The Hairstylist and the Genealogist

I often talk to my hairstylist about genealogy while she is styling my hair.  She always seems interested in what I have learned new about my family history.  She is a good listener and asks great questions.  Questions that often challenge me to think in different ways.

The other night, she quietly said "I've been thinking about doing some research."  She seemed a little tentative so I asked what she was wanting to research.  There is a picture she has of her paternal great grandfather and great grandmother.  "No one talks about what happened to him."  But she has learned he was in an asylum.

She supplied me with details about the picture.... black and white.... on cardboard stock.  I told her i thought the time frame would be from the last 1800s to the early 1900s.  All she knew was that her grandfather was young when her great grandfather died.

We had talked before about her grandfather who served in World War II and was in his 90s.  But this was not the grandfather.  This grandfather she didn't know his exact age but he was in his late 70s or early 90s.  I started to calculate his age when she added that her father was born in 1956 and her grandfather was 21 years old when he was born.  Okay....so your grandfather was born in 1935. 

"What should I look for?  What do I do first?"  I told her when you start genealogy, you start with yourself and work you way back in time documenting each piece of information along the way.  "But I already know about me."  For her great grandfather the first piece of information we would be looking for would be his death information.

She then recalled her great grandfather's name.  The first name was Ezra.  The last name was not common.  I asked where he died.... Illinois.  I asked if she knew when he died.... No.  I decided to see if by any chance he turned up in the Social Security Death Index.  There was an Ezra born Aug 1895 and died Feb 1944.  "That can't be him.  He died when my grandfather was young".  This man would have died when her grandfather was 9 years old. 

Since his son was not born until 1935, the 1930 Census would be of no use....or would it.  "My grandfather was the second youngest of seven children."  He would be in the 1930 Census with his other children and wife.  Did a search and there he was Ezra, his wife Beulah and four children.  His birth year according to the Census, was 1896.  So Ezra in the SSDI was him.

My hairstylist was amazed.  I found all of this while she styled my hair in 30 minutes or less.  And to be truthfully honest, I was too.  Guess twenty years or so of doing this has paid off!  Now the only question is "Has she caught the bug?"