I received a phone call yesterday morning from the King County Medical Examiner's office, to let me know that my brother Craig died in his sleep during the night, and was found by his caregiver. Although sudden, this news was not a surprise, as Craig had struggled with significant health problems all his life. Several years ago when a heart attack landed him in the hospital he was informed he was diabetic; more recently he endured kidney failure and the resulting several-times-a-week dialysis. He was a loner all his life, and never married or had children. As the genealogist and family historian, I feel that I need to write an obituary for a print and online medium, foretelling the day a hundred years from now, when my great-great grandchildren will want to know what happened to my brothers.
But I think I have a fairly narrow view of Craig, from my vantage point as older sister and family matriarch and caretaker. When I posted the news of his death and his pre-written message to his favorite listserves, the expressions of sympathy and loss, along with the memories of his friendship and companionship were heartwarming. And it occurs to me that in writing his obituary, I need to solicit memories of him from those who, perhaps, knew him better than I did.
In my book, Genealogy Offline: A beginner's guide to family history records that are not online, I've made a point of describing records that are only found in libraries, archives, historical societies and museums. Here is an excerpt, describing an obituary I found for my great grandfather, Henry Hickox Chase:
But I think I have a fairly narrow view of Craig, from my vantage point as older sister and family matriarch and caretaker. When I posted the news of his death and his pre-written message to his favorite listserves, the expressions of sympathy and loss, along with the memories of his friendship and companionship were heartwarming. And it occurs to me that in writing his obituary, I need to solicit memories of him from those who, perhaps, knew him better than I did.
In my book, Genealogy Offline: A beginner's guide to family history records that are not online, I've made a point of describing records that are only found in libraries, archives, historical societies and museums. Here is an excerpt, describing an obituary I found for my great grandfather, Henry Hickox Chase:
A few years ago I was visiting the Manistee County Historical Museum in Manistee, Michigan, a treasure trove of artifacts, photographs and historic information about life in Northern Michigan over 100 years ago. I happened to mention to the director that I’d never found an obituary for my great-grandfather Henry Chase, who had lived in Bear Lake for decades. He asked me the name and date, and disappeared downstairs into the basement. Before too long, he came upstairs with the original copy of the Manistee County Pioneer Press for Friday, September 13, 1940, and right there on the front page was the obituary I needed.
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