Missing Pieces

Research Journal #4, Entry #5

Jesuina was as much a pain in the butt to find as Helen. Were they hiding on purpose? Jesuina or Jessie Fitkal appeared nowhere in the census. Fitkal was absent from all the census indexes.

I gave up on the census and went to the SSDI. I did locate Peter Fitkal. His age at death fit in with the right time frame to be Jesuina's husband. I couldn't find an obituary for Peter Fitkal though. As the name was rare, I was fairly sure this was the right guy.

Meanwhile, my chances for finding Helen with her adoptive parents were running out. She was married in 1927. If she wasn't in the census in 1910 or 1920, I wasn't really sure how I would connect all the pieces. I was beginning to think that my instincts were wrong. I was also wondering if all those cousins had given me the wrong name for Helen's adoptive mother. I was surely missing something. If that information was incorrect, I would have to start all over with Helen's adoptive parents.