I desperately need help, and fast!
I am a college student, writing a paper on rugged pioneers of the Upper Midwest, and focusing on one particular family to give the personal perspective. I have discovered an important missing piece of information and my paper is due to be turned in (polished and pretty) by April 8, 2005.

Now my history professor is so impressed with this research and direction, that she is considering helping me get this published, so this is not light task I am asking for help with.

I need to find the death record and obituary for one James Frank Warner or Werner. He was the son of William Thomas Warner/Werner and Mary Catherine Mowry/Mowery/Mowrey Warner/Werner....I have seen the surname spelled both ways in the same county.

I know the family settled in Allegan County after 1871, and then farmed in Ganges Township. It is written in Mary Catherine's obituary.

There is one small notation if a previously overlooked interview with a 90+ yr old relative, that James Frank died at the age of 21 when a tree fell on him. That is too vague for the book, but my professor is telling me I need to dig deeper and find out more about the tree incident, ie:was he working in the timber industry? was he helping clear the land for farming? Freak storm? So it may require both death record and obituary, if they even exist.

Now for his statistics:
James Franklin Warner born 3 June 1875 in Michigan (Allegan County)
he was killed when a tree fell on him some time during his 21 st year...so about 1896. This is why I need someone from the area.

Now I have been told that there are several Werner/Warner graves, including one headstone for his parents, William & Mary, at Loomis Cemetery, and if no death record can be found, it has been my experience that often times the sexton at the cemetery has more information than the county was recording at that time in history...so please consider that option.

I AM willing to pay for what I am asking for on such short notice. I can not go there myself, as I live in Florida. Spring break is next week, and I will be making a trip to a mountain top in Arkansas to visit one last living grandchild of William & Mary who is in her 90s.

I can further tell you that this family was attached to the "old" U. B. church in Allegan County. That too is written in both William and Mary's obituaries.

As I will be traveling starting Sunday am, please contact me asap so I can send you out the money for records, copies, photos, postage and travel expenses plus hourly rate for your time. Not rich, just desperate.

As an added bonus, in the credits page of this paper, you will be mentioned as one of my researchers, and can request a free copy for "brag rights" after it has been published, so make sure you include your credentails you would like submitted when you have taken on this task.

If you have read this much, you must be truely interested, or very bored. Either way, allow me to offer up my sincere thanks for being at least willing to consider helping me.

This is a fascinating line of descent that goes all the way back to King William the first, Prince of Orange. Honest.

My Sincerest Regards
Mary Ellen Hamacher Beghtel
college student, genealogist (one who truely studies the family tree, not the expert kind, yet.)
:-)