The Time My Father Sold a Depot

©  Kathy Duncan, 2019

Genealogybank.com is currently beta testing a new search engine that connects to your account on FamilySearch.org. I could not resist taking it for a test drive. More on that later.

This little gem turned up in my search.

During the 1980s, my father, Doyal F. Duncan, was the Superintendent of the Middle Division of the Santa Fe railroad, headquartered in Newton, Kansas. Evidently, he was the point of contact for anyone wishing to purchase the old depot at Offerele, Kansas.

D.F. Duncan

According to Kansas Remembers, which is run by the Kansas Historical Society, the depot at Offerle was built in 1907 and is no longer standing. If it sold, it would not be standing in the same spot. Did it sell or was it razed?

In the 1960s - 1970s, the little depot was still in pristine condition:

Later it was in need of paint. I wonder if this unknown newspaper clipping could have been in connection with the depot's sale or demolition:

I would love to hear from anyone who knows what became of the Offerle, Kansas depot.

As for Genealogybank's beta test, you can try it here.

I found it to be very limited and clunky. The system selects which individuals on your branch of the tree for which it will search. Most of these are direct ancestors. It seems to search for women by maiden name only. My husband turned up in my list of choices, but I could not search for anyone else in his family. It seems to search by time periods rather than locations, so there can be a discouraging amount of hits to search through, even more so if it's a fairly common name.  If the individual has an unconventional name entered in FamilySearch like "Mary or Molly Thompson," don't expect to find much.

For the time being, I think I will stick to searching Genealogybank without this aid. For full disclosure purposes, I have a paid subscription to Genealogybank.