Finding the Proof

So I have been working on the Thompson family for the past while and currently on Helen Margaret Thompson, the daughter of George W Thompson & Stella M Armstrong.

Her family relocated from New York to Michigan and she married a William Charles Tripp, the son of Jonathan W Tripp & Ellen E Hewer. They had 3 children - Doris, Jacqueline & William.

While I found a death record for William in 1953 Arizona, all I had for Helen was information from other trees that she had died in 1989 in Arizona - but no proof.  I knew it meant she had to have remarried but no matter what combo I tried, ugg....

And Then....I love the Old Fulton New York site but it can be finicky at times with the searches; after many combinations, I stumbled across the obit for her eldest daughter, Doris  - again, led there by info from ancestry trees that Doris had died in NY but no dates.

I don't rightly know why Doris ended up in Tonawanda, NY to study, marry and live but she did; and she married William David Wilson, the son of  William E Wilson & Emma L Leinz. They had 2 children - William & Christine.

1942 Tonawanda High School - Ancestry

Tonawanda News, Mon, 4 Apr 1977

Wilson - Doris E (nee Tripp) Wilson, 49, of Tonawanda, Sunday evening (April 3, 1977) at DeGraff Memorial Hospital after a brief illness. Born in Flint, Mich, she had been a resident of Tonawanda for more than 35 years and was a member of First Presbyterian Church. She is survived by her husband, William D Wilson; a daughter, Mrs William (Kristine) Kinney of Niagara Falls, NY; a son, William D Wilson Jr of Grand Island; a granddaughter, Rebecca Louise Wilson; her mother, Mrs Helen Jennings of Phoenix, Ariz; her sister, Mrs William (Jacqueline) Briscoe of Utah, and a brother, William Tripp of California. Friends may call from 7 to 0 pm Monday and 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 pm Tuesday at John O Roth Funeral Home, Moran and William Sts, Tonawanda where services will be conducted at 11 am Wednesday by Rev Walter L C Wenhold. Burial will be in White ChapelCemetery. If desired, memorial contributions may be made to the Heart Association of Western New York.

The obit led to Helen's SSN entry which confirmed the dates found on ancestry and looky here - her burial - which led to her 2nd husband - WOOT!!!