I've been obsessing on Elizabeth WARREN's maiden name the last week or two. I decided to try getting more detail on her eldest son Jacob WARREN's family. His only child that I know survived to adulthood was his daughter Ida. I had uncovered her social security application a while ago and found her in the social security death index, so I knew her date & place of death. A helpful soul on the Baltimore list at RootsWeb told me about the obituary service that the periodical department at the Pratt Library offers. I sent off her name and date of death and got back her obit from the Sun -- this gave me her husband's first name (John), where she was buried and the undertaker's name. I wrote to the cemetery to get a copy of the plot card and got back not only that but the order she had submitted for a joint headstone when her husband had died in 1962. Very helpful folks at Gardens of Faith cemetery.

Now I have a couple of different ways of going forward: I should be able to get death certificates for Ida and her husband John NOVAK. This might give me an idea of whether they had kids (who might know something of the family history). The undertaker's records might also help on that score. I also will try looking at the Mannington, WV schedules when the 1930 census is released this spring and see if I can pinpoint Jacob's death a little better. I know he died before 1935 from land records his wife Harriet is listed on, but narrowing it down to a five year slot would be helpful. Hope he died in WV and not of state somewhere.