BOOK DROP by Patricia Nichols, [email protected]

My husband was raised as a foster child, thus little was known of his family beyond his parents' names. His father had an unusual middle name; a name which I believed was a surname at one time. However, nothing could be found of his father. I had almost given up, but I knew my husband wanted to find a family for his children, so I kept searching.

I pored over the ADJUTANT GENERAL'S REPORT FOR VETERANS OF THE CIVIL WAR FROM ILLINOIS -- a nine-volume work with no index -- in search of the name NICHOLAS. One day, while at the local genealogical library, I had a volume in my hand ready to search when I turned from the table to make a comment to the librarian. I dropped the book. When I turned back to start my search, the book had fallen open and right there in front of me was the name for which I had been searching -- Evermont NICHOLAS. From that information I was able to obtain a copy of his military record, discover the name of his wife, and found when and where he had died.

Unfortunately, my husband passed away before I was able to do more than obtain the military record. However, I persisted for I knew he wanted that for our children. I found when and where his grandfather had died. Thus, the marriage license was found for Evermont and his wife which gave her maiden name, WHITLOCK. From this bit of phenomenal luck, the dropping of a book, I have been able to find the family he never knew -- both maternal and paternal grandparents and great-grandparents. In fact, I have been able to trace his maternal family back six generations and I was contacted by his cousin, thanks to the Internet.