Finding Shirley W Hall

One of things I enjoy is researching my family history. It is like a puzzle as you find a new fact the picture becomes clear. I was not always like this. But as the years have gone on, when life is crazy and I need to relax. I put my mind at ease by researching the family tree. I have found many interesting facts about all the families I have researched. Prepare yourself though as you research, there might be something that you didn't know.

About 17 years ago my Mom passed away. I use to be one of those people who loved old stories but now I wished I had listen a little closer to what was being said. I had some health issues and was told that if anyone else in the family had Diabetes that it made the chances higher that I would get it too. I talked to an Aunt and found out in the conversation that the side of the family we didn't talk about my mom's birth mom's family had some health issues that I was experiencing.
I decided that I would do a quick research and be done.

In the coming months I wrote distant cousins and realitives that I knew nothing about but as I talked to them they knew who I was.... I will never forget that day. I called a lady named Ruby and started taking down the Steed history. When all of a sudden she said, "You know your Grand dad was married before Miriam Steed?" "And they had a daughter." I was shocked but not because I felt angry that I knew nothing of this Aunt but no one wanted to talk about her. I researched for a while trying to find the child and the marriage. Asking anyone in my family if they knew of her? But was still overwhelmed by my mom's death and stopped looking.

When we moved to the North West, I began looking. I knew that my Grandfather had ran away from home when he was young. He lived in Idaho but was raised in Nebraska. I did a little research and found out some interesting facts about his family. I went back as far as I could go and then thought I would move forward. I found little things out as I went. Luella Tanner is who Grandpa had the daughter with. But some family thought that they had never married. I began looking on Ancestry and got a marriage licence hit for Donald G Hall married to a Luella Tanner. Then got a hit for the daughter. Shirley Hall. Yes I was excited, thinking that it would only be a matter of minutes and I would know everything there was to know. Try a matter of seconds and the search hit the first dead end. It was a few months after that I stopped looking, getting back into the every day routine.

Then a friend asked me about how she would go about looking for her Grandfather. The story got me hooked and I helped her research. We both had similar stories. Her Grandfather ran away from home. He married and had one son. She wanted to know about him. Seeing her getting into it made me want to see if I could find more out about Shirley.

I know more about the John Joshua Tanner family, He had a son named Warren Foote Tanner who married Harriet, they had 4 kids two girls and two boys. One of the sons died in 1914, the same time Harriet passed away. Leaving Warren with two girls and a son. It was just recently that I found the Aunt and Uncles information. But no matter how hard I try I can't seem to find that thread for Shirley. I have found her full name and birth date in one of the Tanner books. Shirley Warena Hall born May 21, 1928 in Idaho. That her mom was married three times.

Here are some things I found out. She did have contact with my family through letters. But that seemed to drop off. Time frame guess is 1955 - 1963. She first wrote my Grandpa and he took the letter to my aunt who wrote her during that time frame. She said she thought that Shirley lived in Denver. A friend helped me find a Shirley Sanford in Denver who died in 2006. But that is where it halts. Can't find an obit for this Shirley. This Shirley has the same birthday and was in Idaho in 1950's. Social is Idaho before 1951.

I just asked my youngest Aunt if she knew anything a few days ago. She said that there was a falling out between Shirley and the family. She said that she had moved back to Idaho and was a nurse at a Children's hospital in the Boise Nampa area. She thinks that my Aunt divorced her husband and took her maiden name back. They had a handicap son. She also said that she talked to Shirley between the time frame of 1995-2001. That she was in the phone book.

I know one day I will find Shirley. All the family I ask tells me that Grandpa Don's side of the family is gone. Why am I looking? But that is not why I want to know about Shirley, even if I found her alive. I just want to find out about her. Who she was and put her in my family tree. Until then I will have my nose in archives trying to find out all I can...