Having found her parents in Buffalo NY, Joseph and Myrtle Nelson...I tried to find out who their parents were. That was a dead end. They also didn't show on any census records but that one. There were lots of Nelsons in Buffalo, note the spelling wasn't the Norwegian one of Nelsen.
Joseph Nelson was on a census in 1925 for Buffalo...listed as living at 117 Massachusetts Av, and listed as a chef. He was 37, and his wife, Myrtle A. is listed as a cashier, age 34. Their daughter Gladys M. is one year old.
There's a possible record of service in the armed forces for Joseph Nelson, who was born on 20 Jan 1888, and died on 14 May 1934, having lived in Buffalo NY. There are many Nelsons on every list I looked at, so I'm not sure this is Gladys' father, as this is the only one with a service record.
We don't even know Myrtle's maiden name, just that she had an initial "A." on that 1925 census. That could have stood for her maiden name. The only other Myrtle Nelson that might have been her, was on a city of Buffalo Directory, where a Myrtle M. Nelson is listed as a salesgirl for a company called Flint & Kent, and her residence was 94 Victoria Av. That same year (1933) a Joseph Nelson is listed as an electrician. and in 1932 a Joseph had been listed living at 39 Babcock, without any trade listed.
Many of the records in Buffalo have a Joseph Nelson who was an electrician, living at 117 Imson St. The year his daughter Gladys was born, (1923) he listed himself in the city directory as a fireman.
So I'm finding the fluidity of history. There are records, but many names which were the same for different people, almost the same ages.
I do know Gladys grew up in Buffalo, and then married there. She even gave birth to her one daughter, my friend L. there in Buffalo NY. What is really nice is that I knew her, and even visited her when she lived just a few blocks from me. She and her daughter's mother-in-law both lived in that senior apartment complex, which probably had a name, but I've forgotten it.
I am sorry not to have found a nice simple tree of this family, like the one from Norway to Minnesota that doesn't belong to them. But unfortunately that's the way our lives develop. I know many people who didn't like the idea of the government knowing any details about their lives. Unfortunately that means my ancestry data has big gaps in it.
Please look at yesterday's post of other photos of her with my family!
I hope your able to track down the information you need to get answers. Genealogy does require so much patience and detective work.
ReplyDeleteSusan
Common surnames like Smith, Jones, or Nelson are a BIG challenge, especially with women who marry and then change their name. I find old city directories really useful since they connect people through addresses and often list occupations and spouses. But another obstacle is spelling of names, since immigrants adapt both forenames and surnames to suit American English. Ultimately making a good identification involves luck and finding an official civil record with address and supporting family names. My favorite is a US passport application which has accurate date and place of birth, a residential address, and best of all, a photo attached.
ReplyDeleteNice followup to your original post on Gladys. Amazing how some families are easy to find, while others -- as you point out here -- just send up brick walls.
ReplyDelete