Mystery Monday: Part 3 Man on the Run - The Letters

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.

Click HERE to read Part 1 The Early Years and HERE to read Part 2 The Getaway.

In 1876 William Henry Jollett ceased to exist at the same time that William Preston Boyd appeared on the scene with no signs of a past.  At least a past that could be verified. 

William Preston Boyd’s past began in August of 1876 when he married Harriet Lavina Echols, daughter of Harrison Perry and Clarissa Atkins Echols. Their marriage record in Giles County, Virginia states William was a widower and his parents were George A. and E. A. Boyd of Virginia.  If such a couple existed, there was no record of it that could connect to a son William Preston.

William and Hattie led an unassuming life on a farm raising thirteen children, first in Giles County and then in Monroe County, West Virginia.  In between babies and harvest, William was careful to avoid any legal entanglements that might raise suspicion.  Land was either quit-claimed or purchased in Hattie’s name.  William Boyd’s past ended in 1924 when he committed suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

William and Hattie Boyd
Photo courtesy of Tim Rugenstein

Son Kyle Emanuel  Boyd came across a series of letters written between the 1890s and 1914 that aroused suspicion about their father’s past, letters that also hinted at a reason for their father’s suicide.  Apparently William Boyd’s past was too much to live with or his past deeds were about to be revealed. 

But whatever dark secrets William harbored were burned by Kyle’s son Dexter who swore the truth would never come from him.  He preserved only parts of the letters that would confirm that William Boyd was indeed William Jollett. 

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The earliest letters had been sent to agencies, sheriff’s office, and ordinary citizens of Warren County, Rockingham County, and Page County under the ruse of trying to find William H. Jollett who was ostensibly an heir to some land and money.   They were signed supposedly by Kyle Boyd.  Kyle knew he had written no such letters.  Besides, the earliest letters were written when he was just a young boy making it even more unlikely that he would have written them.  

Surely Kyle was taken aback when he saw reference to William Jollett’s father Emanuel, which was his own middle name.  One letter from John W. Breeden of McGaheysville, Virginia confirmed that the Jollett family believed William Jollett to be dead.  

Today’s Boyd family believes that William and Hattie wrote the letters themselves out of curiosity about his family and to determine if he was still a wanted man.  But wanted for what?  He had already served time for horse theft.  Certainly there had to have been something else more horrible than that, something that was not subject to any statute of limitations for prosecution.  Otherwise the need to invent a new identity made no sense.  Otherwise suicide made no sense. The only explanation that seems reasonable is murder. 

According to one letter, William Jollett had gotten Vinie Martin “in a family way.”  Then when that fact became known, he rode out of town and into obscurity.  Was THAT the shameful act?  Or could his involvement with Vinie have led to murder?  Could William have killed an irate father or perhaps a protective brother?  Or was the horrible act something else entirely?  Only Kyle and Dexter knew, and they took it to the grave.  As one letter concluded, “and the rest is known to all.”

Next time -  What became of Vinie Martin? And who were the Lichliters who apparently could “give all information anyone wants”?

Part 4 (Oct. 22) – Annie Found

©2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Census Sunday: The Sullivans

Laura and Will Sullivan
with some grandchildren

Judging by the number of photos of the Sullivans passed down through the family, I suppose my great-grandmother Mary Frances Jollett Davis and her sister Laura were very close and that the Sullivan and Davis cousins enjoyed each other as well.  In fact, I remember my grandparents getting together with the Sullivan girls frequently even in their older years. 

In the 1940 Shenandoah, Virginia census, William J. and Laura Sullivan, both age 74, were still living on North Third Street where they owned a home valued at $2000.  Uncle Will had only a fourth grade education, but he was a successful merchant who owned a store.  However, he claimed no income for 1939 yet worked 60 hours the last week of March 1940. 

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Living with them was their daughter Floral (enumerated as Flora) who at age 44 was yet unmarried.  (Now I wonder when she and Cletus Merica married.)  She had three years of high school and was working as an assistant cashier at the bank.  Floral earned $900 for a full year’s work in 1939, which equates to about $14,917 today.  The last week of March 1940 she put in 48 hours.

Uncle Will was listed on one of the two lines that asked additional questions.  Two bits of information came to light:  he had no Social Security number and he was not a veteran of any military forces.

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What the 1940 census does not reveal was Uncle Will’s service to the community as a member of the School Board and town council at different times.  He was also on the YMCA Board of Directors. 

Living right next door was their daughter Pearl (enumerated as Lula P.).  Her husband Clyde Strole (indexed on Ancestry as “Stoole”  but correctly on FamilySearch) was a brakeman for the railroad and earned $2411 in 1939, which is roughly $39,960 today.  They owned their home valued at $2500. Pearl had completed two years of high school and was listed as a homemaker with no income.  Their daughter Pauline at age 17 had completed three years of school.  She was not employed nor was she looking for work. 

Below are two views of what I think are the same house.  The first is Laura and Will's house as it looked in the 1920s.  The second is what I'm sure is the same house photographed but unidentified by my mother in the 1990s.  The widow's walk and peak on the roof are gone, but the sidelights at the front door, steps to a slightly raised porch and placement of columns are the same. 

Leota, Pearl and daughter Maxine,
and probably Floral at the Sullivan house
about 1920 

©2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Sepia Saturday: A Virginia soldier in Camp Cuba Libre

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt is a group of moustached military men.  But instead of presenting a CORPS or PLATOON or SQUADRON, I give you merely ONE soldier – complete with moustache – one of 30,000 who reported to Jacksonville, Florida in 1898, to aid Cuba in its fight for independence from Spain.

Meet John Wesley Rucker, my great-grand uncle on my mother’s side.  He was the second son of Frank and Sarah Rucker of Rockingham County, Virginia, and an older brother to my great-grandfather.

John Wesley Rucker at Camp Cuba Libre
photo courtesy of Linda Pruett

He was a member of the Virginia Volunteer Infantry that was part of the Seventh Corps under the leadership of Major General Fitzhugh Lee, nephew of Robert E. Lee.   When the Tampa area camps were full, Camp Cuba Libre was established in May 1898 near Jacksonville to serve as an assembly area in preparation for the liberation efforts in Cuba. 

In the early days of Camp Cuba Libre, the soldiers had to fend for themselves as supplies were sent elsewhere.  Some supplies were sent to other corps already scheduled to deploy; other supplies were deliberately withheld as a way to toughen up new soldiers.  The men received only partial uniforms, and they ate with their hands off shingles since there were no forks or plates.  

That was the early days before Fitzhugh Lee arrived on the scene.  He saw the horrible conditions and implemented changes that turned Camp Cuba Libre into a model camp. 

Like his comrades, John Wesley Rucker spent his days in drill and target practice.  However, the Seventh Corps never saw action.  With the fall of Santiago in July of 1898, morale and discipline at the camp fell apart since there was nothing to do.  I wonder if John Wesley was part of the drunken riot that ensued in the streets of Jacksonville. 

Most of the soldiers were gone by October, and the camp officially closed in January 1899.  I don’t know when John Wesley was sent home, but he must not have stayed very long in Jacksonville.  According to his obituary, John Wesley went to work in the shipyard in Norfolk on May 1, 1899.  Within just a week he was too sick to work and returned home to Shenandoah where he died May 29 at the age of 44. 

The obituary does not say, and I have no death record since this is a line that I have not researched extensively, but I wonder if he suffered from typhoid fever. The outbreak in the Florida camps had drawn so much national attention that even Clara Barton and Walter Reed visited Camp Cuba Libra to gather information.  In fact, more soldiers died of disease in Jacksonville than did soldiers who died in battle.

I hope you’ll deploy to Sepia Saturday to see what my comrades have made of this week’s theme.

©2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

DAR - Getting to know you

I know what clubs are like.  I’ve served on plenty of church committees and chaired some.  I committed eight years to the Junior Woman’s Club of Portsmouth chairing committees, serving as president, and even serving as a committee chairman on the district level.  I was a Girl Scout leader and attended all those council meetings.  I helped start the Western Branch Little League and build our field of dreams.

I know how people can get sidetracked in discussion, how people can be anal when it comes to procedure, how people can resist change.

So I knew what to expect when my sister Mary Jollette and I attended our first DAR meeting on Thursday, October 4. 

It was both funny and inspiring to watch multiple generations at work.  On the one hand, the younger members (and by “younger” I mean hip grandmothers) are trying to make the DAR relevant to younger women.  On the other wrinkled hand, some older members are there for lunch.

Mary Jollette and Pam

As we passed through the gate into the front yard of the Fort Nelson DAR house, we were greeted by Pam, the Registrar, a real go-getter.  We signed in as guests and donned our name tags.  Pam gave us a Bingo-like card with VADAR (Virginia DAR) across the top.  Instead of numbers, the boxes were filled with information about various members of Fort Nelson.  We were to introduce ourselves to the members and ask them to sign a square that applied to them.  For example, has a dog, lived overseas, doesn’t have a cell phone, adores pink, had a big wedding, was a nurse, is a retired teacher.  As soon as we had 5 signatures in a row, we could turn in our card for a prize.

I usually hate activities like this because I’m shy.  No, really, I am.  But it turned out to be not so bad.  The members were very gracious and willing to help -- except for one woman with badly-applied makeup who was skeptical of the whole thing and feared she would be put on a committee if she signed her name to a square.  As it turns out, there were a couple women from my neighborhood, and one woman had been a popular substitute teacher where I taught in public school.  In fact, she had subbed for me. 

The business meeting followed the social hour.  It began with a ritual of pledge to the flag, singing the national anthem, and reciting the DAR creed. Committee reports followed.  The women's pride and enthusiasm for their pet projects certainly made up for certain members' inability to keep up with the motion on the floor and others' efforts to rehash old issues that had already been voted on.  We heard reminders to vote, announcements of activities for Columbus Day and Yorktown Day and Veterans Day.  We heard about some projects involving the Veterans Hospital and DAR museum and library.  Some members were recognized for milestone years of service.  One member spoke about her patriot ancestor’s genealogy.  And finally every prospective member introduced herself and gave the name of her patriot.

Following the business meeting, the members had lunch and after that a program.  However, we were unable to stay for that part.  But I can tell there are some cooks in this group.  The dining room table was overflowing!  I hope to plan my time better for the next meeting because the program promises to be outstanding.  Club day is practically an all-day affair at Fort Nelson DAR.

©2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Tombstone Tuesday: Jack and Emma Coleman

Tombstone Tuesday is a daily prompt at Geneabloggers which asks bloggers to create a post including an image of a gravestone of one or more ancestors; it may also include a brief description of the image or the ancestor.

Jack and Emma Coleman are buried in the Coverstone Cemetery (formerly known as EUB Church Cemetery) in Shenandoah, Virginia.  Three of their five children are also buried there.

Coleman

Andrew J.                            Emma F.

July 29, 1858                       Feb. 1, 1863

  Oct. 4, 1947                       Apr. 10, 1945

Mystery Monday: Part 2 Man on the Run - The Getaway

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.

Click HERE to read Part 1 The Early Years.

In 1870 William Henry Jollett was sentenced to five years in prison in Richmond for stealing a horse.  Despite a rigorous search through newspapers and court records, Boyd researchers found no explanation for his crime. 

By 1874, William must have been eager to get out of prison because he made himself ill by eating soap.  In what must have been William’s plan all along, Dr. Shuller approved his early parole in October in order for him to return home to recuperate.  What brought on this sudden need to get out early?  He had survived most of his term; what’s one more year? 

Maybe it had something to do with his wife, the former Mary Elizabeth Martin.   Birth records for Warren County, Virginia include the birth of little Emma C. Jollett, June 1874, with parents listed as William H. and Mary E. Jollett.  Barring the possibility of conjugal visits, this blessed event came with a significant question mark.  Certainly if William got word that his wife had delivered a baby while he was behind bars 150 miles away, he most assuredly would be eager to get home.

As the story goes, William was to have left prison and gone to Shenandoah County to be with relatives for several months.  From there he was to have gone to McGaheysville in Rockingham County, Virginia, to stay with his father’s half-brother John Wesley Jollett.  While there William visited a neighboring family quite often and supposedly got a young girl named Vinie Martin pregnant. (Odd – another Martin girl!)  When the truth was made known, he fled on his sister Nancy’s black mare and was never heard of again.  That was 1876.

But William was not the only one to make a getaway.

Who were these relatives in Shenandoah County?  In my research, any close relatives like aunts and uncles and cousins would have been in Page, Rockingham, and Greene counties.  Nobody in Shenandoah County.  But in both the 1870 and 1880 census, William’s own family was missing – no widowed mother, no brother, no sisters.  My best theory is that his mother likely remarried, but to date I have found no marriage record.  Likewise, all his sisters were of marrying age, so they probably disappeared among thousands of wives named Susannah, Margaret, Sarah and Nancy.  If William’s mother Anna did in fact marry, it is also possible the children were using their step-father’s name.  So now I’m wondering if the relatives in Shenandoah County might then be his mother or sisters.  And of course, there is always the possibility that someone confused the TOWN of Shenandoah (which is in Page County) with the COUNTY Shenandoah, making finding this family a little more difficult. 

Another disappearing act was performed by William’s own wife, Mary Elizabeth.  Where was she in 1870 while her husband served his prison sentence?  Where was she when he got out?  Where was she when he disappeared off the face of the earth in 1876? 

1870 Warren County, Virginia
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She eluded me for awhile, but I caught up with her.  In 1870, Mary Elizabeth was living with her father Absalom and a long list of Martins, whose relationships are not indicated.  Mary Elizabeth is listed as a Martin.  However, based on the 1874 birth record of her daughter, Mary Elizabeth and William were not divorced, so it is likely that enumerator error can account for her name being listed as Martin rather than Jollett.  There are some very young children, possibly hers.  

1880 Warren County, Virginia
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The 1880 census is where the story gets interesting.  Next door to Absalom Martin is the Lookingbill family: John and his wife Mary E., and children Samuel L. (13), Elizabeth (9), Emily C. (6), Laura (3), and A. Franklin (1).  It’s not a big stretch to conclude that Mary E. Lookingbill was Mary Elizabeth Martin Jollett.  And Samuel has to be the same Samuel who was 2 in the Martin household in the previous census.  Emily C. at age 6 lines up quite nicely with the birth record for Emma C. Jollett, born in 1874. Just coincidence?  I don’t think so.  A death record for A. (Augustus) Franklin Lookingbill confirms his mother’s MAIDEN name was MARTIN.   

So, it appears that the two oldest Lookingbill children, Samuel and Elizabeth, were probably William Jollett’s children.  But his bad behavior and subsequent punishment left Mary Elizabeth vulnerable.  She may not have been faithful, but it appears she carved out a stable and satisfying life for her family while William Jollett was riding that horse out of Rockingham County and on to Giles County where he was reborn as William Preston Boyd. 

Next time – the letters that sent present-day Boyd researchers on the hunt for their great-grandfather William P. Boyd, a.k.a., William Henry Jollett

Part 3 (Oct. 15) – The Letters

Part 4 (Oct. 22) – Annie Found

©2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Census Sunday: The Colemans

In my study of the 1940 census, I have completed parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and the great aunts and uncles on both sides of my family.  So I’m on to the great-greats, starting with the sisters and brothers of my great-grandmother Mary Frances Jollett Davis.

Mary Frances’s oldest sister Emma Jollett Coleman and her husband Andrew Jackson “Jack” Coleman should have been easy to find in the census.  They lived in Shenandoah, Page County, Virginia for most of their adult lives.  They both had simple, straight-forward and common-enough names.  But Ancestry has them indexed under CALEman.  FamilySearch got the name right.

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Jack and Emma, Shenandoah, Page County, Virginia

Aunt Emma and Uncle Jack were enumerated for the very last time on April 30, 1940.  She was 77 and he was 81.  Not surprisingly, Jack was not employed and had no income recorded for 1939.  Neither was looking for work either.  However, Jack claimed to have had OTHER means of income.  The code #8 suggests his income was from agriculture.  I wonder if he owned land and was leasing it out for pasture or possibly for crops. 

They owned their home valued at $3000.  In each previous census, they lived at North Second Street.  However, this time it appears they lived on North Denver.  I find it hard to believe they would have sold their home and bought a new one at that stage of life.  

The census taker visited both of those streets on the same day.  My guess is she made a mistake, not clearly delineating where one street ended and the next began.  Had the enumerator provided house numbers, it might have been easy to determine whether my theory is correct.

Back row:  Jack Coleman, daughters Mattie Escue and Reba Morris
Front row: Reba's son Jimmy and Emma Coleman

I don't know much about Emma and Jack except that he was the designated prayer-deliverer at the Jollett reunions.  He was notorious for being long-winded, prompting many of the men to say, "Hurry up, Jack.  The food is getting cold."

©2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.