A Child Lost ~ Annie Bacon

From the July 7, 1890 issue of the Chicago Daily News, "BACON-ANNIE, infant daughter of John and Margaret Bacon, aged 5 months and 25 days. Funeral from 2124 LaSalle-st., Thursday at 10 a.m., to Calvary by carriages."

First I did an Advanced Search for Annie's death certificate on FamilySearch. Her name, date and place of death, and name of the cemetery confirm this is "our" Annie:

I added her to Find A Grave and ran a quick check for her parents' marriage certificate:

Then I looked for the couple on Find A Grave. Margaret's entry includes a transcription of her obituary. She has a daughter named Catherine. No Illinois birth record match for Catherine on FamilySearch.

In the 1892 Chicago City Directory, John A Bacon, policeman resides on Portland Ave. And here's a possibility for the family in the 1900 census:



Did you notice Margaret had five children, but lost two? Here's the other child:

Catherine, Mary and Elizabeth still live with their parents in 1910:

In the census above, Elizabeth is called Bessie. Her middle initial is G, just like in the marriage certificate below. So we know Elizabeth is the daughter mentioned in Margaret's obituary.



But how do we know this family is Annie's family? If these were my ancestors, I would search for more documents with the address mentioned in Annie's obituary. I'd also like to see a reference to her in either parent's obituary.  

Since this is a rudimentary search, I hypothesize that Annie's family moved often. While there are multiple addresses, the same group of family names appear together frequently enough to believe John and Margaret are Annie's parents. I added John's death to Find A Grave and linked Annie with her parents. If you know more about this family, I hope you'll add a comment below.

Note: I have no connection to this child. In A Child Lost ~ Introduction, I shared my hope of reuniting these children with their parents. If you are a Bacon descendant, I hope you'll give Annie a special place in your family tree.

My own genealogy work-in-progress is online at Living in the Past Lane.