Arlene Atkins Keehn also contacted us recently:
My father’s mother was Almeda Laura (Griswold) Atkins and I am looking for her brother Elmer D Griswold.
I am looking for information on Elmer D. Griswold born 16 December 1862 to Chauncey Griswold (1823-1895) and Sarah Hart (Vaughn) Griswold (1830-1894).
According to his father’s will he took his share of his father’s estate and went west. His sisters Almeda Laura (Griswold) Atkins (1856-1923) and Marcella Eliza (Griswold) Rector (1853- ?) were given $100 in trust to give him if he returned up to 10 years after his fathers death.
My father said the last letter they received came from Medford, Oregon and they always wondered if he had been killed. Did he die? move on? marry?, raise his own family?
I would appreciate any information anyone might have.
Response from Coralee:
I did some searching for you through the genealogical databases we have access to and regretfully did not find anything to bring closure to this mystery. As you know there is no 1890 census record which would have been a big help in this case. Given that, I resorted to searching city directories for the period of 1882 to 1887 under E. D. , Elmer, and Daniel. Still nothing. If you have any knowledge of the year that “last letter” was received it might be helpful in narrowing the search. I feel almost certain he died before 1900, as he is not found in that census record. Best bet will most likely be newspapers, and since GFA has access to a couple newspaper databases, I also searched those. Alas still nothing. However, as you might expect newspaper availability is subject to location and dates so something may still be found as more are made available and indexed.
If you have any information that can help Arlene, please email us at: contact@griswoldfamily.org.