In 2017, I started listening to genealogy podcasts. Two of my favorites are Genealogy Guys and Extreme Genes, each one provides me with new things I may not of thought of or gives me an a-ha moment. This past week I listened to both and can’t remember which one said to look into the neighboring towns and counties to look for your ancestors in their newspapers.

My Beardsley line lived in an area of Clinton County, NY that borders Essex County. They are from the area of Clintonville. I had stumbled upon the obituary of Sarah A. Beardsley in the Plattsburgh Sentinel. She was a Larkin and they were in the Plattsburgh/Beekmantown area. She married Leslie W. Beardsley. Anyway back to the point of my post. Today I was researching on the NYS Historic Newspapers site. I came across this beauty of an obituary.

It really details her life. You can view it here. This obituary names her 15 year old daughter. It lists her sister Mrs. Thompson. It is genealogy gold to me. I knew a lot of these things from different pieces but it validates the research. I am in the process of transcribing the obituary for my tree and records. The obituary helps make Sarah a living breathing person.  The only thing that is missing from this obituary is the name of her Mother Ruth, oh and where Benjamin is but that is another story for another day.

This is my 2nd great grandma Sarah A. Larkin Beardsley. She was a wonderful strong woman who went to medical school and blazed a trail for the women who came after her.

Never stop searching for stories of those who went before us because every now and then you will find answers to questions you never knew you might of had and you may find validation in research you have done before.