I Found Something!

Sometimes the smallest find means a LOT! In my research of my father's maternal HODICK line, I'd had some trouble over the years finding the family between 1900 and 1920. I'd searched the U.S. Census records for 1900 in Nanticoke, Luzerne County, PA and for Frontenac, Crawford County, KS with no success. After writing a historical society in Kansas, I was aided in my search when a volunteer found a listing for the HODIZ family in Washington Township, Crawford County, KS. This family was indeed the elusive HODICK family I sought.

However, I was unable to find the family in 1910, and remain unable to find them to this day. One of my mysteries in this search is not knowing where to search. I know that the youngest HODICK daughter, Sylvestina (aka Vesta), was born in Kansas in 1910. I know they were back in Pennsylvania by 1920, as they resurfaced in that year's census.

Today I was searching ObitsArchive.com for obituaries and found Sylvestina's obituary. Which I'd seen before. Now I know that lots of information can be gleaned via well-written obituaries (I'd once verified the identity of a DOYLE ancestor via obituaries and found her family). But sometimes I just miss something. Like this:

"Born in 1910 in Frontenac, Kan., she moved to Askum, Pa., with her family in 1915." (taken from the obituary for Sylvestina Kovaleski-Kinney, courtesy The Buffalo News, August 10, 2000, via http://www.obitsarchive.com/).

Now this windfall did not help me find this family in 1910. Why, you may ask? Because my records indicate that Sylvestina was born in December of that year, long after the Census was taken.

So the search for the HODICK family in 1910 continues. But at least now I know to search Kansas, and I know approximately when they returned to the state of Pennsylvania.