Still, he decided to start over and see if he had missed anything, or if anything new came to surface through his research. He started with is own family.
During his growing up years he had been told that he had two sisters that died before he was
born. No detail was given as to why. All he knew is that they had died.
This time, he looked for all of his family, including his sisters. He went into newspapers and found a reference that his sisters had died in California, not Utah where he had been raised. He searched in the California City referred to in the Utah article.
This search brought up 3 California newpaper stories that detailed the death of his sisters. It was really tragic, and obviously so tragic his parents couldn't ever tell him. One sister, 3 years old came rushing to her mother: "Mama my mouth is burning, I ate something, baby ate it too". They had gotten into poisen. No matter what they did to try and save the girls, they couldn't save them. One died that day, another the next.
The articles gave great detail, including the fact the parents were very poor. They were concerned how to get the money to get their daughters to Utah for buriel. It explained the mortuary felt so bad for this family that they made sure they were taken care of, irregardless of finances.
I can't imagine the pain those parents felt. I felt that the story shared with us meant a lot to our friend. Our families had lives that we might find great meaning in, if we only search them out. It's like they want to be found.
I wonder what more awaits me as I reach out. How about you?
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