Elmina's Obituary and an update

Yay! Janette (my research contact in Meade County, Kansas) found obituaries for Elmina Wise Mohler. The obit below was published in the Meade County Press on December 29, 1932.

Mrs. Elmina Mohler was born August 7, 1846 in Rush County, Ohio. She passed to her great reward on December 28, 1932 at the age of 86 years, 4 months, 21 days. She was united in marriage to John J. Mohler on April 7, 1870, who preceded her in death on January 7, 1928.

In 1885 Mrs. Mohler and her husband moved to a homestead south of Meade, Kansas, where she has resided ever since, with the exception of four years, which she lived at Wichita, Kansas.

Mrs. Mohler was a member of the Methodist Church. She leaves to mourn her departure one son William P. Mohler of Meade, and one daughter, Estella Rose Gilbert of Wichita, Kansas, twelve grand children and seventeen great grand children, and two great-great grand children, and a host of friends.

Funeral services will be at the home, Thursday at 1:00 P.M. Interment will be at the Meade cemetery.

Her obituary published on January 5, 1933 in the Meade Globe News is nearly identical to this one, the only exception was that it said that interment was in Graceland cemetery. (Which is just outside of the town of Meade.) The obituaries provide her date of birth and death. The place of birth is not right as there is no Rush County in Ohio. The obits confirm family information found elsewhere, which is good, but they don't give me the one piece of information I was really hoping for - confirmation of her parents. That said, I really do think she is the daughter of Peter and Christina Wise.

I thought about ordering her death certificate but the application on the Kansas Department of Health website states "By state law, vital records filed with this office are not open for public inspection and the requestor must meet eligibility requirements -- must be named on the record, an immediate family member, or someone who can provide legal proof the record is necessary for the determination of personal or property rights." Besides, even if her death record does show Peter and Christina as her parents, it really doesn't do anything towards determining whether or not they are also the parents of my Jacob Wise.

I'm just feeling a little discouraged right now. I'll get over it. But after the intense research on the Wise family these past six weeks, the last few days have been a bit of a let down. It's like, I'm pretty much at the end of what can be done online or locally, so now what? I've found so much information on some of their "probable" children and very little on others. And still nothing that confirms that Peter and Christina are the parents of my Jacob Wise.

On a brighter note, one of Elmina's great grandsons responded to the letter I sent him and I spoke with his wife last Wednesday. The conversation got a little confusing because his grandmother was also named Elmina. At any rate, they will be sending me some information and a copy of a picture of Elmina and John Mohler!