Wednesday, October 19, 2011

What's in a name?

Another name puzzle has shown up in an ancestral document.  Is it Whitfield or Whitefield?  From the time I started search family history my grandmother surname was known to me as Whitfield.  which includes all the records I have discovered; marriage certificates, census report, etc....,  Now, a question pops up on this recently discovered document for Frank E. Whitfield.  First, notice that the document didn't record a full name, but the state of Illinois has this document recorded against Frank.  Also, the date of death, first name of the parents, the physical address and the first name and middle initial of his wife are all correct.  The question is the recorded last name of Whitefield! So, is it Whitfield or Whitefield?  I am sure it is Whitfield and this is just a record error by Registrar!  I have seen many errors such as this, so it really doesn't surprise me at all.  But, it may explain why I haven't been able to find anything concrete for Elisie Minnie Grothmann Whitfield after 1919.  Oh by the way, Elise's last name was record on the marriage certificate as Grotman, where it should have been Grothmann.  Errors are very common!
Suburbanite Economist Notice
Who is Frank E Whitfield?  He is my great grandfather on my mother side.  You can see more about Frank at his Ancestry.com page;  Frank Whitfield  .  The notice to the right can be found at
the Ancestry.com page for the newspaper Suburbanite Economist, Englewood Times.

This is an update to Frank's blog record as his resting place has been found in the Oak Wood Cemetery, Chicago Illinois lying next for Frank is Elsie's second husband, Orrin P Talley.  Frank Whitfield lived an died in Illinois.  His parent's John and Elizabeth are from England and are still a mystery at this point.


Please find in this blog other posts of the Whitfield family.

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3 comments:

  1. The story of your family just keeps getting more interesting! I can hardly wait to see that book you just ordered, too...

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  2. Thanks Bill, this is very interesting. I just googled the neighborhood they lived to look at it. Pretty close to the lake. So when Frank died where was Great-grandma living (i.e. Grace Herrick I)?

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  3. Hi Laura... I hope all is well you and yours! To answer your question about Grace, well she married Geo Herrick in 1917 and the best I can tell they lived in Chicago at the time of Frank Whitfield death, 1919. By1920, Geo and Grace were in Florida with the rest of the Herrick clan.

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