Mystery Monday: A "Ben" in the road to the DAR

Mystery Monday is a daily prompt at Geneabloggers that asks us to share mystery ancestors or mystery records – anything in our family history research which is currently unsolved.  With any luck fellow genealogy bloggers will lend their eyes to what has been found so far and possibly help solve the mystery.

“Ben’s” – that’s the only clue to the identities of these five children.  Are these Ben’s children?  And who is Ben anyway? 

The two photos are glued fast in the photo album belonging to my great-aunt Velma Davis Woodring who amused herself by writing clever captions like “Just us” and “Being lazy” instead of people’s names.  Ordinarily Velma’s album offers lots of inspiration for a family historian; however, these little faces were not familiar to me at all.  My database contained no Ben who might have had children much younger than Velma.  Census records didn’t reveal any neighbor named Ben.  Fiddlesticks.  I give up.  On to other concerns.

One of my other concerns has been gathering pieces of the paper trail back to Leonard Davis for membership into the DAR.  I created a spreadsheet recording names; dates of birth, death, and marriage; where to find that information; a notation for ordering and receiving acceptable proof.  Whenever I need a death date or location, I like to check Findagrave.com.   Just this week I typed “Davis” and selected “Virginia” and “Rockingham County.”  The Elk Run Cemetery in Elkton has lots of Davises, so I started looking at each one. 

One of the helpful features of Findagrave is the link to other family members.  In the Elk Run Cemetery I found Josiah Davis, son of Mitchell Davis, who was the grandson of my patriot ancestor.  Josiah is linked to three children, one of them named BENJAMIN. {I'm starting to hear the "Twilight Zone" tune.} 

I clicked on Benjamin whose page links to a daughter named Sarah Elizabeth Davis Monger.  {The "Twilight Zone" tune is getting louder!}

I clicked on Sarah.  Some nice person had posted her obituary with the names of six sisters and one brother.  BINGO!

Velma had dated enough of the photos for me to conclude most were taken between 1923 and 1928. Looking at the census records for 1920 and 1930, I am confident that these are the daughters of Benjamin Harrison and Fleeta Berry Davis.  In searching for DAR-quality proof for my patriot, I had found the names of the five children in Velma’s album.

Edith (age 2)

Back: Sarah Elizabeth (11),
 Ruby (1), Thelma (7)
Front: Edith (2), Anna (4)

I rather like the little detours on the road to the DAR. 

What discoveries have you made when looking for something else?

©2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.