Tuesday - Logan County

Originally I did not have this county on my list of areas to research, but after more thinking, I decided that since my great-grandfather, C.B. Keller, was buried here, it might be a good idea to see what information there was here. Since I wasn't sure what I was looking for, and figured the courthouse wouldn't help as he died in Morgan county, I went to the library. The librarian set me up with some of the cemetery registers, then interrupted me to ask if I had his death date. When I said that I did, she set me up with the microfilm machine and the roll of film from the Lincoln Courier in the date range that included his death. I started looking at the day he died, Oct 18, 1909, and went forward. I figured it would be in the paper a day or two after the fact, as he was only buried here, had not died here. I was on the page for Friday of that week (he had died on Monday), about to give up when I saw "Death Record - Charles B. Keller who worked for about three years in the Ledger office, died last Monday in Middletown, at 4:30 pm after an illness of several months." I just about stood up and cheered, but remembered in time that I was in a library! The rest of the article said that the funeral was held at the Presbyterian Church of Middletown, under the charge of the Middletown lodge of the Knights of Pythias (shades of my father's memorial service past in front of my eyes - sorry, inside joke, unless you were there), and Rev. Rainey had "charge of the service".  The only family that attended were his son Homer Keller, and daughters Juliette and Edna, and their families.

That takes me down a new road. Obviously he and Ella Nora, his wife, are separated at this point (divorced?), and he has been living in Middleton, working at the newspaper office. I do have reference from one of the city directories that lists him as a printer, so I guess that is what he did at the Ledger. So then, my brain says, now go to the courthouse and get a death certificate. He did die in Logan county, after all. The courthouse was closed. So then, my brain says, go find the Presbyterian church in Middleton and see if they still have any records. I do, and the church is there, but closed.

So, since it was then 3:30, and too late to get to either Jacksonville or Peoria, I went back to the hotel, and began chronicling my day. Tomorrow I will go to the Logan County Courthouse (open M, W, F), then on into Jacksonville to work on the Morgan county folks, and find someone who can get me more information about the Jacksonville East Cemetery. Hopefully I will have more information tomorrow.