I continue to look for information on the family of Nelson Merry. I went to the Archives this afternoon and spent a few hours looking up sources. Today, I discovered the joys of using city directories! I’ve not used them in my own research yet, but as I was browsing the shelves in one of the reading rooms at the Archives, I saw them and decided to look.
I am quite glad that I did! I looked through more than 20 years of directories for the families and found some very interesting information. In fact, I was able to quickly locate the death certificate information for Adella Merry Mitchell (daughter of Nelson G. Merry). I noticed from the directory information that the last time she is listed alongside her husband was 1917.
I also finally got a chance to use Stephen Morse’s Enumeration District finder today and had located the family residence in 1920 because of his tool – my text searching had been unsuccessful, so I browsed through the ED that was indicated by his tool and found the residence. By 1920, Edward Mitchell (Adella’s husband) was widowed.
This knowledge then narrowed down my search for Adella’s death immensely. So, going to the TN online index for deaths, I stared with 1917. Wouldn’t you know it was there! Adella Mitchell died July 26, 1917. I will have to go back to the Archives tomorrow to get her death certificate.
Researching the Merrys
