This whole week has been fun, and rewarding.

If I had done nothing more than locate the hotel where my parents spent their honeymoon, and attended 3 very informative local genealogy society meetings then I would have counted it a success.

But it was what happened, this evening, when I followed the insistent advice of a feisty, charming, and knowledgeable Young Lady old enough to be my Mother, or Grandmother, given me at the after meeting lunch earlier in the day, that turned the week into something mindbogglingly special.

1 90 yr. old Death Certificate yields a Goldmine!!!

The Lady advised me to do a specific type of search on Ancestry, and this search led me to discover crucial information on one of my Maternal Great-Grannies (Not the 5 times married one, but the other one.), and that persons Father & Mother.

When I saw the document on my screen I jumped up, and began dancing around my apartment, hollering excited yesses at the top of my lungs, and almost in tears of joy.

 Nikita, my Cat, prudently hid under the bed for the duration. ;-D

I now know the right spelling of her maiden name, when she was born, and died, where she is buried, the right first name (1st & middle Initials actually, but it's a start!) of her Father, the fact she married a 2nd time, confirmed the name of her Mother, and thanks to her son (My Granny's brother) being witness, the most likely correct spelling of her first husbands (My Great-Grandfather) last name.

I also know what state she, and her parents, were born in (KY).

Amazing! ;-D

UPDATE: 7/20/2008 = Here's the story, with a picture of the Death Certificate.