I have a love/hate relationship with mysteries. I love them when I first encounter them. Doubly so when I solve them. But hand me one that I cannot solve and I absolutely loathe it.
I have one I hate right now.
I encountered a child's grave on one of our excursions cleaning headstones. We were in a waiting period while the D/2 was working on the stones we were cleaning and I was drawn to an obvious child's grave nearby, obvious by the small (now headless) lamb atop the marker.
The marker itself was so black and grimy that it absolutely looked as though it were made from anthracite coal. Nothing of the engraving could be made out except by side-lighting. Moss and lichens combined with algae to make an already sad item absolutely wretched.
I was compelled to see what I could do to improve its condition.
First came re-centering it on its base. Most people are unaware that many, if not most, monuments rely on sheer mass and proper placement to keep everything in place. In this case the upper part had been shifted slightly off center. That was easily remedied.
Next up was the scraping. The lichen and moss, for the most part, gave way with minor scraping with a plastic putty knife. The flat and easily accessed nooks popped right off. Those in the deeper recesses were another matter. And the algae held fast like limpets on tidal rocks.
We gave it a good soaking with the D/2 and waited the obligatory period before attacking it with the scrub brush.
Few things are as satisfying as watching dirt, grime, and mildew die an horrible death. A few minutes of scrubbing (and more than a little sweating in the humidity) and bits of white started peaking through the nasty stuff. Damned if it doesn't look like this monument is actually white marble! A through rinse and a second scrub and rinse left things greatly improved but with a long way to go before success could be declared. Time to leave the D/2 to do its magic.
I have it on the list to revisit around Christmas to check.
But my weakness is and remains the stories behind the graves. Naturally this meant research. First, pulling up the memorial in Find A Grave to see it there is family linked. There is not. But there is a transcription of the death notice. That gives me a father's (Mr. and Mrs.) and a sister's name to work from. And it appears that this little girl fell victim to something I have heard about my entire life, but never before encountered anyone who experienced it. Let alone died of it: Ptomaine. Basically food poisoning. Having had food poisoning myself, I can imagine - to an extent - how horrible that had to be for her.
I can only hear Alan Sherman's voice singing "Hello, Mudda. Hello, Fadda. Here I am at, Camp Granada."
Off to Ancestry!
And therein lies the mystery. As the little girl was born in 1902 and died in 1914, she only appears on one Census. Thankfully it isn't the notoriously missing 1890 version!
She appears in the household of an aunt as a niece along with the sister mentioned in the funeral notice. There is no father, but there is a woman of the right age listed immediately before her and her sister who is noted as a sister to woman - the aunt - that is listed as the head of the household.
Interestingly, both women are listed as widows.
So I have what appears to be the mother's first name. No maiden name, though.
I start building the tree including the sister and mother. It certainly isn't much to work from!
With so little detail on the mother and father, I focus for a moment on the sister. Lots of good detail on her. Most interesting is her death certificate as it gives their father and mother. And the mother's maiden name!
Unsurprisingly the father's middle initial is not the same on the death certificate and in the funeral notice. No real shock there.
But having the mother's maiden name makes the search a tad bit more productive. Right off the bat I find the parent's marriage license. Naturally this, too, contradicts with the Census. In 1910 the mother shows being in her current marriage 6 years (and having born 2 children with both living). Married six years but the older child, the one who started me on this inane quest, is age 7. Grrr. Moreover the license dates from 1896 meaning that in 1910 the marriage would have been 14, not 6 years.
I cannot find the mother in the 1900 Census at all, under either her maiden or married name. She remarried before 1920 and that second marriage really confuses the search engine.
She does have a memorial in Find A Grave, and it is in the same cemetery as the child. Great. Now I have to go and try finding it. I have to know if it is near the child or not.
Arrghhh!!! Why do I do this to myself?
I can find precious little on the father. I think I have him in the 1880 census as a 10 year old living in the same county as the marriage occurred, so it is plausible that this is the right person. The 1890 census is, alas, missing. And I cannot place him on the 1900 census with any degreee of confidence.
I do see him and the mother listed in the city directory in 1906, so can narrow down his death to be 1906 or later.
No death, no burial for him.
So. Neither parent is listed in the 1900 Census. And their marriage year is in doubt. And the father cannot be found after 1906. Just fecking great.
Taking a side track for a moment. I also traced the aunt (sister to the mother) based on the now infamous 1910 Census entry. It states she is a widow. BUT! She married in 1887 and her husband did not die until 1926!
Somebody telling some lies!
I find the aunt and her husband in the 1900 Census. And in the 1920 Census. But I also find the aunt as a widow in the 1920 Census.
Obviously I have the wrong husband! SO! I get to delete all that work and rethink things........ This is the only candidate I could find. And he is wrong.
That's it. I am, as veterans might put it, popping smoke on this one. I found the mother and submitted a change to link her to the child. That is the best I can do with the dearth of data.
These mysteries broke me.
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