Thanks, to all on the list who answered my request for a good place to stay
while researching in Wells County. I just returned from two and one-half
weeks of great research. I stayed at the Bluffton Motor Inn which I would
recommend to any who want a nice, clean, safe place to stay. Very reasonable
rates also, and they give you breakfast.
All the counties were great for research and I learned more about my
ancestors and collateral lines in all the counties. While I was researching
in the County Clerk's office at Wells County two people came in and told one
of the staff members that they were researching the Blairs and Bever Families
and I looked at them and said "you must kidding I am researching those
families." We had a family reunion right there in the clerk's office. They
were from Chicago on their way to Michigan and stopped to research the
family. D. Bever and I are second cousins twice removed and we shared our
research, exchanged addresses and will keep in touch. I shared with them
information about our common ancestor, Solomon Bever, who was buried in Ohio.
They bypassed research in the Allen County Library to travel to Ohio to
visit the cemetery where Solomon is buried along with his parents and all his
grandparents. They were excited about the new information.
Now, I have a research question. In researching my DANIEL MARKER line from
Wells County, I found the number for the probate packet, and for several
civil suits of other family members, in the index. I did not find any of
these packets in the files for this family. Every packet had been removed
from the files. I found all other files for other families. Does anyone
have suggestion as to why files for a particular family would be removed?
My theory is that all these files were removed and will be found consolidated
in one large packet. The County Clerk said they should have been filed back
into the original place. I think there might have been a lawsuit, but I did
not have time to search all those files. Any suggestions? Someone stated
that other researchers might have removed those packets. A family member
could have removed them.
One thing I learned on this trip is the fact that when your ancestors live in
one county you can find probate, funeral home records and tombstones in
another county. I had several families living in Wells and found them buried
in Wells, Jay, and Blackford Counties. They slipped back and forth across
these boundaries.
Darlene