While I was visiting my grandmother in Scales Mound Illinois, I decided to make a stop at the courthouse in Galena.  I wanted get a few death certificates since a couple weeks ago, I found my great-grandfather’s, Carl Herman Bohnsack, obituary and was thrown for a loop.  But that’s a story for another time…

While picking up the death certificate, I met a cousin.  She was the deputy at the records office in the courthouse.  Her grandmother was Mary Anna Johanna Bohnsack Brandt, the youngest sister of Leo Bohnsack my great grandfather.  What a small world!  Of course, I was in Galena which certainly can’t qualify as a metropolis.  But it was a fun coincidence.  She seemed to appreciate looking up death certificates for genealogical purposes, which is more enjoyable than other alternatives.

Let me also complain a bit.  Galena charges $16 per death certificate.  $16!!!!  That’s highway robbery.  It doesn’t matter whether it’s certified or not, it’s the same price.  Good god!   I contacted Wyoming State Archives a couple of months ago and was emailed a PDF of my great-grandmother’s death certificate for FREE.  One thing’s for sure, genealogy is not cheap.