When trying to find out more information about this specific topic it was easy. But I decided to start from a boring part of my research but add a little twist. Most people die from old age. This is the case now and for back then. It was common to die from old age so I thought I would try and find information about people who may have had an interesting past before they died. For this I found a source online. L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library has a lot of historical information about Eau Claire. I looked through a lot of information and found a part about people and deaths. The information was taken from newspapers so it’s a secondary source. This seemed like the perfect source to me. I chose it because it has a lot of people and exactly what I was looking for. It also seems like a great source.
This source is laid out alphabetical by having the person’s name in all caps to start off each paragraph. This was an easy to read way to get the information I needed. This section starts of by building a good ethos. It tells you how they got their information and After looking at countless numbers of information on Eau Claire past residents I found some unique people. This first person I came across was Hayden H. Adams. He opened up his own drug store on the north west corner of Water St. and Fifth Ave. in 1919. Mr. Adams died in 1952 having been a druggist in the city for 54 years. He was 82 years old. William H. Bailey came to Eau Claire in 1867. He edited the NEWS for a time, was a judge of the 17th Circuit for six years, wrote law book and was the mayor for three terms. On top of all that he was a veteran of the Civil War and was District Attorney for one term. He died in 1915. Finally I learned about a guy named Paul Branstad who was born in Norway and came to Eau Claire in the late sixties. He worked first for the Eau Claire Lumber company, operated a hotel and built a furniture store. He lost everything in the flood and joined the police force. He remained there for 20 years and when he was in his prime was said to be the most physically strong man in Eau Claire. He died at the age of 81.
This source gave me some great information about the deaths in the past. It wasn’t as exciting as I had hope. When reading other sources they gave me more unusual stories. But this gave me more information about the type of people that have lived in Eau Claire. This information I believe it reliable and truthful since it is linked to a public library.
This does sound like a good source for reading about deaths. Was it laid out like an obituary that we see nowadays in the paper or was I presented differently? Are you going to be looking for trends of deaths or more so just interesting stories? Your topic intrigues me because I feel like there will be a lot of information available for you! I think libraries are a great place to seek information, and I think the archives could provide you with some valuable research as well. I’ll be curious to learn about all the different types of deaths you learn about, and how they are different than common causes of deaths today.