I began my research with Golden, easily finding her official obituary in an online posting of a local newspaper, the Auburn Journal. This page offered a wealth of information such as her immediate family’s birthdays and death dates, a brief recount of her life, and an overview of the extended family. I utilized the information gathered from her obituary to track down documents on FamilySearch. I began by finding her Marriage License to Alvah Henning—this was harder than expected as their marriage occurred across state lines. Alas, with this document secured I was able to continue researching. Next, I attempted to find her in the 1930 Census by searching her name along with the supposed city and state she lived in at the time based on the obituary’s information. However, this proved difficult. Thus, I changed strategies and began searching for Census information on her father Martin Secund. In order to narrow my field of information, I had to first gain information on Martin. Thankfully, I was able to find his death record easily with a quick google search. The website, “Find a Grave” featured a page on Martin—containing two pictures of his gravestone and a blurry image of his death certificate. While the pictures and site verified their families ties to Allegan Michigan, it was the death certificate which proved to be the key to my research in that it rectified false information from the obituary. I was previously searching for the census records in Michigan, under the assumption that they had only lived here and in Chicago briefly when first arrived in America.

Yet, Martin was killed in Huntsville, Texas. Although his death certificate briefly recounted the manner in which he was killed, it did not explain why he was killed or even why he was in Huntsville. As far as I know, his murder has not been solved. However, this began my search for census information in Texas, following a hunch that they had perhaps lived in Texas for a time thus explaining the location of his death and the absence of records in Michigan. Alas, I was able to find the 1930’s census. Although unable to decipher the description written under the category of “Industry”, under Occupation Martin had written “Farmer” for himself and “Servant” for Esther (United States Census). Thus, the truth emerges. The three had not lived in Allegra for thirteen years as previously thought but had been driven to Texas for work opportunities during the Great Depression. My great grandmother was listed under the name “Goldie” which sparked my memory of my great grandmother’s Swedish name: Anna Gulli. After searching this name into FamilySearch, I was able to locate her Naturalization records. This had little information but was nevertheless an important document. Thus I was able to locate my great grandmother’s obituary, marriage license, and naturalization records along with the naturalization records of her, Ester, and Martin as well as Martin’s death certificate.