Puzzle Pieces Should Fit Together

Genealogy is a lot like working puzzles.  We only get the full picture when everything fits together.  Citing sources is our proof that the pieces fit, it helps us remember where we got the information and it is the proof that the information is correct. Tonight, as I was doing a little more research on my Leader line, I came across this, on not one, but two different trees on Ancestry.com. Since Elizabeth Leader is in my family line, this interested me.

This is the page from a family tree that references Elizabeth.

Notice the death information.  She died in 1872.  That is verifiable.  Her source citation references the U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedule.  Those accompanied census data, and we all know that U.S. census’ were taken every ten years, and not in years ending in 2′s.

Second and third mistakes in this citation would be her name and where she died. If she married Oliver McCullough in 1828, her surname was no longer Leader, right?  and if she died in North East, Maryland, why would she appear on the Mortality schedule for Bedford County, Pennsylvania?  Bedford, Pennsylvania is 200 miles from North East, via the interstate today and takes almost 4 hours to travel.

These puzzle pieces really belonged in two different boxes.  The owners of the trees have their puzzles all mixed up!

 

. . . and so starts another week of research

Today was our 29th wedding anniversary and we decided to take a road trip.

We ended up at “Mikes Bar and Crab House” in Riva, (Annapolis area) Maryland for an excellent lunch. This is one of our favorite restaurants in that area and therefore was an easy choice for the day. After lunch, we decided to take a slower way home and went home via a different route. As we were going right by (within 20 miles, anyway!) of North East, Maryland, we decided to see if there was a Historical Society or Library in the area so I could find an obituary or two.

After several bad leads, we found the Library only to find out that the microfilm is held in the Elkton Library, 10 miles away! Since we were so close, why not go there? What we found out was that there are not a lot of library users among those we asked for directions. It took us an hour to finally find the Library!!

I was looking for an obituary for Elizabeth Leader McCullough and her husband, Oliver. They both died in the 1870′s. Elizabeth was a sister of my g-g-g-g-grandfather, Samuel Leader. Elizabeth was born in Pennsylvania, probably Marietta in Lancaster County. Oliver was born in Delaware. They married and moved to North East in Cecil County, Maryland.

After going through the microfilm, I did not find Elizabeth’s obituary, or even a mention of her death. I did, however, find an article on Oliver’s.

Now this is where it gets really weird! This is the second article I’ve found in the past month where the person was killed by a train! The first one was my great-great-grandfather, and was a death date I’ve spent over 15 years looking for! . . . . and now this!

In July of 1871 . . . . . . . .

* Killed by the Cars. – Mr. Oliver McCullough, an old citizen of the county, and brother to J.J. McCullough, of the firm of the McCullough Iron Co., was killed by the afternoon passenger train from Baltimore, on Thursday last, at the Elk Neck road crossing, about two miles below Elkton. He had been in Elkton with vegetables — he was a market gardener — the afternoon of his death, and had gone to the place of his son-in-law, Mr. W. Jones, who resides in the Neck, for a harrow, and was on his way home when he met with the fatal accident. He was struck about the head and instantly killed, and the market wagon in which he was riding smashed to pieces, but the horse escaped uninjured. This crossing is one of the most dangerous on the road, as it is difficult to see or hear the cars till they are right on it. The train was stopped and the body brought to Elkton.