52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy : Life Experiences

Week 5 - Life Experiences : Sometimes the challenges in life provide the best learning experiences.  Can you find an example of this in your own family tree?  Which brick wall ancestor are you most thankful for, and how did that person shape your family history experience?

The brickwall ancestor that has intrigued me the most would be Ida Davis (1874-1900), my maternal 2x great-grandmother.  Though she died at a very young age, she left behind a lot of mysteries.  The biggest ones are the parentage of her two children, Pansy and June.  June was my great-grandmother.

Photo of Ida Davis (1874-1900) and daughter June

Though I've attempted to document her life through records I've been able to find, unfortunately there is no one left around who knows the true stories surrounding the parentage of her children.  Perhaps there is still a court record  to be found - an in-depth research trip to Owen and Monroe County, Indiana courthouses is on my "bucket list".

Probably the most intriguing recent find was locating her in the 1900 census of Marion County, Indiana staying at the "Door of Hope" rescue mission.  I'm 99% sure that this record is her.   Great-grandmother June's birth certificate in Indianapolis provides more mysteries when it spells out her parents as Atkinson and Ida Davis.   Was Atkinson a surname or a first name?

A few different men have been speculated as June's father through family legend.  Photographs of the mysterious gentlemen identified as either Frank Fletcher or Carrie Morris looks strikingly like my great-uncles.  The photograph's Mediterranean appearance, should he be my ancestor, may be the cause for the predominance of dark hair, eyes and skin tone shared by members of my grandmothers family on this side.  One day, I will have DNA testing done to see what interesting mysteries lie within.

When, by age 26, you have at least two husbands, two children and a mysterious past you leave plenty of clues for your descendants.  Ida has kept me intrigued for years, and someday I'm positive I will find the answers.