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.
