The gaps in mother's care

I'm thinking of the mothers who weren't nurtured, or weren't supported in a two-parent family in raising my ancestors. The first to come to mind are the widows. And then I think of those who moved away from their own parents when they married, then raised their families with only strangers around them.

Then there are the women who as children had only one parent who raised them...thus they missed the love and support of two parents. And I'm not saying having two parents was representative of a nurturing childhood. Those who lived through wars, who had necessity making them change their home location, those who depended upon the earth and then there were droughts or floods. And of course a calamity of an economic depression also would have impacted how much loving care was devoted to children.

Well, I don't mean just about everybody in a generation, though that might have been the case.

Many of my ancestors spent their whole lives just dedicated to survival. That meant shelter, food, clothing, maybe heat from the cold, and maybe having some rest from their daily grind.

When my ancestors moved from East Tennessee to Texas, they were fleeing a situation where crops were failing and then debts came due for purchases of land. My great times three grandfather, Micajah Rogers had owned several businesses and then relocated with some of his older children to east Texas in the mid 1840s. That was after the fall of the Alamo, and the battle at San Jacinto which eventually created the nation of Texas in 1836. 

Micajah must have known Sam Houston, who lived at times and is buried in Huntsville TX. Houston led the independence forces at San Jacinto, became the first president of Texas, and was in and out of politics of the new country of Texas and then finally the new state of Texas in 1845. 

But what of Micajah's wife Cyntha Cannon Rogers? She stayed behind in Sevier County Tennessee when Micajah first went west. I have read a letter to her from him stating that the younger children should return to Tennessee where there were schools for them.

She lost her last three babies within their first years, born in 1838, 1839 and 1841. Others of their children also died in 1829 and 1832. Based on later events in their lives, I can estimate that George, Nancy Terressa, and E. Lafayette went to Texas with their father. I'm not sure that William L. went to Texas at all, for he is now confused with another William L. Rogers who lived in Chatanooga TN most of his life and apparently had different parents.

So Cyntha Rogers was in Texas with her family by the 1850 census. By then her son George W. had married Luci Gibbs in 1848 in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. Cyntha's oldest surviving daughter Nancy Terrissa had married Tom Gibbs (yes brother of Luci) in 1847 in Huntsville, Walker County Texas. The first son of George W. and Luci was my great grandfather, William Sandford, born in Walker County, Texas in Feb 1850.

Cyntha's son E. Lafayette died in the fall of 1850. He had been named postmaster of Huntsville in July of that year, and died in Nov, so his father Micajah took over the job at his death.

That 1850 census of Micajah's household (taken Sept. 15) had had Lafayette (age 21) on it also, as well as younger sisters, Mary (16) and Minerva (14). They may have been the younger children that Micajah wanted to send back to Tennessee for some educating. It is unlikely that young girls would traipse out to Texas without their mother (though she might have been sick)...who at least got there with them by 1850. But both the young girls wouldn't survive until the next census, or the Civil War.

Neither would their mother, Cyntha Cannon Rogers, who died 24 Nov. 1855. Her daughter Nancy Terrissa Gibbs died in 1856. Only son George lived until 1864, and Micajah who survived through the Civil War died in 1873. It's possible William L. Rogers lived till 1887, but we're not sure which one was Micajah and Cyntha's son. 

But I once again got bogged down in seeing how events transpired within a family. Many children born who didn't live. Many young people who died, perhaps from diseases. A very sad family which Micajah had raised.

Then his grandson also died very young, William Sandford Rogers, my great grandfather. W. Sam had married Bette Bass when he was 26, had two children, then died at age 29, 2 months after his daughter was born. So Bette Bass is the subject I should have been talking about as far as a mother who had little support. Next time...

Happy birthday to Great Grandmother Annie Elizabeth Williams Webb

 Annie Elizabeth Williams Webb...my great grandmother, who I never knew. She died in July of the year I was born in August, and because her son (my mother's father) had died many years before, I doubt that she'd kept in touch with my mother's life. My mother never mentioned her, nor her father.

Annie had been born 20 June 1862, in Columbus Missouri though her parents lived mostly in Montgomery County, MO where her father was a farmer. However, he had gone off to fight for the Union in 1861 and she was born in 1862, so perhaps her mother, Dorcas White Williams, had been living in Columbus, where this birth was recorded.

Annie was the 7th child of 8 born to the William T. Williams family. Only O. R. was born later in 1866. The Williams family moved from Missouri to Texas around 1870, give or take a few years. Her mother had a strange census listing in 1870 of living alone in a boarding house, under her maiden name, and performing as a domestic servant. I noticed that one of Dorcas' brothers, Caleb White, lived in that same town (Upper Loutre in Montgomery County MO) with the post office in Danville. He was the miller in the town, and by the 1870 census record lived with his wife and 5 children in his household. His census was taken 22 Sept. 1870, while hers was taken 29 Sept, 1870. There was also the Loutre River nearby...were they starting their journey to Texas perhaps by river?

There is no information about the rest of the family on the 1870 census record for Dorcas White...nor  her 4 year old son and Annie at 8 years old.  I wonder (yet another conjecture) if the family had packed up for moving to Texas, and was in this small town just waiting for some other immigrant families, and Dorcas just helped out in that boarding house. Or perhaps they all left for Texas earlier, and she had been too sick to travel. Or maybe she was against the move. For whatever reason she was living in that boarding house, I'm still left wondering why she used her maiden name. Who would know that, except her family of origin and herself?

Another noted event in or before 1870, was the death of Henry White, the father of Caleb and Dorcas. At least 6 of his children were still alive at that time. He had farmed somewhere in Montgomery County MO since the early pioneers arrived before 1833.  His wife outlived him, dying in 1885.

Before the next census where Annie appears, in 1880, she has also moved to Texas, and married at 15 years of age in 1877. She doesn't appear in any 1870 census records that I can find. Her husband was Leroy (L.F.) Webb, who had been born in Texas. See here for more about him, and the family, but I'll catch up with his life while married to Annie.

I'm including a "story" I just submitted to L. F. Webb's Ancestry page...about the details of the photo above.

The original photo has been transferred into a printable newspaper version, with the usually digital spots. But if it's enlarged enough, you can read the details across the porch roof facade.

"Dealer of General Merchandise" and below that...

"Country Produce Bought and Sold"

And now to look at the people...about 32 men, and 5 children. One of the men is wearing a white apron...either a butcher or someone just working in the store.

My guess is the man in center, somewhat taller, and somewhat separate from the others around him, would be L. F. 

Slightly to his right (our left) is a shorter man at his shoulder. In front of him stand two children...wearing dresses, perhaps girls. The other children include 2 boys on the roof of the porch by the window, and one in a white shirt, second to far right with the man having his hand on his shoulder.

Note the windows are all open. Summer in Texas gets very hot. But the custom was for men to have on shirts, a vest, and perhaps a coat and even tie for a special occasion.

In Texas all the men wear their hat almost all the time, just like cowboy boots, so they can ride horses to get places.

And remember, nobody used deodorant in those days, nor even bathed often. So the layers of clothing might have been uncomfortable, but they might have soaked up some of the sweat that inevitably would have occurred.

I also would try to guess if the children are those of Leroy Webb's. If the taller one in front of him were indeed a girl, he had 6 year old Clara Bell Webb, and the smaller might have been my grandfather, Albert J. Webb at 3 years old.  Of course his older sons would have wanted to be in the photo too. James Eugene would have been 16 in 1894, and John Leroy would have been 14. Maybe they are the two boys on the roof of the porch, one of whom is the only male not wearing a hat!

Going back further into L. F.'s history, he received a store as his inheritance from his father, Samuel J. Webb, who died with a will on Aug. 15, 1877.

Interestingly enough L.F. also became the executor of the will, and the guardian of his 4 younger brothers and sisters.

Perhaps his father had been sick before dying, and thus had written this will. I imagine he was quite happy to see (maybe attended also) the wedding between his son L. F. and Annie Elizabeth Williams on Aug. 7, 1877, just a week before Samuel died. L. F.'s mother had died just a year before, 6 months after giving birth to the last son. Thus L. F. at 20 suddenly had new wife and guardianship of 4 siblings, the youngest being just 1 year old.  Seems like Annie fit right into a new wife and family guardianship role at once. Of course since L. F. also inherited the family business, it's likely they lived in the family home.

In the midst of all these historic markers in DeWitt County, Clinton can be seen in the midst of a lot of others. It is now the location of the county seat, Cuero.

I just discovered an older census, taken in 1870, which included L. F. and his parents, residing in Clinton, DeWitt County TX. And another census in 1860 shows his father Samuel had been born in Maryland, and Ellen, his mother, had been born in NY on the Clinton, DeWitt County 1860 Texas census, when L. F. had been 3.

The next census for 1880 shows the Webb family living in Goliad TX. This was the site of earlier conflicts when Texas was trying to become free from Mexico. It also was one of the beginning places of the Chisolm Trail, to take cattle all the way to Kansas, on the hoof so to speak. There they could be loaded on cattle cars and sent to cities further east. This lasted as long as railroads hadn't made it to Texas yet.

Where's Goliad County?

This is from a 1940 map, so has many towns, but no interstate highways yet!  If you look up to the upper left side of Goliad, there's the town of Weesatche. The name changed on many maps to Huisache (the Spanish version of the name.) Weesatche was where L. F. had his nice big feed store's photo taken in 1894. And DeWitt County is just above Goliad County.

IN 1900 the family is back living in Goliad TX, in Justice Precinct 3 of Goliad County. So he may have been in Weesatche, or maybe in the town. I can't find the map of Goliad County for 1900.

Some of this map is in English, some in Spanish. But it has a copywrite date of 18?9. I'm not sure when.  See what fun delving into history can be?

OK let's look at Annie's family. She married L. F. in 1877. At that time they were guardians of his brothers and sisters as listed in the 1880 census: namely Phiny (female, age in 1880- 12) Joe (9 in 1880) D. E. (female, 6) and Sam (4). In the 1880 census we find that Annie had her first 2 children already...J. E. (James, 2) and John (3 months old, born in March of 1880).

By 1881 L. F. has been appointed postmaster for Weeshatche, and it's probable that he's running a general store already, much as he had from his father's homestead in Dewitt County. Or it's possible the county line changed where his store was located! He lists his occupation as retail grocery in the 1880 census.

After the first two boys, Annie had a daughter, Laura Mae in 1882, who died in 1887. Her second daughter was born in 1882, "Maggie" was the nickname for Marguerite Ellen Webb, who lived till 1961. She could have told me all about the sites, towns and counties, if I'd known to do this research then.

Tomas Ketch Webb was born in 1886 and lived till 1959. Next came Clara Bell Webb. born 1888. married to Fred Clyde Bruce, and lived till 1971. 

My grandfather "Bud" was born as Albert James (or Joe) Webb in 1891, and lived till 1919. He married my grandmother in 1915, and my mother was born in 1917.

Annie's last child was Leary Frances Webb, Jr. 1905-1937.

I discovered the 1900 census which had been listed for Annie Webb belonged to someone named Etta Webb...and had nothing to do with her. Fortunately L. F. was well documented as Larry F. Webb as a merchandising business, still in Precinct 3 of Goliad County, probably Weesatchee. His household consisted of Annie, his own children Maggie, Thomas, Clara and Albert J. (Bud.). They also had a 25 year old lodger/housekeeper. By then apparently the siblings had grown and gone to their own homes.

By 1910 they had moved to San Antonio, and L. F. was running a Confectionary, where perhaps one or another of his children worked. And Annie had had her "late life" child (at 42) L. F. Jr. in 1895.  Bud was living with them, age 18, was working in a real estate office. 

Great grandfather  L. F.  lived with his family in San Antonio at 130 Lewis St. for several census reports. When my grandfather, Albert Bud Webb, signed his draft card in 1917, his address was 96 Lewis St, (at least a few blocks away), which is still a small cottage.  At that time he had married my grandmother, and my mother had just been born.

2016 street view of 125 Lewis St, San Antonio, TX  Google image, with some strange coloration through my printer!  There was no 130 Lewis St left, but the curved 2 story porch on this house situated on a corner, says that it was thoughtfully created. This house now holds offices of a psychological practice.

One of the interesting things to have found, was that Annie didn't remember much information about her parents. When filling out census reports, she didn't realize they had come from Kentucky, but said her father was from Iowa, and her mother from Ohio. That was done consistently.

Annie's death certificate states she had coronary thrombosis and cirrhosis of the liver, when she died on July 8, 1942. She was 80 years old. Her husband L. F. had predeceased her in 1921, and it's impossible for me to decipher the physician's causes on his death certificate. But it was apparently fast. He was retired from his work and had reached 64 years. 

They both were interred under a nice headstone, in Mission Cemetery in San Antonio. My grandfather "Bud" is buried near them. That's the same cemetery where my mother's Miller family are also buried. 

  

GG Grandmother Dorcus White Williams' family

 Continuing to look at GG Grandmother Dorcas White Williams' family...we briefly looked at Luvicy "Jane" White Williams (1828-1918).

The other children of Henry and Elizabeth White  included Virginia M. White, born about 1826, in Kentucky. No other information is available about her  at this point.

After Dorcas was born in Dec. 1825 came a daughter Mary born around 1827...also unknown. Then Luvicy was born in Jan. of 1828 (see elsewhere about her marriage to Liberty "Buck" Williams).

Next born to Henry and Elizabeth White was a son, Caleb White, born 29 April 1829.

The first census which lists his name (Caleb) was in Pike County, MO in 1850. It lists him as being 21 years old. And he's living with an older man, J. M. White 35 who is a merchant, with a wife Margaret J. age 24. Their children are Sarah A. (7) and William M. (5) and James M. (1)

Caleb's father (and Dorcas') was Henry White, born in Virginia in abt. 1804. He had a brother James Madison White, about whom we know very little. It's possible he moved to Missouri before marrying his wife who had been born in MO. Actually I found that his grave marker is in the same part of Pike County MO, and now have a birth and death date for him.

So Dorcas' Uncle, James Madison White, b. 26 July 1816 d. 5 Feb 1858, had been the merchant who housed Caleb when he moved to Missouri. There were several other men also living in their home.

Let's get back to Dorcas' siblings...which are perhaps also going to begin to come into focus just like this uncle did...which helps see how the family immigrated from KY to MO.

Caleb and wife, Julia White. They remained in Pike County MO all their lives. Caleb died in 1909.

Caleb and Julia White with their children.

The next child born to Henry and Elizabeth White was Emily White. We don't have much information about her, birth around 1830 and death before 1850.

Next born was William White, b. 3 Dec 1831, d. 1879, who married Sophia (no maiden name). They had five children, all born in MO.

George Robinson White was the first child born in MO b. 9 Oct 1837. He lived all his life in Montgomery County, marrying when he was 33 to Serena V. Hockaday Alvord (a widow with 2 children). He lived until 19 July 1920. They had 5 children and he adopted his two step children also.

Their next brother of Dorcas was Benjamin Franklin White, (13 May 1842 - 5 Mar 1919). He married a woman named Mary and they had 4 children who lived out of 6 births. He was a farmer all his life, remaining in Missouri. One of the census records gives his name as Frank, but all the rest use Benjamin. There are 4 possibilities of service in the Civil War, and I am not going to try to figure out where he served.

The youngest child of Henry and Elizabeth White was Elizabeth E (Eliza) White, born in 1846 and died aft. 1860.

The reason I've looked at all these families of Dorcas' brothers and sisters, and especially their 1870 census records, was to try to understand how she ended up at the boarding house, listed as a servant.  She had been one of the oldest children...and had married into the Williams family which her younger sister, Luvicy did as well.  

My guess is that her husband and children left for Texas with a group of immigrating families, and perhaps at that time she was either sick, or against the move, or for some reason stayed behind in MO. 

She eventually did move to Texas though, because she lives with W. T. Williams in the 1880 census for Goliad TX.  This was a fairly big town at that time. Lots of farmers were coming to that area. I don't know when they actually arrived, but by this census, there were 3 Williams families next to each other on that census.

The first sheet has D. H. Williams, (29) (born in MO, with parents born in KY) married to R. C. (25) born in TX, with parents born in MO. The next sheet starts with their children, 2 sons and a daughter. 

The next household is W. T. Williams (55) with Dorcas Williams (54) and W. T.(21), W. C.(20) and O.R.(14) all sons. (Remember Annie Elizabeth Williams had already left the nuclear family when she married L. F. Webb in 1877 when she was 15 in Texas!) So her parents and these remaining 3 sons lived in Texas,  having immigrated including Annie, from Missouri!

But back to the other Williams family on this census record. Both of those men had been born in MO, with fathers born in KY. So who were J. G. (30) and D. H.(29)?  None of William T. Williams' brothers either 1) lived to 1880, or 2) moved to Texas, So there's a possibility these were cousins. At this time I am not looking at the children of brothers of W.T.'s father Richard Frederick Williams. There were about 15 children in that family, some of whom moved from KY to MO. I am not going to chase down the relations who then moved to Texas at this time, but there they are living close to older W.T.

In 1880, Annie Elizabeth Williams Webb was married and also living in Goliad County TX (per the census).  So it's likely that she was still communicating with her mother and father. I will continue looking at her life in a separate post.

The 1890 census records were not available because of the later fire in the Library of Congress.  Dorcas White Williams is listed as dying in 1906 in a listing of Texas deaths. It's likely that she died elsewhere (in Lavaca County) and a family member just added her name with her husband's on the same stone but they didn't know the correct date. It does have her birthday one day off. 

We know she was living in Oklahoma (Indian Territory) with her son Frank (or William Franklin Williams) when she applied for the veterans pension in 1898 when her husband died. There is a 1900 census for Chickashaw Nation, Township 10, where W.F. and Mollie are living with 4 children. No mother.

So I have searched through lots of Ancestry records today to see if anything new showed up for Dorcas White Williams. I had 3 successful records found that she was on a Goliad County Texas Census in the years 1878, 79 and 81. 

And strangely enough she was listed in a 1880 Census record, (which has disappeared from my files in Ancestry) for Columbus, Boon County, MO with: W. T. Williams,55; Dorcus Williams, 54; W. T. Williams, 21; W. C. Williams, 20; O. R. Williams, 14.

And the same family members are on the 1880 Census for Goliad, Texas  I wonder how that happened.

And another unsolved mystery is Dorcus Williams property purchase in 1874;

1874 • Tarrant County, Texas, USA

Dorcas Williams 

Patent Date: 14 May 1874 

Acres: 99.50

 District: Robertson County: 

Tarrant File: 664 Patent #: 615

So Dorcas White Williams had quite a life, full of the usual duties of wife and mother, as well as going from KY to MO as a child, then to Texas where her husband eventually died in 1898, and she died either in 1900 or 1906. And through all her long life, she was unable to read or write...according to the answers on one of her census records.

My Great Great Grandmother Dorcas White Williams, Chapter 1

  I decided to see what was new on my mom's ancestors. I started with her father that died young, Bud Webb. His mom had been Annie Elizabeth Williams. And her mother was Dorcas White Williams.

I hadn't been able to find Dorcas' parents and hated that she was a dead-end so to speak. The description is usually called a "Brick Wall."

So I looked back on my Ancestry tree to Dorcas' husband, Great Great Grandfather William T. Williams, who was born in Missouri, and came to Texas with his wife, Dorcas and daughter Annie Elizabeth and the rest of the family.

It was interesting to read about all the Williams' families...lots of brothers and sisters. And then I decided to read about Liberty Williams...a brother of W. T. (yes many of these people went by their initials!)

And Liberty had married a woman named Luvicy "Jane" White. I wondered if she was related to Dorcas White. It seemed they were sisters!

What a great coincidence. So then I could go up Great Great Aunt Jane's tree and find Dorcas' parents, and many more generations!

I'm going to save the documentation about Great Great Grandma Dorcas White Williams. 

Dorcas was born on 19 Dec. 1825 in Lincoln County KY to Henry A. White and Elizabeth Hocker White. (I'll investigate their ancestors on another blog.)

Her brother William White was born in Lincoln County KY in Dec. 1830, and then the family moved to Missouri before her next sibling, George Robinson White was born on 9 Oct 1837. 

So her father Henry lived first in Lincoln County, KY, then in Montgomery County, MO...until he died at the age of 66 in 1870.

Her husband W. T. Williams had been born in a different county in KY, Pulaski County, which is pretty close to Lincoln county. Their family came from KY to Montgomery County MO between 1830 and 1833...based on where their children were born. W.T.'s father died in Montgomery, MO in 1850, and his mother, Nancy Williams died also in MO in 1860.

Dorcas married W. T. Williams probably when a preacher was available, around 1827. Their first son was born in 1828. In the 1850 census for Montgomery County MO, W. T. and Dorcus are living on their own farm right next door to his father Richard Williams. There's a 5 year old girl also in the household named Malinda Packston. I have no idea who she was.

Details of this census below...

The 1860 census says they live in Middletown, Montgomergy County, MO...with 5 children and W. T. is listed as a carpenter. There are merchants and other carpenters along the same street.

Because W. T. has a rather common name, even when using his full name rather than initials, there are several who were in the Union Army. Since Dorcas was able to apply for pension benefits as his widow, I will assume that was the only position he served during the Civil War. It says he served as G 1 Mo L Art - which I cannot transcribe accurately. When she filed following his death in 1898 she was living in the Indian Territory (probably what became Oklahoma.) 

Their son (William Franklin Williams) had married a Choctaw woman (Mollie E. Foster Williams) while they lived in Texas. There's an interesting document which allowed him to remain on the Chickasaw lands with his wife, who was 1/8 Choctaw and their 4 children who were 1/16 blood, even though he wasn't tribal. The date of application for this family was Oct. 1898.

The 1870 census is somewhat confusing so I'm going to jump to the 1880 one. It means they now live in Goliad Texas, as farmers. Next door are 2 other families of Williams. 

Close-up detail below...

In 1880 their household consists of W. T., age 55, Dorcus age 54, W. T. Williams Jr. age 21,W. C. Williams age 20,  and O. R. Williams age 14. (This is before W. T. Jr. married Mollie and moved to the Indian Territory.)

What I noticed is that Annie Elizabeth Williams isn't on that census with her parents. And since she was born in 1862, she wouldn't have been on the 1860 census. Her marriage had been in 1877 in Texas, when she was 15. And then there's the strange 1870 one...

Detail below shows Dorcas Williams...

Still in Montgomery County, but living with a Elizabeth Witcher (or Fitcher), as the Domestic Servant in the Witcher boarding house! It does also give 2 checks in columns on the right which indicate she couldn't read or write. The town of Upper Loutre is an unincorporated area as of 2020. There are still about 200 families living in the area. 

But how did Dorcas come to be a Domestic Servant in the boarding house? Post Civil War, or Reconstruction times were hard on many people. I will keep looking for where William T. and their children might have been. At least some of them came to Texas and were together by 1880.

I will give more information on my Great Grandmother Annie Elizabeth William in another post. 

Back to 1860. I found a sister of W. T. who also lived in Upper Loutre MO but in the 1860 census. For such a small community, I'm sure if Dorcas had still been there, she would have known about the Hattie Williams Mannen family (which had a lot of children.) But the Mannen (Manning) family moved to another county in MO for the 1870 census, and then by 1880 they also had moved to Texas.

Dorcas' own sister, Jane White Williams, wife of Liberty Williams, had lived consistently in Prarie, MO, and in 1870 had 11 children. In the 1880 census Liberty had died and Jane lived in same address with 6 of her children ages 6-21, with two sons carrying on as farmers. Jane lived until 1918. The last census I've found for her was 1910, when she was living with her youngest married daughter and her family. On that census she lists that 10 of her 13 children had lived. Jane White Williams died at age 90 in 1918.

Two other of Dorcus' siblings lived into the twentieth century, as well as Dorcus in all probability. Her headstone says she died in 1900, but other information says 1906. I'll have to look at those documents later...it's late and I'm yawning now.

 

To be continued...

A big event in a young woman's life

  

First to acknowledge a great family event, when Caroline graduated from high school. Here she stands in the center next to my son Russ. His wife Michelle stands on the other side of Caroline, and their other two daughters, Kate and Audrey are the bookends.

I wasn't able to attend Caroline's graduation, but I know she had an inspiring speech to send her off to her beginning of college next year. 

I share another commencement address...at least a small part.

"Refuse to play it safe, for it is from the wavering edge of risk that the sweetest honey of freedom drips and drips. Live dangerously, live lovingly. Believe in magic. Nourish your imagination. Use your head, even if it means going out of your mind. Learn, like the lemon and the tomato learned, the laws of the sun. Become aware, like the jungle became aware, of your own perfume. Remember that life is much too serious to take seriously – so never forget how to play."

Tom Robbins, author, giving the "lost commencement speech" 1974 to The Off Campus School in Oak Harbor, an alternative high school in Washington state. it was recently found by journalist Fred Obee.

Tom Robbins

The real information on Gladys

 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!

Another system of roots to our trees, not necessarily true

 I love following a photo which was posted on line on social media, finding that it leads to a new branch (or root if you will) of our family tree.

In this case this lovely woman pictured here was much older when I met her. Gladys. 

Gladys with my grandchildren

A wonderful photo of four generations of women...Gladys in front seated, her daughter L. leaning over, Glady's great-granddaughter wearing an elf's hat, and her mom, Glady's granddaughter pointing something out to her. 

So I added the latest photo to my Ancestry page about Gladys, and found lots of hints. She had been born in NY she said. But hints led to her family had been in Minnesota...and before that Norway! 

So I'm looking through the Norwegian family records, and there was this wonderful photo of Glady's possible father. I say possible, because I don't think she was his blood child...having been born after his own five children were born. I think she could have been fostered by him and his wife. This is based on my memory of something that was said in some history or other, where it was said the Nelsens fostered 7 other children.

Nels Martin Nelsen had been born in Norway, in Svartnes, Galsfjord, Troms. There he lived in a large port city on a peninsula, looking at moutains across the water. Below is a family photo of Nels as a young boy, with his parents, Nils A. Mathiasen and Madsine Josephine "Massina" Olesdatter, and his sisters Konstance and Helge.

Nels moved to the US in 1900. Here's a photo of him at Bird Island MN.

By 1903 he was living in Lake Lillian MN, where he lived the rest of his life. That year his mother Massina died in Lake Lillian. He married in 1906 with Henrietta Wicklund Solomonson when he was 19 and she was 20, in Lake Lillian MN.

They had five children, all mentioned in his obituary, none of whom were born later than 1913. Their sons Oliver and Eldon were still living with them on their farm in Lake Lillian in the 1940 census. 

Etta died in 1951, so is on the 1950 census, and Nels died in 1973. Interestingly enough, Etta is listed in 1950 as living with her sister, not in Lake Lillian. Here's Nels later in life.

I don't know who put the next 5 names of children on a census or Ancestry record for these Nelsens. But when Gladys M. Nelsen was added, it was a mistake. I just found her real Nelsen family!

So once again I've enjoyed getting to know a family which wasn't at all related to mine! Of course the Nelsens in Buffalo NY may have also had roots in Norway. I'll be checking on that in the next hour!

If you ever waited in line for a bus, the Sepia Saturday post is here for you. I've waited in line more at TSA to check in at airports...not since COVID though. Check out what others come up with for Sepia Saturday HERE.