What Happened to Little Mary Moore?

When I wrote a post entitled Death and Kidnapping last month, I didn't know what happened to Mary Elizabeth Moore, who had been "kidnapped" from a hospital room the night before her mother died. Mary's step-father accused her father of the crime. Mary was nine years old at the time. Charges against her father were later dropped though it was unclear if Mary was returned to him or raised by foster parents. I have not been able to find her in the 1940 census though I do believe her father had remarried by 1940 and lived in Macon, Georgia, with his second wife and daughter, Betty.

1 July 1934 edition of the Macon Telegraph; courtesy of the Macon Historical Society

I know from Mary's Social Security application records she submitted three name changes throughout her life: 1) in Apr 1953 she said her name was Mary Moore Bradbury; 2) on 21 January 1976 she said her name was Mary M. Lindsey; and 3) on 26 May 1999 she said her name was Mary Moore Lindsey. I suspected the first two name changes were the result of marriages.

It turns out Mary Moore married Walter C. Bradbury, who was the son of John Lewis Bradbury and Mary Phillips. He grew up in Bibb County, Georgia, so it is entirely possible they met in their hometown of Macon. By 1952 Walter and Mary lived in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he worked as a chemist. Five years later, the couple lived in Corpus Christi, Texas. Perhaps Walter had a job that transferred him frequently?

On 12 August 1974 Mary married Harold Isaac Lindsey in Pasco County, Florida. She was 50 years old at the time of the marriage. Walter Bradbury died in 2008 so they must have divorced. Harold was the son of Walter M. Lindsey and Bertie Perkins. He had been married previously, and at the time of that marriage, worked as a lawyer. Mary and Harold divorced on 1 August 1990 in Hillsborough County, Florida. It appears Mary spent the rest of her life there and died on 25 May 2003 in Lutz, Florida.

I later found a family tree on Ancestry.com created by Mary's daughter. That tree indicated she had a child by each husband; the daughter from her first marriage to Walter Bradbury and a son with Harold Lindsey.

It should be noted that John Henry Moore and Emily B. Wilson, Mary's parents, had another child, Nelda Moore. She was born on 1 December 1923 and died on 7 May 1925 in Bibb County. Little Nelda was interred in Riverside Cemetery where her mother was buried. Mary was 10 months old at the time of Nelda's death so likely did not remember having a sister.

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Death and Kidnapping