19 March 2012

Mystery Monday: Death of Joseph Wend

My great-grandfather's half-brother, Joseph Wend, (2nd from the left in the back row) was born in Illinois in Sept 1871. My great-grandfather, John Huigens (farthest on the right in the back row), named his son, my grandfather Joseph Huigens, after his half-brother. My grandfather named my father Joseph. My middle name is Joseph. One of my son's middle name is Joseph. And it all started with Joseph Wend. How he ended is the mystery.

I think I found him in Hennepin Co., Minnesota in the 1910, 1920 and 1930 US Census records. He is single in all those records. I have not been able to find a death date for him. I've looked in the MN Historical Society's on-line index, Family Search and Ancestry.com. I have found an index record for a Joseph Lester Wind dying in Minnesota in Nov. 1950. It might be him. No time or place of birth. No mother's maiden name. As far as I know, no way to tell if it's him. If he was single, there was probably no informant to provide that information. All of his brothers and sisters had died by 1950.

The only thing to do is to order the record and see  if there is any additional info. But that will have to wait because I have other records I want to spend my limited genealogy budget on.  Other options are to find a baptism record down in Marshall Co. to see if the middle name matches or look for an obituary, which would probably have little info that was not on the death certificate.

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