I’ve been spending my “free” time reviewing old issues of Harvard Herald to learn more about my Miller family who lived in McHenry County, Illinois in the early 1900s. There have been many discoveries made, which have furthered my research on this family. But this find, well, it was quite unusual.
Last week, I had come across the following brief in the 4 December 1913 issue:
At first I wasn’t even sure it referred to my great-granduncle’s wife, but the address seemed familiar, so I made a copy of it. What was odd, was it seemed that Henry wasn’t in the picture, since she was looking for a “means of support for herself and little child.” This was why I initially questioned whether it was the same family. Consequently, I knew that sometime after 1920, they apparently divorced, but this was seven years prior, and two additional children were born of this union between 1914 and 1916.
Then yesterday, I finally understood why she was seeking work. Henry had disappeared, as evidenced by the following article I found in the 26 February 1914 issue:
How bizarre is that? I wonder what happened to him, where he went, and how he managed to find his way home. Who knows, maybe he was abducted by aliens ;)
5 comments:
Wouldn't it be interesting to find out what happened to him?
I was recently told by my mom's cousin that my 3rd grea-grandfather vanished-- went out one day to cut some wood, and was never seen again. Only his axe and lunch pail were found.
In this case, though, he never reappeared... I figure either something bad happened to him, or he decided to just leave. Or he was abducted by aliens!
Perhaps a knock on the head produced amnesia.
Karen, I have another great-granduncle who disappeared as well. Not sure what the story is though...I just know that they had him pronounced dead some 20 or so years latter in order to settle estates.
Fascinating. I'd stick with the alien story!
Wow! What a great find! That's the kind of thing we genealogists live for. Congrats on finding it.
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