Well, after yesterday's find of the obituary for CB, I felt sure that I would find his death certificate today, and that would lead to other finds. Well, in the world of genealogy, of course it is never that easy. I went to the Logan County Courthouse this morning (it was open!) and searched for his death certificate. Nothing anywhere in any index for Charles B. Keller. OK. The very nice woman in the clerk's office said that the genealogy specialist, Tanya, would be in at about 3:30, and did I want to leave her a message and have her call me. Of course I said yes, and wrote out a short note with all the information.
After that I hightailed it to Jacksonville, to do some searching in that courthouse. I was greeted with great enthusiasm when I said I had a number of birth, death and marriage dates to look up, and was let in to the room with all of the old registers, and told to search for the marriage information I wanted. When I was done, I was to go down to the next counter and ask about the birth and death records. I started with Charles and Ella, since he was on my mind, and guess what? Neither of their names are in the date-appropriate register. Go Figure! So I guess they weren't married in Morgan County after all. Am I ever going to find this man?! So I went on through my list, and found 2 couples' information, two of the Keller daughters - the two that actually had shown up for CB's funeral, according to the obituary. So I requested those. Then on to the birth/death desk, and more searching. The records start at 1878, so not many of the births I was looking for were even going to have a record, so I started with death records. I found 3 death records including - again - 2 of the Keller children, who died in infancy. So I was able to piece together some missing information there.
About this time, a woman comes up to me and asks if I am doing genealogy research. I say, yes I am, and she starts talking a mile a minute about deed records and probate records, and did she hear the name Keller, and she was a Keller, too...!! Well, somewhere in her line are Kellers, and she thinks they may be related, since they were in Pennsylvania at one pint, and that's where (according to census records) CB's father was born. So she grabs me and hauls me back into the room with all the old registers and gives me an hour long lesson on the benefits of land deed research, and we find Ella's father, Charles Henry Howard, making a ton of land transactions in a span of 10-15 years. I have to go back to the courthouse end of the week or Monday to get those copies. Then she drags me upstairs to the probate department, and we search for probate records. OMG I am so tired and my feet hurt from standing for hours, but I hang in there. I ended up finding Belle Howard's probate information (Ella Nora Howard's sister), administered by her nephew Homer M. Keller (my grandfather's brother), and there was some interesting stuff there, so I got some copies. I thank her effusively, and we exchange email and snail-mail addresses, and I race back to my car that I parked at 10:45 in a 2 hour parking zone, praying there is no ticket, as it is now 2:45. Yay! No ticket.
Next I go to the Jacksonville Genealogy Society to ask them some questions and hopefully get some more direction. Well, the lovely 90 year old woman with her Life Alert pendant dangling from her neck, can't hear me well enough to understand what I'm asking, so I finally just ask about the Jacksonville East Cemetery. She pulls out a book with the map that I have - only this one has different names for the "roads" within the cemetery, and they are ringing bells. So I write down the correct directions, and head on my way. I get to the Cemetery, and find the place where everyone is supposed to be, and lo and behold there is a large, broken stone marking the Howard family area. Excitement builds and I rush back to the car to get the camera. As I walk around and look, I see that the broken family monument, and a couple of other broken or sunken stones, then two that are legible (one for Essie Belle Howard - Ella Nora's sister - and one for M E Howard - Ella Nora's mother) is all that is there. That's it. Ella Nora, her sons William and Lawrence, and a few others are recorded as being buried there, but nothing to show for them. There is an obvious family area, with what was once probably corner posts with a chain surrounding the graves, but now has become broken and sunken, and the land in-between has become hilly and broken itself. I will have to go back one more time and find someone at the cemetery to help me - if that is possible! (I have loaded pictures on the cemetery page.)
So at that point - 5:30 - I head back to Lincoln. As I get into the car, I realize I never turned my cell back on after leaving the courthouse. I do so now, and there is a message from Tanya at the Logan County courthouse. She nicely explains that she has done some additional searching, and cannot find any reference to Charles B. Keller anywhere, but did I know that half of Middletown is in Menard County? So I should contact them for a death certificate, because by 1909 there really should be one. Hooray I say, there is yet another lead! No, I didn't know that Middletown, with it's grand population of 324, was split into two different counties. So, tomorrow, I will start with the Menard County courthouse and see what they say. Everyone cross your fingers!
There are more clues to other parts of the Howard and Keller lives that I have gleaned from today's finds, but I am too tired, and this post is already waaaaay to long, to add them in tonight. I will think more about them and let you all know tomorrow.
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