Katherine "Katie" M. Fox-FOUND

I have written two prior posts about Katie Fox, one in 2012 and the other in 2015.   I had never been able to learn what had happened to her after her father died in 1898.  Katherine Fox was a fairly common name and so I was never sure of finding the correct records.  She was one of my major brick walls.

A couple of days ago an Ancestry.com hint came up for Katie.  It was an obituary in Newspapers.com for Herman Seger, who had married Catherine Fox in 1900 in Peoria.  I searched for Herman Seger with all my genealogical powers!  I searched for his parents and his children who were all named in the obituary.  I found NOTHING.  Finally, I pulled up the 1910 Peoria County Census and entered the first name (Herman), the year he was born (1875), and that he lived in Peoria.  Right away names came up and guess what was there: Herman Feger with his wife Catherine.

As it turned out, the obituary had his last name spelled wrong, along with his father's last name and his children's last names.  I just have never seen that big of an error in an obituary.

Now that left me with the question, was this Catherine Fox the Katherine Fox that I have been searching for (for over twenty-five years)?  I found all the censuses for the Feger family, but I needed proof of who Katherine's parents were. They were not listed on her Find-A-Grave site.  All I could think of was that I needed to try to find a record of Herman and Catherine's marriage.

I started by going to the Peoria County Clerk's website.  As I looked around there for a while, I came across a link that led me to old records that had been scanned.  There are Births (1878-1915), Marriages (1825-1904), and Deaths (Dec. 1877-1915).  It was an amazing find!!!

But the most amazing part was that I found the marriage records for Herman Feger and Katherine Fox and her parents were listed: William Fox and Mary Smith!!!!  It was her!

I was so happy to know that she had married and had three children. By the time Katie was twenty-four, she had lost both parents and all six siblings had died.  She was alone in the world for the most part. Her first two children were even named William and Mary after her parents. Katie lived until 1957.  I am hoping to find an obituary for her once the library re-opens (COVID-19).

Never, ever give up!

My Favorite Photo

I am selectively choosing prompts from 52 Ancestors and especially like this week's prompt which is My Favorite Photo!  It is this great picture of my grandparents, taken around 1970.  It is always on my refrigerator so I can see them and sometimes "talk" to them!

Review of 2019

Well, I had one post in 2019.  That is hard to believe.  I had some great finds in 2019, mostly from Ancestry.com.  And I began researching my brother-in-law's family at my sister's request.

In September of last year, my long-lost cousin and I spent a weekend together, at my home with our husbands, that was absolutely wonderful.  We had not seen each other since around 1960 maybe?  I had been searching for her since about 1994.  She found me (!) on Ancestry in 2018.  When she arrived at my house, I was able to give her her father's childhood missal with his name written in it that I had found among my mother's belongings.  Her father died in 1963, so it was quite a touching moment to finally lay it in her hands! We really had a good time with them and hope to see more of them.

So, my goal for 2020?  Well, that's an obvious one!  I need to blog more!  I'll start with a post today!