52 Ancestors Week 42: Lost

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 42

This week's theme is "Lost." As family historians, we deal with a lot of things that are lost or on the verge of it...  memories, records, people...  This week, you could explore something that has been lost or the experience of losing something.

We've got to go back! This is the "FRIENDS" font!

    Over time priceless records could be lost due to fire, improper storage and even careless television executives. Some people might not have the foresight to preserve documents of great importance and it falls on diligent record keepers working at city halls and genealogists to make sure that valuable information is never lost again. This week I regained some important facts for my family tree when I took on Haverhill's city hall!

Nice pic. But, like everything in Mass, there
was a ton of construction.

    I know that I make it sound more epic than it really is. Long time readers of my blog know that I've had this itch to go to city hall for quite some time. I had asked my dad's cousin Bob to take me there as he wanted to look for information for his tree as well. This week, the time to visit the place where a majority of my family's records are kept finally arrived and I asked my followers on Twitter what information I should seek out while I'm there. 

    Truthfully, there were a ton of facts that I needed from city hall and I had to narrow it down to two things: The death certificates for my great-grandmother, Maria Tedesco and my second great-grandfather, Wilfred Felker. Their exact dates of death had eluded me for some time and I wanted answers!

    Information about when the two passed away were lost for some time and no one around me knew exactly when the events occurred. I thought I would find the dates in my grandmother Natalie's box of stuff and in grandpa Marco's possessions.  Nope. Not there. You'd think Marco would have had his mother's death certificate, right? I remember going right to the source and asked my great-aunt Nicolina when her mother died. She couldn't remember. She knew the year was 1943 and that was about it. The date was on her gravestone, too. I was at a loss for words. But, I was NOT about to give up.

    Marco and Vincenzo's possessions did offer up a delicious nugget of information, though! Among all the birth certificates, deeds to the motel on Salisbury Beach and everything was the list of people who gave flowers to the family the day of Maria's funeral. The funeral was dated March 5th, 1943. With that in mind, I knew she passed away prior to that date. 

    As far as Wilfred goes, I had even less to go on. My grandmother told me time and time again that he died in 1951. Again there was no exact date. I guess I can't really fault people for not remembering certain bits of information. We're only human and we don't have positronic brains and some of us don't have eidetic memories.

    With that in mind, I marched into city hall armed with what I knew. I wrote down the notes on my iPad and that was about it. I handed the information to the clerk on a piece of paper and then I had to play the most annoying game of all time--The WAITING GAME!

    It didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would to find the documents. Could it have been the fact that I had such good notes or the fact that both Maria and Wilfred passed away in the same relative timeframe--the early 1940s and 1950s. It's hard to say because no one was allowed to go in the back where the magic happens. I had to sit by the counter and wait for the very helpful clerk.

    After a few moments, she returned and gave me Maria's exact date of death. It turned out that she passed away on March 3rd, 1943. This aligned perfectly with the date of her funeral on March 6th! I asked the lady if I could have a copy of the death certificate. She said it was no problem. All I needed to do was hand her ten bucks in return. I did as she asked and I finally got hard evidence on when Maria passed away. Part one of my mission was completed! 

    There was a bit more information on the death certificate too including her address on Shepherd Street, cause of death and the informant.  

Not bad for my first try. Now I needed to wait for information on Wilfred. 

    When I had asked for Wilfred's information, the clerk circled the date of death and his last name. This might have been because I didn't have a ballpark figure for when his date of death actually was. She asked if I had anything specific. I said that I didn't and that I was sorry. She said it was fine and again went to the back.

    I'll admit that the wait was a little bit longer than it was for Maria. I didn't have much to go on other than what was on his gravestone and the basic information about his life. My grandmother never really talked about her grandfather that much. When she would talk about her grandparents, it was usually about Gertrude Stevens or Lucie Cadran. She never really talked about her grandfathers. Though, in fairness Antoine Legault DID pass away a good twenty years before she was born. I should cut her some slack. Don't want to fall victim to "spectral vengeance". 

    Eventually, the clerk came back out and gave me the information I needed. Wilfred passed away on March 9th, 1951.  Don't think I didn't notice both of my ancestors passed away in early March! "Beware the Ides of March", indeed! (I know the Ides of March is really March 15th. Go with it.)

    The clerk asked me if there was any more information I needed. I thought to myself....or rather screamed internally "YES! There is a ton more! LET ME GO BACK THERE!!" I thought better of it and said I was good for now. I didn't feel like getting arrested. Although, that would make this blog a lot more interesting. "Greetings from the Haverhill Police Department! You might be wondering how I got here...."

Biggest cemetery in Haverhill? Yes. Yes, it is.

    Actually, Bob had a few errands to run and we went on our way. We went to Linwood Cemetery to clean up his mother's grave and then to Saint James where his grandmother on his paternal side was buried. Coincidentally,  Saint James is the final resting place for Antoine Legault. My spider-sense started to buzz. Dare I look for Antoine here? Eh....Well, look at the picture.

    Saint James Cemetery is probably the biggest cemetery in Haverhill. I think I would get lost looking around for Antoine. Bob said it would be best to call the cemetery office and ask them where Antoine's located. I mean....He's not going anywhere unless someone had the "Book of the Dead". I didn't feel getting lost there!

    Discretion was a better form of valor and I decided to side with my cousin on this one. We did go to Saint Patrick's Cemetery, though and I thought I would take some pictures. The problem was that the sun was setting behind me and some pictures were not coming out that great. It's a shame. But, it happens when it's Fall and it was like 4 pm. I ain't afraid of no ghosts. I just don't want to get lost!

    The trip wasn't a total loss. I asked Bob if we could go to city hall again. I wanted to ask them about Lucie Cadran's date of death as I have a vague date for her like I did for Wilfred. I also wanted to see if I could get the death certificates for Giovanni Coppola and Paolo Coppola, too. I don't know if I really need them because I have DNA confirmation connecting me to the two men and I have their dates of death already. I also have a pretty good idea who their parents were. I'll think on it. I definitely have time and I will definitely return to city hall!

    This story goes to show that in some cases lost information can be recovered with a little determination, ingenuity, time and effort. While we tend to forget certain events of the past, sometimes the events have been recorded. Important events like births, marriages and deaths are all recorded and ready for public use at your local city/town hall. Random events? Maybe not. The point is that lost knowledge can be recovered if you know where to look. So, start looking! Your friendly neighborhood city clerks are available to help you find what you're looking for!

See ya next time!    

"The wisdom of the ages! It's lost!" 

"No, not lost. We're all a little wiser now."

"But the Matrix is empty!"

"It's up to all of us to fill it again—with the wisdom we accumulate from this moment on. Autobots, transform and roll out!"

--- Hot Rod and Optimus Prime; "The Return of Optimus Prime Part 2", Transformers Season 3, Episode 30.

Editor's note: In April of 2023, I found that Giovanni Coppola was not the brother of Paolo, Caterina and Concetta Coppola. He is likely a first cousin of the three. Look for details in a future blog post.