Saturday, August 15, 2009

John Richards Obituary (of sorts)

In addition to the family group sheets that came home with me I brough a stack of notes written on various scraps of paper. One of these notes included information about John Richards, brother of Mary Elizabeth Richards.

In my grandma's handwritting:

"News clipping in Grandma [Mary Elizabeth] Bigelow's Bible
Salem Feb 8 (no year)
John Richards died in Chicago of Pneumonia
Brought to sister Mrs Minne Bigelow's home
accompanied by his wife - service conducted
by Rev Shefer of Methodist church.
Mrs. Richards was former Miss Lillie Allmon"

It is unfortunate that the clipping did not include the year. It does give some other good information though including his wife's maiden name and where he was living when he died.

I would also love to know what became of Grandma Bigelow's Bible.
_____________

I went to the Statewide Illinois Death Certificates 1916-1950 and did a search for John Richards in Cook County. I came up with one hit that would be feasible with a Feb 8th obituary:

RICHARDS, JOHN Male/White age: UNK Cert #: 6005298 Death Date: 1928-02-04 County: COOK City: CHICAGO Date Filed: 28-02-05

I can't prove the connection without seeing the death certificate though and it is possible that he died after 1950 and wouldn't be in the database.

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