Mail Bag

Seems like just yesterday I was whining about the $5 per death certificate increase in Oklahoma.

They may be costly, but they sure are quick. I've received four death certificates already.

Two of the certificates are for sisters of my great-grandmother, Frankie Velma Jones.

Mattie Jones Frensley died at age 88. She's buried in Duncan, Oklahoma. I've seen the Frensley name in many Duncan records and histories. I'll have to explore it further.

Naomi Jones Gable died October 22, 1921 at age 28. It looks like she died from childbirth complications. I do not show a child for Naomi being born in 1921, so either the baby died or I haven't found it in the records yet. Also, this certificate is filled out very sparsely. Fortunately, I know Naomi's parents' names. It looks like the informant is "Mrs. Fuqua," which could be Rutha, but I'm not 100% sure of the signature. I sent away for this death certificate putting the date range as 1920-1926, not sure it was enough information. I'm glad they found a record for me. Now Naomi has a real death date and not a range.

When Frank Wiley Jones' father died in the Civil War, his mother remarried and had another child. I got the death certificate for that child, who grew up to be Anne Manion. She lived to be 92, and is now buried in Oklahoma City.

I also got a death certificate for Nolen Fuqua. He's not blood related, but he did marry Frankie's sister, aka "Aunt Ruth." I needed the record because I couldn't find Nolen's mother's name. I have it now. She was Beatrice Jones. Was she related to our Jones family or is it just a coincidence? Sometimes getting an answer leads to 10 more questions.

Rutha Jones Fuqua's death certificate hasn't arrived yet. Neither have the ones from California. They take forever to get here. Once those arrive, I'll have the records for all of Frankie's sisters.

Slowly and surely I'll have a well-documented genealogy of my Chickasaw Colberts.