Edna Mary Penny Wells 1941-2008

Edna Mary Penny Wells died last week in St Louis, Missouri, just a few days shy of her 67th birthday. She was the daughter of Edna Mary Micheau of St Louis and the late Ralph Penny; and the granddaughter of the late Joseph Perry Micheau and Edna Lewis.

She was the third generation daughter named Edna and hence she was nicknamed "Li'l Ed." She hated that nickname, yet it stuck until her death.

Edna Mary Penny was born on April 27, 1941 in St Louis, the eldest of four children. She was quite a talented child, learning the piano as very young child. She could play at a professional level by age seven, and as a teenager, the sounds of Gershwin as well as the classics wafted from her room as she played. But for reasons known only to her, she did not pursue music much past her teens.

The great influence in her life was her husband, Bill Wells. They were married for over thirty years until his death in 2006. A gregarious and likable police officer, Bill nurtured her dreams. Her family believes that a broken heart may have been a major factor in her death.

Edna Mary was interested in many things, among them, genealogy. She was among the early group to use the Internet for genealogical research and she was exploring DNA as early as 1997--unusual for someone without a science background. She was the person who first discovered the story of her great-grandfather's family's escape from slavery, recounted here in part. She joined us on our research trip last summer when we went to Prairie du Rocher, Illinois.

Intelligent and beautiful, Edna Mary was not an easy person to get to know. And near the end, she seemed push her family and friends away, as if she was saying, "Don't stand in the way of my journey." But taking charge of Edna Mary's apartment this week, her sister said she found ample evidence that many people loved and cared about Edna Mary, and they don't understand why she had to die alone.

Edna Mary Penny Wells is survived by her mother, Edna Micheau Penny; a brother, Claude Penny of Dallas, and a sister, Margarett Penny Manson, of Carmichael, California. Other survivors include her two aunts, numerous cousins, and nieces and nephews.

Obituary: Victoria Ann Rogers

Victoria Ann Rogers, born on July 3, 1946, in Santiago, Chile, passed away at her home in Sacramento on October 12, 2007. Vicky is survived by her daughter Cynthia Thompson and husband Jeff, son Ian Rogers, grandchildren Dana, Celina and Nicholas Thompson, siblings Jim Pisano and Vivian Pisano, and a large extended family. A graveside funeral service will be held on Friday, October 19, at 10:00 AM at East Lawn Memorial Park, 43rd Street and Folsom Boulevard, Sacramento, California.


Vicky Rogers was my court reporter when I was a Judge of the Superior Court in Sacramento County from 1998 to 2002. She had retired not long ago. She was well-liked by court staff, lawyers and litigants. She did a great job and had a great sense of humor. She loved her family and her job. We will miss her very much.

Obituary: Patricia Ellen Morrison

Patricia Ellen Morrison (nee Martin), born June 19, 1962, passed away Sunday, October 14, 2007. She was a member of the Kaw and Osage Nations.

Patty was a graduate of Baylor University and Baylor Law School. She was a member of Kappa Delta sorority. She practiced law with The Williams Companies Legal Department from 1990 to 2002. She was appointed by President Bush to the office of Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior in 2002, where she served until 2004. She is survived by: her husband, Kevin Morrison; son, Ilya both of Collinsville, Oklahoma; mother, Mary Ellen (Cross) Martin of Cushing, Oklahoma; sister, Susann Box of Cushing; and brother, John Martin, of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Patty was an outstanding lawyer; an excellent friend and colleague. Her passing comes as quite a shock. Few words can describe the deep sympathy I feel for her husband Kevin and their son, Ilya.

The Rich Are Not Like You and Me: Brooke Astor (1902-2007)

Brooke Astor (nee Roberta Brooke Russell) died in Westchester County, New York, today at age 105. The name will be familiar to those of a certain age (and not even close to 105!). It's not likely that we'll soon again see the type of "socialite" who could give away $200 million to support her favorite causes, big and small. She also wrote novels.

Brooke Russell was the only child of John Henry Russell (1872-1947) and Mabel Cecile Howard (1879-1967). Her father was a career Marine Corps officer who eventually reached the rank of Major General and became commandant of the Marine Corps. As a military family, the Russells traveled quite a bit--which may have foreshadowed Brooke's later life. New York passenger records, for example, show her arriving in New York from London with her parents in July, 1913, when she was eleven years old.

At sixteen, Brooke married John Dryden Kuser, a young man with East Coast political connections. New York passenger records show that the couple traveled abroad numerous times between 1920 and 1930, sometimes with his parents, Anthony and Susie Kuser. It appears that they may have visited her parents who were stationed in the Canal Zone and Haiti during that period.

The Kusers had one child and divorced in 1930.

Brooke married Charles Marshall, an investment banker, in 1932. She and her husband continued to travel frequently. New York passenger records show trips between 1934 and 1952, to such locations as Paris, Rome, Guatemala, Italy, and England.

Charles Marshall died in 1952.

In 1953, Brooke married Vincent Astor, scion of the old money New York Astors. Vincent's father, John Jacob Astor IV, had died in the Titanic disaster. Her travel seems to have slowed considerably during this marriage. Apparently, she made only two trips to France while married to Vincent. He died in 1959, whereupon Brooke took over his fortune and his philanthropy.

Her gifts to various charities are said to have been in excess of $200 million.

Kudos

Once again, in our Credit-where-Credit-is-Due Department:

1. Congratulations to Missouri, whose State Archives has now added images for the year 1935 to its Death Records project. This project is rapidly closing its gaps!

2. Thanks to the Local History Department of the Corpus Christi Public Libraries, which outdid its usual great service by responding to my request for a scanned copy of an obituary in an incredible twelve hours! I don't imagine they can do that all the time, but I appreciated this week.

3. And since I'm up and about to an extent I really didn't expect this soon, kudos to my doctors and the hospital staff for a job well done!

In Memoriam: Marilyn Ann Thorbjornsen, Lt Col, US Army (Ret)

Our dear friend, Marilyn Thorbjornsen, died unexpectedly last Friday in Madison, Alabama. Her son, Lee, home on leave from the Army, was with her when she went into distress and an ambulance was called. Unfortunately, Marilyn passed away before she could get to a hospital.

Marilyn was born on February 13, 1952, in Normal, Illinois. She spent a career in the United States Army, with assignments around the world. She rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel before retiring. After her retirement from the Army, Marilyn obtained a teaching credential and began working for the Madison, Ala., City Schools. Students and parents describe Marilyn as "awesome," "great," "young-hearted," and "beloved." And those sentiments come as no surprise.

There were few finer human beings on this planet than Marilyn. Always positive, she was proud of her children and cared about all with whom she came in contact.

Marilyn is survived by her three adult children, Krissy A. Thorbjornsen and twins Kelly Sue Thorbjornsen and Lee Thomas Thorbjornsen; sister, Becky Jo Behnke; brother, Steven T. Goss; mother, Loretta Goss; and grandson, Michael Thomas Camp-Thorbjornsen.

Marilyn will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

UPDATE (10:02 pm PDT, 6/21/07): The Huntsville Times ran this feature article about Marilyn yesterday.

Research Resource: Uncommon Resources

Randy Seaver has posted about a talk by Ann J. Miller concerning lesser-used research resources. I've not heard that talk, but I have had some experience with some of these resources. Here I explain where and how to find some of them. Not all are online and some are not available in microform, either. So finding some of these records requires the good old fashioned hard working genealogical research.

Land and property records

These are mostly available on microfilm from the Family History Library. More recent records are available online in many jurisdictions. A good example is the Jackson County, Missouri site. These sites vary in terms of what is available and whether there is a charge. Jackson County, Missouri, provides PDF copies of documents for no charge. On the other hand, Nacogdoches County, Texas, charges a modest fee ($2.00-$3.00) for copies of documents. [its documents are handled online by a commercial concern].

Probate records

These records include wills and guardianship records. The records are mostly available on microfilm from the FHL. Only a few jurisdictions have these records online. An example is Nacogdoches County, Texas. Probate records include information about many folks other than the decedent. You will learn about children, spouses, executors, appraisers, accountants, and lawyers. For example, last year, I wrote to the Milam County Clerk in Cameron, Texas, for the probate files of Reuben Henry Sanford and Martha Sanford. I learned a number of things that I did not know.

In 2005, I went to Thomaston, Georgia, to examine records of Upson County. I looked through original probate records in the chambers of the local probate judge. It was quite interesting. If you live close enough to the jurisdiction in which you are researching or if you have reason to go there, looking through the ancient books adds another lively dimension to your research adventure!

Assessment and tax records

Mostly available on microfilm from FHC. More recent records are available online in many jurisdictions. See for example, Aransas County (Tex.) Assessment District.

Court records, including divorce records

Some are available on microfilm from FHC. More recent records are available online in some jurisdictions. Examples include the Missouri circuit courts and the Los Angeles Superior Court. Online sites vary in terms of what is actually available. Note that California's legislature is considering a bill to restrict divorce records---seems to have been motivated by a rich guy's embarrassment about having his financial information available to public in a property settlement. It's not clear that this controversial bill will pass.

Obituaries

As Randy notes, obituaries can supply information about not just the deceased, but for parents, siblings, and children. There are several commercial site on-line such as obitsarchive.com and newspaperarchives.com. A number of public libraries have obituary indexes, usually in cooperation with a local newspaper. A good example (heck, the best example) is the Corpus Christi Public Libraries site. They will e-mail or snail-mail copies of obituaries from the Corpus Christi newspapers. Not all libraries will do that.

Passport Applications . . .

. . . have a variety of information. But note that passports were generally not required before 1941. Passport applications up to March 1925 can be found at the National Archives and Records Administration and from April 1925 to the present at the State Department. To obtain the passport files of a deceased person, you must file a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This the same provision of law under which you obtain the Social Security applications (SS-5). The State Department has a handy "FOIA Letter Generator" that makes this process simple. I'm going to try it and will report back on how long it took, etc. You can also request the passport files of a living person with proof of their consent.

More to come on uncomon resources!