The Holes in My Research

     I've come to the point where I've decided on the families I'm going to write about for my portfolio - for the kinship determination, and for the conflicting evidence report.  In the last few days I have been looking through the binders I've compiled on those families, and I've had the startling realization that there are big, black, gaping holes in my research.

     What?  I don't have a death certificate for my great-grandfather Henry Chase?  I do have my handwritten transcription  of the death record I found in Manistee County, Michigan when I visited in 1983 (odd, because he actually died in Grand Traverse County), and I also have extensive medical records from the Traverse City State Hospital.  But not his death certificate.
     Off goes an email to the Grand Traverse County Clerk.

     I can't believe I never thought of obtaining the will and/or probate records for several grandparents and great-grandparents.  Probate records for Ruth (Prosser) Chase MIGHT give me information on her daughter Edna Strunk, who was living in New York at the time of Ruth's 1915 obituary, and hasn't been seen since. 
     So I'm writing a request to the Manistee County Clerk for those records.

     A will for John Hickox, who died in Medina, Ohio, in 1835, might reveal the names of his grown children by his first marriage.  It might even reveal names of siblings back in New York, which would enable me to figure out where in New York he lived before coming to Ohio.
     The Family History Library in Salt Lake City has Medina County, Ohio, wills on microfilm; next time I order film for a client I'll order a couple of films for myself, as well.
    
     Yes, it's past time for me to start treating my own research as I would my clients'!