As my readers know I create trees using the information found in newspaper items such as obituaries, anniversaries, weddings, marriages and odds and ends like “first baby of the year”. When I do find an item I like to see if I can find other items for the family and using the family tree hints I am able to get names and dates to help me find those new newspaper items.
Here is a tree that was created using the information off of Harriet V Hill Olney’s obituary.
As you can see Harriet is on the far right of the tree.
I started with her information and put her obit on the tree. I then found Davis Olney her husband’s obit.
Then Frank Burt’s, then Lovena Olney’s.
Then Eleanor’s obit and recently I found Mrs. F B Olney’s obit but I have not put it on the tree just yet.
For every obit that I found, I transcribed the the pertinent information onto a text file to make it easier for me to follow the information. Many obits have all the information for the person but it is scattered throughout the item and so the early years are blended with the later years and the brothers and sisters are mixed in with the children of the deceased, so a transcribed text is necessary to keep order in the tree making process.
Here is an example of an obit and the transcribed text.
Eleanor Goodenough
Mrs Humphrey S Gray
born:
Ludington, Mason, Michigan
died Saturday
Jan 1942
in Benton Harbor
father: D. W. Goodenough (died in 1921)
mother: (died in 1916)
survived by:
widowed husband
son (1) Luman Gray
daughter (1) Emily died in 1914
husband and son are attorneys in Benton Harbor
interment: Goodenough Mausoleum
Lakeview cemetery
=====================
Ludington Daily News – Jan 19, 1942
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UucKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TE8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6642%2C574170
==========================
sent to jbltrees
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/56906122/person/260043397123/facts
……….
Notice that I have a comment at the bottom of the text file that tells me that the information has been sent to another tree owner and a link is provided for that tree. I find items and create trees for the good of the genealogy community so my job is not done until I have found some other tree that has the same persons as on the new tree. Once I find those other trees I notify them of the obit or item that I found and send them a link to the newspaper item and a link to the tree so they can come to the tree and take a copy of the items I found.
When a newspaper item is too long for the profile page of the tree to hold it, I crop the item and create a new different size item. Below you will see such cropped items; all obits in this case.
obit
Harriet V Hill
Mrs. David Olney
born: 1839
at Keeler, Michigan
died Friday at Paw Paw
while visiting a friend
husband: Davis Olney (died six (6) years ago)
marriage: 01 Oct 1861
son F. B. Olney
her brother died last year in Oct 1910
1878 – came to Ludington
==================================
Ludington Daily News – Dec 6, 1911
see to left and up
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aYNOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oUADAAAAIBAJ&pg=1866%2C7030407
========================
Davis Olney
born: 10 Jan 1839
Hartford, Michigan
died: 22 Jun 1905
spouse: Harriet V Hill
01 Oct 1861
survive:
widow
one son (1) son: F. Burt Olney
one (1) sister: Mrs. D. W. Goodenough
one (1) brother: M. M Olney of Hartford, Mich
—–
was the second white boy born in Hartford, Michigan
one of the oldest citizens in Ludington
had a farm in Mattanan
first place of business was at Jackson, Michigan
moved to Cadillac
01 Apr 1878 came to Ludington
===================================
Ludington Daily News – Jun 22, 1905
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZoQmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SSUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1934%2C4631452
=========================
Lovena Olney
Mrs. D. W. Goodenough
born: 21 Apr 1845
in Hartford, Michigan
died: 24 Jun 1916
Ludington, Mason, Michigan
father: B A Olney – NY
1812-188
mother: Elvira Ely – NY
1813-1883
Surviving:
widowed husband
D. W. Goodenough
a son (1) Luman Goodenough (attorney of Detroit)
a daughter (1) Mrs. Humphrey Gray of Benton Harbor
—————–
1836 – Mr. Burrill A Olney came to Detroit, Michigan from New York
but their government land was not in Detroit but in Hartford, Michigan
1837 – Mr. B A Olney returned to NY and married then brought his bride to Michigan home.
1876 – Lovena and her husband came to Ludington
——-
established:
the Deaconess Rest cottage at Epworth
which is called Elvira Olney Rest cottage
in memory of her mother.
============================
Ludington Daily News – Jun 21, 1916
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Rg4cAAAAIBAJ&sjid=DFUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6252%2C1302571
================================
F Burt Olney
born
died: May 1932
====================================
Ludington Daily News – May 11, 1932
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=h3JOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=dkADAAAAIBAJ&pg=5943%2C4429566
=====================================
Note: I have to complete the text file for F Burt Olney.
When I send out a notice to a family tree owner I start the message telling them where on their tree they can find the person in question. This way a person with a huge tree of lets say 3,200 people will not have to hunt for the persons profile page.
Here is an example of such a letter:
On your tree purplepanther3
Fernley, Lyon, Nevada, USA:
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/4578868/person/24077364319/facts —
Here is her obit —
obit
Harriet V Hill
Mrs. David Olney
born: 1839
at Keeler, Michigan
died Friday at Paw Paw
while visiting a friend
husband: Davis Olney (died six (6) years ago)
marriage: 01 Oct 1861
son F. B. Olney
her brother died last year in Oct 1910
1878 – came to Ludington
==================================
Ludington Daily News – Dec 6, 1911
see to left and up
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aYNOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oUADAAAAIBAJ&pg=1866%2C7030407
========================
Notice that I have sent them the whole text file with the link so they can get to the news item.
I hope this blog post has helped you with your tree or has given you ideas that you can use in your quest for your family tree relatives.
Thank You
Jose from Clarkston, Michigan
Update: Its a small world.
While I was working on the tree and the file folder I did a search for “Olney” to find all the text files I had created for the family. I was missing some files which it turns out had been filed in a different folder than the Harriet V Hill tree folder. During the search process I came across a file in one of my many trees (1233) on which was this obit text file message: [It turns out that Joseph Williams wired the Olney home]
Genealogical Collection 
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