This week’s theme is “Lost.” As family historians, we deal with a lot of things that are lost or on the verge of it… memories, records, people… This week, you could explore something that has been lost or the experience of losing something.
Below is a copy of my father’s 1930 U.S. Federal Census. He lives with his mother, grandmother, aunt, and uncle in Cleveland, Ohio. No father included. When my father was six months old, his grandfather was said to have moved the family to Cleveland. On 13 September 1918, a World War I draft registration card was completed by George Miller, brother of Anna Miller, stating that their mother, Lillie Miller, lived in Cleveland, Ohio[1]. Willie Chappell and Anna Miller were married in Macon County, Alabama, at the home of S. C. Chappell on 1 December 1923. S. C. Chappell presided over the marriage[2]. Willie Chappell died before 1950. In 1920, Willie lived with his Aunt Josephine and Uncle John Lane and their two children in Macon County, Alabama[3]. In 1910 Anna was living with her parents in Union Springs, Bullock County[4], and Willie was in Cotton Valley, Macon County, Alabama, living with his mother and uncle[5]. No father is available. My father would always ask “Do you know what happen to my father?” He never had the chance to meet him.
[1] “World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,” digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 March 1, 2010), George Miller, serial no. 6520, order no. A-4334, Draft Board 9, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio; citing World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, NARA microfilm publication M1509; roll 1831771.
[2] Macon County, Alabama, marriage license no. 66 (1923), Chappell-Miller; Office of Probate, Tuskegee.
[3] 1920 U.S. Census, Macon County, Alabama, population schedule, Cotton Valley, enumeration district (ED) 130, sheet 4-A, dwelling 69, family 76, John Lane; digital image by subscription, Ancestry Library Edition (http://ancestrylibrary.proquest.com : accessed 1 March 2010) from National Archives microfilm T625, roll 30.
[4] 1910 U.S. Census, Bullock County, Alabama, population schedule, Union Springs, enumeration district (ED) 30, sheet 12-A, dwelling 241, family 249, Robert Miller; digital image by subscription, Ancestry Library Edition (http://ancestrylibrary.proquest.com : accessed 1 March 2010) from National Archives microfilm T624, roll 3.
[5] 1910 U.S. Census, Macon County, Alabama, population schedule, Cotton Valley, enumeration district (ED) 129, sheet 6-A, dwelling 116, family 116, Jim Richardson; digital image by subscription, Ancestry Library Edition (http://ancestrylibrary.proquest.com : accessed 1 March 2010) from National Archives microfilm T624, roll 23.