While writing the post about inviting my mother to dinner. I decided to add all her sources to my genealogy program.
I was also transcribing each document.
Except the marriage license which was hard to read.
Let me tell you transcribing each document makes you read things closer and you learn things you didn't notice before. I have had these documents for a while, I mean like more than 30 years, from way back when I first started genealogy.
I have many years of not working on genealogy.
So I started with her Birth Certificate.
It might take you a moment or two to noticed that the address where she was born is the same as her father's and mother's address. I never noticed that before, She was born at home. I sure it was a common practice back in 1916 but not common to my generation. Just something to look for.
She did age by 10 years on each of the three census records she was found on. 1920 age 3, 1930 age 13, 1940 age 23.
The 1940 US Census presented two interesting facts.
I picked up that Edith's highest level of education was 3 years of high school. The other more interesting fact was Edith was listed as married but listed under her maiden name.
My first reaction was no she wasn't. She had married someone at age 18 but I thought she was annulled from him by this time.
So I went back to the marriage license and found that the annulment wasn't final until 1944.
This is from her marriage license to my Dad, George Joseph Hartmann in 1945.
So back to check on what info I had on the first marriage.
Here is what I have. It looks like I have to add two more events to her individual information in my genealogy program. A marriage and an annulment.
All I know about this marriage is he was a bit older than Edith and he wasn't an honest man. I guess with a reason for the divorce as fraud that supports the family lore of not being an honest man,
I search for Einer and found a couple of census records for him,
he was from Denmark and in 1940 he was 33 so he was
about 10 years older than Edith.
Now, I know that she was married to him for almost 9 years.
I don't know how long they were separated.
I don't know when she meet my Dad.
My Dad and Edith married a year after the annulment.
I do know my Dad said his parents didn't like Edith because she was divorced. All my Dad would say was,
"All you need to know is I loved both of your mothers and I would have stayed married to them."
If I asked him any questions about his parents or grandparents
he would say, "They are dead, leave them alone,
you don't need to know them."
The other thing I noticed is that 1940 is the year Edith's mother died. So it makes you wonder if Minnie was showing signs of her illness yet. Minnie died in Oct of 1940, the enumeration date was in April. They both died of breast cancer 9 years apart.
Well, some of this information wasn't new but I can see it in a new light with some more details to make her story more interesting. I will continue to transcribe my documents because it helps to reveal hidden nuggets of information even though they are in plane sight.
Even though it is labor intensive it is worth it.
She is still the first person I want to meet when I get to the other side and believe me I am in no hurry to get there.
