Once Lost, Now Found

June 23, 2011

The Midwest Genealogy Center receives donations of many kinds, including school yearbooks. In fact, the only way the yearbook collection grows is through donations. Some time ago, we received a donation of a copy of a 1937 edition of Central High School’s Centralian. In the inside cover, there were two pictures. The first picture is of a bride and groom, and the second picture is of a small child.

The original owner of the yearbook was Bella R., deduced from her name being referenced at the front of the book and throughout her classmates’ signatures. After looking at her senior picture in the yearbook, I was reasonably sure that Bella was also the bride in the other photo. Knowing that she graduated high school in Kansas City, I thought the next logical step would be to see if she had been married in Jackson County also. There was one Bella R. in the Jackson County marriage records, and her husband’s name was Harold K. Now that I knew her married name, I searched for her on the Social Security Death Index on Ancestry Library Edition. I found her listed as having died on 2 November 2003 in Missouri. MGC has the Kansas City Star on microfilm, so I sought her obituary there and found it recorded on 3 November 2003. The obituary showed her only son’s name. After looking through the city directory, I found his phone number.

Long story short, Bella’s son is going to be reunited with the priceless pictures from his family history.

Andrew M.
Midwest Genealogy Center