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Archiver > FARRELL > 1999-10 > 0940463330


From: "The Yard Dog" <>
Subject: Re: Help!!! Brick wall Syndrome!!
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 19:48:50 -0400


Donna,

I've been searching for about 3 years for Viola Virginia Farrell. I have
went to the church cemetery, and the only information that they had was on a
3x5 index card. The only thing that it had on it:

Grave Location
Viola V. Rohrbough
b. 1876 d. 1947

And that was it. She is buried next to her husband, Oswald, and they both
share the same stone. Other than that, nothing. I've tried all of the
local papers, and no obits were posted for her. However, I did find one for
her husband in the Medina County, OH area (he had passed 4 yrs. before
Viola)

Someone had said that they had seen her name at the Hacker's Creek Library
near Weston, WV. So this summer, my husband and I went on a week's vacation
(We live in OH) to do some researching there. The only metion was in the
Rohrbach Geneology. The only information that it contained was that Oswald
married her March 1, 1897 in Buckhannon, Upshur County, WV. So I looked at
the marriage certificate that was on file, and it only listed the groom,
bride, location, and the pastor's name. No parents were on this. She would
have been 20 or 21 yrs.

We have tried to locate a birth certificate for her, but, as of now, we had
found no evidence that she was even born in WV or VA. While we were in
Charleston, WV this spring, we had visited the State Archives Building, and
there, we found nothing.

At this point, I'm just wondering if Viola Virginia was her name. We have 4
accounts of her name to be different. All of them came from different
family bibles.

Viola Virginia Ferrell
Viola V. Ferrel
Viola Virginia Farrell
Virginia V. Farrel

So who would be correct???


Thanks to all for your time.

Beverly

-----Original Message-----
From: Donna Kendall <>
To: The Yard Dog <>
Date: Wednesday, October 20, 1999 8:21 AM
Subject: Re: Help!!! Brick wall Syndrome!!


Beverly, I understand about that brick wall. I don't know what else to tell
you except that my husbands family was from a small farm community in
northern IL. We took a trip up there and visited the libraries in the
county where they were buried. Since we knew where they lived, it was
pretty easy to get the information directly from the county.

However, I did find newspaper obits very helpful in piecing together the
names and ages of children. Have you tried that. If you have a date and
know where they were buried, most libraries have the old newspapers on
micro. Unfortunately, Leaf River had them bundled in the basement, but the
librarian was very helpful. She recalled someone else searching the Kendall
name and directed me toward her and she turned out to be my husband's cousin
on both his great grandmother and great grandfather's side and a wealth of
information.

Maybe you'll get lucky. How long have you been at this and what resources
have you used???

Donna

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