(Or, How a Find My Past Free Trial Weekend Rocked My Research, pt. 4)

Glad you’ve been enjoying this series! Last time, I wrote about a bevy of undiscovered details in a mostly-solved mystery. This time, I want to talk about an overlooked figure in Orilla and Edward’s story–John Heinemann, one half of the couple who adopted their baby.

I don’t know what compelled John to give his name to a child at the age of 78, but I’ve long admired his choice. What else could I learn about this interesting man?

A brand-new detail connects to existing evidence and launches a new search.

Details about my grandfather’s adoptive father, John H. Heinemann, are sparse compared to his more famous brother (Nicholas W. Heinemann of the Heinemann Chemical Company). In particular, I’d long desired to find a record or clipping giving the exact date and location of his 1905 marriage to Clara Jane Wertz. So far, no joy.

But if you guessed that I saw another newspaper I thought worth checking, you guessed right. Since the Wertz family had established ties to Olean NY by then, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to look for Clara and John in the Olean Democrat.

I still didn’t hear wedding bells, but I did find two very interesting mentions:

this—

“Heineman, the proprietor of the Exchange hotel, is confined to the house with rheumatism. This is the third attack Mr. Heineman has had this winter.” -March 5, 1891, Olean Democrat

—and this—

“John Heineman who has been confined to his room by rheumatism for some time is now able to be out with the aid of a crutch.” -April 27, 1894, Olean Democrat

In spite of my sensational title, I’m not actually 100% sure this is “our” John. But if it is, these details connect unexpectedly with not one but two of our family photographs of him—one in which he’s using a cane, and another in which a crutch can be seen lying in the yard in the foreground.

If I can confirm this, what an interesting chapter it will add to John H. Heinemann’s story. The search is on for records surrounding the purchase and sale of the Exchange hotel in Cattaraugus county.

All this in a weekend!

I can hardly believe I found so many discoveries and clues in a single weekend. I had walls I couldn’t scale in my family tree research. One weekend of free access to Find My Past and marathon-searching opened doors that I didn’t know existed in the middle of those walls.

In summary, diving into new, unfamiliar resources can be the best thing for a line that seems stalled or a problem that seems unsolvable. Keep at it, thanks for reading, and good hunting to you!

Disclosure: I’m not an affiliate of Find My Past—and actually, I haven’t even bought a paid subscription, although I’m very likely to do so at some point in the future.