One Clue – More Questions

Or at least on Randy Seaver’s Blog, it is Surname Saturday, so decided to post what I just learned last night.

It is often said, we should reread documents we have collected on ancestors. Recently, I have been looking for obituaries for my deceased ancestors. Having a subscription to GenealogyBank certainly helps and makes it more fun than tedious to read all that pops up even when it is usually NOT about my family. But that’s another blog, of course.

So, I noticed that although I had the death and burial information for my grandfather, William G. MOSSEY, I did not show in my genealogy program that I had an obit for him. However, I have a folder on my computer filled with downloaded images that I have yet to attach to my RootsMagic database, so checked there before wasting time looking in GenealogyBank. Sure enough, I had a very nice obit. And, voilà! there was some information I had not noticed before. When he died, he left his two daughters, my mom and her sister, and HIS sister, Evelyn C. Good. Oh my gosh! I had not noticed that before and why do I care?

In my grandfather’s birth family, I have two sisters, Cecile Mossey and Evelyn Mossey, both born in 1880. Obviously, this  cannot be unless one was born early in the year and the other late in the year but that does not often happen. And, when I find one sister in a census or other record, I cannot find the other. I have also had trouble finding either of them in many censuses or city directories. But, I have often suspected, that these two sisters are one and the same person, they/she just keep changing their names whenever they feel like it. My father’s mother, Emma JENKINS,  and family did this ALL the time, so I am not surprised to find this. Maybe this was a trend in the early 1900s?

Back to the obit: my grandfather’s sister is listed as Mrs. Louis Good. A quick search of some internet databases does not produce a marriage but looking in the city directories of Springfield in 1953 produces a Llewellyn J. Good and his wife Evelyn C. Since many of the obits I have read have massacred names, or at minimum misspelled them, I can see where Louis and Llewellyn may be the same person and Evelyn C. is certainly a good indication that Evelyn Cecile may be that person. I did do some research looking for her in the 1910 and 1920 census, but could not find her in either of those but did find Evelyn married to Llewellyn in the 1930 census with a 16 year old daughter.

But, of course, there is another conundrum, which might indicate one of them was married more than once. In the column listing age, Llewellyn is listed as 39 years old; Evelyn is listed as 48 making her birth year 1882! And, to further muddy the waters, he first was married at age 20 and she was first married at 23. If this marriage is their first, she would only be three years older than him, hmmmmm.

The 16 year old daughter, is she theirs or his? Question answered, it seems Llewellyn was married when he was 20, as indicated by the 1930 census. His first marriage was 23 Nov 1910 to Marion Gertrude Osborne. I have found no death date as yet for Marion Osborn Good nor have I found the marriage between Llewellyn and Evelyn. So, the mystery remains, is Evelyn Good married to Llewellyn Good Cecile or Evelyn Mossey, my grandfather’s sister?

One piece of information generates many more questions.