Online Resource Pass, 1940-1950

Run date: 2026-04-23

Status: updated after follow-up implementation. Two proposed CPL Cleveland directory source records and raw page artifacts were created for confirmed Iaciofano/Iacofano page hits; no person, event, or lead records were edited.

Scope and Guardrails

This pass was a free/public-online-first search for additional resources, media, pictures, clippings, directories, and indexed records touching the repo's direct 1940-1950 timeline.

Focus people and leads:

  • Gordon Francis Ponceby, Shirley Jean Armstrong/Ponceby, Donald Edwin Ponceby, Jane N. Ponceby, Gayle Louise Ponceby.
  • Paul Edward Armstrong, Lola Louise Seem/Armstrong, and the Orpha/Effie Hill Armstrong lead where the 1941 Marie Shroyer obituary touches the 1940s.
  • Arthur Joe Iacofano, Mary Ricciardi, Mary J. Laurenzo/Iacofano, and Iacofano collateral leads visible in the 1940 Cleveland household.

Repo guardrails applied:

  • python3 scripts/agent_preflight.py was run before the pass.
  • INGEST.md, repo_rules.yaml, 01_people/INDEX.md, 02_sources/INDEX.md, 03_events/INDEX.md, and relevant research queues were checked before relying on names or duplicate status.
  • Duplicate checks were made against 02_sources/INDEX.md, existing 02_sources/*.md records, and relevant 04_views/ queues. Because preflight reported more source records than the generated index alone exposed during planning, this pass did not rely on 02_sources/INDEX.md by itself.
  • scripts/build_indexes.py is run after source-record implementation passes so generated indexes reflect new records.

Search Matrix

Lane People and events Variants used Primary repositories
Ponceby direct, 1940-1950 Donald/Jane Cleveland residence; Gordon enlistment, BGSU, marriage, naturalization; Shirley BGSU/marriage; Gayle birth Ponceby, Pownceby, Pounceby, Poncely, Gordon Ponceby, Gordon F Ponceby, Shirley Armstrong, Shirley Ponceby, Gayle Ponceby, Gail Ponceby BGSU yearbooks, BG News, BG News Index, WCDPL newspapers, CPL directories, Euclid directories/news, LOC East Cleveland Leader, Cleveland Memory, FamilySearch Detroit manifests, NARA AAD guidance
Armstrong/Seem, 1940-1950 Paul Edward Armstrong, Lola Louise Seem/Armstrong, Orpha/Effie Hill Armstrong, 1941 Shroyer obituary context Paul Armstrong, Lola Armstrong, Lola Seem, Lola Seems, Orpha Armstrong, Effie Armstrong, Orpha Hill, Seem, Seems, Shroyer WCDPL newspapers, existing Armstrong/Seem queue, Ohio death index
Iacofano/Ricciardi, 1940-1950 Arthur Joe Iacofano and Mary Ricciardi after 1941 marriage; Mary J. Laurenzo/Iacofano; 1940 Cleveland household collateral Iacofano, Iaciofano, Yaciofano, Ricciardi, Laurenzo, Lorenzo, Mary Ricciardi, Maria Iacofano, Arthur Iacofano, Random Rd, E 232d CPL directories, Euclid directories/news, LOC East Cleveland Leader, Cleveland Memory/Cleveland Press

Repositories Checked

Repository URL or access point Result disposition
BGSU Key yearbooks https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/yearbooks/ Searched 1946, 1947, and 1950 PDFs directly; 1948-1950 Gordon hits are already represented by existing source records.
BGSU BG News https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/bg-news/index.348.html Spot-checked 1949 PDFs around Gordon's BGSU period; no new exact Ponceby hit found.
BGSU BG News Index https://lib.bgsu.edu/bgnewsindex/ Exact Ponceby and Pownceby searches returned no results; broader Gordon/Shirley/Armstrong searches were noisy and did not surface a target hit.
WCDPL Digital Newspaper Archives https://wcdpl.advantage-preservation.com/ Prior exact WCDPL pass already found the 1948 Gordon/Shirley marriage-license notice and 1941 Shroyer/Orpha notice; no additional public artifact was identified in this pass.
Cleveland Public Library city directories https://cplorg.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/api/search/collection/p16014coll29/searchterm/Ponceby/field/all/maxRecords/20 Ponceby search returned only already represented 1940 and 1942 Cleveland directory entries.
Cleveland Public Library city directories https://cplorg.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/api/search/collection/p16014coll29/searchterm/Iacofano/field/all/maxRecords/20 Found directory-level Iacofano hits for 1940, 1942, 1951, 1954, 1955, and older years. Follow-up localized the 1942 hit to printed page 538 and created source-cleveland-city-directory-page-for-iaciofano-and-iacofano-entries-1942.
Cleveland Public Library city directories https://cplorg.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/api/search/collection/p16014coll29/searchterm/Iaciofano/field/all/maxRecords/20 Found directory-level hits including 1940, 1942, and Cleveland City Directory 1943-1944. Follow-up localized the 1943-1944 hit to printed page 525 and created source-cleveland-city-directory-page-for-iaciofano-and-iacofano-entries-1943-1944.
Cleveland Public Library city directories https://cplorg.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/api/search/collection/p16014coll29/searchterm/Ricciardi/field/all/maxRecords/20 Found directory-level Ricciardi hits including 1940, 1942, 1951, 1954, 1955, and older years. Follow-up localized the 1942 hit to printed page 963, but that page did not show Mary Ricciardi, Domenic/Dominic Ricciardi, Christina/Pauletta, or another target-linked Ricciardi household; no source was created.
Euclid Public Library city directories https://www.euclidlibrary.org/content/city-directories Existing 1950 Arthur/Mary Iacofano Euclid directory source covers the strongest target hit; no new exact public hit was added.
Euclid News-Journal https://www.euclidlibrary.org/content/thursday-december-21-1950 Checked as a known scanned-news access pattern; no new direct 1940-1950 Ponceby/Iacofano artifact was identified.
East Cleveland Leader, Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83035682 LOC collection searches for target surnames and variants returned zero target hits.
Cleveland Memory / Cleveland Press Collection https://clevelandmemory.org/press/ Web searches did not surface a target public photo or clipping. No new access blocker was added because no specific undigitized/on-campus-only target was found.
FamilySearch Detroit manifests, 1906-1956 https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1916040 Gordon's reported 1942 Ambassador Bridge entry remains an existing human-input blocker; no duplicate blocker was created.
NARA WWII Army Enlistment Records guidance https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/spring/aad-ww2.html No stronger artifact than the existing Gordon 1944 enlistment source was found or queued.
Ohio History Connection Death Record Index https://resources.ohiohistory.org/death No new 1940-1950 death/certificate lead was identified for this timeline pass.

Candidate Finds

Follow-up implementation converted the two strongest CPL directory-level Iaciofano/Iacofano candidates into proposed source records. The remaining 1942 Ricciardi page-localization result was checked but not ingested because it did not show a target-linked Ricciardi household.

Directory-level candidates worth follow-up:

Candidate Date Exact URL Person/event relevance Suggested future source type Disposition
Cleveland City Directory 1942, Iacofano/Iaciofano page hit 1942 https://cplorg.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/api/singleitem/collection/p16014coll29/id/52240 Page 538 lists Iaciofano and Iacofano entries including Mary J. Iaciofano, two Arth (Mary) Iacofano entries, and collateral Iacofano entries. city_directory Ingested as proposed source source-cleveland-city-directory-page-for-iaciofano-and-iacofano-entries-1942; no residence event created because the page contains two same-name Arth (Mary) entries.
Cleveland City Directory 1943-1944, Iaciofano/Iacofano page hit 1943-1944 https://cplorg.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/api/singleitem/collection/p16014coll29/id/50144 Page 525 lists Iaciofano and Iacofano entries including Mary J. Iacofano, Iaciofano Arth (Mary), Iacofano Arth (Mary), and collateral entries. city_directory Ingested as proposed source source-cleveland-city-directory-page-for-iaciofano-and-iacofano-entries-1943-1944; no residence event created because the page contains variant/same-name Arth (Mary) entries.
Cleveland City Directory 1942, Ricciardi directory-level hit 1942 https://cplorg.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/api/singleitem/collection/p16014coll29/id/52665 Page 963 localizes the 1942 Ricciardi/Ricciardi-like hit, but it does not show Mary Ricciardi or her known immediate family. none Checked and not ingested; keep Ricciardi searches focused on pages that name Mary, Domenic/Dominic, Christina/Pauletta, Nick, Angie, or a same-household connection.
Cleveland City Directory 1951, Iacofano/Ricciardi directory-level hits 1951 https://cplorg.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16014coll29/id/93465 and searches above Just outside the 1940-1950 window, but may clarify post-1950 continuity if later needed. city_directory Queue only for a later post-1950 continuity pass.

Duplicate or Already Represented Finds

Find Existing representation Notes
BGSU Key 1950 Gordon F. Ponceby entries source-bgsu-key-yearbook-pages-for-gordon-f-ponceby-1950 The 1950 Key includes Delta Upsilon/group/senior-index appearances for Gordon; already represented.
BGSU Key 1948 Gordon Ponceby entries source-bgsu-key-yearbook-pages-for-gordon-ponceby-1948 Existing proposed source from prior BGSU pass.
BGSU Key 1949 Gordon Ponceby entries source-bgsu-key-yearbook-pages-for-gordon-ponceby-1949 Existing proposed source from prior BGSU pass.
1948 Risingsun Unique Weekly marriage-license notice for Gordon F. Ponceby and Shirley Armstrong source-risingsun-unique-weekly-marriage-license-notice-for-gordon-f-ponceby-and-shirley-armstrong-1948 WCDPL hit already represented; no duplicate source needed.
1941 Bradner Advocate Marie Shroyer obituary naming Mrs. Orpha Armstrong source-bradner-advocate-obituary-for-mrs-marie-shroyer-naming-orpha-armstrong-1941 Relevant Armstrong/Orpha 1940s touchpoint already represented.
Cleveland City Directory 1940 Donald/Jane Ponceby source-cleveland-city-directory-donald-jane-ponceby-1940 CPL Ponceby search returned this existing record.
Cleveland City Directory 1942 Donald/Jane Ponceby source-cleveland-city-directory-donald-jane-ponceby-1942 CPL Ponceby search returned this existing record.
Euclid City Directory 1950 Arthur J. and Mary Iacofano source-euclid-city-directory-page-for-arthur-j-and-mary-iacofano-1950 Existing source covers Arthur/Mary at 373 E. 232d.
Gordon F. Ponceby 1944 enlistment source-army-serial-number-merged-file-gordon-f-ponceby-1944 NARA guidance did not surface a stronger public artifact in this pass.
Gordon Francis Ponceby 1950 naturalization source-naturalization-petition-gordon-francis-ponceby-1950 Existing naturalization source remains the controlling artifact for this lane.

Negative Searches

Date Repository Query or range Result disposition
2026-04-23 BGSU Key yearbooks 1946 and 1947 PDFs; Ponceby, Pownceby, Pounceby, Poncely, Gordon Ponceby, Shirley Armstrong, Shirley Ponceby, Iacofano, Ricciardi No target hits. Only unrelated Gordon/Armstrong names appeared.
2026-04-23 BGSU Key yearbook 1950 PDF; same target surname and name variants Gordon hits were duplicates of existing 1950 Key source; no new candidate.
2026-04-23 BGSU BG News Index Ponceby; API form https://lib.bgsu.edu/bgnewsindex/api/items?search=Ponceby No results.
2026-04-23 BGSU BG News Index Pownceby No results.
2026-04-23 BGSU BG News Index Gordon Ponceby, Gordon F Ponceby, Shirley Armstrong, Shirley Ponceby, Armstrong Results were broad/noisy and did not identify a target article.
2026-04-23 BGSU BG News PDFs 1949-02-23 and 1949-03-23 PDFs; Ponceby, Gordon, Shirley, Armstrong No target Ponceby hit; one unrelated Gordon mention.
2026-04-23 WCDPL Digital Newspaper Archives Ponceby/Pownceby/Pounceby/Poncely/Gordon Ponceby/Shirley Armstrong/Shirley Ponceby/Donald/Jane/Gayle variants, 1935-1965, using prior exact WCDPL pass as baseline No additional Ponceby result beyond the already represented 1948 marriage-license notice.
2026-04-23 WCDPL Digital Newspaper Archives Orpha Armstrong/Shroyer/Seem/Seems Armstrong lanes, using existing Armstrong/Seem queue as baseline 1941 Shroyer/Orpha notice already represented; no new 1940-1950 artifact added.
2026-04-23 CPL city directory API Ponceby Only 1940 and 1942 Donald/Jane directory entries surfaced; both already represented.
2026-04-23 LOC East Cleveland Leader Iacofano, Iaciofano, Yaciofano, Ricciardi, Ponceby, Arthur Iacofano, Mary Ricciardi, Maria Iacofano, date/facet 1940-1950 where supported Zero target hits.
2026-04-23 Cleveland Memory / Cleveland Press Site searches for Iacofano, Ponceby, and target variants No public photo or clipping candidate surfaced.
2026-04-23 Euclid Public Library site Site searches for Iacofano, Ricciardi, Ponceby, 1947/1950 directory/news variants No new artifact beyond the existing 1950 Euclid directory source.
2026-04-23 FamilySearch Detroit manifests Gordon Ponceby reported 1942 Ambassador Bridge entry Image review remains blocked by existing human-input item; no duplicate HIR item added.
2026-04-23 NARA WWII Army Enlistment context Gordon F. Ponceby 1944 enlistment/AAD guidance No stronger source candidate found beyond existing enlistment record.

Follow-up Queue

Agent-doable follow-up:

  1. Resolve the duplicate/variant 1942 and 1943-1944 Arth (Mary) directory entries before creating any Arthur/Mary residence event from the new CPL directory sources.
  2. Use the Euclid Public Library directory PDFs for 1947 and 1950 only if a later pass needs to bracket Arthur/Mary's Cleveland-to-Euclid residence timeline beyond the existing 1950 Euclid source.
  3. Revisit individual BG News PDFs around the 1948 marriage, 1948-1950 BGSU social/organization windows, and the 1950 Gayle birth window if a more specific issue/date clue appears. The exact BG News Index searches did not provide that clue in this pass.

Human-input follow-up already tracked:

  1. Keep HIR-20260423-001 for Gordon Francis Ponceby's reported 1942 Detroit/Ambassador Bridge entry in FamilySearch Detroit manifests.
  2. Keep existing Iacofano/CPL and signed-in research blockers, including HIR-20260423-010 through HIR-20260423-014, for obituary, library scan, residence, and naturalization follow-up.
  3. Keep existing Shirley/Armstrong/Seem review and certificate blockers, including HIR-20260423-016 and related Minnie/Thomas/Orpha items.

No new human-input-required-next-steps item was added in this pass because no new specific sign-in, paid, staff-request, archive-order, or user-decision target surfaced beyond the existing blockers.

Completion Notes

Follow-up implementation created one proposed source record per confirmed CPL Iaciofano/Iacofano page artifact. The same-name Arthur/Mary ambiguity remains unresolved, so no person records were updated and no residence event was created from the new directory pages.