Sunday, May 17, 2009

Calling up a Few Funeral Homes and Contacting Catholic Churches

Since the Kallis family was Catholic I emailed to someone at the Diocese of Joliet, in Illinois, who has to do with funerals and burials. I asked if they could tell me how I might be able to find information on burials of Catholic ancestors. He emailed back with a few phone numbers for funeral homes that would have been around at the time of Frank Kallis' death. He said that they sometimes have records dating back many generations.
I am also going to check to see if I can find info on Lena/Ellen/Helena Selinger/Seliger, since she was listed in the 1880 census with the Kallis family in Wilmington, Illinois. She was the mother Elizabether Selinger Kallis. Frank passed away on December 25, 1880. I am guessing that Lena would have passed away soon after Frank. I also assume that she passed away in Illinois. The majority of the family, minus Emma Kallis, Elizabeth Kallis (daughter) and Joseph Kallis moved to the Dakota Territories in about 1885. This was the year that Mary Kallis married Mortimer Powell. I doubt that they would have brought an old woman in her 80's out there with them back in those days.

I had asked the person that I contacted at the Coal City Library about how to find Catholic records. She said that I should try to contact some of the Catholic Churches in the area. She gave me link info to the Catholic church in Wilmington, Illinois. I am going to do all this stuff tomorrow, and through much prayer, I hope to find the information I need. Especially on Lena Selinger, her being the oldest ancestor on this side. She is the link to Bohemia.

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