Neither is trying to find a death certificate for William S. R. Wood or the death certificate and burial plot information on Bessie Granger Wood, our great grandparents.
It has been relatively easy to find info on J.P.'s family. They can be easily traced back to 1500s Switzerland. But census birthplace data for the Woods indicates England and so far I haven't been able to track immigration information on either side. Thanks to Mutty, we have a photo of William's mother.
Does it really matter? Well, sort of. At least to me. There's a whole chapter I can't write in the "Leatherman Story" unless I know!
About the only fact I have is that Bessie was a twin and through a stroke of luck, I was able to find a record of their christening in London. And I've also found a trail of information about the Grangers (or Graingers) in Buffalo, along with some information on William Wood.
William was an apothecary and confectioner and when I get them scanned, I'll post some of his recipes, including the opium lozenges. Nancy remembered stories of his shop shared by Iris. I also know that both Stephen and Elizabeth Granger worked for a confectioner in Buffalo. Was that Bessie or her mother? Is that how they met? We know a bit about their wedding reception from marriage records and a small newspaper clipping shared here before.
We know that by 1905 they had moved to Lansing with their daughter, Minnie Elizabeth and ran a grocery. And that in 1912, Minnie and J.P. were married and moved into the Wood home at 833 N. Capitol Avenue.
We know that Bessie was alive until at least 1919 or 1920 as there are photographs of her with Jean as a baby.
And that's it.
I have two journeys planned in my head. One is to Ohio to check out some of J.P.'s relatives and gravesites in Medina County. The other is to Ionia County to check out information on his parents and if we can shed any light on how Henry Leatherman, JP's dad, was institutionalized. (And a matter of fact, that info has been found -- and it's quite a story!)
Maybe I'd better head to the Ingham County Clerk and see what I can dig up on Bessie!
I share your frustration at hitting a road block in researching your family line. I hit this too which is unfortunate because it is the missing link which would lead me to the rest of the family lineage which is well documented along the various lines. I've searched and searched and followed many angles but likely there were no good documents in Canada at that time and those places that did collect such records often experienced catastrophic fires destroying all records. I may just have to live with that fact but I am still very happy about what I have found. I commend you for doing so much to document your own tree. xx
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