Hi all. I was hoping I could get some insight on a puzzle I'm facing.
I hadn’t been able to find my 2nd great-grandmother’s parents. I seemed to have no clues. Then I just found one yesterday, exciting! I found her marriage certificate and found that it was signed by her brother and “next of kin”, he gave the consent for her marriage, which I *think* means they were dead or missing? Not sure…I hadn’t found any siblings yet so this is a great clue. I’ve tried searching for him, though, and can’t find him. The only info I could get was the sparse details from the marriage license.
Her name was Susie Mansker (b. Jul 30, 1893 OK / d. Jul 16, 1972 CA) and her husband was James Arthur Simpson (b. Mar. 28, 1888, AK / d. Sep 7, 1968 CA) Her brother, interestingly, has the same initials. J.A. And that’s all he signed with - J.A. Mansker. He says he’s 34 and the marriage is in 1909, so I believe that’d make his birth year abt. 1875? It’s possible he was born in OK like his sister, but not for certain. (Marriage license)
When I search for him in OK, as well as AK because his sister lived there later on so maybe he joined them, I do find an A. J. Mansker who keeps popping up, from Texas. But I can’t find anything linking him to Susie. I also found someone with a similar name living on a Cherokee reservation back then, and that side of my family is *supposedly* linked on quite a few branches to Native Americans, but I don’t know for sure. She was only 16 when she was married so I thought perhaps she lived with him, maybe show up on a census together, but no luck.
Any thoughts? I use Family Search as a resource, as well as a connection to Ancestry through my library that I access from home. It has tons of the same stuff as Ancestry's subscription but not everything. I've also tried Chronicling America for newspaper articles, found nothing. Apparently Mansker is an Americanized version of Mainzger, a German surname, so maybe her parents were German. Not sure if that's helpful.
Contradictorily, I've found some census records that add confusion. These could be different people. I have a 1910 census that looks like her and her husband (here, at bottom of page) that lists her parent's birthplaces as Mexico. Then I have a 1920 census that could be them. (Here, middle of page) It lists "Head 1" as what appears to be her father-in-law and "Head 2" as her husband. This Susie, however, has parents born in Texas and Arkansas. This one is *definitely* her, as all the children are correct for my family. 1930 census (here, very bottom of page) has what looks like the same family. It says Arthur Simpson but my gg-grandpa was "James Arthur" - the kids names all look right. So I'd think - also *definitely* her. But this Susie's parents were born in Texas and Tennessee. (??!!) Not including 1940 census as it doesn't ask for parent's info.
What else could I do to find out more about her family?
I hadn’t been able to find my 2nd great-grandmother’s parents. I seemed to have no clues. Then I just found one yesterday, exciting! I found her marriage certificate and found that it was signed by her brother and “next of kin”, he gave the consent for her marriage, which I *think* means they were dead or missing? Not sure…I hadn’t found any siblings yet so this is a great clue. I’ve tried searching for him, though, and can’t find him. The only info I could get was the sparse details from the marriage license.
Her name was Susie Mansker (b. Jul 30, 1893 OK / d. Jul 16, 1972 CA) and her husband was James Arthur Simpson (b. Mar. 28, 1888, AK / d. Sep 7, 1968 CA) Her brother, interestingly, has the same initials. J.A. And that’s all he signed with - J.A. Mansker. He says he’s 34 and the marriage is in 1909, so I believe that’d make his birth year abt. 1875? It’s possible he was born in OK like his sister, but not for certain. (Marriage license)
When I search for him in OK, as well as AK because his sister lived there later on so maybe he joined them, I do find an A. J. Mansker who keeps popping up, from Texas. But I can’t find anything linking him to Susie. I also found someone with a similar name living on a Cherokee reservation back then, and that side of my family is *supposedly* linked on quite a few branches to Native Americans, but I don’t know for sure. She was only 16 when she was married so I thought perhaps she lived with him, maybe show up on a census together, but no luck.
Any thoughts? I use Family Search as a resource, as well as a connection to Ancestry through my library that I access from home. It has tons of the same stuff as Ancestry's subscription but not everything. I've also tried Chronicling America for newspaper articles, found nothing. Apparently Mansker is an Americanized version of Mainzger, a German surname, so maybe her parents were German. Not sure if that's helpful.
Contradictorily, I've found some census records that add confusion. These could be different people. I have a 1910 census that looks like her and her husband (here, at bottom of page) that lists her parent's birthplaces as Mexico. Then I have a 1920 census that could be them. (Here, middle of page) It lists "Head 1" as what appears to be her father-in-law and "Head 2" as her husband. This Susie, however, has parents born in Texas and Arkansas. This one is *definitely* her, as all the children are correct for my family. 1930 census (here, very bottom of page) has what looks like the same family. It says Arthur Simpson but my gg-grandpa was "James Arthur" - the kids names all look right. So I'd think - also *definitely* her. But this Susie's parents were born in Texas and Tennessee. (??!!) Not including 1940 census as it doesn't ask for parent's info.
What else could I do to find out more about her family?
Comment