I have been writing this weekly history column for a little over four months now, and I am blown away by the feedback I have received. Many are compliments and commendations that buoy me on days where I’m convinced I don’t know how to string two words together, but many others are those who have reached out in an effort to supply me with further information about previous topics, which truly excites me. Being a lone detective with limited resources is challenging, so when a community comes together to share information and insight in the shared purpose of solving a mystery, it's amazing the stones that can be overturned.
I received several leads regarding the Hart High School Class of 1910, which has been the subject of the column for the past two weeks. I’ll be transparent, an Ancestry.com subscription is not in my budget, and I couldn’t peruse that database for information on some of the unknown students. However, one reader, Ms. Dianne of Pentwater - who self-describes as a genealogy fan - was able to find the following information on Bessie Waterman, Pearl Stern and Janet (Janette) Richardson’s family.
Last week, while I was able to learn about Bessie Waterman’s relation to long-serving U.S. Senator Donald Wayne Riegle Jr., I couldn’t quite figure out when she passed away in Flint, Michigan. I figured, due to the language used in her obituary, she likely died in the early 1930s. Dianne was able to track down her death certificate, which lists her date of death as December 18, 1931, and the cause listed as an “internal hemorrhage post-operation” with “other contributory causes of importance” listed as “jaundice, anemia, duct obstruction.” The operation in question was described as a “common duct obstruction” on the liver. So likely Bessie was suffering from some form of liver failure, and she died due to complications from the operation to relieve the obstruction. She was 40 years old.
As for Pearl Stern, for whom I couldn’t even find her surname in the Oceana County Historical & Genealogical Society’s (OCH&GS) master index, Dianne possibly found a grave and some census information. Pearl was born in Indiana in 1894 and lived in Oceana County at the time of the 1900 and 1910 censuses. Her parents were possibly William E. Stern of Indiana and Nellie Shriver of Michigan. Pearl L. Stern is recorded as marrying Ralph H. Van Duzer in 1916 in Benton Harbor, Michigan. The grave Dianne found, which lists the name Pearl L Stearns Van Duzer, lists her death as 1917, the year following her marriage.
Janet/ Janette Richardson post-1910 remains an enigma - I guess that’s what disappearing to Los Angeles will do to a gal - but Dianne provided some more information on the Richardson family. As I discussed last week, her parents were early Crystal Valley settlers and are both buried at Ulysses Cemetery. Her mother, Louisa Beadle (b. 1849), was married three times, which gives her a couple half siblings - Charles Richardson and Mary Richardson Caldwell. Also discovered in the 1910 census, was that Janet was working as a live-in domestic servant for the Lyons family.
At the close of her email, Dianne regretted that she couldn’t be of more help, and I have to extend my genuine and dearest gratitude for the not-insignificant information she provided.
Finally, back when I first took up the history column in May, Ms. Karen (a friend and mentor from the OCH&GS) asked if I could “get the word out” on a European settler she was trying to fit into her extensive collection of family trees. I promised that, once I could find a topic that I could fit him into, I would.
George Devries came to the U.S. in 1881, and he settled in New Era. In 1890, he married Clara (Klassje) Redder. Does anyone have information on George predating 1890? Better yet, can anyone confirm that he was born Gerardus Devries (b. February 16, 1857) in Drenthe, Netherlands, the son of Goosem Devries and Zwaantje Neizing?
As always, I implore anyone who wishes to contribute their wealth of information to reach out, no matter how small. You can contact the Echo through the office phone number or email listed at the bottom of this page (we are in the office on Mondays and Wednesdays) or through my direct email cmarshall@whitelakemirror.com.
