Searching for Edwin Leslie Pesola

Question

i'm trying to find more about my grandfather,

his name was Edwin Leslie Pesola Born July 20, 1936 Died Feb 12, 1999, his wikitree page is Pesola-1, i found him with social security deth index, but i cant find any other records with him, i know he is buried in a military cementery but not sure where to look for military records, the only sources i can find are below.

=== Sources ===

*"Minnesota, Marriage Index, 1958-2001," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VNSS-64T : accessed 1 April 2012), Edwin L Pesola (1961)

*"Minnesota, Birth Index, 1935-2002," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VCKX-7VF : accessed 1 April 2012), Edwin Pesola in entry for Debbie Mae Pesola (1963).

*"United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/V9VS-6JH : accessed 1 April 2012), Edwin L Pesola (1999).

Comments

Because he lived so recently, you may not be able to find much more.  Do you have his parents?  If not, the 1940 Census should help.  They're still working on indexing it the last I knew.  Good hunting.

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thank you, i'll try to look thru the 1940 census, no one knows his parents or any more information then what i have listed on his wiki page

Answer 1

Have you tried searching the official Minnesota Birth Indexes (http://people.mnhs.org/bci/) ?

There only seems to be a few families with that surname having children at around that time.  Don't discount the fact that he may have anglicised his first birth name after or during childhood.

Good luck

Comments

Thanks i will try, my biggest thing has been the no one knowing much and he died so recently, but i will try the Minnesota Birth Records, thank you

Answer 2

The US Department of Veterans Affairs has a military gravesite locator: http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/j2ee/servlet/NGL_v1. I wasn't able to find an Edwin Pesola, but you might try other spelling variations.

Since he died fairly recently, it might be easy to find an obituary. Research the newspapers from where he died and his hometown to find out what type of an archive they keep. Once you have a copy of the obituary, if you are in contact with any of Edwin's next-of-kin, you can request a copy of his military record: http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/ which may give you more detailed information about his place of birth and might even list his parents if he served before he was married.