Thomas Fitzgerald Pension Record

A few days ago, Thomas' pension record arrived. It was sitting there between the front doors when we got home after getting our taxes done. I was so excited to see it there. I couldn't believe how thick it was. I was able to go through the file as a preliminary look over, but with all my school work, I couldn't really go through it until today. I have lots of information I'm adding to the file and filling in some holes, but it still doesn't give me anymore information on John and Emily. In fact, the only reference to John and Emily Fitzgerald made in the entire file is Thomas replying to the pension department that he was unable to access any family records about his birth as his parents are both dead. That recorded on 9 May 1913, which would be rather obvious that they would likely have died long before then, or they would both have been over 100 years old!
I did send a copy of the most current report this week to my Uncle Jack, who is my grandpa's only living sibling, to see if any new information helps him to remember anything about the family. I always look forward to seeing what Uncle Jack remembers, he always has stories about his grandparents. The stories make it all the more fun to do the research.

Follow up on Wexford County Research

I talked to Alice LaBar today and she told me that she found all three of my obituaries! And that there was quite an article written about my Great, Great Grandfather, Thomas Fitzgerald and there was a photo of him in the paper! A photo! I can't believe how lucky I am. I'm so excited to recieve my packet of papers from her!
Alice was such a lovely lady to talk to on the phone as well. I would definately recommend anyone to contact them if they need research done in the Cadillac Area. She and her husband are knowledgable and definately went the extra mile for me! I will definately send her a thank you note after all this for her help.

I am now thinking about and reading articles in my spare time (what little I have right now) about ou planned Genealogy vacation for May to Pennsylvnia to see about tracking down some more of my Fitzgerald Ancestors. There are many helpful articles online on different Genealogy sites. I think I printed about 8 or 10 of them. So far I've read 4, I think, and they all say about the same things. 1)Have a plan 2)Do your homework 3)know what resources are available where you are going 4)know the hours of operation for places you want to research at 5)pack appropriate clothes 6)bring adequate supplies 7)know which resources you can access from home or nearby and which ones you can only get by traveling and focus on the latter. I know there's more, but I can't think of them right now, but I think these just about covers the basics.
So off to find more contact information so I can make a million phone calls over Spring break. Thank goodness for unlimited long distance phone plans.




"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others." -Cicero