Every genealogist has a nemesis. That one ancestor who stubbornly refuses to be found. The one who, more than any other, gnaws at you because you know, you know, that they are out there if you could just figure out the right documents to look at. Mine was Carl Julian Moore, my mother’s father’s father. And this is the tale of how my sister and I finally found him.
I began my search for Carl Julian Moore in the winter of 1998. I had just opened an account at FamilyTreeMaker.com and was excited to get on the computer and show my mother just how much easier it would be to do her family research online. We sat down and I took notes as she told me what she remembered so I could begin my search. Mom had Carl’s death certificate on hand. So from the information on that, we knew the following:
- Born: April 25, 1879 in Warsaw, Kentucky (his headstone says 1878, so the certificate is probably a typo)
- Died: April 22, 1937 in Oak Park, Illinois
- Father: Charles Moore, birthplace unknown
- Mother: Mary Wynne, birthplace unknown
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| Death Certificate and Headstone for Carl Julian Moore |
