I'm looking for a death date and burial place for Sophia Lay who was living with her husband Richard and children in Franklin, Johnson Co., IN in the 1900 census. I can't find them after that. She was born around 1850 in Pulaski Co., Kentucky to Thomas J. Rayburn/Rayborn and Malvina Hudson. Some of her children spelled their name "Leigh." Thank you for any help.

I checked the Master Index of Johnson County, Indiana Cemetery Listings 2000 and Sophia Lay, wife of Richard Lay, born 15 Aug 1850, died 16 Mar 1902 is buried in Section 24 Row 1 Stone 3. The preceding information is from her tomb stone. Buried next to her at Stone 2 is Erna Lay, son of Richard and Sophia Lay, died 2 Feb 1890, [aged] 1 year 9 month 26 days.

I suggest you contact the Johnson County Museum of History Genealogy Room
www.johnsoncountymuseum.org/genealogy_library
to see if there is an obituary for her in their files.

Regards,
Lois Johnson
Johnson County INGenWeb Coordinator

I forgot to tell you which cemetery. The Lays are buried in Greenlawn Cemetery.

Sorry,
Lois Johnson Johnson County INGenWeb Coordinator

This is just wonderful. I cannot thank you enough. I"ve searched and searched and had just about given up. I should have included this in my original posting but you didn't by any chance find a death date for Richard? I think he may have remarried after Sophia died. Thank you again for your time and effort!

Richard does not seem to have been recorded as being buried in Johnson County, Indiana.

Regards,
Lois Johnson, Johnson County INGenWeb Coordinator

Thank you again so much. I'll follow your obituary advice and maybe that will give me some clues. At least now I know where not to look.

The Obits at the genealogy library only go back to about 1985. They have an index of Obits from area papers in the 1800s, but I don't think that list includes anything from the 1900s. I have access to the same book at work and will check to see if she is listed in the index. The genealogy library does have old papers on microfilm so if there was one published it may just take some perusing the old newspapers.

Brad Manzenberger

The systematic collection of obits starts in 1985, but there are others which have been contributed which go back to 1905 as I have found early obits for my ancestors in the file. It is not complete but it is worth a look.

Thank you again for all your suggestions. I did some more digging and found Sophia's husband Richard Lay in the 1920 Johnson Co., IN census with 2nd wife Emma. He must have died around 1927 as she is widowed in 1930 and also applied for his Civil War widow's pension Nov. 1027.

If you want to know almost everything about Richard Lay's life, get a copy of Emma's widow's pension from the National Archives. If you are not close to Washington, DC, there are researchers who will find it and send it to you (usually electronically) at a cost of about $55. Or you can wait until footnotes.com finishes putting all the pensions online. But pension information is definitely worth getting. The most amazing stories can be found in them.

Lois Johnson
Johnson County INGenWeb Coordinator