A couple days ago in my post about assumptions, I mentioned that I was baffled by the fact that my grandmother was born in Pennsylvania instead of West Virginia. My belief that she was born in West Virginia was based on the assumption that her parents had lived their entire lives in the state, which all records seemed to indicate.
I talked to my grandmother later that day and since the mystery was still fresh in my head, I asked about it. As it turns out, there was a connection to Pennsylvania that I hadn't uncovered yet. Had I did some more collateral research, I would have learned that her paternal grandmother's sister, Ressie Grose Bennett White lived in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, moving there from West Virginia at some point between 1931 and 1939 (I'll get to the dates in a minute).
After their marriage, my great grandparents, Argial Waitman Carson and Evelyn Edna King, had moved there to find work and lived there until some point before 1943 (will get to that in a minute too). Then they moved back to Gilmer County, West Virginia, where they purchased a piece of property from the Kirkpatrick family. In particular, this plot of land is where the Kirkpatrick Cemetery is located. They lived there until their deaths, at which point both were buried in the cemetery on the property. The property is still in the family.
It took some digging before I was able to prove this connection to Pennsylvania. Ressie was the sister of Dora C Grose, wife of Francis Scott Carson. She was a twin, born on 30 Apr 1906 in Sand Fork with another sister named Lessie. On 14 Oct 1928 in Glenville, she married Elmer Lee Bennett. Ressie and Elmer had a son, Orval Lee, in 1929, followed by another son, Playford Edwin, in 1931.
At some point between their second son's birth and my grandmother's birth in 1939, the couple moved to Pennsylvania. The couple's move to Pennsylvania was not something easily uncovered. Their marriage records, the 1930 census and the birth records of their first two children place them in West Virginia. It wasn't until I started looking into their deaths and their children that it emerged that they had ended up in Pennsylvania. Until that point, my only evidence of them being there was a statement my grandmother made to me.
My great grandparents' return to West Virginia was a little easier. My grandmother was the oldest and I knew she was born in Pennsylvania so I looked to her two younger siblings. A little digging and I learned that both of them were born in West Virginia, in 1943 and 1946 respectively.
Getting back to Ressie and her family, I know that they had at least one more child, a son born around 1938. Whether this was in West Virginia or Pennsylvania is unknown. He is still living. One son, Playford, passed away in 1956. He shares a marker with his mother. He also has a military marker which indicates that he served in the A1C US Air Force.
Ressie's husband, Elmer, passed away in 1971. At some point after his death, Ressie remarried to Luther White. In 1997, she lost another child, Orval. Like his brother, he had also served in the military, serving as a corporal in the US Army during the Korean War.
Ressie passed away 8 May 2000. Her obituary was the first clue I had of her son born around 1938. She was predeceased by both husbands and two of her children. Interestingly, her obituary lists different parents for her than her birth record indicated. I suspect this mistake occurred because her youngest son was born after the death of his maternal grandparents, thus never knew them and substituted another family name, that of his mother's older sister Tisha.
Sources:
Phone interview with grandmother [Name omitted as they are still living.] by D Radcliff, 21 May 2011, notes in possession of D Radcliff
Grandparent's marriage record [Names omitted as they are still living.], Vital Records Research Project, West Virginia Archives & History, West Virginia Division of Culture and History
Grandmother's brother's marriage record [Name omitted as they are still living.], Vital Records Research Project, West Virginia Archives & History, West Virginia Division of Culture and History
Grandmother's sister's marriage record [Name omitted as they are still living.], Vital Records Research Project, West Virginia Archives & History, West Virginia Division of Culture and History
Ressie Grose birth record, Vital Records Research Project, West Virginia Archives & History, West Virginia Division of Culture and History
Elmer Bennett and Ressie Grose marriage record, Vital Records Research Project, West Virginia Archives & History, West Virginia Division of Culture and History
Orval Lee Bennett birth record, Vital Records Research Project, West Virginia Archives & History, West Virginia Division of Culture and History [Spelled Orville Lee Bennett on birth register]
Playford Edwin Bennett birth record, Vital Records Research Project, West Virginia Archives & History, West Virginia Division of Culture and History
Find A Grave.com, digital images (http://www.findagrave.com), photograph and memorial by Robert Viguers, gravestone for Playford E Bennett (1931-1956), Find A Grave Memorial #62137853, Records of the Shoops Garden of Rest, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Find A Grave.com, digital images (http://www.findagrave.com), photograph and memorial by Robert Viguers, gravestone for Ressie H White (1906-2000), Find A Grave Memorial #62137935, Records of the Shoops Garden of Rest, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Find A Grave.com, digital images (http://www.findagrave.com), photograph and memorial by Robert Viguers, gravestone for Orval L Bennett (1929-1997), Find A Grave Memorial #62138046, Records of the Shoops Garden of Rest, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Social Security Death Index, Elmer Bennett, SSN 234-18-1039, Rootsweb [Database online]
Social Security Death Index, Orval L Bennett, SSN 207-22-0325, Rootsweb [Database online]
Social Security Death Index, Ressie H White, SSN 171-28-1100, Rootsweb [Database online]
Ressie Bennett White obituary, Obituaries for 05/10/2000, The Sentinel (online at http://www.cumberlink.com)
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