Turning Our Hearts: April 2012

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

The need to be cautious in making assumptions in genealogy

What are the chances?

So, a cousin has a photo of Ann Catherine Shoemaker Riddlebaugh Joy Norman with 3 children. On the back is written something like Ann Catherine with the Pierce boys. For years the conjecture was that when she married again (and family stories say that she had), she must have married someone by the last name of Pierce.

Later it was discovered that she married a John Joy and then a Mark Norman. Since her daughters hadn't married anyone whose last name was Pierce, I thought maybe one of her step-children had.

I took the names of Mark Norman's daughter by his first marriage (Louisa Jane, Rosa Belle, and Elizabeth Mary) and searched for them with Pierce as the last name. I found a Rosa Belle Pierce married to a Claremont Pierce. Thought I was onto something. I hunted until I finally discovered that Rosa Belle was the daughter of ... the wrong parents.

So, back to the drawing board.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Theodore Gilbert MOMINEE (1906-1995) Ohio updated

"Ted" was my maternal grandfather.

Theodore Gilbert MOMINEE is the 6th of 7 children born to Frederick and Pearl (VINCENT) MOMINEE
     b. 26 October 1906 Oregon, Lucas, Ohio
     m. 1st Helen Elvira RIDDLEBAUGH 18 April 1931 Toledo, Lucas, Ohio
     m. 2nd Laura Velva MASON 14 September 1947 Rossford, Wood, Ohio
     d. 21 December 1995 Oregon, Lucas, Ohio

Ted's first marriage, to Helen Elvira RIDDLEBAUGH, ended in divorce after they had their only child, my mother, Barbara. Ted later remarried Laura Velva MASON, but sadly Laura was not able to have any children. She told me she got pregnant once or twice, but miscarried early on. Years later she found out she had an "infantile uterus" and that is why they weren't able to have children.

I actually don't know too much about my grandfather. He was Catholic and had my mother baptized into the Catholic church when she was an infant (but she wound up being raised a Methodist). When he and my grandmother divorced, the courts would not allow Ted to raise a daughter by himself, considering it an inappropriate thing for a single man to raise a girl. Mom didn't know that at the time and grew up thinking her parents didn't want her. As an adult, a cousin told her that Ted had wanted to raise her but the courts said no.

Ted married his second wife, Laura, when mom was 12, but by then, of course, mom was settled and living with an aunt and uncle in Alabama, leaving Ohio behind. She was allowed hardly any contact with her parents as she was growing up and didn't have too much contact with them when she was an adult. I do barely remember visiting Ted in his barbershop/home on one of our summer visits to Ohio when I was young. That is the only time I think I saw him. The thing is, I remember the barbershop and apartment, but barely remember seeing a man there.

Years later, after I was married and after Ted had passed away, I started corresponding with Laura, his second wife. She is the one who gave me my first pictures of Ted. I was later able to get a few more from a cousin I had discovered by doing genealogy.

I know Ted was in the Army in World War II. Information gleaned from some military records say that he enlisted 7 January 1943 and was discharged 21 September 1945 (World War II ended on 2 September 1945). It says he had 3 years of high school, was 5' 11" tall, and weighed 168 lbs. He had brown eyes, black hair, and was of a dark complexion. The other information on this record says his civilian occupation was a "semiskilled inspectors, n.e.c" and his Army Branch was "Branch Immaterial--Warrant Officer."

His enlistment record says that he was married, but on his draft card he gave his sister, Virginia PERFILI, as his permanent contact and not his wife. Is the "married" on his enlistment record incorrect and he was single or is there a wife we are unaware of? Helen remarried in 1940 so he couldn't have been married to her when he enlisted. I can't see the original record, only an extraction, so maybe it says he was single and the "married" is an error.

I know Ted had a barber shop and also worked as an inspector for the Toledo Scale Company. Laura worked at a scale company as a bookkeeper when they married in 1947 and in the 1950 census, it says she was an inspector, as well. I figure it was also the Toledo Scale Company. That's about all I have on him. I am so happy to have the few pictures I do and am grateful for them.

As for conjecture, Ted's middle name is Gilbert. His great-grandfather was named Hubert Gilbert MOMINEE, so that is probably where his middle name comes from. However, Ted had a cousin named Gilbert who died at the age of 6 days old (probably named after their great-grandfather). That happened 22 years before Ted was born, but my mom and I are thinking that is also where Ted's middle name came from.

I think it's amusing that in their household while Ted was growing up, there was the father Fred, with his sons Ed, Fred, and Ted.

Another observation: Ted had 5 older siblings--Lucy, Ed, Jennie, Fred, and Dick. These five were born in a 7 year period. Then another 9 years pass before Ted is born, with his brother Sylvester (Ves) being born 2 1/2 years later. Maybe Pearl had children in between Dick and Ted that that passed away that we don't have a record for. It's no wonder that the photos I have of Ted as a child are just of Ted and Ves. I'm guessing they might have been close as children, but Laura told me that as adults Ves didn't have much contact with his family.