only the screen prints of the items but also the links to where you can find the item in the newspaper.
Here are the family trees that came up as hints on the expanded tree.
10 Ancestry Member Trees
Boals Family Tree
Owner: Audrey Robertson B…
Alta May Boals
…..
Bullock Family Tree
Owner: Brian Bullock
Alta May Bullock
…..
Acker / Holt Family Tree
Owner: Bobboucher816
Alta May Bullock
…..
Johnson Family Tree
Owner: Eldenj145
Alta May Bullock
…..
bus.rus.217(1)
Owner: Fdrussell62
Alta May Bullock
…..
Boals Family Tree
Owner: Kaitlynn Boals
Alta Bullock
…..
Thayer Family Tree
Owner: Kt1965
Alta M Boals
…..
Matson/Acker Ancestry
Owner: Neacker
Alta M. (Unknown) Boales
…..
Bullock Family Tree
Owner: Traci Teeter
Alta May Bullock
…..
Duncil / Krause Family Tree
Owner: BarbBeckstrom98
Alta May Bullock
…..
I hope this has opened your eyes to the possibilities available to you, if you take the time to look for newspaper items for your family tree.
Thank You
Genealogical Collection 
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