Trusted to take on a New Family Project

I received a phone call the other day and was asked to please help a business partner of my husbands dig out his family tree. His brother just signed up for Ancestry.com and is lost on what to do. Yes, I took on the challenge.

Step one: I have a copy of their father’s obituary, he just passed away a few weeks back. From that I was able to get his full name, James Joseph Corr, birthdate, where he grew up, school he attended, surviving siblings names, wifes name (she passed away in 1999 – have to look for her obituary), all 9 of his children’s names.

Step two: I enter all obit information into my Family Tree Maker Program – I love this program it helps me keep everything organized and prints out great family group sheets, charts, etc.

Step three: Look for Mrs. Corr’s obituary. Found it in the Philadelphia Inq. Archives online. Her name was Jacqueline Perry Corr. She was born and raised in PA. WAIT I have Perry’s in my family from PA. Now I am really excited. Can’t get carried away – just can’t.

Step four: Hunt down every bit of information I can on this couple. What did I find?
• Obituary for both James and Jacqueline
• World War II enlistment records for James
• SSDI index entry for both. Confirms their birth and death dates.
• Checked the High schools that both had listed as attended in their
obits. They are on the lists of alumni. James has a new “in
memory” page on his schools site.
• Checked the alumni list for Manhatten College – found James Corr
on the list.
• Was able to get Jacqueline’s parents names from her son Joe. Will
move on from there. Still waiting for James parent’s names – I
know they immigrated to this country from Ireland.

With Jacqueline’s parents names in hand I will try to move on a few generations back for them. I love that this family is from the area of Pennsylvania I know well. I have spent years researching my mother’s family in the same counties. I will post my finds in a later post. I know I have so many cemetery pictures, town history books, etc. from Luzerne and Columbia Counties in PA – maybe I will find them, crossing my fingers.

Always remember to start with the living first and get all the information you can and then move on to past generations. It is so easy to get excited and jump to conclusions – remember, “Slow and Steady wins the race.”