Cornish tin miner in Michigan, US. Where to look?

[JustJean]

I've recently been tracking a distant line of my own to the Houghton area (across the canal from Hancock area) of Michigan.  I was told that the local newspaper would have been the Daily Mining Gazette and there are archives of it held here.....

http://www.lib.mtu.edu/mtuarchives/

but apparently they do not perform lookups and the newspaper is not indexed.  THere is however a list of local researchers provided.  

I was fortunate to find my line had settled in the area so was able to find death info from the SSDI and obtain the DC's from the local courthouse.

Hope this might provide something of interest.

Best wishes
Jean

[CR]

Hi All,
I just want to bump this thread to see if anyone has any new ideas.
I have been sidetracked for a while but have been plugging away at it from time to time.
I am up against a brick wall looking for what happened to Walter after he left Windsor,Ontario headed for Painesdale, Michigan on 1 August 1923.
I have been following several leads provided by all you kind people here but found nothing conclusive.
I have also had a great guy on http://www.raogk.org/ researching in Painsdale itself for me. Sadly he has drawn a blank as he can find no record of Walter in Painsdale or in the local mining co. records.
So, the last documented fact I have is a US Immigration record showing him en route from Windsor, Ontario to Painesdale, Michigan on 1 August 1923. His passage was paid for by the copper Range mining company. The only other possible relevant fact is that his wife/widow Lilian remarried in Cornwall in 1930 declaring herself a widow.
As I said above there doesn't seem to be any record of him in Painsdale so my trail has gone cold yet again.
I have searched ancestry (although I don't have worldwide membership) and can't find anything obvious.
I would dearly love to find out where this old chap ended his days but I really don't know where to look next.
Any ideas or possibilities, however remote would be greatly appreciated.

Regards
Clive

[Erato]

Have you seen this website about Painesdale and itsrailroad and mining history?  It refers to events before Walter would have arrived but there is a [sort of old] contact email address and a discussion board.  Maybe the site owner could give you some useful leads.

http://www.pasty.com/copperrange/strike.htm

[CR]

I haven't seen that one Erato. Lots of info on the area I'm searching so could be just the lead I'm after  .
The message board doesn't look like it's been used in a while so I'll email the administrator to see if he can help.
Many thanks for this. I'll find him eventually  .
Regards
Clive

[CR]

Hi all,
It's been a long while since I picked up on Walter. To be honest I kept hitting brick walls and lost my enthusiasm for the search. Decided to get back on the horse and see what is new.
I thought I would look at death records starting in the US as that's where I last saw him and eliminate them one by one.
I have found a record on familysearch.org that I can't rule out as follows:

Name: Walter Reynolds
Event Type: Death
Event Date: 15 Nov 1927
Event Place: Cincinnati, Hamilton, Ohio
Address: Columbia Hotel
Sex: Male
Age: 40
Race: White
Birth Year (Estimated): 1887
Burial Date: 18 Nov 1927
Burial Place: St. Josepha-New
Record Number: 13
Record Number: 13

I also attach a copy of the certificate.

His name is an exact match.
His age is down as 40?. He would have been 33 so not a million miles out.
Cause of death myocarditis chronic mitral insufficiency (I think). So a heart attack .
All the rest is unknown.

Not much to go on but nothing to completely rule it out.

So my questions:
Would there be any reason for a miner to end up in Ohio/Cincinnati? I can't find and mining link.
Also what the heck was he doing for the 4 years from arriving in Painsdale? I can find no sign of him at all.
Not a perfect fit I know but it's about the only link I can find that isn't obviously wrong.
Any thoughts on why he might have ended up there appreciated.

[JustJean]

Going on a limb here.  I searched for the Columbia Hotel in the 1927 Cincinnati Directory and didn't immediately find it which I thought was odd.  So I dug a little deeper and found mention of Columbia Park which was established in 1925 by Columbia Power Gas & Electric.  They owned the Miami Fort Power Plant.  Apparently Columbia Park was built for the workers.  According to the article I saw they paid rent for accommodations including a clubhouse which had rooms to let.  I wonder if this might be also known as the Columbia Hotel??  If so the power plant was situated nearby and workers could walk to work.  I believe it was a partially coal fired plant.  A tenuous link to coal and mining.....  Just a guess on my part......

Best wishes
Jean

[CR]

Thanks Jean,
Very interesting. While it's by no means conclusive proof that this is my Walter, it certainly doesn't rule it out.
Regards
Clive