Tuesday, January 05, 2016

Shaky Leaves : Grace Lucille Crane Balser (1914-1996)

I located the FindAGrave memorial for Grace Lucille (Crane) Balser (1914-1996), my maternal first cousin 3 times removed, thanks to a hint from Ancestry.com.   Grace was the daughter of Thomas Franklin and Mary Florence (Gilliland) Crane.


Her memorial contained an obituary, which helps confirm the relationship and gives additional information about her daughter and her occupation.  In addition, this find allowed me to locate her husband's memorial as well.



Prior to this find, I did not have the name of Grace's spouse or her death date and location.

If you have any additional information on this family, I would love to hear from you.

Monday, January 04, 2016

Crane obits ordered

Ordered two more obituaries from the Monroe County Public Library. They have been very fast in the past and the convenience of paying via PayPal is a plus.

The obituaries I requested were for my maternal 2nd-great grandaunt and uncle, Thomas Franklin & Mary Florence (Gilliland) Crane.

Mary Florence's obituary appeared in the May 7, 1924 edition of the Bloomington Telephone.  She was only 36 years old.

Thomas' obituary appeared in the August 16, 1948 edition of Bloomington World-Telephone.  He was 76 years old.

I will be interested to see what, if any, additional clues will come from these obituaries.

Shaky Leaves : Thomas Crane household, 1910 census Monroe County, Indiana

Found the 1910 census record of my maternal 2nd-great grandaunt and uncle, Thomas F. and Mary Florence (Gilliland) Crane in the 1910 census of Bloomington Township, Monroe County, Indiana through Ancestry.com's hints on my LeMaster & Allied Family Tree.

1910 US Census, Monroe County, Indiana, population schedule, Bloomington Township, enumeration district (ED) 126, SD 2, sheet 2B, dwelling 34, family 34, ; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 3 January 2016); National Archives, Washington, D.C..


Thomas was listed as a 32 year old married farmer, who had been married twice, married for four years this marriage.  He was born in Indiana, his father was born in Indiana and his mother was born in Kentucky.  He could read and write and spoke English.  His wife, Mary, was 23 years old and was the mother of 2 children, both living.  She was born in Indiana, her father was born in Kentucky and her mother born in Indiana.  No occupation was listed, and she could read and write and speak English.

Children listed in the household were Millard, age 6, born in Indiana; Martha E., age 3, born in Indiana; and Hellen, aged 6 months, born in Indiana.  Also living in the household was Thomas' brother, Horace E. Crane, aged 33, born in Illinois, a farmer.

Before I had located this record, I did not realize that Thomas had been previously married.  From checking with cousin Judy, I learned that his first wife's name was Bertha Brummett and she died a few years after their marriage.

If you have any additional information on this family, I would love to hear from you.