Re: Oscar O. Stoddard Needs Grandparents
The information that is in dispute if the Elihu Cook/Sarah Cooley parentage information. An unknown to me (but I know of the name of the individual) cousin looked in a book, saw some similar names and then set as gospel truth that Elihu and Sarah were the parents of Harriet Matilda and Merriman Cook. I have been researching now for ten years and have traveled from the West Coast to Michigan and New York to try to uncover the facts of the real parentage, but no success so far. I have found much on Merriman and his children/grandchildren and have even visited Oakland Cemetery a couple of times. The last time I visited Oakland Cemetery, I was able to locate with the help of cemetery workers, Harriet Matilda's headstone. Underneath her headstone was that of a little boy that had the surname of Ellis. My daughter also took a picture of some of the headstones while there and we had a great visit. I hope Harriet Matilda's headstone is okay and that the vandalism stops. It is criminal to desecrate the graves so I hope those that are doing so get caught.
I appreciate your willingness to check the records for me. Harriet and Oren were among the earliest pioneers to move to Michigan and so finding information for that time period is quite difficult. Thank you for helping.
Kathleen