Great Genealogy Stories

Great Genealogy Stories

Previously published by Julia M. Case and Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG, Missing Links


NO LEAD IS TOO SMALL by Elizabeth Bernard, [email protected] or [email protected]

About three years ago, I finally decided to attempt to figure out if I was related to Benedict ARNOLD, as my father told me while growing up. I went to a local Family History Center (FHC) but with the limited information I had I was unable to make a connection.

My father and his brother's widow were able to tell me that my great-grandparents, Norman and Mattie (HEATON) ARNOLD, were buried in Venice Cemetery in Cayuga County, New York, outside of Syracuse. A volunteer at the FHC told me that Venice was only about a half hour's drive from her daughter's home, where she would be visiting the following weekend. If I could tell her the exact name and location, she would drive there and look around for me.

The information operator found no such listing, however she came up with Venice Enterprises and I took the number, thinking I would call to see what it was and whether anyone knew of the cemetery. It turned out to be a trucking company and while they had not heard of the cemetery, they gave me the number of the town clerk at her day job, which gave me a chuckle because where I am from being town clerk is a full-time job. Feeling quite foolish I contacted the town clerk and explained what I was looking for and why. She replied that there were a couple of cemeteries with ARNOLDs in them, a woman named Elizabeth ARNOLD lived next to them and did some genealogy work, and suggested that maybe we were related.

Thinking this was just too outrageous, I contacted Elizabeth ARNOLD and told her my story. She asked me which Norman ARNOLD I was looking for and I answered that I was looking for Norman G. ARNOLD. She exclaimed, "He's here, and we're related!" Then she invited me up to review her research and to show me the cemeteries and where my ancestors settled upon moving from Stephentown. Two weeks and a four-hour one-way drive later, I had the pleasure of meeting this most pleasant and gracious woman, who gave me more than 12 generations of information. I made the four-hour trip home that same day, arriving exhausted but elated, and knowing that no lead is too small.


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