I have spent 6 years looking for the parents of my g-g-grandfather George Hunt of Hardin, Calhoun, IL.  My biggest problem was in all the censuses he kept changing his age & birthplace or didn't know them at all.  A few weeks ago I located a possible date of death for him in the Illinois Death Index and sent off for his death certificate in the hopes that while he didn't know when or where he was born, he may have known his parent's names and with any luck they would be listed on the certificate. 

 

In the meantime while I was impatiently waiting for this to arrive, with the help of family & a new friend I re-read & scoured over all the documents I currently had on this man.  Last week it had occurred to me that I had done searches for him being born in Illinois & Missouri, but not one in Iowa where he says he was born on 2 of his children's birth registers & 1 census.  When I did a search & put a 10 year birthdate range for George born in Iowa up popped a family living in St. Louis in 1870 who had bounced back & forth between Illinois, Iowa & Missouri from 1850-1870.  I felt really good about this because I knew that George & his wife were married in St. Louis in 1874; so, I began looking into all the other children listed in this household hoping that my efforts weren't wasted.  These 1850-1870 Censuses showed his parents as William B. & Ellen A. (Kneeland) Hunt.

 

Saturday, when my husband tried to sneak the mail in the house, I saw the envelope that had the Madison County, Illinois return address on it.  I RIPPED that envelope open & grabbed out the 2 death certificates inside - threw Lucinda's (George's wife) on the floor & immediately looked at where the parents of deceased should be listed on George's.  One can only imagine my screaming, jumping, flapping my arms in the air & shouting so that the entire neighborhood heard - GEORGE'S PARENTS WERE.....WILLIAM B. & ELLEN A. (KNEELAND) HUNT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    My husband has now realized that I've totally lost my mind with this 'hobby' and my 5-yo daughter could only look at me and say, "settle down, momma, it's only a piece of paper!"  If the cherub only knew!