Cool News!
Thursday April 16 2020
I am continuing to work on the Curtis genealogy - working on Jesse & Nancy's great—grandchildren. Believe it or not, today I hope to finish with the grand-children of Jesse's son, Jesse Jr., who was married to Elizabeth Cooper. And I was able to retool the reports in a way that made sense.
Anyway, much to my surprise I found one family with many more children than I expected. Laban (Jesse Jr's son) had a son named Sam Curtis. He was in Lewis and Mason Co WV. Well, I knew something was off from the census and marriage records. Sam appears on the 1930 census with a wife named Lula and 3 children. Then there is a marriage license for Sam and a woman named Lula Mae Sutton/Rollins in 1935. So on the 1940 census he appears with her and 5 children. So, most of these children have to be from a first wife named Lula, right? Well, I can't find a marriage record for Sam and the first Lula - they were probably married around 1926 since the children were born in 1926, 1929, and 1930. (This also means there are more than 107 great-grandchildren as previously thought.)
So I asked myself - was the Lula he married the same woman as on the 1930 census? Well…maybe. Lula Mae Sutton was married to Max Panco on 7 Jun 1926, though, and was divorced sometime before she married Sam. I find no record of children for her and Max, and I have no idea where the name "Rollins" that shows up in her records originates. Max was from Austria and remarried later on (still no children found) So I am treating these like two separate families and the search begins!
I found some birth records and some marriage records that indicate that the first 4 children are born before Lula Mae & Sam's marriage. All state that their mother was Lula/Lola Curtis. Then I found some obits. Sam's obit has some sons listed with "unknown addresses" as well as his sons and daughters born after 1935. I started searching on facebook as I had some married names, etc, and ancestry had some other obits of spouses to help guide me. Low and behold, I found the family of the youngest daughter from the first family! She (Virginia) is still hale and hearty at age 90 and I've been talking with 2 of her daughters. We are all excited to find each other - lots of photos and connections. I will be calling her next week to talk in depth about her family.
I then posted on the Mason Co WV FB page to see if anyone knew Sam and his second family. And…someone did! So I now have a phone number for one of his sons and will also be calling him next week. What is interesting is that his youngest sister was not raised by Sam and Lula Mae (as stated in her obit). Also, Virginia was "adopted out" and did not know her family except for one brother. Lula Mae lived to the age of 81 so it is a puzzle as to why the children were adopted out. This was not an unknown practice as this large family may have been a financial burden, Lula's health may have been poor at the time, the kids moved out on their own early, etc. The 1950 census will be out in two years so I hope to have more light shed on the topic.
Anyway, since my cousins have not had an update to the family history in a year or so, I will probably mail out this generation of Jesse Jr's kids once it is finished. It is exciting to find more cousins but also a bit intimidating as to the amount of work involved to accurately follow their lives. As we move into more recent times, fewer records will be available.
Many people just follow their direct lines - they may mention the children in each generation but do not follow their descendants. That makes it tough to find anyone who has followed your line. My goal is to have as much info as possible to future generations can link to our family. And it is fun to find out facts about our relatives - like one was a valedictorian, one family moved to Michigan, etc.
Anyway, much to my surprise I found one family with many more children than I expected. Laban (Jesse Jr's son) had a son named Sam Curtis. He was in Lewis and Mason Co WV. Well, I knew something was off from the census and marriage records. Sam appears on the 1930 census with a wife named Lula and 3 children. Then there is a marriage license for Sam and a woman named Lula Mae Sutton/Rollins in 1935. So on the 1940 census he appears with her and 5 children. So, most of these children have to be from a first wife named Lula, right? Well, I can't find a marriage record for Sam and the first Lula - they were probably married around 1926 since the children were born in 1926, 1929, and 1930. (This also means there are more than 107 great-grandchildren as previously thought.)
So I asked myself - was the Lula he married the same woman as on the 1930 census? Well…maybe. Lula Mae Sutton was married to Max Panco on 7 Jun 1926, though, and was divorced sometime before she married Sam. I find no record of children for her and Max, and I have no idea where the name "Rollins" that shows up in her records originates. Max was from Austria and remarried later on (still no children found) So I am treating these like two separate families and the search begins!
I found some birth records and some marriage records that indicate that the first 4 children are born before Lula Mae & Sam's marriage. All state that their mother was Lula/Lola Curtis. Then I found some obits. Sam's obit has some sons listed with "unknown addresses" as well as his sons and daughters born after 1935. I started searching on facebook as I had some married names, etc, and ancestry had some other obits of spouses to help guide me. Low and behold, I found the family of the youngest daughter from the first family! She (Virginia) is still hale and hearty at age 90 and I've been talking with 2 of her daughters. We are all excited to find each other - lots of photos and connections. I will be calling her next week to talk in depth about her family.
I then posted on the Mason Co WV FB page to see if anyone knew Sam and his second family. And…someone did! So I now have a phone number for one of his sons and will also be calling him next week. What is interesting is that his youngest sister was not raised by Sam and Lula Mae (as stated in her obit). Also, Virginia was "adopted out" and did not know her family except for one brother. Lula Mae lived to the age of 81 so it is a puzzle as to why the children were adopted out. This was not an unknown practice as this large family may have been a financial burden, Lula's health may have been poor at the time, the kids moved out on their own early, etc. The 1950 census will be out in two years so I hope to have more light shed on the topic.
Anyway, since my cousins have not had an update to the family history in a year or so, I will probably mail out this generation of Jesse Jr's kids once it is finished. It is exciting to find more cousins but also a bit intimidating as to the amount of work involved to accurately follow their lives. As we move into more recent times, fewer records will be available.
Many people just follow their direct lines - they may mention the children in each generation but do not follow their descendants. That makes it tough to find anyone who has followed your line. My goal is to have as much info as possible to future generations can link to our family. And it is fun to find out facts about our relatives - like one was a valedictorian, one family moved to Michigan, etc.