This is me, still playing catch-up with my research logs. If anyone sees anything I missed or any flaws in my analysis, please let me know.
Subject Name: Louis Phelisa
Lanctot, b. 17 Sep 1888 d. Oct 1922
Question to be researched: When did Louis die?
Date of Search: 11.10.11
Place Searched: Yankton
Cemetery, Yankton, South Dakota, headstone
Results: Shows Louis P. Lanctot’s death year as 1922.
Place Searched: Note attached
to transcribed obituary – unknown date – from Josephine Lanctot, daughter of
Louis Lanctot.
Results: “Was killed when a truck loaded with lumber
turned over and pinned him underneath.
The truck belonged to a neighboring homesteader in Casper, Wyoming. They were hauling lumber to build the
homestead for his mother, as time was running out to get her house built to
secure the homestead claim. It is
unclear that they ever told her that it was her lumber. The truck came around a curve and met another
vehicle with bright lights, which blinded the driver. Louis was in the back of the truck (the cabs
weren't big enough for 3 in those days).
They thought Louis had tried to jump out of the truck, but his coattail
caught on the lumber and it threw him under the truck. His neck was broken and the hub of the wheel
rested on his temple.”
Place Searched: Entry for the
“History of Yankton County” submitted by Josephine Lanctot Swift – unknown date
– written as short biography of Louis P. Lanctot and Alice M. Schneider.
Results: States that
Louis “lost his life in an automobile accident near Casper.”
Place Searched: Bureau of
Land Management, General Land Office Records (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=862804&docClass=SER&sid=qhz5sshl.myy)
Results: Land patent
#862804 for 320 acres dated 17 May 1922.
Place Searched: Transcribed
obituary for Louis Lanctot – October 1922 – presumably published in the Yankton
Press & Dakotan.
Results: “Louis P.
Lanctot, formerly of Yankton, was instantly killed near Casper, Wyo., Saturday
afternoon, when a heavy auto truck, loaded with lumber turned over pinning him
underneath.”
Place Searched: Louis
Lanctot, death certificate 1922-1666 (21 October 1922), Bureau of VItal
Statistics, Wyoming State Archives, Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Results: Death certificate gives date of death as 21
October 1922 at 10:00 p.m. at Wyoming Medical Center as a result of a fracture
at the base of the skull caused by truck overturning.
Analysis: All sources
agree that Louis died in 1922, probably October. The land records show that it was obviously
after May 17, 1922. Unfortunately, none
of the secondary sources provide a date within the month of October. Therefore, (obviously) my most reliable
source for the death date is the death certificate itself.
Conclusion: Louis
P. Lanctot died on 21 October 1922 at 10:00 p.m. in Casper, Wyoming.
Next Steps: I would still
like to have a copy of the actual obituary to confirm the details of his death (the story given by Aunt Jo doesn't quite match the cause of death on the certificate). The volunteer at the Wyoming State Archives
did not find any mention of the wreck or Louis’ death in the Wyoming
papers. I will write to the Yankton Press
& Dakotan to see if they still have the obituary among their archives.
2 comments:
I just looked on genealogybank.com (and I'm sure you have too) and the issues of the Yankton paper they have are from 1861-1875, so no help there.
I hope you get your obit.
Thanks for checking on that, Dee! I have looked, and found nothing. I will be writing a letter to the Yankton Press & Dakotan to check their archives. Cross your fingers!
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