I wrote last week about my attempts to locate information on one of my ancestral "pets" Mary Dexter(?) Harvey, and the devilish time I've had trying to pin down quality proof of her maiden name and the Massachusetts family to which she is connected.
To that end, I hired a quality Association of Professional Genealogists researcher who resides in Key West, where Mary and her husband Samuel Harvey resided for upwards of twenty years. I was hopeful some onsite dredging would turn up clues where my research--performed in California--was falling short.
Alas, professional genealogists are mere mortals, and cannot conjure up something where little is to be found.
The Key West researcher did obtain for me a photo and a fine transcription of a marriage license for one of Samuel and Mary Harvey's children who married in Key West in 1842. No witnesses were mentioned, although the license did mention that the wedding was an Episcopal one, which confirmed my Protestant suspicions about the family.
The elusive connection between Mary D. Harvey and a gentleman from Massachusetts by the name of Edward Harvey (who also resided in Key West and worked with her husband) was not to be confirmed or denied by any research performed by the hire. I had been hoping for a death certificate for Edward Harvey that may have more information, but it wasn't to be.
Further information on Samuel Harvey's time in Key West? Also a poop-out. As the researcher said, Mr. Harvey didn't seem to leave very deep footprints during his Key West residence.
So where to now? I suppose we venture back to Charleston, where Mary and Samuel resided before their twenty years in Key West. Not that I mind hanging out in Charleston records... I simply had hoped the Great Key West Adventure of ought-11 would have turned up more dirt on a family that seems, well.... not desirous of being found.
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