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woden_spoon OP t1_iyaudvx wrote

Reply to comment by PopulationMe in While replacing a wall in my basement, I found a 100-year-old marriage certificate. by woden_spoon

I was able to find their marriage record from wvgenweb.org, but I haven’t really found any other genealogical info (granted, I haven’t looked all that hard—and I don’t subscribe to any genealogical websites).

The previous owner of the house passed away before we bought it. I don’t know her maiden name, but I assume this was her parents’ marriage certificate, and was perhaps brought in when her father came to live with them (presumably after his wife passed away). As I mentioned in another comment, the wall itself was a partition partially built out of moving crates, with John Evans’ name and address stamped on them.

Edit to add: I live in Vermont, not West Virginia.

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Busy_Bitch5050 t1_iyb9iwi wrote

I found this in the 1900 census from Grant, WV:

John T Evans - 57 - Head of Household

Jane Evans - 51 - Wife

Walter Evans - 22 - Son

Fanny Evans - 17 - Daughter

Ocie S Evans - 13 - Daughter

Henry H Evans - 11 - Son

John E Evans - 5 - Son

According to wvgenweb.org. he was 26 when he married in 1922, so this could be accurate.

EDIT: In 1930, he and Gertrude lived in New York, NY with five children (Hazel - 16, James - 14. Eva - 12 [this may be a typo by the census taker--2 seems possible, but Im not sure], Elizabeth - 5, and Jeneva - 1). From 1930 Federal Census.

EDIT 2: The 1940 Census has four additional children. (Virginia May - 10, Frank - 8, Dorothy - 5, and Walter - 3). They lived in Babylon, Suffolk, NY in 1935 and at 259 Main St., Fishkill, Dutchess, NY in 1940.

Remember, these are 10 years apart from the previous census.

EDIT 3: WWI service records seem to indicate his serial number was 5,831,951. He may have served overseas from Feb. 26, 1916 - Apr. 5, 1919. Honorably discharged Apr. 21, 1919.

EDIT 4: WWII Draft Registration shows serial number 2970 and a birth date of Dec. 8, 1895.

EDIT 5: Youngest child, Walter W. (1937-1998), born and died in Fishkill, Dutchess, NY. Buried in Fishkill Rural Cemetery. Married to Nancy Jane Evans (Oct. 27, 1938-Dec. 5, 2019).

EDIT 6: John E. Evans' Gravesite and his daughter, Dorothy Louise Evans Carr (obituary at bottom of page). Dorothy was born Sept. 2, 1934 and passed away peacefully in her sleep on Nov. 11, 2020.

That's all I've got for now, but OP did say this:

>The previous owner of the house passed away before we bought it. I don’t know her maiden name, but I assume this was her parents’ marriage certificate, and was perhaps brought in when her father came to live with them (presumably after his wife passed away). As I mentioned in another comment, the wall itself was a partition partially built out of moving crates, with John Evans’ name and address stamped on them.

And this:

>I live in Vermont, not West Virginia.

I suspect it may have been Dorothy Louise Evans' home as she resided in Burlington, Chittenden County, Vermont, at the time of her death.

Sadly, every family member I have listed thus far had passed away prior to Dorothy.

FINAL UPDATE: OP has confirmed that the house belonged to Dorothy.

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shrimpcest t1_iybk2qe wrote

Solid work!

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Busy_Bitch5050 t1_iybl08v wrote

Thank you! Maybe it will help OP, or maybe they've already forgotten about it. But at some point, someone is bound to look up their genealogy from the Evans family and possibly find this post. I figured it would be cool for them to be able to see their ancestors' marriage certificate was found in their old home and is preserved in the walls lol.

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woden_spoon OP t1_iybrni2 wrote

Well done! Dorothy Carr was the former homeowner, so this is indeed her parents’ marriage certificate.

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Busy_Bitch5050 t1_iybrqkx wrote

YES!!! My work here is done 😁

EDIT: In my excitement, I forgot to thank you for confirming, so: thank you!

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woden_spoon OP t1_iybs97o wrote

Here’s an award—you earned it!

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Busy_Bitch5050 t1_iybsewr wrote

Thank you very much!

If any of Dorothy's descendants show up with a sledgehammer to retrieve the marriage certificate, I'm denying everything 😂

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Gbrusse t1_iybzb5n wrote

What sources do you use? I've been very curious about my own family history

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Busy_Bitch5050 t1_iyc0y90 wrote

For this one, I first went to the site that OP used to verify the marriage certificate. Once I had the date, location, names, and ages, I Googled census records from the 1930s and 1940s by including all the information I had in the search. After that, I figured John E Evans may have served in the war, so I Googled for service records and verified from a few sources, one being ancestry.com (no membership needed this time). Then I searched for his gravesite, but I still needed his age at death. I found several candidates on ancestry, but only one perfectly matched his family's names from the census records.

The trick is to stay completely objective. I don't care what I find when I start because I don't want to influence the outcome. Many people fall into this habit and before you know it, we're all related to some famous king or queen lol. Just follow the evidence and go with whichever path is most likely and rational.

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Moloshe t1_iybm5rc wrote

this is just something really cute and fun to follow through on, and i especially love that they can find it online now if they want to. at the same time i would be pretty creeped out to find that strangers had researched my genealogy when i simply chose to search my grandmothers name or something, lol

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Busy_Bitch5050 t1_iybmnnm wrote

Yeah, I thought about that last part. I only listed the names of the deceased for that reason lol.

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Moloshe t1_iybvrdy wrote

very responsible. i applaud your effort, and i was going to do it myself if i hadn't seen your comment tbqh. i may not have done such detailed work!

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ShouldBeWorking2nite t1_iybqzqx wrote

The obituary for Dorothy Louise lists a funeral home of Corbin & Palmer Funeral Home at 9 Pleasant Street in Essex Junction, Vt. If this is not far maybe OP can reach out explain what he found and ask if the funeral home has a point of contact for the family. I know my family tend to use the same funeral home in the near by town, almost every family members funeral I can remember was held at the same place. If this is true in Vermont they might be able to help reunite that piece of family history with the family.

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Busy_Bitch5050 t1_iybrj6p wrote

Thats what I was thinking too since my mom's side of the family also uses the same funeral home.

Dorothy passed away less than two years ago, so that would be a really good option. I would love to hear that I helped reunite this piece of family history with their descendants, but I also wouldn't blame OP if they left it alone since it's already been framed and placed back in the wall that's now sealed up again lol

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ShouldBeWorking2nite t1_iybsdpc wrote

Hopefully if OP decides to reunite it with the family they with give us an update. After all the info you provided I’m To invested not to find out the outcome. Great job on the research.

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Busy_Bitch5050 t1_iybspa9 wrote

Thank you. That would seriously warm my heart; in my mind, our heritage is so incredibly important and it should be preserved whenever possible.

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happycheff t1_iybvrkg wrote

Her obituary says she had 8 children and only one predeceased her. She died in 2020 so im certain there is somebody near the house where this was found that would be interested in having this document!

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ilikemushycarrots t1_iybtlz9 wrote

Wow! That was amazing!! Now, can you help me find my car keys please?

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Busy_Bitch5050 t1_iybtvy6 wrote

If you're like many people that enjoy getting high and eating snack foods, check the refrigerator and the microwave. Otherwise, nope, sorry lol

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kaytay3000 t1_iydju0x wrote

I just found mine in the bottom of my washing machine. I hope your luck is better.

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BattleCatsHelp t1_iybmhog wrote

I love this! Do me next!

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Busy_Bitch5050 t1_iybmwl2 wrote

Oh wow, thank you! I think I'm tapped out for one night though lol it's definitely not as easy as it may seem.

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[deleted] t1_iyexxp2 wrote

[deleted]

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Busy_Bitch5050 t1_iyfecas wrote

Thank you very much! I try to stay impartial in my research and go with the strongest evidence I can find. It gets tricky sometimes, but I had a very specific goal with this case, which makes it much easier.

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LightningSt0rm t1_iybzbrp wrote

Since no one seems to have said it yet. . here's the obligatory "Username checks out"

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ThaneOfCawdorrr t1_iybwhsz wrote

I'm more interested to know if Gertrude was any relation to William Faulkner!

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Busy_Bitch5050 t1_iybwq9s wrote

If you remind me tomorrow, I just may look into that.

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ThaneOfCawdorrr t1_iybz6uv wrote

I'll try and remember! I'm super impressed with your geneology work! Where do you look all that stuff up?

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vengefulspirit99 t1_iycd6j2 wrote

I'm imagining you looking around and picking up clues and putting it all together in your head like Sherlock Holmes.

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nudethreats t1_iycvbyl wrote

Honestly this much work deserves more recognition. Thank you for not only solving the mystery but painting a portrait of the people behind the certificate.

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Boolyman t1_iye5ygt wrote

Ugh... smack dab in the middle of the Great Depression with 5 kids. Those parents are troopers for sure.

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ryclarky t1_iyf9gn1 wrote

Username does NOT check out. Way too much free time on this one's hands.

Haha I jest excellent detective work here!

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useless169 t1_iyb7ug3 wrote

DM me if you would like for me to do some looking around on ancestry.com

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asielen t1_iybqe8l wrote

Could just create the person in ancestry, upload the picture and see if anyone else connects with it.

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Busy_Bitch5050 t1_iyblmv0 wrote

>The previous owner of the house passed away before we bought it. I don’t know her maiden name, but I assume this was her parents’ marriage certificate

Do you happen to know her first name?

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