Breathe Life Back into Your Research

No birth, death or marriage records? No problem!

We have all been there…. You need a vital record but you can't seem to find them on Ancestry and FamilySearch or the records were not kept for that time period. 

There are many other ways to find this information. It may not be a government-created record, but these resources can still be helpful in answering those vital date questions and maybe a little more.

Cora Munson, Medina County Historical Society

Let’s use Cora (Munson) Blakeslee, a life-long resident of Medina County, Ohio, to show how using different types of resources will help fill in Cora’s vital dates and places and even some interesting information that will help her “come to life”.

We know that Cora was born in 1857 and died in 1956 in Medina County, Ohio. In Ohio, no government office kept birth records for this time period. 1956 Ohio death records exist, however they are not available digitally online and there is a fee to obtain them from the state or from Ohio History Connection.

Here are a few vital record substitutes you can turn to in order to find and confirm your ancestor's vital information. 

Newspapers are one of the best sources to search when coming up empty using the typical online family history search sites. Always check the local libraries and archives to see if they have digital images of their local newspapers. Some libraries have databases, such as Newspapers.com & Newspaper Archives, which you can use either in the library or at home with your library card. 

Since Cora lived most of her life in Medina County, searching the Medina County newspapers is a good place to start. The Medina County District Library has a searchable Digital Archives of the local county newspapers. You can learn more about the archives in this blog spot "Introducing the Digital Archives of MCDL" .

Cora’s obituary was found in the Medina County Gazette, 18 February 1956, page 6.

Look at all the information found in the obituary. 

Her birth date and place:

• 10 February 1857, River Styx, Medina County

Her Father’s name:

•  Albert Munson

Her death date and place:

• 14 May 1956, Medina, Medina County

Her Spouses' name:

•  Charles O. Blakeslee

Her address:

•  233 East Washington

Her political affiliation:

• Republican

Her religion:

• Spiritualism

This obituary is a gold mine of information. Unfortunately, not all of them are this thorough, but there is always something you will glean from your ancestor’s obituary. Even if it is just the date they died. 

Another article about Cora was found in the Medina County Gazette using the NewspaperArchives database

. 

Medina Gazette, 13 April 1979, pg 6

We don't find any dates in this article, but we do learn the Munson family was interested in Spiritualism and Cora would set a place at the dinner table for her father & brother after they were deceased. The Munson family also held séances in their kitchen. 

 

It is also noted Cora married Charles Blakeslee, a choir director from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. The article continues saying "...the couple went on a honeymoon and Mrs. Blakeslee returned home alone and Mr. Blakeslee was never seen again."

By using another newspaper database, Newspapers.com, this rumor can be investigated. This database is also available through the Medina County District Library's website. 

The trail of Charles O. Blakeslee can be followed out west and it doesn’t really look like anything nefarious happened to him.

Evening World Herald, Omaha, Nebraska. 8 Oct 1906, p. 8

1906 - Charles traveled from Indiana to Nebraska

Twin Falls (Idaho) Weekly News, 28 May 1909, p.10

1909 - Charles is giving a concert in Idaho

Freeport (Illinois) Journal Standard, 2 Nov 1945, p. 12 

1945 - Charles dies in Rockford, Illinois. There is no mention of Cora in the obituary. Only his parents and sister are listed. It seems he continued his music career even after he and Cora parted ways, for whatever reason.

Find a Grave is another resource that is underused. This is a volunteer-based site, where the volunteers take the photographs and upload them along with adding information to the deceased memorial page. Below is Cora (Munson) Blakeslee's gravesite memorial found on Find a Grave.

Findagrave.com. These are copyrighted images.

Listed here is her birth and death date and where she is buried. Additional images of Cora and a wedding notice for her and Charles' were also added. 

👈 Cora Munson

Local history books are another valuable resource. Since Cora’s father, Albert, was a local judge and successful shop owner, his short biography is found in the History of Medina County Ohio, 1881.

In the Historic Tales of Medina County, Ohio by Stephen D. Hambley, PHD, Cora's photograph is not only on the right-hand-side of the cover, but a whole chapter can be found about her. 

Both  of these books are available at the Medina County District Library. 

 







Along with the local libraries, don't forget to look for Historical & Genealogical societies and archives in the place your ancestor lived. They may have exactly what you are looking for or something you never expected to find. 

Here are just a few items found at the Medina County Historical Society. 

Munson House, built in 1877 (That is Albert on the front stoop)

Munson Papers, Munson Family file, Medina County Historical Society

The Munson Family file contained the following:

• Papers and index cards which give an outline of the lives of Albert, Lyman (Cora’s brother) and Cora Munson.
• A letter talking about the marriage of Cora and Charles Blakeslee.
• A typewritten transcription of Cora’s notes she took during one of the séances held at the Munson home.
• Information on the Munson Home.

Another item found in the Munson file was this book about a spiritualist and his experiences.

 





















These resources filled in Cora’s vital information and quite a bit more. They are just a few of the more unique places to look for vital information. Just remember, not all records are online and do some research on where to find such resources in the area where your family members lived.

Take this time to find these records so you can breathe life into your ancestor’s story.  Life, which according to the Munson family, continues after our time here on earth.

Albert Munson, "Spirit Photo", Medina  County Historical Society.

Military Records at Fold3

 

by
Kathy Petras

Fold3 is a database available either with a subscription or through your local Medina County District Library. 

It provides access to U.S. military records, including the stories, photos, and personal documents of the men and women who have served in wars and conflicts since the Revolutionary War.

In 2007, when it was first created it was called Footnote and contained over 5 million records.

In 2010, Ancestry.com bought the database and it was renamed Fold3. Fold3 comes from the traditional flag folding ceremony in which the third fold is made in honor and remembrance of veterans who served in the U.S. military. 

Fold3 Library Edition is available in most Ohio public libraries. From the Medina Library site, mcdl.info, go to the Research & Learning tab and click on "F" from the alphabet list. Fold3 is the third item down.

It's a useful tool for all types of researchers:

• Historians
• Genealogists
• Teachers
• Veterans and their families.
• Genealogical Societies

While its focus and strength has always been U.S. military service people, it also covers records from the U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The landing page has a simple search box with links to the records from different countries below it.

Beneath that are links to the most popular record groups and Featured Memorials for a few of the veterans on the site.

 The menu bar at the top of the page gives you several options.

The "HOME" button will always take you back to the Home Page, and the "SEARCH" button will always take you to the Search Box. 

"BROWSE" lets you browse the collections by:

• Conflict
• Title of the database set
• Place
• Publication Type
• Content Provider 
• Branch of Service

"WAR STORIES" provide insight to the events of the conflict. You can narrow it down by conflict, country and keyword. Since it is a new feature, they are looking for feedback.

"MEMORIALS" are dedicated to specific individuals. Anyone that Fold3 can identify has a Memorial created by the Fold3 team. But you can create Memorials to any of your ancestors. You will need to create a "MEMBER LOGIN" for that function. You can add stories, pictures and documents. 

Memorials I've created for just a few of my ancestors with military experience. I've included
photos, stories, records and even maps to help tell their stories.

The "HELP" tab lands you on Fold3's Training Center with videos explaining all of the sites many functions. I highly recommend you spend some time there. 

The easiest way to search an individual is to type a veteran's name into the search box. If it is a very common name, add the person's birth year to narrow down the search results. 

The search results page displays the most likely search results and how many results were found. On the left, a list of filters helps to narrow down your search results. 

With such a common name as Donald W. Johnson, this relative's military service nearly escaped my attention. Nothing I knew about him suggested he had served. His draft registration card even indicated he had "a short right leg" which would have disqualified him for military service. 

This "Application for Headstone or Marker" proves that he did serve. He was part of the Army's 1560th SCU. SCU stands for Service Command Unit. The 1560th was stationed at Camp Atterbury in Indiana as a Special Training Unit. They trained recruits in academic as well as military subjects that better prepared them for service elsewhere. 

The database has numerous tools to help you modify or use images of the records you find. The most important one is the Tools icon that appears above and to the right of the image.

It allows you to download or print the image, add it to an Memorial or share it via Facebook or Twitter.

Explore all these tools as you research your ancestors and relatives with military service in their background. Or honor your ancestor by creating a Memorial.

Green Goose Club

by 

Kathy Petras

Library Associate

VWMFH&LC

Sometimes the topics for our blog posts come to us in very serendipitous ways. That is especially true of today's topic: The Green Goose Club, one of the oldest family-oriented nudist clubs in the U.S.

National Sunscreen Day is an unofficial holiday that reminds us that while exposure to sunlight is essential for our body's production of vitamin D, it can also cause irreversible damage to our skin that can result in skin cancer. The higher the SPF (sun protection factor) in your sunscreen or sunblock, the better. As the National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention says, "Don't fry!"

This leads us very indirectly to the subject of today's blog, Medina County's own nudist resort, Green Valley. Because, you know, nudists can never have enough sunscreen.

I was recently reminded about the club when I was reading the third book in the Carolina Slade Mystery series by C. Hope Clark, titled Palmetto Poison. The quirky protagonist followed some clues, and her missing sister, to a local nudist resort in the South Carolina Low Country. 

Does the Medina club still exist?

Yes. It does.

But before you get all twitterpated*, some history...

Nudity, just like clothing preferences and styles, is a societal issue. During the early part of human history, clothing was only used to protect the body against the natural environment. There are some cultures where nudity is still the norm.

Indeed, public nudity is still accepted in certain situations, such as Japanese baths, saunas, and specially designated beach areas. But the Puritans and the Victorian era curtailed nudity, seeing it, and the human body, as inherently sinful. 

A resurgence of interest in nudity grew out of the health movements of the late 19th century in Europe and the return of the Olympics, which were originally held in the nude. And for some, it was a reaction against rigid moral attitudes.

Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) gymnasium - founded 1888 in London
Encyclopædia Britannica - https://www.britannica.com/topic/YMCA#/media/1/654082/76363

The first known nudist club was Freilichtpark in 1903 in Germany. After World War I, Clubs sprang up in France, called The Sparta Club, and the Spielplatz in England. Returning soldiers brought the concept home to America with them. 

The American League of Physical Culture was founded in 1929 to promote nudism. The first official camp in the United States was Sky Form in New Jersey which opened in May of 1932. 

And in 1936, in Medina County, The Green Goose Club was formed "to promote interest in outdoor life, recreation & amusement and the clothing prohibited, family oriented lifestyle" Green Goose Club claims to be one of the oldest family-oriented nudist clubs in the U.S. Originally the Club owned 100 acres.

The first few years were very active for the new club:

• 1937 - March - they sponsored the president of the American Sun Bathing association to speak at a hotel in Cleveland. In the newspaper, Green Goose Club is described as "developing a recreation center and group of country homesites south of Cleveland."
• 1937 - May - held a recital to raise money for "convalescents, under-privileged youngsters... referred to them by such institutions as the Cleveland Clinic"
• 1937 - July - 4th of July celebrations with fireworks. Also, three cottages have been built
• 1937 - August - Chapel is dedicated on the shores of Green Goose Lake
• 1938 - May - The Club sponsors a meeting in Cleveland extolling the benefits of living a naked life.

Medina County Gazette  March 3, 1939 Page 1

But then 1939 rolled around. 

An Ohio Representative from Delaware County by the name of Keller introduced a bill to outlaw mixed gender nudist camps in Ohio. Four men from Medina testified in support of the bill.

This kind of backlash occurred in Michigan and New York States as well.

The bill passed through the Senate late in May of 1939 and the governor signed it into law in June. The law took effect 90 days later.

Somehow, the club continued in existence. 

Did they don clothes? 

Did they become a single gender club? 

Did they operate privately behind locked gates and high hedges?

In 1943, they renamed the club the Green Valley Outing Club.

In 1955, they had a different set of legal problems. The officers of the club claimed that their replacements had been voted into office in an "illegal election at an unauthorized meeting."  The court eventually found in favor of the new officers. In the article the club's purpose was stated as "to promote interest in the outdoor life." 

Also in 1959, their long time gate keeper, Mrs. Flora Belle Larsonier, was struck and killed by an automobile while walking along a road one late February evening. It is unclear why the 72 year old woman was out walking in February.

Then, in 1973, Ohio's new criminal code permitted nudist camps as long as "participants take necessary and reasonable precautions to insure their privacy."

Medina County Gazette September 11, 1974 Page 1

Whatever it's status was between 1939 and 1973, the Camp was definitely back up and running as a nudist camp in 1974!

However, that same year, a pilot was fined $8,000 for "buzzing" the camp 8 separate times. He was low enough that the identification number on his small Piper airplane could be tracked down and he could be prosecuted.

In 1995, the Club's name changed to Green Valley Outing Club, by which name it is still known. On Facebook, the group is known as Green Valley Family Nudist Club and on camping.org, the name given is Green Valley Family Naturist Park.

And as recently as 2016, Rachel Hunt wrote an article for Cleveland Scene Magazine on the club. 

There's plenty to do while visiting the Camp where activities include:

• RV hookups
• Rental cabins
• Tent camping
• Heated clubhouse
• Hot tub
• Hiking trails
• Volleyball
• Basketball
• Pickle ball
• Horseshoes
• Shuffleboard 
• Miniten
• Mentaque
• Children's playground
• Pond with pedal boat & stocked with fish.

Shuffleboard court from their web site.

And they have a set of policies that caused one group to be expelled in 2000 for not abiding by the rules:

• Must provide a government issued photo ID that is checked against the National and Ohio Registered Sex Offenders Registry.
• People are known by first names only. Personal information is shared only if so chosen.
• Strive to maintain a family-friendly atmosphere.
• Respect each other's privacy
• Photography is outlawed.
• "Suggestive familiarity" is prohibited.
• Staring is NOT acceptable behavior. (emphasis mine)
• Keep a towel handy for sitting purposes.
• Liquor & firearms are prohibited.
• Illegal drugs are strictly prohibited.
• Children are welcome at Green Valley. Parents are responsible for their safety and behavior.
• Both parents/guardians must give their consent for a minor to visit Green Valley. 

The Club is a member of AANR - the American Association of Nude Recreation

And now you know...

*twitterpated - 1. In a state of nervous excitement 2. Infatuated or obsessed. Made popular from the Disney movie "Bambi" - From lexico.com

16 MM FILM DIGITIZATION!

Digitizing 16 MM film is now possible at the VWM Family History & Learning Center! 

After many trials and errors, we now feel confident we can help our members digitize their old 16 mm films.

There are a few things to know before you reach for the phone to make your appointment!

First, MAKE AN APPOINTMENT! 

Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate walk-ins.  We have to reserve a special room and equipment needs to be set up. 

To set up an appointment call at 330-725-0588 x 5017 or email us at makerspace@mcdl.info.

When you do make your appointment we will need to know the following information:

16 MM                       8 MM

Do you really have 16 MM movie film?  The photograph to the left shows the difference between 16 MM and 8 MM film. 

How many canisters of film did you want to digitize? How big are the reels? And are they full?


The process is done in real time (no pun intended). If the reel is 5-7 inches in diameter and is a full reel it could take about 30 minutes to digitize.

Do you have a smartphone, i.e. iPhone, Samsung, etc.?  The phone will be used to capture the film and save it digitally.  

You will need to bring your reels and smartphone for your appointment. Please make sure you have enough memory space on your phone to capture the film. A 30 minute reel takes about 2.7 GBs of memory. 

If you are not sure there is enough memory on your smart phone or you don’t own a smart phone, just let us know so we can provide a video camera to do the filming instead of your phone. 

When you come for your appointment we will have the projector set up and in the reserved room. Someone will walk you through the process and depending on how comfortable you are, we may be with you through the whole appointment or just the first 10-15 minutes to get you started. We will always be available for any questions or problems that arise.

We have found the results may differ due to a few variables. The type and age of you smart phone and quality and age of the film will determine how the digitized video comes out.  Also, the digitized recording may need to be edited, due to jumpy film or awkward framing. Watch the clip below to see an example of what it may look like.*

 

*You need to click on the center arrow and then the arrow in the left hand corner of the viewer to play the video.

Herman Fulmer family,16 mm film, ca. 1946

Fishing trip in Canada

After all of the film has been digitized, we will show you either how to download it and save it to a 32 GB (or larger) flash drive or how to upload it to your "cloud". 

An additional appointment may be made if you want to edit the digitized film. (Different equipment and software is used for editing.)

If you have any questions about the process, please call us at 330-725-0588 x5017 or email us at makerspace@mcdl.info. We will be glad to answer any questions you may have.

IT'S HERE!! The 1950 Census is Now Available!

 

by Kathy Petras

Access to the information in the 1950 census was restricted for 72 years because of a rule that the U.S. Congress passed in 1978. The National Archives released that information last Friday at 12:01 a.m. on April 1st. What a wonderful April Fool's Day surprise!

Form P1 is the form used for enumerating every U.S. citizen in 1950.

The release at the National Archives went smoothly despite many people's  predictions (mine included) about crashing the site. By using Artificial Intelligence Optical Character Recognition, AI-OCR, the archives created an indexing and searching system that works surprisingly very well! Within minutes of sitting down to my computer early Friday morning I had found both of my parents and three out of four of my grandparents. Others were reporting similar results.

Excerpt from the 1950 Census showing my grandfather, Lunas, his second wife, Della, then my father, Lawson,  Uncle Ed (aka Bud) and Aunt Dorothy. 20 questions were asked about every household member. Four people
on each page were asked an additional 20 questions. Uncle Ed was one of the people selected for the additional questions. Since he was just a 13 year old school boy, many of the questions didn't apply to him.

Because of quirks in the indexing system, it is not, at this time, an every name index. So I haven't been able to find my other grandmother and several sets of aunts and uncles - YET!

Start searching on the National Archives site HERE.  If you know the address or the enumerations district for your relatives, you can browse the district.

Later that day, the images started appearing on the FamilySearch website. 1950 census images can be browsed on FamilySearch via this MAP. 

1950 Census logo from FamilySearch

And the images are also being uploaded to the Ancestry.com and the My Heritage as well as other web sites.

Ancestry and FamilySearch are working together to refine the indexing provided by the National Archives.

To learn more about the 1950 census, how to use it and what you can find in it, register for the Family History Center's Genealogy Slam! program on May 7th at the Brunswick Library HERE. The three hour event (1-4 p.m.) will also cover U.K. Census Records and tips for locating that hard-to-find ancestor.

Hope to see you there!

Meroa Andrews - Remarkable Woman

 

by Kathy Petras

In many ways, Meroa ANDREWS was a typical 19th century Victorian woman. (No photograph has been found of her.)

And as often was the case in this time period, she was often defined by her relationship to others. 

She was the daughter of Sheriff Morgan Andrews. 

She was the sister to Civil War soldiers, Addison and Morgan Andrews and also to the Girard, Pennsylvania bank president, Fairman Andrews. 

She was an employee of A.I. Root.

She WAS all those things. But she was also much more.

She was:

• A teacher
• An inventor
• An entrepreneur
• A Librarian

Some amazing accomplishments for a Victorian era lady. 

Let's take a closer look at the life of this remarkable woman.

Meroa was born in 1838 in Schoharie County, New York. She was the fourth child of Morgan ANDREWS (1816-1867) and Esther LEVALLEY (1809-1846):

• Sarah L. ANDREWS (1830-1910) BROOKS
• Addison P. ANDREWS (1833-1896)
• Fairman ANDREWS ( 1835-1910)
• Meroa ANDREWS (1838-1910)
• Morgan ANDREWS ( 1843-1862)

In the mid 1840's the family moved to Hinckley Township, Medina County Ohio. Shortly after that, in November 1846, Esther died. With small children in the household, Morgan quickly remarried to Cordelia BROOKS (1828-1908) in October of 1847. Cordelia was only 2 years older than Sarah, Morgan's oldest daughter.

1857 Plat Map of Medina County Ohio from the Library of 
Congress. This excerpt is from the northwest corner of 
Hinckley Township.

In the 1850 Census, the ANDREWS family is enumerated in Hinckley Township. Morgan's occupation is "tailor".

In that same year, Morgan buys his first property in Medina County, a 1 acre plot.

Sarah ANDREWS married Ransom BROOKS in 1852. Ransom (aka "Doctor") was Sarah's step-mother's older brother!

Two more children were added to the family with the birth of Meroa's half-brothers, Finley in 1855 and Charles in 1863.

The family's residence and fortunes were about to change. In 1858, Morgan was elected as Medina County's Sheriff and they moved to Medina Village. How do you go from being a tailor to being the county sheriff?

The 1860 Census of Medina lists Morgan as the county sheriff and Meroa (listed as Maria) is a "C S Teacher" There are two non-family members listed in the household. Christopher Breeman is a farmer who is listed as "insane" and John Reed is a convict. Unfathomable  to modern minds that the sheriff would house  these men in his home with his family. Both were probably awaiting transportation to more permanent facilities. 

1860 Census for the Village of Medina, Medina County, Ohio.

While Meroa's occupation may look like "C P Teacher", if you compare the second letter to how "Sheriff" is written two lines above Meroa's listing it becomes obvious that it is "C S Teacher".  "C S" stood for common school, comparable to elementary schools today (For more on Medina City's schools see this blog from December 21 2021 Medina City Schools  We don't know which of Medina's three common schools Meroa taught at. 

We do know that it was far enough away from the Andrews home for her little brother Morgan to drive her during inclement weather. He mentions it three separate times in his diary during the early months of 1862. To find out more about Morgan Jr's diary view this blog from December 2018 Touching History.  These rides were probably a very poignant memory for Meroa. Morgan joined the Union Army and died in Cumberland, Maryland of disease in July 1862.

Sometime early in 1867, Morgan Sr. died and was buried in Bennetts Corner. His widow, Cordelia was relatively young at the age of 39 and had small children to raise. She remarried to George Houck in November of the same year.

Sometime during 1860-1870, possibly after her father's death, Meroa had a change of occupation. In the 1870 census, she is living in the household of a very prominent Medina business man:

1870 Census, Medina Village, Medina County, Ohio

Meroa is working in a "Rings & Chain Factory"  and living in the household of Amos Ives Root! They had a business relationship that spanned many years.

In 1872, Amos & wife Susan, named their third child Constance Meroa Root. AND A.I. and Meroa took out patent #128,072 for an improvement in bee hive frames in same year!

Patent 128,072 with Meroa's name right next to A.I. Root's

Front page of their accepted Patent application

For those of us who cannot read the design, the Medina Gazette published an article that describes how the improved frame works:

Medina Gazette 28 June 1872 p. 1

A few short years later, Meroa left the A.I. Root Company:

 Medina County Gazette June 18th, 1875, page 3.

Meroa kept busy.

When the Medina Circulating Library Society was formed in 1877, she was among the founding members, serving as the Librarian for nearly ten years (1882-1891) at a salary of $20 per year.  She housed the books in her jewelry store.

Then, she sold queen bees, advertising them in the early editions of A.I. Root's Gleanings in Bee Culture:

Gleanings in Bee Culture Vol 7 issue 6 June 1879 page 4.

In the same issue, A.I. was advertising that he would buy quality Italian queen bees.

The 1880 Census finds Meroa and her niece Carrie (brother Fairman's daughter) boarding in the home of Archibald Matteson, Life and Fire Insurance Agent (later the Ohio Farmers Insurance and currently Westfield Insurance).

And in the 1880's these advertisements were in every edition of the Medina Gazette:

1880 Oct 15th Medina County Gazette  Page 7

1880 Oct 15th Medina County Gazette  Page 2

1881 Feb 18th Medina County Gazette Page 4

1883 May 4th Medina County Gazette  Page 4

Medina County Gazette March 23rd, 1883, page 8

Medina County Gazette November 18th, 1887, page 5
Besides serving as the Librarian, Meroa was also
the treasurer. 

When she wasn't busy inventing things or running a library and a jewelry store, or teaching the ladies of Medina how to knit lace, Meroa was busy visiting friends and relatives. Meroa's friends were the upper echelon of Medina society: Cora Munson, the McDowells, A.I. Root, and the Barnards.  Among the trips noted in The Gazette:

• 1875 - After leaving the A.I. Root Company, Meroa visited her sister Sarah BROOKS in Mankato, Minnesota from May to September.
• 1885 - Along with Sarah Smith she traveled to West Virginia to visit their friend Josephine Manning, who was dying.
• 1893 - In June she visited her brother Fairman in Girard, Erie County, Pennsylvania. Fairman became the president of The National Bank in Girard.
• 1898 - Meroa joined Cora MUNSON and Bertha BARNARD in an outing to Put-In-Bay. A good time was had by all.
• 1899 - In September, Meroa's sister-in-law died in Pennsylvania and Meroa traveled to the funeral. When she returned, she brought her niece Carrie with her. She sold off her jewelry store stock, intending to move to Girard to live with her brother. Fairman arrived in October to bring Carrie back home. Meroa moved out of her Medina lodgings and visited with friends in Elyria and Berea before moving to Pennsylvania. In November she attended the Opera in Cleveland with Miss Cora Munson, Mrs. Chris Griesinger, Mr. & Mrs. B.L. Wells & Halcyon Wells. Finally she left for her "future home" with her brother.
• 1900 - Meroa again "visited" her sister in Mankato and returned two years later in December 1902.
• 1906 - In October, Meroa joined a "Trolley Party" from Medina to the Hotel Morton in Seville for some fine dining. The party included Mmes. R.M. & O.H. McDowell, H.G. Rowe, Blake McDowell, Bessie Hewes and Hattie Elder.

Meroa has not been found in the 1900 census. Theoretically, she should be living with her brother, Fairman, in Girard, but she isn't listed with him. She also isn't listed with her sister in Mankato, Minnesota. Neither is she in the Medina or Cuyahoga county censuses. The census was taken in the early part of June in 1900. 

Medina County Gazette, June 28th, 1900, page 3

This June 28th article indicates that Meroa did live with her brother for a short time, but returned to Ohio, settling in Berea. It was possible she was traveling at the time that the census was taken and she was missed completely. 

In 1903, at the age of 65, Meroa once again set up a business in Medina.

Medina County Gazette, May 22nd, 1903, page 3.

Once she returned to Medina, Meroa resided as a boarder in various homes:1903 - 

• 1903 - In February she had rooms at S.G. Barnard's home 
• 1904 - She moved into the L.S. Smith house
• 1910 - On 15 April, the census counted Meroa among the household members of Alonzo Case, 412 Lafayette Rd. in Montville Township.

Finally, on May 2nd 1910, just  two weeks after the census was taken and after losing her sister Sarah and brother Fairman earlier in the year, Meroa died at the home of Clara Wheatley at 303 East Washington. The Wheatley home is just one block east of the Medina Library, whose genesis Meroa contributed to.

The end of the life of a Victorian Medina Lady who was so much more than what could be found in records.