Marriage/Death help please

[kaz1]

Hi,

I am trying to find the marriage and death /Obit of Harold Ernest Parr born c1887 in Warwickshire , England.

I have him with his parents in the 91, and 01 census and in the US census for 1910. I have his WW1 Registration card (1917) and also found him on immigration documents but somewhere between the 1910 census and 1917 he got married...I am fairly sure he married in Princeton, Illinois as this was his place of residence at both times.
He was a minister in the Congregational church.

I have not found him on the 1920 census or 1930. However, I have found a family who i think maybe connected to him (wife and 2 children) in the following census where the mother is noted as a widow. This would mean that he died sometime before the 1920 census - youngest child was born 1919.

I would be very grateful if sks could help me find the obit and marriage cert (to confirm who i think he is!)

Many thanks for reading this ...hope it made sense(!),

Kaz

[Mythology]

Well, if it helps, there's a death for him 25 November 1918, Aurora, Kane County, Illinois.

Illinois State Archives (http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/databases.html)

[Mythology]

... and the Illinois GenWeb Kane County (http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilkane/) page reckons that the Aurora Beacon News (http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/index.html) archives include obituaries back to the late 1860s so, armed with a death date, they might be worth a try.

[Mythology]

"somewhere between the 1910 census and 1917 he got married...I am fairly sure he married in Princeton, Illinois as this was his place of residence at both times."

I wouldn't bank on it. I couldn't see him in Princeton in 1910, perhaps he's on the census twice and I haven't spotted a mistranscription, but I rummaged, and he appears to be about 100 miles away at Chicago Theological Seminary.
So, Princeton may have been his proper home, but he's already on the wander, and Nonconformist Ministers, especially trainee ones, often get sent any old place.

[kaz1]

Hi Mythology,

My apologies - you are quite right about the 1910 census.
I have found an immigration entry saying he was in Princeton in 1912 (though the original doc. suggests it was 1919!) - He was still single at this time.

I tried the Aurora Beacon News , as you suggested- but have not yet found the link to obits going back that far .I'll double check the site.

Many thanks for the death - that should help in tracking him down!

Regards,
Kaz

[Mythology]

"have not yet found the link to obits"

Their *archives* include obits going back to the 1860s - they are not online!

[kaz1]

I seem to be having a couple of "off" days...

Now if i could only find my thinking head, lol