You never know where something will lead you. Recently Pappa Br'er returned to one of the family mysteries. He recounted how, when he was young, his own father would sometimes go off to "Visit Uncle John." He never accompanied his father on one of these visits. Nor did his father ever give any other details about where he was going and who he was visiting. Grandpa Br'er passed away when Pappa Br'er was in his early 20s (and before ol' Br'er hisself was even born. So any chance of learning more from Grandpa Br'er ended many, many years ago.
Well, the whole "Visiting Uncle John" story arose again recently (as happens with older folk who often repeat stories). This set Br'er off on a hunt - again - trying to identify "Uncle John" - not for the first time. But this effort received more focus than previous attempts.
First thing, Br'er laid out the search parameters. These allow any given potential candidate to be excluded from the list of possibilities if they do not meet any one of them.
- Male
- Has a given name (first or middle) of John, Johnathan, Johnny, Jon, or any variation that could be construed as a John, or has a J initial
- Alive between 1943 (Pappa Br'er would not recall much before this date) and 1963 (Grandpa Br'er died that year)
- Was a blood relative of, or married a female blood relative of, Grandpa Br'er or Grandma Br'er
- Was an uncle, great-uncle, etc. of Pappa Br'er (this allows for the possibility that Grandpa Br'er was describing the relationship between Pappa Br'er and John instead of Grandpa Br'er and John)
- Lived within "visiting distance" of Grandpa Br'er (visiting distance being about 100 miles maximum - far less in all reality - from Grandpa Br'er at the time as that would be the absolutely greatest distance he could travel to and from in a single day at the time due to roads and speed limits, and still have time to visit with anyone)
Initially, Br'er included the possibility that what Grandpa Br'er was actually doing was visiting someone's grave. But Pappa Br'er was insistent that this was not the case, that his father was visiting a living relative. So he took that criteria out.
A body might be forgiven for thinking this would be a simple effort. But it wasn't. There are dozens of branches on the tree to research! And more than a couple of Johns!
Died before Pappa Br'er was born? Not the right Uncle John. Lived in another state? Not the right Uncle John.
This was the point when Shiny Object Syndrome (SOS) kicked in. Certainly, anyone can appreciate SOS. It is when a body is focused on finding one thing, but something else comes up and diverts their attention. The next thing they know, they have spent hours off task, looking at the Shiny Object.
Ol' Br'er is as subject to SOS any anyone. Moreso than most.
It seems that one of Grandpa Br'er's aunts - Maude - married a man named John. That would seem to make him the ideal candidate for "Uncle John." Br'er did not have any detail on him in the family tree, so had to do the research.
Cue the Shiny Object.
It seemed from Census records that John and Maude had moved from Georgia to South Carolina in the 1940s, but that was not something Br'er could confirm right off. He needed more details to be certain. Yet, death certificates and other documentation are not available online. Maude and John were born in the 1880s, so it is entirely possible they were still alive in the 1940s through the 1960s, or later. Finding where they died and were buried would help determine if this could be the Uncle John of the stories or not.
To figure this all out, Br'er extended the tree with this couple and their children and continued looking for any and all documentation for anyone in their family. Piecing this together was clearly going to be a challenge! Try as he did, Br'er could not find any death or burial record for either John or Maude in the usual places, so he sought more information on their children in hopes this would lead to details on their parents.
Looking at the various Census records, he found clear evidence of the couple losing children at a young age. They have a 2-year-old son, Roy D, on the 1910 Census, but Roy does not appear on the 1920 Census. In these years, the family lived in Athens, Georgia. Find A Grave lists a memorial for a Roy Dell born 1908 and died 1913 in a major cemetery in Athens. The grave marker not only notes that Roy is the son of J.W. and M.E., but also give the names and years for two more siblings! James Dillard (1911-1911) and John Clifford (1910-1911).
The John and Maude Br'er is researching have middle names starting with W and E respectively, so all this seems to fit.
Further, the couple had a daughter, Alice, born in 1926 (along with a couple more sons). These children appear with the couple on the 1940 Census living in South Carolina.
Damn! This cannot be the Uncle John Br'er is searching for! But SOS has kicked in, and he is fixated on finishing this branch of the tree! You see, he found a death certificate for Alice. She was struck by lightning and killed in 1945. More interesting, she was returned to Georgia and interred in the same cemetery as her three brothers, who all died as children.
This set Br'er to wondering if perhaps John and Maude were returned home to Georgia, too, to rest with their children. There were no records in Find A Grave for them, but that could be for any number of reasons.
As it happens, many of the original records for the cemetery where Alice and the boys rest are available online. They are not linked through to Ancestry, so they will not show there as hints or be returned in search results. But, as Ol' Br'er has many kinfolks there and has done a good bit of research on the cemetery in the past, he knew about these records and set about checking them.
Knowing the names and death dates for four of the family and using their names to filter the records, Br'er was able to triangulate in and find they are all in the same Section and Plot. This led to the record of the original plot purchase!
John bought the low 6 June 1911. His son, John Clifford, would die a mere 20 days later, on 26 June.
It does not take Sherlock Holmes to deduce that John Clifford had to be gravely ill by early June 1911. Ill enough that his father purchased a burial plot in anticipation that his son was unlikely to long survive.
What a heartbreaking time for John and Maude. The year would only grow more tragic for them. Maude, who was almost certainly pregnant when she buried her second-born child in June, would deliver her third child, James Dillard November of that year, only to lose him a month later.
Two children lost in one year. Then to lose her firstborn, Roy Dell, two years later.
The plot record not only shows John Clifford, James Dillard, and Roy Dell buried in the plot but their sister, Alice, as well as an unnamed infant. That infant, burial 68, dates to March 1914. Four children lost in four years. Then a fifth lost some years later. John and Maude must have thought themselves cursed.
John and Maude did have two sons and a daughter who survived into their adulthood, and the sons, at least, had children of their own (Br'er cannot find if the daughter had any children). So perhaps some solace came from these surviving children and grandchildren.
The records also show that JW and Mrs. JW were ultimately laid to rest with their children in this family plot. The detailed cemetery burial records (burials 687, 945, and 1111) show that the individuals lived in South Carolina at the time of their passing, so there is no doubt that this is John and Maude.
Br'er took all this documentation and created Find A Grave memorials for the unnamed infant, John, and Maude. And linked all the children's memorials to their parents, so the family is together again in a way.
So, the tale is shared here so perhaps someone, sometime, might read it and be reminded that some things require a different approach to find and prove. Ol' Br'er had to re-learn that lesson. Maybe this will help others learn and re-learn it, too.
Now! Back to finding Uncle John!
