For the last 5 years I have been trying to discover the birth and death information for my family tree. This is not always easy for me as most all my elder relations have passed. (I wish I would have begun this genealogy quest in my early 20s) All my grandparents, and most of my aunts and uncles are gone now and the few that remain were too young to remember events in their past with any clarity. But, occasionally I get a fact or hint from someone that leads me to a find.
At my families first ever Family Reunion this last summer I asked my 85 year old father if he remembered anything about his Uncle Edwin. He was only 8 years old when Edwin died and I was having a very hard time finding the facts attached to his life and death. Dad said he remembered his mother receiving a phone call and crying and crying, saying "Uncle Edwin is dead".
Uncle Edwin H. was the oldest brother of Dad's father, Arthur D. Curtiss. Born in Laurel, Maryland 30 June 1879. He was the first child (to survive) of Alfred Leroy and Mary Ella (Darby) Curtiss. They moved to St. Joseph, Missouri when he was one 1 yr. old and had the rest of their 6 children there. He married Norma A. Tisher in 1903, but she passed in 1908 leaving Edwin a childless widower. In 1911 he married his second wife Alice Leota Reeder. He worked for Richardson D G & Co. first as a trunk-maker and then became a photographer. They moved to Omaha, Nebraska around 1918 and then to Los Angeles about 1921 when his brothers family moved there. He worked as a carpenter, was divorced from Alice L. and had no children. He died at age 52. My father and Aunt both said that they believed he had committed suicide. I had collected all the facts I could about him searching every possible lead in discovering his death certificate to no avail.
At the Family Reunion I asked my Dad if he could remember anything else about Edwin concerning his death. He remembers he heard Uncle Edwin was in Bakersfield when he shot himself. Since I had searched every possible option in Los Angeles, his last residence this was a new lead.
Bakersfield is in Kern County so I began to check out the online death indexes for California looking for anything in Kern County between 1930 - 1940. I found one that I thought was possibly his. Recorded May 5, 1932 with the name Ed Curtiss, age 41. Spouse initial listed as "L". I knew that Alice Leota some times went by A. Loeta , so this was possibly his death certificate. I sent for it.
When the certificate arrived I found that this was a "white man, possibly Ed Curtiss", a suicide victim shot to the head and found in a car on the hwy. Spouse name "Lata" (coincidentally, my grandmothers' name) and divorced. Buried in Delano, CA. No other records stated. I had enough information to conclude that this indeed was Edwin Henry Curtiss' death certificate.
I was very happy with my discovery, but it left me with another question. How did the suppliers of facts on the certificate know that he was "divorced"? Did he leave a suicide note? Did he have his divorce papers with him in the car? Did he write the note to my grandmother, Lata Lavesta stating he was distraught over his divorce from Alice? It did state there was an inquest held. This will be my next search.
