Break Through

Years ago my grandmother asked me to try and find information on her uncle, Shelby Dillman. Specifically to see if his temple work had been done and if he had been sealed to her dear aunt Helen. When she asked me I was unable to find anything about uncle Shelby for reasons I don't remember. Yesterday I had a break through though!

I was resting and thinking during our quiet time and it occured to me that there was one more death certificate I hadn't looked up in the Missouri State Archives (see my previous post on what I did find). It was the death certificate of my great great aunt Helen Dillman. I went back to look yesterday and low and behold it was there!

The death certificate gave me some good leads to follow in finding her husband and other details including where they were living, Meramec twp; what cemetery she was buried in, Pleasant Point (which I can not find on the internet except on one genealogy site); how old Shelby was leading to a birth year, 1900; and details about Helen's accident which resulted in her death.

With the addition of a birth year I was then able to find the WWII enlistment record for Shelby Dillman. This record transcription (which you can't see unless you have an ancestry subscription) gave me more information. It gives his birth state as Illinois, his residence as Crawford County, Missouri (which checks out), his enlistment date as 16 Sept 1942, education as grammer school level, civil occupation as geographer, marital status as widower without dependents (which checks out), height 65, weight 117 (a small man). I had known that he served in WWII and my grandma had thought he was born in Illinois and this record confirms this information.

I also found, but haven't proven the connection yet, two more records for a Shelby Dillman in Illinois. One is the 1930 census for Flat Branch, Shelby, Illinois. The other is a WWI Draft Registration. The census includes a mother and brother; the Draft card includes a father and exact birthdate as well as a mark under Indian Citizen (which confirms another tidbit of information from my grandma). Hey, I just uploaded this image and was looking for the second page on ancestry, but it doesn't show except when you save the file. Anyway, the next entry is for a Russel Dillman with the same father!

I'm excited (can you tell?)!

I also found film numbers for cemetery records for Pleasant Point and St. Louis marriage records. I guess I'm planning a trip up to the Family History Library while I'm in Utah.

I love it when things come together! I'll keep you posted!