Genealogical Gems

Jacob Deyoe died in Kalamazoo , Michigan , at the home of his daughter. His short obituary ran in the Detroit Free Press out of Detroit , Michigan on Monday, 10 January 1898. His obituary reads: Kalamazoo , Mich. , January 9 – (Special) – Jacob Deyoe died to-day at the home of his daughter, Mrs. James Mills, from a stroke of paralysis, aged 80 years. If Jacob died at 80 in 1898, then he would have been born in 1818 – give or take a year. Find A Grave puts his birth date as 11 July 1820. However, I found a 59 year old Jacob Deyoe living in Kalamazoo in 1880. He was a farmer living with his 59 year old wife Cynthia, his 38 year old daughter Elizabeth Mills, a 38 year old “boarder” James Mills and seven year old grandson Harry Mills. Jacob and Cynthia were both born in New York . Elizabeth ’s death certificate notes that her parents – Jacob Deyoe and Cynthia Conklin – were both born in New York . Elizabeth and Jacob had both been born in Waterloo . Elizabeth was bor...

Scarlet fever claimed three children in Michigan On This Day in 1881. The Weaver family of Creso, Michigan , fell ill – all eight of them – to scarlet fever. The family lived on an islet in the middle of a marsh. Three children died within 24 hours.   According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), scarlet fever is a bacterial infection resulting from group A strep. Today, it can be treated with antibiotics.    Source: Lancaster daily intelligencer. ( Lancaster , Pa. ), 30 April 1881. Chronicling America : Historic American Newspapers . Library of Congress.    On This Day is a prompt I started to further explore historical events.                  © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015