Five years ago a census record sent me on a journey and kept me coming back until I found it.
In the 1900 Lucerne Twp, Kings, California US Federal Census my 3rd great grandmother, Mary Virginia Howard, wife of Cassius Monroe Webster, stated she had a total of 13 children, only 7 living. How can this be? I had listed 9 children for Mary as I knew of two children who passed before the 1900 census, finding their names in the 1880 census. This was the puzzle that kept bothering me for five years.
Where in the world are the missing four and how was I supposed to find them? A daunting task to say the least. There were many years of checking through records without finding any results. Not even sure how to and where to look for these missing children, infants really.
How heart wrenching it would have been to loose so many children all within years of each other. To have six children not live past the age of 8 and to see 7 children pass on before you, not being able to live out a full life. To live, laugh, love, have children, grandchildren. I cannot imagine the heartache this woman, my grandmother, went through.
These thoughts plagued my mind as I constantly went back to search for them. It was as though these children were begging me to find them, to connect them to their parents and siblings.
This summer I had the opportunity to accomplish that very task! I squealed with joy as I found my first missing uncle. He was located in the CA, Mortuary & Cemetery Records, 1801-1932 on
ancestry.com , a recently added record. If anyone has had a similar situation then they would know the excitement bubbling from within. If he was there, then maybe I'd find more was my thinking. As luck would have it I was able to find two others who had died in infancy and also the cause of death and death date for another child I knew of! I could barely contain myself.
Still missing one of the four children I was becoming discouraged as I couldn't find him. ANYWHERE! Having the opportunity to visit Salt Lake City, UT I took it for what it was and made a special trip to the Family History Library. While there, I was directed to a book that listed an obituary index for central California. Knowing they lived there I dug in and much to my surprise I found him. I FOUND HIM! The last of the missing children!
It's been 10 months and I still can't get over the fact that I was able to find these missing children after 5 years of trying! The following names are what I found this past year:
Henry Webster b. 3 Aug 1875 d. 5 Apr 1876 Sacrament, CA died of Marasmus
Roy d. 15 Oct 1880 Sacramento, CA of Scarlet Fever
Infant daughter b. 4 Aug 1881 Sac, CA d. 18 Sep 1881 Sac, CA of Marasmus
Infant b. 19 Mar 1885 d. 19 Mar 1885 Sacramento, CA
Cash Edmond b. abt 1892 d. 7 Jul 1893 in Grangeville, Tulare, California