Triple Funeral

Triple Funeral?  Whenever I find a family with the same death dates I wonder what happened.  Car accident?  Illness?  Murder? 

This time it was drowning.  I don't know how the mother, age 30, and the baby daughter, 8 months, ended up in the irrigation ditch near the baby's uncle's house.  The baby's father screamed for help and his brother came to the family's aid straight from his bed in his underwear even though he couldn't swim.  He jumped in and was swept away along with his sister-in-law and niece.  He left behind a wife and 6 small children.

The uncle was called a hero in the newspaper. 

I assume the daddy/husband couldn't swim either which would explain why he didn't jump in.   The daddy/husband eventually remarried, but it doesn't appear that he had more children.  He had step-children.  I wonder about his state of mind afterwards.  Did he feel guilty the rest of his life?  I think it would be tough to live with the fact that my brother gave his life trying to save my family while I stood on the bank.  However, if you knew you couldn't swim (assumption based on report brother couldn't swim) you probably would feel like you couldn't do them any good other than to try to get help.  It would be a tough situation.

Murder in Kansas

Close your eyes and think about what life would be like in rural Kansas in 1895.  What would it be like to be a young wife with a year old son married to a farmer?  What would you do if something happened to your husband?  What if you were pregnant when your husband was murdered?  

Mary was a young wife in 1895 who lived the above.  All has been confirmed except the pregnancy.  William and Mary had a baby in 1895, but it is unknown if the baby was born and died before William's tragedy or after. 

William was in the field in November when his assailant, Hedy, presumably snuck up on him. After being fired on William took out after Hedy.  Hedy fired a fatal shot to William's face and took off back to Iowa.  Neighbors, including the one who kindly gave Hedy a place to stay the night before, found William in the field.

A reward was offered by the then governor of the State of Kansas for information on the murder.  Eventually Hedy was arrested in Iowa and returned to Kansas for trial.  After 16 hours of deliberation the jury found him guilty after hearing the prosecution and then Hedy's declaration of self-defense as his defense. (I suppose it could be self-defense if you completely ignore the fact that Hedy fired first and William came after him because of that! I'm not a lawyer, but I know what I would tell one of my students if he or she snuck up on someone and hit them and then cried self-defense when the victim retaliated.  Not that it makes it all okay, but if you start something you should be ready to take on the consequences.  jmho)

Hedy committed suicide after the conviction.  I wonder if he couldn't bear the thought of prison or what he had done.  I wonder if he was still with his wife at the time of the murder and if he had any children.  

The murder and trial was mentioned in newspapers as far away as Denver.  Several Kansas newspapers had articles about it, too.  Unfortunately, I could not find out more information on Hedy or William's wife, Mary.  Mary died in the 1950s.  The young son died when he was only 19.  I can't imagine the heartache Mary endured during her lifetime.

Questions

I just don't understand families sometimes. 

Jack, Mildred, and Margaret (the latter two twins) were born in California in the 1920s.  By the 1930s their parents divorced.

Jack is found in Michigan in 1930 with his father and his father's new wife.  In 1940 he is in New Jersey with his father and step-mother.

Mildred is the same as Jack except that she is living with a different family at the age of 6 in Michigan.

Margaret is the same as Jack.

Mama can't be located on the 1920 or later censuses.  It's possible she remarried or that she was deceased after the twins were born.   There is one possibility for her on the 1930 census which has her back in Iowa and with a son born before she married Jack, Mildred and Margaret's father.  That possibility has been proven not to be her. Where is mama?

I am amazed at the traveling the family did when it wasn't quick to get anywhere. Why were the kids living with their father instead of their mother?  Why is Mildred with a different family in 1930?

Elisha, Elisha, Elisha, Elisha, John, John, John, John, John, Rosco, Wedgewood, Claredon, Algernon

After seeing so many Elishas and Johns, all of a sudden some new interesting names start appearing. 
Some are listed above.  More are:
Adoniram
Gad
Fordyce
Sumner
Cyprian
Cyrenia
Bathsheba
Aurelia
Arathusa
Moses
Noah
Persis
Pemmie
Spaulding
Submit
Waneta
Sherman
Ruez
Rosette

Well, not all of the above just showed up 'all of a sudden'...I looked for unusual names after I found about 8 unusual ones in about 20 minutes of research. 

What was your first clue you have a problem?

I've been busy researching the Bisbee line as I think I'll enter it in the state fair.  Maybe.  It's turned out to be more incomplete than I thought.  As I was busily entering and documenting I realized I had two Mary Hall's.  They were two generations apart.  That is not impossible, but not likely.  Then I realized that Abner had two biological mothers.  That's not possible. 

I finally created a spreadsheet to document the family and where the information was coming from.  I looked for primary sources.  I was relieved whenI found a primary source which told me which of the biological mothers was really his biological mother. 

Now to figure out why so many histories and trees listed the other mother and hopefully, figure out why the problem seemed to be about missing generations or people.  It was difficult wrapping my mind around the problem even with the spreadsheet.

Finally, I found a documented family tree.  A researcher in the area where the family lived found where one of the first histories written on the family tree confused one of the John Bisbees.  The misinformation was copied and presented in lots of other family trees.

The information given on the tree satisfies me as being correct.  It fits the research I have done.  All of the trees with the incorrect information has no primary sources to back up their research.

I had to manipulate my data in order to get all of the family members in the wrong generation to the correct generation.  (As I detached them I added 'detached' as their first name so I could easily find them in a search.  Then when they were merged within the proper generation I discarded the 'detached' name.)  I have to admit it caused me great concern to do that much manipulation.  But, it was manipulate it or delete it and reenter it which meant revisiting all of my sources to redocument.  Even though I had several people in the wrong generation, I had other information about the people that was correct and I didn't want to redo that piece.  I believe I have it correct now.  

Whew!

Sloppy Researching

I would think the fact that the family is in a totally different state would be one clue that the information should be double-checked.  People move around a lot, but it still needs to be checked.

I would think the fact that the names don't totally match would be one clue that the information should be double-checked.  The handwriting on the census makes deciphering tough, but it still needs to be checked.

I would think the fact that the race doesn't match would be one clue that the information should be double-checked.  I haven't found any records where the race has been wrong, but it is possible and it still needs to be checked.

Together the three facts above should make you realize the information is WRONG!  Yet, you posted it on your family tree, and dang it, people are just blindly adding it to their tree. 

Jasper Bisbee and Henry Ford

Enjoyed reading this website.  Jasper is a 4th cousin 4x removed of my husband.

http://www.oldtimeherald.org/archive/back_issues/volume-9/9-6/jasper-bisbee.html