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Hello....as you know, we all come up against those silly brick walls every so often in our family tree. You know, those brick walls that will drive you crazy till you resolve them & get through it. :) Well, I've come upon such said wall & need your help.
It appears my paternal grandfather had another family before he married my grandmother. Sad to say, none of us knew about his previous family. The first we heard of it was when my father (his son by my grandmother) passed away in 1997 & my mother was telling my aunt (my grandfather's daughter, also by my grandmother) that some years ago they had received a letter supposedly from my grandfather's first family. The author of the letter had done some research & believed she had found her father's (my grandfather) second family, and as she would be in our area, she would love to come by if it was OK & meet her 1/2 siblings & their families. Being that my father had never heard of his dad having been married before, he flatly refused this lady & wrote her back telling her to never bother us again. My grandmother had passed away by that time, so he couldn't ask if this might be true or not -- he just assumed. None of us (my siblings & I) had ever heard anything on this till the day my mom told my aunt about her having a 1/2 sister out there somewhere. Several years have passed by now & we had no idea even if any of the lady's story was true or not, but we all felt like it was very possible.
Then I was talking to my older sister a few weeks back & I brought it back up. She then admitted that when she was a teenager (1950's or so....& with the rest of the family gone from the house) she got to snooping through my grandmother's things, as kids are known to do. Yes, I know, she shouldn't have but now I'm so glad she did! She said in her search, she found some legal papers for a divorce between my grandfather & another lady. Sadly that is all she can remember now. I don't have a clue as to which state was involved, the lady's name or any date(s). I'm fairly certain that it would have been in either the state of Tennessee or Kentucky though, as they were the two states that he lived in before he moved to Arkansas & married my grandmother.
Therefore that is my brick wall......I've searched what I could & can find nothing on my grandfather's previous marriage, 1st wife, any children or the divorced. I truly feel we have some relatives out there somewhere & would love to find either our aunt, if we should be blessed that she is still alive, or at least her family.
Here is a bit about my grandfather & his time-line, so maybe something will look/sound familiar to someone who will want to make a connection.
Name: William Dodds Evans
B: 1885 in Hardin County, Tennessee
D: 1960 in Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas
Father: Thomas J Evans (B: 1849 in Tennessee / D: somewhere between 1990 - 1910)
Mother: Alice L Trantham (B: 1859 in Tennessee / D: 1928 in Kentucky)
Children: Wallace (B: 1880 TN / D: Bef. 1960)
Benjamin Franklin (B: 1882 TN / D: Bef. 1960)
Wm. Dodds (B: 1885 TN / D: 1960 AR)
Daisy Maude (B: 1887 TN / D: 1951 KY)
Samuel Dewitt (B: 1889 TN / D: 1963 KY)
Jesse T (B: 1892 TN / D: 1913 KY)
Unknown Child (B: ? D: Bef. Jun 1960)
Married: Bertha Ann Rollins (B: 1895 in Arkansas / D: 1972 in Arkansas) They had 1 son (1918-1997) & 1 daughter (1923 - n/a)
1880 Tennessee Census' show Wm. Dodds parents living in Hardin County in Tennessee before he was born in 1885
1890 -- no census'
1900 Tennessee Census' shows Wm. Dodds at 15 years of age, single & living in Hardin County in Tennessee
1910 Kentucky Census' shows Wm. Dodds at 25 years of age, single & living in Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky
1920 Arkansas Census' shows Wm. Dodds at 34 years of age, married to my grandmother & living in Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas
So somewhere between 1900 & 1910, his family & him moved to Kentucky. Then sometime before 1918 (when he married my grandmother, Bertha) he moved to Arkansas cause of the railroad, with whom he was employed with.
If any of this sounds familiar to any of you, I would dearly love to hear from you & maybe we could break through that brick wall?
Thanks, Deb
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