i am trying to find any information on my grandfather. he was involved in a train accident of some kind close to birmingham alabama in the early 1900's, perhaps in the 20's or 30's. he was laid to rest in a cementery in b, ham ala. not sure what happen or when. his wife at the time was named amanada jane renfroe morgan. his name is ben or benijam morgan. on the toomstone it say's ben morgan. please see if you can help me. no one ever did talk about him, just that he was killed in a train accident close to birmingham,ala.

thanks

-- joyce maton deering (jdeering50@aol.com), December 22, 2003

Answers

Joyce, the chances of any railroad personnel files still existing from the era you speak of are practically nil. The Birmingham area was served by several railroads....over the years most of them merged with others or were sold. During these processes, old records & files of employees were usally tossed out..there was really no reason (or space) to hang on to them. However, if you want to find out details of the accident that killed your grandfather....you might be sucessful. If you live in the Birmingham area, or can travel there at some point, go to a main city library with his date of death in the wreck. (Off of toombstone) I would think such a library would have early Birmingham newspapers on Microfilm. Look thru copies of the newspaper(s) for the next day right AFTER his death, & perhaps the next day too. I would think that a train wreck with a fatality would have merited a story in the paper. (Maybe on front page, even.) This might lead you to his obituary in that paper, which might give you even more family info. If the toombstone has no date of death, I'm not sure just how you may proceed. Good luck.

-- Greg Hodges (lynnhodges@earthlink.net), December 23, 2003.