The vagaries of an Internet search

It's easy to take a screenshot on my MacBook and I have learned the value of that quick action. Just because you find some genealogy tidbit on the Web once doesn't mean you'll find it again. Take James Riley Hodgen as an example. I came across an article about his funeral service, which took place in Spokane, Washington, on April 12, 1943, when I googled "Glada Arnst." Her name appeared as one of his survivors. James died when his U.S. Navy plane went down mysteriously in Grays Harbor, Wash., on April 3, 1943. He and two comrades died. They were in a Grumman J2F Duck amphibious biplane.

I went looking for more about the crash, since I am now a subscriber to Newspapers.com. So far, I haven't found anything more than the original article, which popped up via the Google Newspapers Archive. And if I google his name or even the opening part of the sentence of that article, I get nothing. But Glada's name works. "Marie Lindsay of Missouri" doesn't do it because Missouri is hyphenated in the article. "Marie Lindsay of Mis-" works. "Carl Hodgen of Wenatchee" works. "Carl Hodgen" alone might work but there were so many hits, I didn't go through them all. "Carl Hodgen" plus James doesn't do the trick, however. At least not today. Tomorrow, who knows?

I was glad to find the article, at any rate. It made me sad, even though I don't know any of James Hodgen's people.

Last night I was cross-checking some information on Delilah Ethel Lieurance Kennedy. She was married to William P.B. Kennedy, who is a leaf on a twig on a branch on a limb somewhere on the tree (just like I am). There was an obituary for her on findagrave.com, along with a photo of her stone. The obituary was a transcription and not dated, but the stone was. Oddly, the stone was wrong. I found a story about Mrs. Kennedy's death via Newspapers.com and the obituary is plainly from the (Phoenix) Arizona Independent Republic of June 28, 1940. Her stone has the dates 1863-1941.

Let's hear it for newspaper archives! And I extend my appreciation to the Hodgen, LaRue, Keith and Hankins families for providing me with infinite hours of fun.