Cajun or Cerole? What's the Difference?

One of the granddaughters of Armita Marie Alleman, my grand uncle Henry Muir's second wife, always heard her grandmother was a full-blooded Native American. As she digs into her family history, she's finding out that may not be true. Her grandmother's race was always listed as "W" for white on the census forms, but she was from Acadia Parish. So was she Creole or Cajun and what's the difference anyway?

"Creole in a Red Turban" by Jacques Aman, circa 1840; image courtesy
Wikipedia

I learned it's pretty easy to determine the difference between Creole and Cajun food; Creole cuisine uses tomatoes, Cajun doesn't. People, well, that's not as easy.

When the French settlers moved to Louisiana, the placage system was set up due to a shortage of accessible white women. The French wanted to expand its population in the new world, however men were not expected to marry until their early thirties and premarital sex was inconceivable. African woman soon became the concubines of white male colonists, which in some cases they happened to be sons of noblemen, military men, plantation owners, etc. Soon, wealthy white men would marry and, in some cases, they would possess two families. One with the white woman to which they were legally married, and one with their mistress of color. The offspring from their mistresses were then grouped into a new class of creoles known as gens de couleur, or free people of color. This class of people would soon expand when refugees from Haiti and other French speaking colonies would migrate to New Orleans, effectively creating a new middle class between the white French Creoles and slaves.

Courtesy of Google

This class of colored people was unique to the South as they were not in the same category as African slaves. They were elite members of society who were often leaders in business, agriculture, politics, and the arts. At one time the center of their residential community was the French Quarter. Many were educated, owned their own property and businesses. Additionally, some were even slave-owners. They formed a third class in the slave society. This meant that in the pre-civil war era, race was mainly divided into four categories. These were white, black, creoles, and free people of color. French Creoles objected to the fact that the term Creole was used to describe Free People of Color but their culture and ideals were often mirrored by them. French Creoles spoke French while Black Creoles spoke Louisiana Creole which was a mixture of English, French, African or Spanish. The end of the civil war was a threat to the Louisiana Creoles of Color because this brought about the two-tiered class system that existed in the rest of the country that was divided predominately by race: black and white.

Cajuns, on the other hand, are any descendant of Acadian exiles (French-speaking Canadians from the Maritime provinces) who lived in the southern bayou region of Louisiana. They can be any race.

Courtesy of Google

Cajuns began arriving in Louisiana during the French and Indian War. Their forced expulsion by the British was part of the its military campaign again New France, the French territories in Canada. It is thought that over 11,000 people out of 14,000 were deported during what became known as the Great Expulsion.

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I learned when researching the cultural history of Russians in Alaska, they also used the term "creole" to define people with mixed Russian and Native Alaskan blood.

A version of this post first appeared on the Robert Muir Family blog on 7 April 2016, which is the publishing platform for the multi-volume book, Descendants of Robert Muir (c1800-1869). The original version of this post will be published in an electronic book, Volume VII: James Muir (1848-1926) Descendants in June 2016.

The Weather Outside Was Frightful

Hurricane Camille made landfall in Waveland, Mississippi as a Category 5 (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) storm on 17 August 1969.  In all nearly 300 people were killed in the U.S., over 8,900 were injured nearly 6,000 homes were destroyed, and approximately 14,000 severely damaged. Estimated total damage costs were $9.13 billion in today's dollars, making it the second most expensive hurricane in history up to that point.

Track of Hurricane Camille; map courtesy of Wikipedia

Luckily, for the residents of Louisiana, they were on the western side of the hurricane. Yet, the death and destruction were still intense. Winds gusted up to 125 miles per hour in Slidell, Louisiana, where many members of the extended Muir family lived. Louisiana experienced storm surges of 10 to 16 feet of water, which can be catastrophic for low-lying coastal areas.

Eastbound lanes of U.S. Highway 90; image courtesy of Wikipedia

It was the last killer hurricane to make landfall with only last-minute warnings. While the use of satellites was in its infancy at the time of Camille, the storm intensified in the Gulf of Mexico and defied predictions that it would hit the Florida panhandle. The science and technology used to predict hurricanes has rapidly advanced since Camille, which makes the devastation in the wake of Katrina all the more inexplicable.

Ship was part of the destruction caused by Camille; photograph courtesy
of the Times-Picayune

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This post was originally published as part of my multi-volume book, The Descendants of Robert Muir (c1800-1869)

Social Security Applications and Claims Index

Last week Ancestry.com added an important new data collection to its subscriber-available repository -- the U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007. The collection includes over 49 million records about people whose deaths have been reported to the Social Security Administration (SSA), had a social security number, and would have been over 110 years old if still living. Not every person listed in the U.S. Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014, is included in this new collection.

Why is it so important?

The Social Security Application and Claims Index provides additional details about a person not contained on the death index record such as:

• Applicant's full name
• Social Security Number (SSN)
• Date and place of birth
• Citizenship
• Sex
• Father's name
• Mother's name
• Race/ethnic description (optional)
• Names changes filed with SSA
• Life and death claims filed with SSA

Parents names are not included if the person died within the last 10 years and the social security number is not provided if the person died within the last 75 years.

I have found the database particularly helpful for identifying maiden names and marriages I didn't previously know about (name change filings). I used to submit a SSA Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) claim each time I was unable to find a maiden name through usual sources such as a parent living with a married daughter in a census, obituaries, etc. Each time I submitted a request, it cost $27.00.

This is what I would receive from SSA about a month later:

Application for Social Security Account Number for Mary Inez Muir
(1922-2002); personal collection

This gave me her place of birth, which I did not know at the time.

This is the same form for one of her father's partners:

Application for Social Security Account Number for Eppa (Swan) Childs
(1909-1975); personal collection

I learned Eppa "Eppie" (Swan) Childs' maiden name and the name of her parents, as well as the surname of her first husband. This was crucial information as a later partner's obituary listed her name as Eppie Sevan. From the obituary I didn't know if it was her maiden name, her name from a previous marriage or even if it was correct. And made no progress beyond the incorrect name listed in the obituary until I received this from from SSA.

Let's go back to Eppie's step-daughter, Mary Inez Muir. I contacted one of her granddaughters after finding her tree on Ancestry and she told me Mary Inez had been married nine times, but she didn't know who all the husbands were. She and I worked together to discover five of them. This is how Mary Inez's marriages looked in my tree after we ran out of places to search:

The five husbands and one "almost" husband of Mary Inez Muir. She and
George R. Brewster applied for a marriage license in West Virginia but
never married; from my family tree on Ancestry.com

This morning I searched for Mary Inez in the US, Social Security Applications and Claims Index:

Mary Inez Muir's record in the Social Security Applications and Claims
Index; image courtesy of Ancestry.com

If you read the Notes field, you will see that Mary Inez submitted several names changes to SSA. Two of the changes I didn't know about: 1) July 1966 changing her surname to STACY and 2) May 1967 changing her surname to CARLISLE. These two "new" marriages bring her known marriage count to seven. So the hunt continues for the two remaining marriages. When I started working on Mary Inez, I knew about two marriages -- her "almost" marriage and her last. Collaboration with her granddaughter and this new record set have been a wonderful addition to my research.

I hope you will have success using the U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims Index as well. But it can be a bit overwhelming to know who in your tree may be included in this collection. To develop a list of candidate ancestors, I ran a Documented Facts and Sources report from Family Tree Maker, and searched for everyone who had a U.S. Social Security Death Index record associated to them. I entered their birth date, name at birth, death date, name at death and social security number, if it was included, into a spreadsheet. Then I sorted the list by birth date and moved everyone who would be less than 110 years old if they still living to another worksheet as they should not be in the Social Security Applications and Claims database. (I have found several of these people in the database, however.)

Next, I opened the U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims Index, using Search >> Card Catalog from the navigation menu on Ancestry.com and began searching. If I found a record for the correct person, I saved it to that person, then analyzed the record to see if it included any new information. If it did, I recorded that information on my tree and entered YES into my spreadsheet indicating I had successfully found the record. If I did not find it, I entered NO into my spreadsheet so I would not be repeating the same search at a future time.

I'll be working on this for weeks and a large portion of my Muir book will have to be extensively rewritten in light of all the new information I am finding.

Happy hunting!

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Unraveling Henry's Children: Mary Inez Muir (1922-2002)

Unraveling Henry's Children: Mary Inez Muir (1922-2002)

I've written about my grand uncle, Henry Muir before. He has been an enigma wrapped inside a riddle for a long time. Slowly, much more than I would like, a bit more becomes revealed...a record discovered, a connection made, a grandchild reaches out on this blog or my Facebook page asking questions or providing a snippet of new information.

Henry Muir was my paternal grandmother's oldest brother. He was born in 1903 and died in 1986. I think she would have liked to have loved him more but she really didn't know him very well. My grandmother and Henry went to live with their paternal grandmother, Margaret (Semple) Muir, after their mother died in 1909. Henry was 6 and Grandma was 3 years old.

Margaret (Semple) Muir died in 1920, leaving Henry and my grandmother to make their own way in the world. Henry must have gone to his father in West Virginia, and Grandma bounced around between some of her Muir aunts and uncles before going to War, West Virginia. I believe it was not far from where her father and his second family lived as one of her half-sisters was born in Tralee, West Virginia, that same year. But where exactly the family was, or Henry, my grandmother's brother, in 1920, I have no idea. They remain resolutely hidden in the 1920 census.

On 29 June 1921 Henry Muir and Mary Canterbury received a marriage license, permitting them to marry. They were married on 3 July in Walls Creek, West Virginia, deep in the heart of coal mining country in McDowell County. He was 18 years old and she was 16; neither had been married before.

Their only known child, Mary Inez Muir was born on 8 November 1922 in Buchanan County, Virginia. Her parents divorced before 1926 as her mother had married or was living with Lee Collins in Sandy River, West Virginia. They had two daughters of their own, born in 1926 and 1930.

Mary Inez Muir as a child on the left and her mother holding
an infant named Bill. The photograph was shared by Ancestry
member IndianaJanne. I have no idea how Bill fits into the
family tree.

Henry, meanwhile, migrated or fled (depending one which family story you believe) to Louisiana where he married to Armitar Alleman in 1930 and lived in East Baton Rouge. Henry worked as an electrician.

So Mary Inez, while not abandoned by her parents, was perhaps made to feel a bit less important than her half siblings, who happened to be the children of the spouse, who turned out not to be a lasting wife either as Armitar and Henry divorced sometime after 1944.

When Mary Inez was 16 years old she and George Bruster or Brewster applied for a marriage license in McDowell County, West Virginia. I don't think we can really appreciate what this area was like back then. In 1940, it was a boomtown. Now it is a depressed, has-been sort of place with a population of less than 2,500 -- a one-industry town when coal isn't politically in favor with the current crop of politicians because it is a dirty kind of energy.

Welch, West Virginia on a Sunday afternoon in 1946; photograph courtesy
of Wikipedia

I do not believe Mary Inez and George actually married, however, as the minister's return portion of the form was not completed. Mary went on to marry Miles Henry Blankenship and had four sons. When she left him, she split up her children, taking the two oldest, leaving one with her mother, and the youngest with her husband. That child was raised by his paternal grandparents and an aunt. In 1947 Mary Inez applied for the Social Security insurance program and did not list the names of her parents on the form. Did she remember them? She also used the Muir surname. Had she already left Miles Blankenship just a year after their youngest child was born?

I have recently been in contact with a granddaughter who loved her very much...and may I say thank goodness someone did. Her granddaughter credits Mary Inez with helping her survive the death of her older brother at the age of 21...something you must admit is in no way a normal event and must have been very tragic.

Her granddaughter believed, Mary Inez Muir married as many as nine times...and that's taught me a couple of other lessons: 1) If she was married that many times, I may not be the one that finds all the records; someone in the future will sort it out as more records become available. 2) The number of marriages a person may enter into is in no way a reflection of their innate character; it may just be a comfortable escape mechanism and 3) Perhaps a new husband is just plain fun for some period of time!

I admit I might be a tad jealous. I'm not sure I could have ever convinced nine men to propose during my life time! So my hat is off to Mary Inez. But especially for earning the love of her granddaughter. Hearing and being able to share her stories made me proud to be a family historian.

However, I believe at this time Mary Inez Muir was married five times:

1. Miles H. Blankenship, born 1914, married abt 1940; four children. Miles served in the U.S. Navy during World War II; never remarried; and died in 1983. 
2. Hubert C. Lemaster, divorced in 1971. I have no information on his birth or death dates or anything about him other than a divorce index record.
3. Eugene Guy Gribble, born 1914, married 1972, died 1993; served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army during World War II. At the time they married both said they had been married twice before.
4. Coy Franklin Hicks, married in 1994. I have no information on his birth or death dates or anything about him other than a marriage index record.
5. William Moore and Mary Inez were married in 1997; she died in 2002. Mary indicated she had been married four times previously.

I believe five marriages because of the marriage record to William T. Moore indicated four previous marriages. But a woman has been known to fib about her age, so it's possible there are another four marriages to chase. What do you think?

27 July 2015 Update: Thanks to the release of the US, Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007, I have learned about two additional husbands:

• In July 1966, a name change form was submitted to the Social Security Administration (SSA) changing her name to Mary Inez Stacy
• In May 1967, a name change form was submitted to SSA changing her name to Mary Inez Carlisle

Name changes were also submitted for her marry Hubert Lemaster, Eugene Gribble, and Coy Hicks.

The Islenos from the Canary Islands

My grand uncle, Henry "Jack" Muir, married four times during his lifetime. His second wife was Armita Alleman. He and Armita had four children. I discovered a few of Henry's grandchildren on Ancestry.com's message boards. They were looking for more information about their grandparents. One had always been told she had Native American heritage from her grandmother, Armita. At the time I knew very little about Henry and only Armita's first name.

After several months of digging and help from my research collaborator cousin in New Zealand, we found the record of Henry and Armita's marriage license and learned her last name. Once I had that name I began tracing the Alleman family. I have yet to find Native American ancestors, but what I have discovered so far is fascinating.

Armita's parents were Arrestide Alleman and Alice Istre. Arrestide's grandmother, Maria Xaviera Carmelite Domingue (1814-1876) was descended from Islenos. As a child growing up in Virginia, my education was loaded with Colonial history, but I discovered it was sadly lacking in the early history of the United States beyond the thirteen original colonies. I knew nothing about Islenos. Learning about their history and culture has been the fascinating part of this research effort.

Prior to 1778, Spanish settlements in Louisiana could only trade with ships owned by Spanish subjects, which sailed from Seville, Alicante, Malaga, Carthagena, Barcelona, or Corunna. Don Carlos III eased those restrictions and, at his own expense, sent a large number of farmers and soldiers to Louisiana. He offered each colonist a home, tools and subsistence on which to live for up to four years. As a result of the inducements offered by the Spanish king, several families from the Canary Islands immigrated to Louisiana. They became known as Islenos. 

When the ships landed, the colonists were classified. Soldiers were sent to several Spanish regiments for training and farmers and their families were sent to settlements to claim their land and homes.

The ships that brought Islenos to present day St Bernard Parish;
Photo courtesy of NOAdventure.com

Thanks to the transcription work of Sidney Louis Villere in 1973, we know quite a bit about when and how the Islenos arrived in Louisiana. The villages allocated to the Islenos were:

• San Bernardo de Galvez, located on the shores of the Terre-Aux-Boeuf in Saint Bernard Parish
• Galveztown, located on the shores of the Amite river near Manchoc, in Iberville Parish
• Valenzuela, located on the shores of the Bayou Lafourche, in Assumption Parish
• Nueva Iberia, located on the shores of Bayou Teche in Iberville Parish

They were settlements strategically placed to guard the approaches to New Orleans.

Four original Isleno settlements; base map courtesy of Google Maps

Armita Alleman's 4 times great grandparents were Islenos. Juan Gonzales Carbo and his wife, Andrea Ruiz, along with their nine children arrived in Louisiana on 26 July 1778 aboard the Scaramento. Carbo became a member of the Infantry Regiment of Louisiana. His daughter Lorenza Gonzales Carbo married Augustin Dominguez in 1782 at Assumption Parish. Augustin's parents arrived in Louisiana on 9 October 1778 aboard a frigate named San Ignacio de Loyola. His father also became a member of the Infantry Regiment of Louisiana.

During the American Revolutionary War, Spain declared war on England and coordinated their efforts with France. Isleno soldiers fought against the English at Natchez, Manchoc, Baton Rouge, Mobile, and Pensacola.

To learn more, visit the Los Islenos Heritage and Culture Society website.

The Elusive Henry "Jack" Muir

Henry Muir is my grandmother's older brother.  I knew next to nothing about him except from my grandmother's stories and what Dad had in his family tree computer program, which included:

• The names of Henry's parents, his father's birth year, and his mother's death year
• Henry's birth date
• The first names of Henry's four wives
• The names of his children and birth year estimates

Dad wasn't as fussed about sources and citations as I am.  So I really didn't know how much of the information was correct. My grandmother's stories included two that are proving relevant:

1. Henry didn't get along with his step-mother, they got into a fight, and he hit her so hard he thought he'd killed her. So he fled.  My grandmother didn't hear from him again for years and thought he started going by "Jack."
2. Her father was an agitator for the union and moved a lot.  Mining companies would ban him and sometimes even chase him out of town with guns.

They sounded a bit fantastical to me when I was younger, but now I'm starting to believe.

Several months ago, I started searching and found Henry in the 1910 census. He was living with his father, Robert, and younger sister, Alice, on Third North Street in O'Fallon, Illinois. His mother died the year before. I learned from that census he was born in Missouri and his father was a coal miner, which I already knew.  I also discovered Henry's paternal grandmother and her youngest daughter, Henry's Aunt Janie, were living next door. His father and grandmother rented their homes.

A coal mine in O'Fallon, Illinois, circa 1910

That was where the trail ended. I couldn't find Henry or his father in the 1920, 1930 or 1940 census and didn't even know in which states to look. I was able to find my grandmother in the 1920 census.  She was living with her paternal grandmother, who now owned a home in Nineveh, Missouri. 

Through Ancestry.com I connected with a relative who was related to Henry's paternal grandmother, Margaret Semple Muir.  She discovered a reference on USGenWeb Archive site to a marriage license for Henry Jack Muir and Armitar Marie Alleman on 24 Sep 1930 in Acadia Parish, Louisiana. "Armitar" was enough like Armita, which is the name I had for his second wife.  And "Henry Jack" confirmed that he had added Jack to his name somewhere along the way.

With Louisiana as a place to start and "Jack" as a different first name possibility, I started looking through the census records again. I found "Jack and Armedi Muir" in the 1930 census in Millerville, Louisiana, an unicorporated place in East Baton Rouge Parish. They rented their home for $30 a month and Jack said he was an electrician. He fudged the fact that this wasn't his first marriage. I wonder if Armita ever knew he'd been married before and had a daughter.

Rayne, Louisiana, in Acadia Parish. Armita was born in Rayne in 1907. Photo courtesy "Images of America: Rayne"

I started hanging out on the Alleman and Muir surname message boards on Ancestry.com. There were at least three grandchildren looking for information about Henry or Armita. They didn't know too much but knew different things than I did so I was able to learn a little more about Henry's six children by Armita and who some of them married.

Then Pete and I went to visit my parents. I came home with all of my Dad's genealogical files and papers. It turns out he had his grandfather, Robert Muir's important papers -- his birth certificate from Scotland, his Social Security card, his West Virginia Coal Miner's Certificate, and a typed page from a probate administrator that included the final distribution of Robert Muir's estate. Henry was listed so I assumed by 1956 he was back in touch with his family. From those papers I also learned that Robert Muir worked in McDowell County, West Virginia. This wasn't immediately helpful but proved to be so later on.

Robert Muir's Coal Miner's Certificate

I put a project up for bid on GenealogyFreelancers.com to hire a professional genealogist to fill in the gaps about Henry. We got off to a rocky start but we're on the right track now. Just after posting the details about my project another Ancestry.com member left two comments on my Henry Muir page:

1. He found Henry and Armita in the 1940 census They were listed as "Jack and Armita Meier" and had four children.  The names of those children matched the middle four children I had. In 1940 they were living in Rayne, Louisiana, where Armita was born, renting a home. Jack said he was making $550 a month as a truck driver. The 1940 census also asked where a family lived in 1935. Henry and Armita were in Los Angeles at that time. It also asked the ages of the children and in what state they were born. A daughter was four years old and had been born in Louisiana so I surmise they returned to that state in 1936.
2. He found his obituary in the Times-Picayune. So now I knew that Jack died on 24 May 1986. His wife, the former Eppie Sevan had predeceased him. Eppie was the name I had for the third wife.  I still don't know if Sevan is a maiden name or if she had been married before.

Henry "Jack" Muir Obituary

Now that I had a death date for Henry and better birth year estimates for his children from the 1940 census, I started getting hints from Ancestry.com and learned:

• Richard Marvin Muir died on 13 Sep 1939 at nine years of age in Acadia Parish. I also now have the death certificate number, which is why he wasn't listed on the 1940 census.
• Alexander "Sandy" Muir died on 21 Aug 1998 in Port Barre, Louisiana
• Henry James Muir, Jr. died on 24 Aug 2000 in Pearl River, Louisiana
• Barbara Jean Muir was living at 2204 Kenilworth Drive in Saint Bernard, Louisiana in 1993

Stuck again. Nothing for the third wife, Eppie Sevan, and still no last names for his first or fourth wives.  Last night, however, I searching for Muirs in McDowell County, West Virginia, where Henry's father lived from at least 1936 through 1942. I found a possibility for his oldest daughter, Inez, by his first wife Mary on FamilySearch.org, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' genealogy website. It was from the West Virginia Marriages, 1853-1970 record set. They also included a link to WVCulture.org, the West Virginia Division of Culture's website. On that site was an image of the marriage record. It provided the names, birth dates, places of birth, residences, names of the bride and groom's parents, and marriage date and location. I learned Inez was born in 1923, five years before my father thought. She was 15 when she married. And her parents' names were "Henry and Mary Muir."

Once I had Inez's birth date, Ancestry.com went into action and started providing new hints, including an Ohio death record.  She died on 22 Aug 2002 in Columbus, Ohio. She was married and her last name was now Moore so she married at least twice. If Inez was born in Buchanan County, Virginia, perhaps Henry and Mary, her parents were married there.  No luck. So I went back to McDowell County and found a record of that marriage. 

Marriage record for Henry Muir and Mary Canterbury

Henry married Mary Canterbury in 1921 when he was 19 years old. Since McDowell County was being so good to me, I combed the birth, marriage and death records for more Muirs. I discovered a record of Henry's daughter by Armita, Barbara Jean Muir. She married Isaac Junior Conrad in Sutton, West Virginia on 15 Jan 1953 when she was 17 years old. Dad believes she died in Lousiana in 1999, but I've yet to find a record of it.

I also learned Henry's half-brother, Robert, died in McDowell County on 22 Feb 1959 of liver failure due to cirrhosis.  He is buried in McDowell County, West Virginia.

Iaeger Memorial Cemetery, Roderfield, West Virginia

So many from this branch of the family were coal miners, including Henry's father and grandfather, James Muir, who immigrated from Scotland, Pete and I are now planning a long weekend trip to West Virginia. We'll follow the Coal Heritage Trail and visit local historical societies. Not to be missed is the McDowell County Coal Miner Memorial in Bradshaw, West Virginia, and the Coal Miner's Memorial, in Bartley, which commemorates a tragic mine accident in 1940 when 91 men lost their lives. I've also ordered a used book, "McDowell County, West Virginia, The Nations Coal Bin," from Amazon.com.

 McDowell County Coal Miners Memoria. Photo courtesy of "Legendary Locals of McDowell County," by William R. Archer

This was a long post, but I wanted you to get a flavor for what goes into finding information about your ancestors. It's not always easy and there's not always and interesting story at the end of the project. It's just the satisfaction you get from knowing you're making progress.

Sunday's Obituary: Henry "Jack" Muir

Those of you who have liked my Facebook page, Tangled Roots and Trees, know I am researching my elusive grand uncle, Henry "Jack" Muir. All I knew when I started was his birth date, birth location, and his parents names.  I will post soon about everything I've learned about my grandmother's older brother, but today I'd like to focus on his obituary. Receiving the obituary was almost as mysterious as my grand uncle is proving to be.  A kind person started posting comments on Henry page on my family tree on Ancestry.com.  One of the comments was a transcription of his obituary. I later signed up for a day pass for the Times-Picayune archive and downloaded the image you see below.

Obituaries can be good sources of genealogical information, and Henry's obituary did that but also caused me to ask more questions.

Henry "Jack" Muir's obituary as published in the New Orleans Times-Picayune

The new information the obituary provided me:

• Henry's death date
• Henry's death state
• Names of Henry's children
• Last name of Henry's third wife, Eppie

New questions the obituary has me trying to answer:

• Who is Ellen Davis? None of the eight known children have Ellen as a first name.
• Who is Trudy? None of the eight known children have Trudy as a first name.
• Who are Alex and Carol Swafford? Henry had a son named Alexander, but why, if this is him, would he have Swafford as a last name?
• Is Sevan Eppie's maiden name or had she been married before ?

I have since learned from the Muir surname message board on Ancestry.com that Henry's youngest daughter, by Eppie, was named Trudy, not Judy as Dad had her listed.

The idea for this post came from Geneabloggers.com.