Monthly Archives: October 2013

Obituary | Ross (Copeland) Roe (1948-2005)

January 2005
North County Times (San Diego, CA)

ESCONDIDO – Ross Roe, 56, died Thursday, Jan. 27, 2005,at his home.

He was born June 24, 1948, in Chelsea, Mass. He worked at Tri-City Fence in Escondido. At one time he was the owner of Ironrose Welding in Ramona.

Mr. Roe is preceded in death by his parents, William and Eileen Roe.

He is survived by his wife, Joan Roe of Escondido; sons Jason Roe of Leeds, Utah, and Jake Roe of Ramona; stepsons Quill Pena and Joe Prescott, both of Ramona, Ryan Hester of Riverside, and Michael Cole and Robert Rowe, both of Escondido; stepdaughter Amy Hester of Escondido; sisters Sharon Bryant and Jolien Lawerance, both of Huntsville, Alaska [should say Arkansas]; and five grandchildren.

A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 5, at Bonham Bros. & Stewart Mortuary in Ramona.

Bonham Bros. & Stewart Mortuary is handling arrangements.

[Note: son of William Delvie “Bill” and Eileen (Schena) Copeland, grandson of Tom and Myrtle (Crider) Copeland. He was adopted by his step-father, William Roe.]

Obituary | Michael J. Wollmershauser (1943-2002)

December 11, 2002
The Republican

FEEDING HILLS – Michael J. Wollmershauser of Feeding Hills, MA passed away peacefully in the arms of his loving wife Joan and his children holding his hands on December 8, 2002 after a long five-year battle with cancer. Mike was employed since 1992 for the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department as a Fitness Trainer/Correctional Officer. Michael was known by many as “Master Mike”. He was an 8th degree black belt in Hapkido, a Korean Martial Art. He was the 3rd highest ranked in the world in this system, holding the esteemed honor of Grandmaster. He was also known as the “Master of Hand Techniques”. He was president of the American Hapkido Association since 1981 to present. He was the owner of the American Hapkido & World Olympic Taekwondo Center in Feeding Hills, MA. He previously owned the J. Parks Karate Studio in Springfield and also taught at the YMCA in Springfield, Janar Gymnastic in Wilbraham, MA, and Fitness First in Feeding Hills, MA as a Hapkido/Taekwondo/Tai Chi instructor. He was also an adjunct professor at Springfield College for 12 years and at Western New England College for six years until joining the Sheriff’s Department in 1992. Prior to studying and teaching martial arts, Mike was employed by McDonnell Douglas Aircraft in St. Louis, MO as an aircraft electrician, and worked on the Gemini Space Program and on jet engines. Mike traveled extensively to Korea to train in Hapkido and also traveled to the martial art schools under his direction in the United States, Europe, India, Australia and many other countries. He passed on his knowledge of Hapkido to thousands and at the time of his passing had promoted 247 black belts in Hapkido and Taekwondo. Mike attributed his ability to fight cancer to the martial arts and to the love and prayers of his family and friends. Mike was an avid chess player who won the McDonnell Douglas World Championship in the 1960s. He was also an accomplished oil painter. Michael is survived by a loving family, his wife, Joan (Shea) Wollmershauser; his mother, Juanita (Grimes) Wollmershauser of St. Louis, MO; his six children, Jonathan W., Michelle J. and Mikala J. Wollmershauser, all of Feeding Hills, Mia Wollmershauser-Wenz of West Springfield, and Steven and Jeffrey Wollmershauser. He leaves four brothers, Ronald B., Arthur G. and David P., all of St. Louis, MO, and Craig D. Wollmershauser of Winters, CA; and one grandchild, Khylyn Wenz. Funeral services will be held Saturday, Dec. 14 from the Colonial Forastiere Funeral Home of Agawam at 10:30 a.m. with a Mass in Sacred Heart Church at 12 noon. Burial in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Springfield. Visiting hours Friday, 2-5 & 7-9 p.m. He will be sadly missed by all whose lives he touched. In lieu of flowers contributions can be made to the Michael Wollmershauser Memorial Fund c/o Joan Wollmershauser, 157 Cambridge St., Feeding Hills, 01030.

[Note: son of Arthur G. and Juanita (Grimes) Wollmershauser, grandson of Hiram B. and Imogene (Copeland) Grimes, great-grandson of Tom and Clara (Bunting) Copeland.]

Obituary | William Delvie Copeland (1923-2003)

March 25, 2003
The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

WILLIAM COPELAND, 79, of Drummonds, owner of a television repair business, died Saturday at his home. Services will be at 1 p.m. today at Munford (Tenn.) Funeral Home with burial in Poplar Grove Cemetery in Drummonds. He was a member of Fellowship Baptist Church in Quito, Tenn., and was a World War II and Korean War Navy veteran. Mr. Copeland, the husband of Mabel Elizabeth Massey Copeland, also leaves three daughters, Mona Louise Laffoon of Lynnhaven, Fla., Marcia Lorraine Priess of Millington and Sheri Denise Holloway of Davison, Mich.; four sons, James Leroy Dishaw of Fort Worth, Texas, Dale Copeland of Norfolk, Va., Brian Copeland of Keene, N.H., and Darrell Copeland of Concord, Mass., 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

[Note: son of Tom and Myrtle (Crider) Copeland.]

Obituary | Dewey L. Weaver (1907-2000)

April 22, 2000
The Flint Journal

WEAVER, Dewey L. – Of Flint, age 93, died Thursday, April 20, 2000 at Briarwood Manor. Funeral services will be held 12 noon Monday, April 24, 2000 at the Brown Funeral Home, 1616 Davison Rd., Rev. David Miller officiating. Burial at Flint Memorial Park. Visitation 2-4 and 6-9 p.m. Saturday, 6-9 p.m. Sunday. Mr. Weaver was born March 3, 1907 in Senath, Missouri. He married Dorothy Copeland on October 21, 1934 in Piggott, Arkansas. He was a farmer for over 20 years in Missouri, moving to Flint in 1954 where he was employed at Mead Container Company, retiring in 1972. Surviving are: daughter, Judy Steck and husband Walt of Swartz Creek; son, Jerry Weaver and wife Pat of Flint; 8 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. Mr. Weaver was preceded in death by his wife, Dorothy in 1996; his daughter, Bonnie Sue in 1939; and son, Thomas Weaver in 1967.

Obituary | Dorothy Beatrice (Copeland) Weaver (1912-1996)

December 24, 1996
The Flint Journal (MI)

WEAVER, Dorothy B. – Of Flint, age 84, died Sunday, December 22, 1996 at Briarwood Manor. Funeral services will be held 11AM Thursday, December 26, 1996 at the Brown Funeral Home, 1616 Davison Rd., Rev. Grant H. Wessel officiating. Burial at Flint Memorial Park. Mrs. Weaver will lie in state at the funeral home from 2-4 and 6-8pm on Tuesday and Wednesday. Mrs. Weaver was born April 8, 1912 in Arbyrd, MO. She married Dewey L. Weaver on October 21, 1934 in Piggott, AK. Mrs. Weaver was employed at the Robert Hall Clothing Store retiring in 1975 after 25 years of service. Surviving are: Husband Dewey L. Weaver of Flint; son, Jerry Weaver and wife Patricia of Flint; daughter, Judith Steck and husband Walter of Swartz Creek; 8 grandchildren, Jerry Weaver Jr., Teresa Kapture, Lisa Sams, David Lindensmith Jr., Karen White, Sherry Parsons, Tommy Weaver Jr. and Timmy Weaver; 16 great-grandchildren; sister, Donna Waltrip of Flint; brother, William D. Copeland and wife Mabel of Munford, TN; many nieces and nephews. Mrs. Weaver was preceded in death by her son, Tommy Weaver in 1967. Our sincere thanks to the caretakers of Briarwood Manor Nursing Home for the love and devotion shown to Dorothy.

[Note: Dorothy was the daughter of Tom and Myrtle (Crider) Copeland.]

Obituary | Donna Genevieve (Copeland) Waltrip (1927-2000)

July 15, 2000
The Flint Journal (MI)

WALTRIP, Donna Genevieve – Age 73, of Flint, died Thursday, July 13, 2000 at her home. A Funeral service will be held at 1PM Monday, July 17, 2000 at Brown Funeral Home, 1616 Davison Road with Rev. Leo Haring officiating. Burial will follow at Flint Memorial Park. Visitation will be held from 7-9PM Saturday and 2-4 and 6-8PM Sunday. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Lung Association. Ms. Waltrip was born April 25, 1927 in Leachville, Arkansas, the daughter of Thomas and Myrtle (Crider) Copeland. She retired from A.C. Spark Plug in 1980 after 33 years of service. Ms. Waltrip was a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Fraternal Order of the Police. Surviving are: daughter, Shelley Sue Gray and fiance Jeff Mabrey; granddaughter, Jeanette Menzer; great-grandchildren, Steven Menzer and Kelli Rene Menzer; brother, William D. Copeland and wife Mabel; nephew, Jerry Weaver and wife Patricia; nieces, Judy Steck and husband Walter, Sheri Holloway and husband Norman; special friends, Sonny and Bea, Sophie and Bev, James and Shirley.

Obituary | Marsha Diane (Copeland) Toler (1946-2012)

March 1, 2012
Daily Dunklin Democrat

Marsha Diane Toler, daughter of the late Dewey and Lockie Marshall Copeland, was born July 28, 1946, in Senath, Mo., and passed away Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012, at St. Bernards Regional Medical Center in Jonesboro, Ark., at the age of 65.

She was a 1964 graduate of Senath High School.

Survivors include one daughter, Gina Butler, of Blytheville, Ark.; three sisters, Brenda Crawford, of Senath, Mo., Sandra Young and Marlene Moore, both of Memphis, Tenn.; one granddaughter, Brianna Diane Butler, and other relatives and many friends.

She was preceded in death by a brother, Gary Copeland.

Visitation will begin at 1 p.m. and will continue until service time at 2 p.m., Friday, March 2, at McDaniel Funeral Home in Senath.

Graveside services will be held at 2 p.m., Friday, March 2, in the Senath Cemetery with Duane Cooper officiating.

DNA | Crider & Thurmond Eurogenes K9 vs EU15 V2

I’m back with a bit more genetic information about our James A. Crider & Elvina Tennessee Thurmond. In my last post I shared some chromosome painting comparisons between myself and my genetic relative, Bev, who is also descended from James and Elvina. There were two matching segments that were fairly obvious to detect, and two that were much more complex. I decided to take the tricky ones and run them through a different utility to see if that would shed more light on the subject. Just as a point of reference, here is how Eurogenes EU15 V2 paints my entire genome:

Kelli Eurogenes EUtest V2 K15

Let’s start with our matching segment on Chromosome 2. Here is the Eurogenes K9 painting:

Kelli & Bev C2 181-211

And, here’s what Eurogenes EU15 V2 came up with:

Kelli & Bev C2 181-211 EU15

Okay! Now we’re getting somewhere. The Eurogenes EU15 V2 test is the most recent version of the Eurogenes utility and supercedes all previous versions. I still like K9 for its simplicity but, as you can see, the EU15 version gives us a lot more information and makes it easier to identify the places where we match (or don’t). For this particular segment I chose to mark the areas where we differ significantly, as that helps us to focus more closely on where we match.

Kelli & Bev C2 181-211 EU15 differences

For example, on the bottom left of my segment you can see an area with Oceanian, blending into a section of Southeast Asian/Siberian/a little strip of Red Sea (Middle East), followed by a spike of South Asian. In the same place on Bev’s chromosome we find West Asian mixed with Western Mediterranean, followed by some South Asian mixed with Oceananian. In the middle of my chromosome we see West Asian mixed with North African, whereas Bev has South Asian and a little Siberian. At the right side of my chromosome we find Southeast Asian mixed with Red Sea, and Bev has Oceanian.

So, what does that leave us with? Based on our knowledge of where we differ (and it is pretty significant in those locations), I feel pretty comfortable saying that we match in all of the red, orange, brown, and yellow areas (and maybe, but less likely, the sort of olive green areas). In other words, the ancestor who gave this DNA to Bev and I was a mix of North Sea, Atlantic, Baltic, and Eastern European (with possibly some Western Mediterranean). In other words, this little section is a nice combination Western European and Eastern European. Given what we know about the Crider family from the paper trails we’ve followed, we know that they were originally from Germany (which is situated right in the middle of Western and Eastern Europe). Combined with the chromosome painting information, I’ll just take a guess and say that this segment belongs to James Crider.

And, now, Chromosome 19. Here’s what Eurogenes K9 gave us. Yikes!

Kelli & Bev C19 2-12

And, here is what happens when we use Eurogenes U15.

Kelli & Bev C19 2-12 EU15

Oh, dear. This might have made things even more confusing. But, let’s give it a try. Whereas at first glance it appears that we match pretty much everywhere, there is something that gives us a clue. Bev’s segment has a rather thick stripe of West Asian running right through the middle of it. Mine does not. When looking at these segments it is helpful to remember that, given the genetic distance between me and Bev, we are actually looking at two very different lineages, with only a few bits that came from the same person. In people with predominantly European DNA, one would expect to see patterns repeat themselves without necessarily indicating a close relationship. So, whereas the top portion of our segments match, that is not entirely surprising given that we are both fairly Western European (red and orange). What I suspect is that we actually match on the bottom portion of the segment, and we can use Bev’s West Asian DNA as a dividing line (including it with her European DNA at the top), since I don’t have that. We are left with a mix of green (Eastern Mediterranean) light blue (Red Sea), a spike of pink (Oceanian), and some little bits of dark purple (Siberian) and light purple (Amerindian).

Again, I wonder if this might be Elvina. It could also be the someone who lived a long, long time ago, maybe even thousands of years ago. A child gets 50% of his DNA from his mother, and 50% from his father. Anything farther back than that isn’t guaranteed to follow the same formula (meaning the child might not get 25% from each grandparent, 12.5% from each great-grandparent, etc) — it’s not a mathematically perfect transmission. What’s really interesting is that, while there is a 50% chance that a segment of DNA will be passed on, if it is passed on, there is a 90% chance that it will stay largely intact (see Sources at bottom of page). So, it’s possible for relatively large segments of DNA to be passed from generation to generation for hundreds, maybe even thousands, of years without diluting down to nothing.

The developer of the EU15 (and also the K9) utility suggests that we ignore anything that comprises less than 1% of our DNA. By that token, these little bits of Bev’s and my DNA would be irrelevant. But, are they, really? It’s clear that Bev and I share these segments, as elucidated above, so am I supposed to believe that these seemingly anomalous bits of DNA are, in fact, nothing? Isn’t it also possible that they could be the genetic signature of an ancestor that lived so long ago that we’ll never be able to identify him or her? Because of the way Bev’s and my DNA is nestled together, we can imagine those stripes and spikes of color as a way of looking back through time: the green (Eastern Mediterranean) is most recent, then father back is the light blue (Red Sea), and then all the way back in the beginning is the pink (Oceanian). This person’s ancestors migrated from somewhere in the Polynesia area, to the Middle East, and then settled somewhere along the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean. And, that, cousins, was undoubtedly a long, long time ago. At some point, the descendant of this ancient lineage encountered an individual who was carrying Native American DNA, as well (which we can see, in a very small amount, in the parts we share).

Do some geneticists (or software developers — let’s make sure we’re not pointing fingers in the wrong direction here) want us to deny the existence of these ancestors just because their appearance in our DNA is unexpected (or because the traditional types of genealogical evidence cannot “prove” that they belong in our family tree)? Even though I am just dipping my toes in the water of genetic genealogy I have the sense that, in the future, we will be rethinking our assumptions about minority admixture. I wonder if it’s possible that some of the pieces of DNA that we see in our genome today are very, very old, and that the DNA from some of our more recent ancestors never made it into our genome at all. Dismissing small pieces of anomalous DNA as “noise” is a denial of what our genes are trying to tell us — the mysteries of the past persist.

Your cousin,
Kelli Signature

Sources:

Estes, Roberta. “Why Are My Predicted Cousin Relationships Wrong?” DNAeXplained, October 21, 2013, http://dna-explained.com/2013/10/21/why-are-my-predicted-cousin-relationships-wrong/

DNA | James A. Crider & Elvina Tennessee Thurmond

Hello Cousins! This morning it is snowing in New Hampshire!

I wanted to share with you some information I have learned about my ancestry using non-traditional means. Genealogists living in the 21st Century have it easy! All of the US Federal Census records have been indexed and digitized, and many state and county records have been, as well. Plus, we have genetic evidence, which is rarely wrong. I took a DNA test from 23andMe back in the spring, and I learned a lot from the results that the company gave me. But, over time, I have learned so much more by using my raw data and various utilities available on the web. Today I’m going to share with you what I have learned about two of our ancestors using the software from GedMatch.

Using the “One-to-Many” kit matching utility, I was able to find a very close genetic relative. We’ll call her “Bev.” Brief discussions showed us that our most recent common ancestors were Myrtle Crider’s grandparents, James A. Crider (1834-1875) and his wife, Elvina Tennessee Thurmond (also spelled Thurman) (1836-1915). Using our kit numbers, I did a “One-to-One” scan to show me where Bev and I matched. It turns out we matched in several places:

Chr Start Location End Location Centimorgans (cM) SNPs
2 181,970,114 211,277,824 21.4 5,129
4 182,391,572 189,141,229 21.9 2,089
7 155,789,841 158,811,958 5.3 687
19 2,463,876 12,878,876 27.4 2,616
21 39,268,390 45,067,747 16.8 2,114

Now comes the fun part! (You can click on any of the images to see a larger version).

Kelli & Bev C2 181-211

I decided to concentrate on the largest matching segments, and so I started with Chromosome 2 (above). I used the Admixture utility — Eurogenes K9 edition — to create a “chromosome painting” for both of us (which gives us a color-coded map of our genetic admixture on each chromosome), and then I compared the segments where we matched. We all get half of each chromosome from our father and the other half from our mother. I’m not sure what to think about this one. My first inclination is to say that the top portion of our chromosomes is too mismatched to be the same (even taking into account the fact that we don’t all inherit the same amount of everything). I’m leaning towards a match in the blue area, which is strictly Northern European.

Kelli & Bev 184-189

Next up: Chromosome 4. This one is easy! Using the admixture key, we can see that the only areas that Bev and I share are the blue ones — Northern European. So, I know that I got this blue segment of my DNA from my father, who got it from his father (Bill Copeland), who got it from his mother (Myrtle Crider), who got it from her father, (Hub Crider), who got it from his father or mother (James Crider or Elvina Thurmond). This makes sense, given that we know that the Criders were originally Kreiders and came from Germany. Elvina’s ancestry is more opaque, but we might still learn something about her in this exercise.

Kelli & Bev C19 2-12

Moving on to Chromosome 19. Whoa! What a mess! I’m still trying to figure this one out. It seems to me that our matching segment is the top portion of each of our chromosomes (despite the fact that it is not a perfect match). You can see that we both have a combination of Caucasus, Southwest Asian, and Mediterranean, with a few scraps of yellow, which is North Amerindian (Native American), and a tiny strip of South Asian (the red) right at the very top. Native American DNA typically includes Asian markers because that is where their ancestors originated. It’s called “genetic drift” and Roberta Estes, author of the blog, DNAeXplained (which is fantastic), gives a good summary of how it works. She writes,

There is no line in the sand very often between populations. There are generally only degrees of difference. So in the case of Native American, which is yellow on this chart, we also expect to see it “drift back in time” by being found in conjunction with Siberian (putty), South Asian (red) and East Asian (emerald green). Native Americans were not dropped from alien spaceships, they evolved over time from these other Asian populations, so we would expect to see some of their genetics in Native American people.

So, we can see that Bev got more of everything than I did on Chromosome 19, but it seems unlikely that we would both have this admixture in the same place without it being a match. We can say with some certainty that, whoever this individual was, he or she had a very interesting combination of ancestors with both Native American and Mediterranean roots. Could this be Elvina? We will definitely need more information (and more genetic cousins) to make a firm judgment about that.

Kelli & Bev C21 39-45

The last sample I chose was on Chromosome 21. Well, this one is pretty obvious, isn’t it? Besides a few tiny flecks of color at the top of my chromosome, I am pretty much entirely Northern European on this segment. My genetic cousin, Bev, however, has an interesting mix of Caucasus, East Asian, and North Amerindian. So, we can definitively say that the matching portion of this segment is European, though we don’t know for sure whether it was James Crider or Elvina Thurmond who gave it to us.

I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit more about your ancestors. Genetics is opening up entirely new avenues of research for genealogists, and we are discovering new and exciting ways to use our DNA every day. I like to think that each of these little bits of color are like portraits of our ancestors, carried in a secret code that is passed from parent to child, making each one of us a living gallery. Our ancestors are not only names and dates, they are part of the blueprint that makes us who we are — for better or for worse!

Your cousin,
Kelli Signature

Census Records | Myrtle M. Crider (1886-1967)

Since my last post focused on the US Federal Census records that we have for Tom Copeland (1876-1948), I thought it might be nice to look at the census records we have for his wife, Myrtle (Crider) Copeland. Myrtle was born in 1886, so she is not on the 1880 US Federal Census. As I mentioned in my post about Tom, there is no US Federal Census for 1890 because most of the records were destroyed by a fire in 1921. Therefore, the first US Federal Census we have for Myrtle is for the year 1900.

In 1900, Myrtle was living in Magesterial District 06, Graves County, Kentucky. The US Federal Census record shows her parents are “William H” (William Herbert “Hub” Crider), age 39; and “Willie J” (Willie J. Killebrew), age 34, both born in Kentucky. Myrtle is called “Myrtie M”, she is 18 years old (born in Kentucky), and the oldest of many siblings: a sister “Ola S”, age 12; another sister (who is actually a brother) “Virgil O”, age 10; a brother “Jewell L”, age 7; another brother “Robby F”, age 5; a sister “Unis P”, age 2; and a baby brother “William C”, age 8 months. According to this record she is “At School” and she can read, write, and speak English. She is still single.

1900UnitedStatesFederalCensusForMurtieMCrider

Ten years pass and the 1910 US Federal Census finds our Myrtle living in Independence, Dunklin County, Missouri. Sound familiar? It should! Tom Copeland was also living in Independence in 1910. In fact, as you can see from this record, his daughter “Ima Couplin” (Imogene) was living just a few houses away from Myrtle and her family at the home of her grandparents, the Buntings (highlighted in blue). Because of his marriage to Clara Bunting (who by 1910 was institutionalized), Tom may have lived with the Buntings when the Criders arrived in town or, at the very least, he would have visited his daughter there occasionally. We can see that his proximity to the Crider household made possible his future marriage to Myrtle, the results of which led to the existence of many of us! Sometimes, when I see connections like this, I realize how lucky I am to be alive. One wrong move by my ancestors and I wouldn’t be here! Back to the record: Myrtle is now 24 years old and has gained some siblings, but lost her mother. Her father, “Hubbard Crider”, age 50, is a widower with many mouths to feed: Myrtle, age 24; “Jewel”, age 18; “Lester”, age 16; “Eunice”, age 12; “Clay”, age 10; and “Cleatus”, age 8. There is also a “Rado Crider” listed, who is Myrtle’s sister-in-law, wife of her brother Virgil. Although she was 24, Myrtle was still single, and not working — she was most likely caring for her younger siblings in the absence of their mother.

1910UnitedStatesFederalCensusForMyrtleCrider

From here on out the census records available for Myrtle Crider are the ones that I covered in my post about Tom Copeland. In 1920 the US Federal Census shows Myrtle is living with her husband, Tom Copeland, in Neal, Mississippi County, Arkansas. She is 34 years old, born in Kentucky (and both parents were born in Kentucky, as well). She is the mother of two children: “Dortha B” (Dorothy), age 8; and “Othar D” (Dewey Otho), age 6. Since Dorothy is her oldest child, we can guess that she met and married Tom Copeland sometime between 1910, when they were listed separately on the census record, and 1912, when Dorothy was born (we know the date of their marriage, but that will have to wait for another post).

1920UnitedStatesFederalCensus

Moving on to 1930, the US Federal Census for that year tells us that Myrtle is 43 years old. She first married at the age of 23 (this is probably true, since she married in 1910). She did not attend school within the last year, but she can read and write. She and both of her parents were born in Kentucky. Myrtle now has four children: “Dorthy” (Dorothy), age 18; “Dewey”, age 16; “Delvie” (William Delvie a.k.a. “Bill”), age 6; and Donnie (“Donna”), age 3 months. I don’t know if you noticed, but I see that there is a big gap between Bill and his next oldest sibling, Dewey (10 years!). From this record we might wonder if there was at least one other child born between them, possibly more. But, what happened to this child(ren)? These are the kinds of things that one can only discover by close examination of the records. Now that we suspect there was another child, we will know to look for him or her in another source. Losing a child (and a sibling) would have been devastating for the Copeland family, though sadly not uncommon during the early 20th Century.

1930UnitedStatesFederalCensus

The last census record we have for Myrtle is the 1940 US Federal Census. As we learned in our analysis of Tom Copeland’s census records, the family returned to Missouri sometime between 1930 and 1935. They now reside in Clay, Dunklin County, Missouri. The census record indicates that Myrtle provided the information to the enumerator, so we can trust it, to some degree (mistakes could still be made!). Myrtle is 54 years old, and a “House Wife” in her “Own Home.” She received 8 years of schooling, which is 5 more than her husband, Tom. She has two of her children still living with her: a son, “Delvie” (William Delvie a.k.a. “Bill”), age 15; and a daughter, “Donnie” (Donna), age 12. Wait a minute — wasn’t Donna 3 months old at the time of the last census? Yes, she was, but we can trust that if anyone was wrong it was the enumerator or the person supplying the information in the last census record, since we would hope that Myrtle knew the ages of her own children (childbirth isn’t something one easily forgets).

1940UnitedStatesFederalCensus

Well, that brings us to the end of the available census records for Myrtle. Since she didn’t pass away until 1967 she is listed on the 1950 and 1960 US Federal Censuses. But, the public won’t have access to those for a long time. If we want to know more about the next few decades of Myrtle’s life, we’ll have to look elsewhere!

Your cousin,
Kelli Signature