Ancestry Magazine

What do you do when you find this image of a tombstone among Uncle John’s papers—but you’ve never heard of Sarah or anyone named Herendeen? You have one clue: the writing on the back of the photo stating Oak Grove Cemetery, Sullivan, Moultrie County, Illinois. So now what?

Step 1: Census Enumerations

Sarah died in 1907, so step one is to search for her in the 1900 U.S. Census of Illinois at Ancestry.com. Based on Sarah’s birth year, 1841, your next step would be to look for her family in 1880 and earlier censuses.

Step 2: Online Illinois Databases

The Illinois State Archives has online marriage and death indexes. If Sarah and her husband are listed, order full copies of the records per the instructions on the archives website.

Step 3: Obituaries

Seeking an obituary, check the Historic Newspapers Collection at Ancestry.com; other sites may house different obituary collections, so an Internet search for newspapers published in or near Moultrie County in 1907 also may be in order. If all else fails, a visit to your local library or a call to the local library in Moultrie County may net you some answers about publications and the possibility of ordering microfilmed historic newspapers via interlibrary loan.

Step 4: Research Everyone?

Armed with Sarah and her husband’s information, determine who you want to follow or whether you want to work on both, adding their parents and their siblings to gather as many clues as possible.

Step 5: Continue Backward

Taking location information from the censuses, follow Sarah and her husband back in time via county histories and probate, land, and other records. The Family History Library Catalog can give you more information about available records based on location.

What You’ll Learn

The 1900 census (Sullivan Township, Moultrie County, ED 104, Sheet 13A) shows Sarah’s husband’s name as Morris. One child is listed as son and the other as S-daughter [step-daughter], possibly a clue to an earlier marriage for Sarah.

At the Illinois state archives website, no marriage is listed for Morris and Sarah. The death index shows Sarah’s place of death as Moultrie County and a 1907 date of death. Morris is listed as dying in Sullivan Township, Moultrie County, on 4 April 1916.

No obituaries are available at Ancestry.com for Sarah or Morris, but one does exist at USGenWeb.com and its Illinois archives <www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/il/ilfiles.htm>. The entry lists Sarah (Morris) Herendeen and includes her first marriage (to S. D. Elliot) and children by each husband. The obituary was submitted very recently—29 May 2006. Additional submitter comments include Sarah’s parents’ names. Checking the state marriage index uncovers information about Sarah’s marriage to Samuel D. Elliot in 1858 in Sangamon County, Illinois.

Paula Stuart-Warren, CG, is a frequent contributor to Ancestry Magazine. Reach her at PSWResearch@comcast.net.