Don't forget to look for church records!

I am the happy holder of two documents from my family history. The Certificates of Graduation of my Grandfather, William Bellew and his brother Hugh Bellew (the one we're still trying to figure out what happened to). These documents are rather oddly large, so I've photographed them and have one pictured here. But, it's not what's in these certificates that gave me information necessarily, it's where they lead me that made me the happy recipient of another few small pieces of my family history.

The School of The Holy Trinity was a catholic school in Central Falls, Rhode Island where my Grandfather lived when he was younger - that much I knew. But, was it still there? Did they hold any records? This is what I set to find out. I quickly found reference to The Holy Trinity in Central Falls, so I found a contact us link and sent them an email. The kind reply said that they didn't have the school records any longer, but she did let me know that they hold church records for this family and she would send them along to me. A few days later I received a Confirmation Certificate in the mail for my Grandfather and a Baptism, Confirmation & Marriage certificate for another Bellew brother Alfred.

Other than the names of their God Parents and the dates of these sacraments, these documents weren't glowing with any new tidbits of information, but they are now part of the history package I have for these two members of my family.