Death Certificates From the Past – Paulina (Falk) Seefeld and Anna (Seefeld) Powell

I skipped making a post yesterday, so this is for November 18th. On November 14^th, I posted copies of the death certificate of my grandfather's brother Charles and his wife. These certificates are for their daughter Paulina and her daughter Anna. Paulina was born in Iowa County Wisconsin and died in Albany area, Linn County Oregon. Anna was born in Sexton, Kossuth County Iowa and died at Halsey, Linn County, Oregon.

If you check the dates on these certificates, you will see that the daughter died almost 15 years before her mother did. I find it sad when a parent loses an adult child.

Poems Written by a Falk Cousin - Pt. 1

One of my Falk grandfather's sisters was Elizabeth Falk, who married Arthur Ward. One of their daughters was Sylvia M. Ward, who was also known as Sylvie. She would have been my mother's first cousin, so she was my 1st cousin once removed. She was born 4 May 1902 in Kossuth County, Iowa and died of typhus 26 Aug 1935 in Yunnan Province China. She was in China as a Pentecostal missionary. In 1937 a book of some of her poems was published as a memorial to her. They are Christian in nature and here is one of them. I plan to post a second one tomorrow.

Something

Something keeps my heart a singing,

Something keeps the joy bells ringing,

Sweetest music every bringing___

     Precious love of Jesus.

Something brings me such a blessing,

Keeps me humble and confessing,

Ever gives me sweet caressing___

     Tender love of Jesus

Something gives me strength unending,

Power and grace in always sending,

Helpful aid is always lending___

     Watchful love of Jesus.

Something keeps my soul a living,

Manna sweet each day is giving,

Failures, weaknesses forgiving___

     Faithful love of Jesus.

Something keeps my heart from fearing,

Speaking to me words endearing,

Faintest whispers ever hearing___

     Blessed love of Jesus

Ruth A. Reed, a 2nd Cousin

Researching a 2nd Cousin, Ruth A. Reed

My second cousin, Ruth A. Reed, was born on 28 December 1920. I have only her name posted on her mother's page on my website, since I am unsure if she is living. See this page
http://www.joanneskelton.com/p625.htm
So I decided I need to see what more I could find out about Ruth.
I began by doing a general search on Ancestry.com. I found her on the 1940 and 1930 census living with her parents, Earl and Ellen (Ward) Reed. Then I realized that I already had that information while researching her mother, although it is not yet entered into my software so doesn't yet show on my website.
While checking some of the compiled family trees I discovered that someone had entered Ruth's sister, Faith, and showed who Faith had married, George Eden. Then I found that both George and Faith were deceased and were both listed on the Minnesota Death Index. So here is more information to enter. Doing a followup on that information led me to Find A Grave and the double stone for George and Faith is in Harrison Township Cemetery, Swea City, Iowa. It appears they had lived in both Iowa and Minnesota.
Since I believed Ruth was born in Iowa I found that FamilySearch.org has a database of Iowa County Births from 1880-1935. I did a search for just their surname Reed for Kossuth County, Iowa and 4 of Earl and Ellen's children were listed including their middle names.
But I really wanted to determine if Ruth was still alive. Since I didn't know if or who she had married I was at a standstill. I used the Death Records website by Joe Beine and checked for Minnesota obituaries and found that Southern Minnesota Historical Center in Mankato, Minnesota had an obituary index online which covered Blue Earth County. Ruth's mother is listed in this index for 1971, so now I must send a copy request with the appropriate fee to them and hopefully it will list Ruth as a survivor and I can learn her married name and then do further research.
In the meantime I have information from the census, death records and birth records to enter.