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Post date: Mar 18, 2016 7:23:56 PM
I just finished reading an article in The Root, posted a few days ago, on 12 March 2016. The article is entitled Who Murdered My Aunt in 1920s Detroit?: Tracing Your Roots: Tips for finding out whether the killer of a long-dead relative was brought to justice. It was submitted by Henry Louis Gates Jr and Julie A Wilmot, NEHGS researcher.
In the article, a woman identified as "Adrienne Rose" posed the above question about the murder of her 2nd great-aunt, Nannie Crenshaw, who had been murdered in Detroit in 1920.
The article had been well-written, providing an interesting and insightful historical perspective (I would have expected no less from this publication), as well as some reasonable suggestions as to how to approach the solution to the problem that had prompted this particular response.
I was, however, very disappointed that no answer was provided to Adrienne Rose's initial question. Was anyone ever charged and convicted of the murder of Nannie Crenshaw?
In spite of the fact that this question had been researched by Mr Gates and Julie Wilmot of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, the genealogist (and problem-solver) in me had difficulty believing that the answer to this question could be so elusive, so I decided to take a quick look to see if I could solve this problem myself.
Now, when it comes to many things, and especially with respect to questions requiring research, a "quick look" can take me anywhere from a few minutes to many hours. In this case, the quick look took me all of 10 or 12 minutes to locate the answer to Adrienne Rose's inquiry.
It seems that Ms. Crenshaw had been struck on the head while being robbed. Although Ms. Crenshaw had died on Monday 12 April 1920 from her injuries, an arrest of a man had already been made in her robbery case on 10 April, and that man had been charged with her murder upon her death. That man was sentenced to a life term in Marquette prison within just days of Ms. Crenshaw's death.
Although I am known for being able to locate information and records that have eluded others, I was somewhat shocked at how easy it was to find what other professionals had been unable to find in this case.
If you are having difficulty finding information or documents for your genealogy, consider asking Ancestors & Cousins for help.
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