In July of 1945 an heir searcher was in Adams County, Illinois, looking for heirs of a Harm Jelden. This does not appear to be one of those estate scams that were popular in the late 19th and early 20th century. There really was a man named Harm Jelden who had the parents and brother listed. I’m working on finding the estate records.
There’s a number of genealogy reminders in this item though.
Newspaper articles may leave out key details. This article does not mention where Harm Jelden died and one may think he died in Missouri because the searcher was from there. That would be an incorrect assumption. This article has the maiden name of Harm’s mother wrong–it was Behrens, not Burns. People can appear in newspaper articles decades after they are dead–Harm’s mother died in 1906 and his father in 1912. A newspaper can be incorrect or give a wrong impression. The Jeldens had relatives in Adams County, Illinois, but never lived there themselves.
No responses yet