Can someone help find a newspaper birth announcement? [closed]

Question

I have been working on the ancestry of a friend who died awhile back. But I'm getting nowhere fast! She is WikiTree's first profile with her LNAB, Skari. (Born in Minnesota, but "from" North Dakota.)

Her husband is living and I've connected him to our shared tree already. But I'm not getting anywhere with her. (She was not close with her birth family once she left home.) I found a North Dakota marriage record witnessed by Vern Skari; no idea how related. I have found some info on a man called Vern Skari in North Dakota.

I have looked on ancestry, family search, google and americanancestors, and the marriage record is all I've come up with. She's on FAG, too, and I've got a couple photos I've added. And she has a Wiki page.

What I'm hoping might help is if someone has a Newspapers.com account and could check for a birth record for.

Dawn Marie Skari b. 7 Dec 1961 @ E. Grand Forks, Minnesota.

That might be all I need to get a toehold.

Comments

Vernon Skari the opera singer from Denver recently passed away. His obituary is online. He was born near Watford City, ND.

Answer 1

In the 1960’s there was a Skari Funeral Home in Baldwin, Minnesota.

I did not find her birth notice tho’

Comments

Thanks for checking!

Answer 2

I did not find a birth record either in Minnesota. I am expanding the search to other states just in case. I did find an obituary which may give some possible relatives names:

Great Falls Tribune (Great Falls, Montana), Wednesday, 28 April 2004, pg. 10.

Obituary for Inga (Skari) Haugen, 105 a native of North Dakota. No children. Mentions nieces and nephews: Donald Skari of San Dimas, CA; Betty Smith of Warner-Robins, GA; Severt Spoonheim of Cartwright, ND; Anne Lund of Yakima, WA; Selma Engen of Ray, ND; Verna Iverson and Grace Johnson of Williston, ND; Esther Kundert of Lodi, CA; Juliette Lundquist of Gresham, OR; Mildred Vernon of Bismarck, ND; Margaret Mai of Encino, CA; Vernon Skari of Denver; Arlo and Morton Skari of Chester. Preceded in death by husband in 1975 and 7 brothers: Peder, Albert, Edwin, Ole, Oliver, Luther, John; two sisters: Anna and Martha; nephews Morton Spoonheim, Iner, Duane, Carman, George Albert Skari, and Einar and Lawrence Vangerud. Her parents were Iver Skari and Marie (Anderson) Skari.

Comments

Interestingly, the Vernon Skari I highlight above that I thought may be the one who witnessed Dawn's marriage, was a "noted baritone" and twice won the John Newberry award for opera.

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I did not find anything else at newspapers.com

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Interesting indeed! About the baritone in Denver, that is. This is a reminder that it's worth reading all the little boxes on the forms. That witness to the marriage was my only clue. Not a single other Skari on WikiTree until Dawn. I'm thinking it might be something that emerged from Ellis Island, a relatively small cluster with that particular spelling. (Only a guess.)

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I have found an article through Google which might help unlock the mystery:

https://www.willistonherald.com/news/arnegard-native-to-open-v-p-luncheon-on-monday/article_f6c27f92-b822-51e2-867e-3cad8c6245ae.html

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I have now determined there were 2 different Vernon Skaris. I'm close to 100% certain that the marriage witness was not the baritone in Denver. I don't know if the families in western ND and around Grand Forks are closely related. Or even related at all. There's a ship manifest that I'm not confident with. Plus they were switching over from patronyms as they immigrated. So I could end up leaving a couple of unconnected clusters - unconnected to each other, as well as unconnected to our whole tree.

This is the Vern Skari who must have witnessed the nuptuals.

Answer 3

I looked in My Heritage but did not find a birth certificate but someone else looking for the same info. His name A.J. Krueger, maybe he found some info

Comments

Yes, Christopher! Excellent tip! I got it pinned down to where I was pretty confident. I located Krueger and dropped him a note, which confirmed. I'm happy with where it's ended up. Case closed IMHO.