Line B, Wave 2: Etter / Cropsey Records Pull, Cass County, Michigan

Research date: October 25, 2026. Free public sources only. No paid sources, no Ancestry, no library fee requests. Deceased people only.

Targets: Lewis A. Etter and Jane (Cropsey) Etter, parents of Leora Belle (Etter) Cochran (Apr 29, 1898 – May 1989); their Michigan death certificates; their marriage record; their 1900 and 1910 census households; John C. Etter (1817–1883) as Lewis's candidate father; Leora's exact death day and her siblings.

Labels used below:

• VERIFIED: seen in a named public record or record index during this research (or wave 1), with the source named. Where the underlying document is an index entry rather than the document image itself, that is stated.
• CANDIDATE: fits by name, date, and place, but no record yet ties the people together. Do not merge into the tree as fact.
• NOT FOUND: searched and not located, with the search described.

0. Headline results (what changed since wave 1)

1. Lewis A. Etter's Michigan death certificate EXISTS and is located. Archives of Michigan / Michiganology (Preservica), Death Certificates 1897–1952, asset 005363576_01519, folder path 1928 → Cass County → A–M → Etter → Lewis A. The FamilySearch index of the same certificate (Michigan Death Certificates, 1921–1952, record KFHW-BTJ, film 005363576, image 1519) gives the indexed facts: Lewis A Etter, born 28 Sep 1854, died 2 Jan 1928 in Volinia, Volinia Township, Cass, Michigan, son of John Etter. The certificate image itself could not be transcribed by text fetch (see section 2 for exactly why, and what a live browser session must do).
2. Jane Etter's Michigan death certificate also EXISTS and is located. Same collection, asset 005363576_00943, folder path 1925 → Cass County → A–M → Etter → Jane. So a Jane Etter died in Cass County in 1925, three years before Lewis. Her certificate image is likewise untranscribed (section 2). This is the single highest-value untranscribed document in this line: a Michigan death certificate of that era names the deceased's parents, spouse, informant, and burial place.
3. John C. Etter as Lewis's father is UPGRADED from candidate to verified-by-record-index. Two independent record indexes tie them: Lewis's death certificate index names his father as John Etter, and the 1880 census index lists Lewis A Etter (26), single, works on farm, as son in the household of John Etter (63) in Marcellus, Cass, Michigan. Lewis's mother is still unknown (WikiTree states this explicitly).
4. Lewis's burial is FOUND: Bly Cemetery, Marcellus. Wave 1 could not place him. Find a Grave Memorial #111164669 and a BillionGraves headstone record (Lewis A. Sr. Etter, 1854–1928, Bly Cemetery, headstone photo taken 18 Nov 2016) both put him there.
5. Leora's siblings are IDENTIFIED for the first time. From the birth, marriage, and death record indexes assembled on Lewis's WikiTree profile (each citing a FamilySearch record): Ezra G. Etter (b. 26 May 1880), twins Verna Etter and De Verne R. Etter (both b. 17 Mar 1886), Ellsworth J. Etter (married from 1908), Ernest L. Etter (b. Nov 1892), Leora B. Etter (b. 29 Apr 1898), and a Lewis A. Etter Jr. (b. 5 Jan 1906, relationship as indexed; see the caution in section 6).
6. The 1900, 1910, and 1920 census households are LOCATED as record indexes (Lewis head of household in Volinia Township in all three), though the full household member lists live on the census images and were not readable by fetch. Citations in section 5.
7. Leora's exact death day is narrowed but not pinned by this lane: a companion SJCPL Obituary Index pull (filed at ~/workspace/family-tree/sjcpl-cochran-index-full.md) found South Bend Tribune notices on 05/03/1989 (p. C6) and 05/04/1989 (p. D15), address N. Sunnyside Ave., bracketing her death to about May 1–2, 1989. The index gives publication dates only.
8. The Lewis + Jane marriage record is still NOT FOUND (section 4), and no record found in this pass names Jane's maiden name. "Cropsey" remains the on-file family statement from wave 1, not a record-verified fact. Jane's own 1925 death certificate is the record most likely to settle it.

1. Lewis A. Etter — verified record trail

Primary source for this section: WikiTree profile Etter-844, https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Etter-844 (profile last edited 21 Aug 2024). The profile itself is a secondary compilation, but every fact below is one of its cited FamilySearch record indexes, and the record ID is given for each so any later pass can pull the underlying record directly. Treat the facts as VERIFIED AT INDEX LEVEL.

Identity and life dates

• Born 28 Sep 1854, Ohio; died 2 Jan 1928, Volinia Township, Cass, Michigan. (Death certificate index, FamilySearch record KFHW-BTJ, "Michigan Death Certificates, 1921–1952," film 005363576, image 1519; also Find a Grave Memorial #111164669 and the BillionGraves headstone transcription, both 1854–1928.)
• Father: John Etter (named in the death certificate index). Mother: unknown.
• Burial: Bly Cemetery, Marcellus, Cass, Michigan (Find a Grave index record QVGQ-8388 citing Memorial #111164669; BillionGraves record, http://billiongraves.com/pages/record/person/21353334 — headstone reads "Lewis A. Sr. Etter," birth 1854, death 1928).

Census trail (index level)

• 1870, Marcellus, Cass, MI: Lewis Etter (14), born Ohio. FamilySearch record MHH6-RYY (NARA M593, film 004271416, image 170).
• 1880, Marcellus, Cass, MI: Lewis A Etter (26), single, son, works on farm, in household of John Etter (63), born Ohio. FamilySearch record MW91-TQ4 (NARA T9, film 1254575, image 610, sheet 485A). This is the census proof of the John → Lewis father-son link.
• 1900, Volinia Township, Cass, MI: Lewis Etter (46), married head of household, born Ohio. FamilySearch record M91T-VCV (NARA T623, film 1240706, image 125, sheet 9A, line 27).
• 1910, Volinia, Cass, MI: Lewis A Etter (55), married head of household, born Ohio. FamilySearch record MLPL-55J (NARA T624, film 1374653, image 1073, sheet 10A).
• 1920, Volinia Township, Cass, MI: Lewis A Etter (65), married head of household; this index entry says born in Michigan, conflicting with Ohio in 1870–1910 and on his death certificate index. FamilySearch record MZSC-RSK (NARA T625, film 1820756, image 1193, sheet 1A). Ohio is the weight-of-evidence answer; the 1920 entry is flagged, not adopted.

The WikiTree candidate is confirmed, and the Cass death index conflict is resolved

• Wave 1 carried Lewis's dates (b. 28 Sep 1854 Ohio, d. 2 Jan 1928 Volinia) as a WikiTree CANDIDATE, in apparent conflict with the Cass County death index 1867–1960 (MIGenWeb, http://www.migenweb.org/cass/dea1867to1960.htm), which contains zero Etter entries. This pass resolves the conflict in WikiTree's favor: the state death certificate exists (asset 005363576_01519, Cass County, 1928), and its FamilySearch index matches the WikiTree dates exactly. Conclusion: the county library index simply missed the Etters. It also contains no Jane Etter entry although her 1925 state certificate exists (asset 005363576_00943), and its only Cropsey entry remains Samuel Cropsey, Oct 5, 1941. The county index is incomplete for this family; do not use its silence as negative evidence again.

2. The Michigan death certificates — located, NOT yet transcribed (blocker documented)

What was found

Collection: Archives of Michigan Digital Collections (Michiganology / Preservica), "Death Certificates 1897–1952" — about 1.6M records for 1921–1952; images 1921–1948, index-only 1949–1952. Collection page: https://michigan.access.preservica.com/death-certificates-1897-1952/

Keyword search works by fetch at https://michigan.access.preservica.com/?s=<name>; (unquoted; quoted searches return 0 results — tested). Results confirmed by fetch on Oct 25, 2026:

• Search "Lewis Etter": result Etter / Lewis A / Cass → asset 005363576_01519, https://michigan.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_d84a32b3-18b1-4192-a482-a4e91aabfcd2/
• Search "Jane Etter": result Etter / Jane / Cass → asset 005363576_00943, https://michigan.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_f644858a-fae6-48e5-aa3e-a02b2faa7433/
• Spelling variants tested in the index: "Jennie Etter" — no death record returned; "Louis Etter" — no additional Etter death record; "Etters" — nothing relevant. The certificates are filed under Lewis A Etter and Jane Etter exactly.
• The same searches also surfaced two more family certificates in the collection, useful corroboration that this is the right Cass County family: Colborn / Verna (Lewis and Jane's daughter Verna, d. 1923; the Preservica search table lists her place as Kalkaska — see the discrepancy note in section 6) and Etter / Ellsworth John / Isabella (son Ellsworth, d. 1946, Mount Pleasant, Isabella County), plus Etter / Ezra D / Kalamazoo.

Why the certificates are not transcribed here

• Both Preservica asset pages were fetched in full. Each exposes only the asset number, object type, and folder name ("Etter"). The certificate image is served through the Preservica viewer, which text fetching cannot render, and no metadata fields (dates, parents, informant, burial) are exposed on the page. One attempt to fetch a certificate thumbnail image directly failed; it was not retried.
• The FamilySearch index page for Lewis's death record (record KFHW-BTJ) was also attempted and returned 403 access denied; per instructions it was not retried. One other FamilySearch record page (the Leora obituary index entry, record QGPT-NL2K, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGPT-NL2K) did load, confirming FamilySearch index pages are fetchable in principle but inconsistently.

Exactly what a live browser session must do (next step, in order)

1. Open Lewis's asset: https://michigan.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_d84a32b3-18b1-4192-a482-a4e91aabfcd2/ — wait for the Preservica image viewer to load image 005363576_01519, zoom, and transcribe every field: full name, death date and place, age/birth date and birthplace, marital status and spouse, occupation, father's name and birthplace, mother's maiden name and birthplace, informant name/address, burial place and date, cause of death.
2. Do the same for Jane's asset: https://michigan.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_f644858a-fae6-48e5-aa3e-a02b2faa7433/ — image 005363576_00943 (1925, Cass). Her certificate is the priority of the two: it should state her maiden name (testing "Cropsey"), her parents' names and birthplaces, her spouse (expected: Lewis), her informant (often a child — a sibling name for Leora), and her burial place (expected: Bly Cemetery, beside where Lewis was buried in 1928 — to be proven, not assumed).
3. Fallback if Preservica's viewer resists: the same images are on FamilySearch as film 005363576, image 1519 (Lewis) and the corresponding 1925 Cass County image for Jane (her film/image numbers were not captured because the record page returned 403; a signed-in FamilySearch session can search "Michigan Death Certificates, 1921–1952" for Jane Etter, Cass, 1925). FamilySearch is free with a registered account.

3. Jane (Cropsey) Etter — status

VERIFIED (index level)

• A Jane Etter of Cass County died in 1925 and holds a Michigan death certificate: asset 005363576_00943, folder 1925 → Cass County → A–M → Etter → Jane (section 2). She died three years before Lewis (1928), consistent with her being his wife and with Lewis's 1920 household still showing him married.
• She was married to Lewis by the time of the children's births (1880 onward, section 6) and Lewis's 1900–1920 households are all headed by a married Lewis. No record in this pass names the wife in those households by name — the census images hold her name, age, and birthplaces (see section 5).

On file, NOT record-verified

• Her maiden name Cropsey comes from Joel's family records as carried in wave 1 ("Leora's parents: Lewis A. Etter and Jane (Cropsey) Etter"). No public record located in wave 1 or wave 2 names her maiden name. Searched this pass: web searches for "Jane Cropsey Etter," "Etter Cropsey Cass County Leora," and the Preservica index — no hit ties a Jane Cropsey to Lewis Etter. The Cropsey clusters at Crane and Nicholsville/Rose Hill Cemeteries in Volinia Township (wave 1, section 5 of that report) remain a CANDIDATE framework only: George Cropsey (1854–1923) and Elsie (1860–1922) of Nicholsville are of Jane's likely generation, but no record states a relationship. A Preservica search for "George Cropsey" did surface Cass County Cropsey death certificates (a "George Ottis" Cropsey and a Katie Cropsey, both Cass) — untranscribed, and their relation to Jane is untested.
• The "Jennie Etter" variant was tested in the Preservica index and returned no death record.

NOT FOUND for Jane

• Birth date/place, parents' names, burial place, and any memorial — all await her 1925 death certificate transcription (section 2, step 2). If the certificate's informant was Lewis or a child and the burial is Bly Cemetery, most of these close at once.

4. Marriage record: Lewis Etter + Jane — NOT FOUND

• No conclusive Lewis Etter + Jane (any surname) marriage record was found this pass. Searches run: web searches pairing Lewis Etter with Jane/Cropsey in Michigan and Cass County; the Dibean Michigan marriage index leads; MIGenWeb Cass County pages, including the Cass County death index (which contains no Etter entries at all, so it cannot corroborate a marriage either).
• Date window, reasoned from the records: Lewis was single in his father's Marcellus household at the 1880 census, yet the eldest child's birth is indexed as 26 May 1880 (Ezra G., section 6). Those two facts sit uneasily together — the census was taken in June 1880 and describes Lewis as single and a son in John's household, while a May 1880 birth to Lewis implies a marriage by about 1879. Possibilities: Ezra's birth year is mis-indexed, the census relationship/marital entries are imprecise, or the marriage happened in 1879–1880 and the census caught Lewis at his father's farm anyway. The marriage should be searched in Cass County (and neighboring Van Buren and Kalamazoo Counties) for roughly 1878–1886, the last date allowing for the twins' March 1886 birth. A Michigan marriage return of that era names the bride's maiden name and both parties' parents in later years; even the basic register entry would fix Jane's surname.
• Where it will most likely be found: "Michigan Marriages, 1868–1925" and "Michigan, County Marriages, 1820–1940" on FamilySearch — the same collections that produced every child marriage record in section 6. Those indexes are searchable signed-in; the signed-out fetch route could not run a name search.

5. Census households — located as indexes; full member lists NOT retrieved

Lewis & Jane, 1900 and 1910 (target 4, first half)

• 1900: Lewis Etter (46), married head of household, Volinia Township, Cass, MI, born Ohio. NARA T623, film 1240706, image 125, sheet 9A, line 27; FamilySearch record M91T-VCV.
• 1910: Lewis A Etter (55), married head of household, Volinia, Cass, MI, born Ohio. NARA T624, film 1374653, image 1073, sheet 10A; FamilySearch record MLPL-55J.
• 1920 (bonus): Lewis A Etter (65), married head, Volinia Township. NARA T625, film 1820756, image 1193, sheet 1A; FamilySearch record MZSC-RSK.
• The index summaries name only the head. The full households — Jane's age, birthplace, and parents' birthplaces; the children at home (in 1900, Leora would be age 2, with Ezra 20, twins 14, Ernest 7, and possibly Ellsworth) — are on the census images, which require a signed-in FamilySearch session or a live browser. Not retrieved this pass; the image citations above are exact, so a browser session can go straight to them. No free readable full transcription of these two Volinia households was found on USGenWeb Cass County, ldsgenealogy, or archive.org this pass (ldsgenealogy's Cass County material is the county history, not census transcriptions).

John C. Etter, 1860/1870 (target 4, second half) — the father test

• The test wave 1 proposed (does John's household show a son Lewis, b. ~1854 Ohio?) is answered at index level for two censuses:
  • 1870, Marcellus, Cass, MI: Lewis Etter, age 14, born Ohio, appears in Marcellus (FamilySearch record MHH6-RYY; NARA M593, film 004271416, image 170, page 6, line 31). The index summary does not name the head, so "in John's household" is inferred from place and age, not stated.
  • 1880, Marcellus: Lewis A Etter (26), explicitly son of household head John Etter (63), single, works on farm, born Ohio (record MW91-TQ4). This states the father-son relationship in a primary record index and, with the death certificate index naming father John Etter, verifies John C. Etter (1817–1883, Bly Cemetery) as Lewis's father. The "C." middle initial and the 1817 Pennsylvania birth come from the Bly stone and WikiTree respectively; the census head is "John Etter."
• John C. Etter's own 1860 household was not separately retrieved; with the link now verified by 1880 + the death certificate, it is a lower priority. His wife (Lewis's mother) remains unknown — WikiTree states "Lewis's mother is unknown," and no record this pass names her. Candidates to test later: whoever is John's wife in the 1860/1870 Marcellus households on the images cited above (the 1870 image 170 likely shows her).

6. Leora's siblings — VERIFIED at index level (new this pass)

All from the FamilySearch record indexes compiled on Etter-844 (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Etter-844). In birth order:

Also indexed but not placed: a Charles E. Etter (1858–1938) at Bly Cemetery is, as wave 1 reasoned, best treated as Lewis's brother (a second son of John C.), not his son — the 1880 household image (sheet 485A) would show whether Charles was also in John's household.

Leora's own records added this pass

• Birth record indexes confirm Leora B. Etter, b. 29 Apr 1898, Cass County, father Lewis Etter (above) — her birth date and place are now record-verified, not only on-file.
• Her obituary exists in a second collection: FamilySearch "Michigan Obituaries, 1820–2006," record QGPT-NL2K (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGPT-NL2K), image 01127, FHL film 1,358,437 (Grand Rapids Public Library obituary collection), filed under South Bend. The index entry was reached via Lewis's profile ("Obituary of daughter Leora Belle Cochran"). The obituary text was not read — the image requires a signed-in FamilySearch session. It may name her siblings as survivors, which would independently confirm section 6, and may give her exact death date.

7. Leora's exact death day (target 5)

• Narrowed, not pinned: South Bend Tribune notices May 3, 1989 (p. C6) and May 4, 1989 (p. D15) in the SJCPL Obituary Index (companion pull, ~/workspace/family-tree/sjcpl-cochran-index-full.md), address N. Sunnyside Ave. Tribune death notices of that era typically ran 1–2 days after death, bracketing her death to about May 1–2, 1989. Labeled as an inference from publication dates; the index does not state a death date.
• This lane's SSDI-style web searches for Leora did not return her entry (one search run in wave 1 timed out; this pass's searches returned unrelated Leora Cochrans, including the Whittier, CA woman born 1901 — do not merge, as flagged in wave 1).
• Best remaining free routes to the exact day: (1) the Michigan Obituaries image (record QGPT-NL2K above) in a signed-in FamilySearch session; (2) her Social Security NUMIDENT/Death Master File entry under "Leora Cochran," b. 29 Apr 1898 — the SortedByName free file for Cochran was not exhausted this pass; (3) the Tribune notice text itself, which sits behind the SJCPL copy fee Joel has ruled out (NO FEES, standing rule) — do not order.

8. NOT FOUND list (searched this pass, not located)

1. Transcription of either death certificate (Lewis 1928, Jane 1925) — assets located and cited in section 2; images not readable by fetch. Live-browser steps are written out there.
2. Lewis + Jane marriage record — no conclusive hit in web indexes, Dibean leads, or MIGenWeb Cass (section 4). Expected in FamilySearch Michigan marriage collections, Cass County, ~1878–1886, searchable signed-in.
3. Any record naming Jane's maiden name — "Cropsey" remains on-file only. Her 1925 death certificate is the designated settler.
4. Jane's birth, parents, and burial — all pending item 1.
5. Full 1900/1910 household member lists — index citations exact (section 5); images not retrieved; no free full transcription found on USGenWeb Cass, ldsgenealogy, or archive.org.
6. Lewis's mother (John C. Etter's wife) — unknown in every source, WikiTree included.
7. Leora's exact death day — narrowed to ~May 1–2, 1989 by notice dates (section 7).
8. Ernest L. Etter's exact birth day (9 vs 19 Nov 1892) and marriage day (19 vs 22 Feb 1912) — index-vs-index conflicts, flagged in section 6, settled only by the register images.
9. Ezra's 1880 birth vs. Lewis's "single" 1880 census status — tension flagged in section 4; unresolved.

9. Highest-value next steps (all free)

1. Live browser: transcribe Jane's (1925) and Lewis's (1928) Preservica death certificates using the exact asset URLs and steps in section 2. Jane's first — it can confirm Cropsey, name her parents, name an informant, and give her burial in one document.
2. Signed-in FamilySearch session: pull the 1900 (image 125) and 1910 (image 1073) Volinia census images to list both households in full; pull Leora's obituary image (QGPT-NL2K, image 01127); search Michigan Marriages 1868–1925 for Lewis Etter, Cass, 1878–1886.
3. Transcribe Verna (Colborn) Etter's 1923 certificate to resolve the Kalamazoo vs. Kalkaska place conflict and to capture the mother's maiden name as Verna's informant reported it — a second, independent shot at Jane's surname.

Source list (URLs used)

• WikiTree, Lewis A. Etter profile (Etter-844) and its cited FamilySearch record indexes: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Etter-844
• WikiTree Etter surname index: https://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/ETTER
• Archives of Michigan Digital Collections, Death Certificates 1897–1952: https://michigan.access.preservica.com/death-certificates-1897-1952/
• Lewis A. Etter certificate asset 005363576_01519: https://michigan.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_d84a32b3-18b1-4192-a482-a4e91aabfcd2/
• Jane Etter certificate asset 005363576_00943: https://michigan.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_f644858a-fae6-48e5-aa3e-a02b2faa7433/
• Preservica keyword searches: https://michigan.access.preservica.com/?s=Lewis+Etter and https://michigan.access.preservica.com/?s=Jane+Etter and https://michigan.access.preservica.com/?s=George+Cropsey
• FamilySearch, Leora Belle Cochran obituary index entry (record QGPT-NL2K): https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGPT-NL2K
• BillionGraves headstone record, Lewis A. Sr. Etter, Bly Cemetery: http://billiongraves.com/pages/record/person/21353334
• Cass County Death Records 1867–1960 (MIGenWeb): http://www.migenweb.org/cass/dea1867to1960.htm
• Bly Cemetery, Marcellus (MIGenWeb): https://www.migenweb.org/cass/cemeteries/blycem.htm
• Palmer Funeral Homes obituaries (Leora's daughters, trunk corroboration): https://www.palmerfuneralhomes.com/obituary/Bernice-Ricker and https://www.palmerfuneralhomes.com/obituary/Betty-Reeder/services
• Companion file (SJCPL pull): ~/workspace/family-tree/sjcpl-cochran-index-full.md
• Wave 1 file: ~/workspace/family-tree/line-b-etter-cropsey-michigan.md

10. Certificate transcriptions (live browser read, 2026-10-25)

Status update: both certificates located in section 2 have now been opened and read in full in the Michiganology / Archives of Michigan Digital Collections (Preservica) viewer, using the viewer's zoom and full-screen controls. No login and no payment were needed. This section supersedes the "located, NOT yet transcribed" status in sections 0, 2, 3, and 8. Fields are transcribed exactly as written on the forms; anything the reader could not make out is marked illegible, and uncertain readings are flagged as uncertain rather than adopted.

10.1 Jane Etter — Michigan Certificate of Death

• Source: Archives of Michigan Digital Collections (Michiganology / Preservica), Death Certificates 1897–1952, asset 005363576_00943, https://michigan.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_f644858a-fae6-48e5-aa3e-a02b2faa7433/
• Site metadata: Birth 1858; Death 1925-06-22; Age 66; County Cass; City Volinia; Father Elexander Cropsey; Mother Mary Rogers.
• Form: Michigan Department of Health, Certificate of Death, printed number 14 938, Register No. 6.
• Place of death: County Cass, Township Volinia; Village/City blank.
• Full name: Jane Etter. Residence fields blank.
• Sex: Female. Color/Race: White. Marital status: Married. Husband: Lewis Etter.
• Date of birth: Dec. 18, 1858. Age: 66 years, 6 months, 4 days.
• Occupation: Housekeeping; industry/employer blank.
• Birthplace: Cass Co., Michigan.
• Father: Elexander Cropsey (spelled "Elexander" on the certificate and in the site metadata). Father's birthplace: New York State.
• Mother's maiden name: Mary Rogers. Mother's birthplace: "Dont know."
• Informant: Lewis Etter, Marcellus, Mich.
• Filed: July 7, 1925; registrar signature illegible in part.
• Date of death: June 22, 1925, at 5:30 A.M. Physician attended her April 22, 1925 to June 22, 1925 and last saw her alive June 21, 1925; signed James H. Swan, M.D., June 24, 1925, Marcellus, Mich.
• Cause of death: Acute myocarditis and acute nephritis, duration 0 yrs., 2 mos., 0 ds. Contributory (secondary): Carcinoma of breast, duration 5 yrs., (?) mos. (the months figure is not legible with confidence). No operation, no autopsy; test confirming diagnosis: "History, observation."
• Burial/removal: Marcellus (no cemetery name is given on the form). Date of burial: June 25, 1925.
• Undertaker: signature reads "Oscar" with the surname illegible in the script (appears to be Young), address Marcellus, Mich.

What this settles: Jane's father is a Cropsey, which record-supports the family tradition that her maiden name was Cropsey (the certificate itself gives her married name, Etter, and names her father; it does not carry a separate maiden-name field). Her parents are now named in the tree: Elexander Cropsey and Mary Rogers, Leora's great-grandparents. Her birth date and place, death date and place, and burial town and date are all now record facts. The certificate does not name the cemetery; Bly Cemetery in Marcellus is the family cemetery (Lewis's burial there is verified), but Jane's placement there specifically remains to be proven, not assumed.

10.2 Lewis A. Etter — Michigan Certificate of Death

• Source: Archives of Michigan Digital Collections (Michiganology / Preservica), Death Certificates 1897–1952, asset 005363576_01519, https://michigan.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_d84a32b3-18b1-4192-a482-a4e91aabfcd2/
• Site metadata: Birth 1854; Death 1928-01-2; Age 73; County Cass; City Volinia; Father John Etter; Mother unknown.
• Form: Michigan Department of Health, Certificate of Death, printed number 14 1513, Register No. 11.
• Place of death: County Cass, Village Volinia; Township/City blank on the form as shown.
• Full name: Lewis A. Etter.
• Sex: Male. Color/Race: White. Marital status: Widowed; spouse name field blank (consistent with Jane having died in 1925).
• Date of birth: Sept. 28, 1854. Age as written: 73 years, 3 months, 10 days. Note: that age does not exactly compute from Sept. 28, 1854 to Jan. 2, 1928; both values are reported exactly as written.
• Occupation: Farmer; industry/employer blank.
• Birthplace: Volinia (as written on the certificate). Conflict flagged, not resolved: the certificate gives Volinia, Michigan, while the death certificate index line and the WikiTree line carried in sections 1 and 5 give Ohio (1870–1910 census indexes also say Ohio; the 1920 index says Michigan). Both readings stay labeled; the certificate is a primary document but its informant was reporting 73 years after the birth.
• Father: John Etter. Father's birthplace: New York State.
• Mother's maiden name: "Dont Know"; mother's birthplace: "Dont Know." The informant did not name Lewis's mother; she remains unknown.
• Informant: Ernest Etter, Marcellus, Mich., R.F.D. (Ernest L. Etter, section 6.)
• Filed: Jan. 31, 1928; Registrar: Elda Hull.
• Date of death: Jan. 2, 1928, at 6:?? A.M. (the minutes digit is illegible in the handwriting). The physician's handwritten attendance and last-seen dates are difficult to read and are not relied on here.
• Cause of death: Cerebral Hemorrhage (code "90"), duration Unknown. Contributory: Mitral Insufficiency (reading uncertain), duration Unknown. No operation, no autopsy.
• Physician: signed W. J. [surname illegible], Jan. 9, 1928, Marcellus, Mich.
• Burial/removal: Marcellus (no cemetery name given on the form). Date of burial: Jan. 11, 1928. (Independent records place his burial at Bly Cemetery, Marcellus: section 1.)
• Undertaker: the same signature as on Jane's certificate, "Oscar" with the surname illegible in the script (appears to be Young), Marcellus, Mich.

What this settles and what it does not: Lewis's full dates, death place and cause, occupation, and his father John Etter (now named on the certificate itself, with New York State as John's birthplace) are record facts. His mother remains unknown: his own son, reporting his death, wrote "Dont Know." His birthplace is now a flagged two-reading conflict (certificate: Volinia; index and census line: Ohio).

11. Two more Etter certificates read (live browser, 2026-10-25): Gertrude (Fragee) Etter and Charles E. Etter

Status update: the two certificates that earlier passes could only locate or could not find at all have now been opened and read in the Archives of Michigan Digital Collections (Preservica, Death Certificates 1897-1952), live browser read on 2026-10-25. No login and no payment were needed. Fields are transcribed as read; anything the reader could not make out is marked illegible, and uncertain readings are flagged rather than adopted. These two documents close the Gertrude identity question, verify Charles E. Etter as a son of John Etter, and name the children's mother as Mary.

11.1 Gertrude (Fragee) Etter: Michigan Certificate of Death

• Source: Archives of Michigan Digital Collections (Preservica), Death Certificates 1897-1952, asset 005237617_00489, https://michigan.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_ade9fc5b-b223-4652-b13a-d2e2bdd11c2a/
• Full name: Gertrude Etter. Maiden name: Fragee.
• Date of birth: February 2, 1875.
• Birthplace: illegible on the certificate as read (possibly Bangor, Michigan; NOT asserted, do not adopt).
• Residence: Marcellus, Michigan.
• Occupation: Housekeeper.
• Husband: Charles Etter.
• Father: Fred Fragee. Mother: Lillian Vincent.
• Date and place of death: August 1, 1933, Bronson Hospital, Kalamazoo, Michigan.
• Cause of death: terminal cardiac failure, with a massive ruptured ovarian cyst; an operation was performed July 31, 1933.
• Informant: Mrs. Viola [surname illegible], Marcellus.
• Burial: Marcellus, August 3, 1933 (the certificate does not name the cemetery; she is the Gertrude stone in Bly Cemetery Lot 107).

What this settles:

• The Bly Lot 107 stone conflict is CLOSED: the 1875-1933 reading is correct and the 1875-1913 reading is a misread and is retired. Gertrude died August 1, 1933.
• Gertrude of Lot 107 is Charles E. Etter's WIFE, not his daughter and not his sister. Her parents are Fred Fragee and Lillian Vincent, so she married into the Etter line. The Fragee and Vincent surnames are new to this tree.
• She is not a child of John C. Etter and does not belong in the children enumeration in line-etter-upward.md except as Charles's wife.

11.2 Charles E. Etter: Michigan Certificate of Death

• Source: Archives of Michigan Digital Collections (Preservica), Death Certificates 1897-1952, asset 005362047_02995, https://michigan.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_547e3dee-ec00-4ae9-9973-c5eba13f367a/
• Filed in Detroit, Wayne County (the index spells him "Chas E Etter"). This explains why every Cass County hunt for his certificate failed: he died in Detroit, not Cass County.
• Full name: Charles E. Etter.
• Date and place of death: December 20, 1938, at 10 p.m., Detroit, Michigan (10285 American St.). He had been in Detroit 2 months 4 days; his non-resident home was Marcellus.
• Date of birth: May 1, 1858, as read. One-day inconsistency flagged, not resolved: the stated age, 80 years 7 months 20 days, is one day more than May 1, 1858 to December 20, 1938 computes to; either the birth date or the stated age is off by a day. Both values are reported as written.
• Birthplace: Pennsylvania.
• Occupation: Farmer.
• Marital status: Widowed. Wife: Gertrude Fragee Etter (consistent with section 11.1: Gertrude died in 1933).
• Father: John Etter (birthplace written unknown on this certificate).
• Mother: "Mary", with her maiden name and birthplace both written Unknown.
• Informant: Mrs. Lena [surname illegible], Detroit.
• Cause of death: chronic myocarditis.
• Burial: Marcellus, December 23, 1938 (the certificate does not name the cemetery; he is the Charles E. stone in Bly Cemetery Lot 107).

What this settles and what it does not:

• Charles E. Etter as John Etter's son is now VERIFIED. His own certificate names his father as John Etter. Lewis A. Etter's certificate (section 10.2) also names his father as John Etter, so Charles and Lewis as brothers is supported at record level: two certificates, one named father.
• The children's mother was named Mary. Charles's certificate gives his mother's first name as Mary and her maiden name as Unknown. This STRENGTHENS the candidacy of Mary A. Etter (1827-1894) of Bly Lot 107 as John C. Etter's wife and the children's mother, but she stays CANDIDATE: no record yet gives that Mary's maiden name or calls her John's wife or the children's mother in words, and the maiden name here is expressly unknown.
• The John C. origin conflict sharpens rather than resolves. Charles was born in Pennsylvania in 1858 (this certificate). Lewis's certificate says their father John was born in New York State. Both readings stay flagged. Family path on current evidence: Pennsylvania to Ohio to Marcellus, Michigan, with Lewis's own birthplace still a flagged conflict (his certificate says Volinia; his index and census line say Ohio).