Swing and a Miss

I haven't done much out-in-the-field research in a while. From time to time I'll jump on Ancestry and have a look around to see if there're any new databases to check out, but that's about it. Today I took a drive up to Lansing to the Library of Michigan to look up some vital records. As I've been pulling my notes and documents together for my novel writing project I've come across a few bits of missing information that I'd like to fill in. Today's trip to the library was for that purpose. Here's what I have and what I'm missing:

• Catherine LIPA died April 4, 1887 according to a cemetery record. The record doesn't list the name of the parents, what the cause of death was, or the name of the parish or funeral home. The child's age is listed as 3. There is no gravestone or it has sunken (the cemetery record doesn't tell that either).
  
• I wanted a birth record to discover the parents' names (hopefully to confirm Szymon and Ludwika LIPA as parents) and get an exact birth date.
• I wanted a death certificate to confirm that the Catherine LIPA buried in the cemetery was the daughter of Szymon and Ludwika LIPA.
  
• John (Jan) LIPA was born January 25, 1886 according to the church baptismal registry. He died March 29, 1887 according to a cemetery record. The cemetery record doesn't list the name of the parents, what the cause of death was, or the name of the parish or funeral home. The child's age is listed as 1. There is no gravestone or it has sunken.
  
• I wanted a birth record just to have a second source of information for the birth.
• I wanted a death certificate to confirm that the John LIPA buried in the cemetery was the son of Szymon and Ludwika LIPA.
  
• On the 1900 and 1910 census records, Szymon LIPA is recorded as naturalized.
  
• I wanted a copy of his naturalization papers.
  

Here's what I found at the library: nothing.

I went through the pertinent microfilms for the indexes of births for the state of Michigan, county of Wayne but couldn't find a birth record for either Catherine or John LIPA. I combed the indexes from 1882 - 1889 and the only LIPA surname I found was for their sister Sophia who was born in 1888. I know from city directory listings that the family was living here from 1886 until 1916. They immigrated to the U.S. in 1881 (port of Philadelphia) but I don't know where they were from 1881 until 1886. They could have been in Detroit but I can't prove it.

I went through the pertinent microfilms for the indexes of deaths for the state of Michigan, county of Wayne but couldn't find a death record or either Catherine or John LIPA, or anyone else with LIPA surname either. I searched 1881 - 1889, but no luck.

I went to the state archives, asked for help, looked through the circuit court and federal court indexes for naturalizations for Wayne County, Michigan for all the dates they suggested and found nothing. Not one single LIPA let alone my great grandfather Szymon.

One... two... three strikes I'm out in this old, ball, game! (Better me than the Tigers! Go Tigers!)

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