Obituary : Suman Douglas King

Source : Alexandria, IN Times-Tribune, January 9, 1950

Death Claims Douglas King at Orestes

Douglas "Pappy" King, 88, a life-long resident of this community, died at 12:07 a.m. today at his home in Orestes following a four-year illness.

Mr. King suffered a fractured hip in a fall Dec. 22 and his condition had been serious since that time.

Born May 20, 1861 in Madison county near Frankton, he was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel King.

During his lifetime he had been employed with the old Plate Glass company here and the Indiana railroad. His last employment was with the county highway department as a truck driver.

He was married in 1880 to Amanda Fox, who died in 1944. He was affiliated with the First Baptist church, Orestes. Five children preceded in death.

Surviving are two daughters, Mrs. Edna Danforth and Mrs. Hazel Gross, both of Alexandria; one son, Fred with whom he made his home; one brother, Ben King, Orestes; 44 grandchildren; 46 great-grandchildren and four great, great-grandchildren.

The body was removed to the Roger C. Gipe funeral home and will be returned to the family home this evening.

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday in the Orestes Baptist church with the Rev. Richard Berkey, Christian pastor, in charge. Burial will be in Odd Fellows cemetery.

Family History Rescued from fire

These photographs were rescued from the house fire of my great-aunt Barbara Webster, and were given to me by my mother for safe-keeping. I tend to be the one whose given the family history gems to hold onto.

I have not identified these photographs, but assume that they are from either the Wright or the Pierce family line.

Fire is a destroyer and no respector of persons - please make copies of your photographs, family documents, etc. and pass them around to other members of the family so that in case of a tragedy, all is not lost.

Genealogy Without Documentation is Mythology

How many times have I heard that quote ringing in my head, particularly now as I look over the mountains of paperwork that I am trying to scan and/or organize.

So much of my early research was not documented, or when it was documented, the documentation was incomplete. I would highly recommend Evidence! by Elizabeth Shown Mills, as a guidebook for genealogical citations. As I slowly and painfully go through the process of adding source citations to my 'facts' in my family tree database, I want to kick myself for not doing this as I went along.

When I started out, I assumed that I would always remember where I heard that great-grandpa Wright was born here, or that uncle so-and-so went west and was never heard from again. Now, I struggle with the embarrassment that so much of my database is undocumented. Undocumented, my friends, is practically worthless.

My recommendation to those who are starting out is to document, document, document! When you send a chart to a far-distant cousin, and they want to know where you obtained the birth date for great-aunt Martha, you don't want to have to say "I dunno?!"

Jesus Christ had Matthew, Mark & John to give eyewitness testimony, and Luke, the historian, was able to interview eyewitnesses to the resurrection. Unfortunately, in my database, there is more hearsay than documented facts at the moment.