Death Notice : Ida (Davis) Morris, 1900

Ellettsville Farm, Ellettsville, Indiana
August 4, 1900, page 2

Mrs. Ida Davis Morris, daughter of Mrs. Bob Gilland, died at the home of the latter near this place on Wednesday.

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This is the death notice of my maternal 2nd-great grandmother, Ida (Davis) Morris.  She died August 2, 1900 in Clay Township, Owen County, Indiana of tuberculosis.  The Mrs. Bob Gilland (actually Gilliland) was Mary Ellen (Swafford) Davis Gilliland.

Ida was only 26 years old when she died of tuberculosis, leaving two small children, Pansy and June, to be raised by Ida's mother and step-father.

I've been able to find a bit of good information lately through my NewspaperArchive subscription.  Newspaper columns like this were the Facebook of the early 20th century.

Casting A Wider Net

Spent most of the weekend genealogy work by adding to my family tree at Ancestry.com .  I’d kept a very small tree with only a few generations previously.  My hope was to slowly work backwards, making sure that it was as documented as possible.

My tree is available at Ancestry at http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/25951333/family

I decided that since I’m doing the DNA research and directing distant cousins to my family tree, I figured I’d better update it to include as many generations as possible.  So I added branches in the direct lines up to at least the immigrant ancestor.  I’ll go back later and add the children, etc. and flesh it out a bit.

Noticed that several invites to view the family tree for my immediate family have gone unaccepted.  So sad, they’re not as interested in genealogy as I am.

Grandma June's Birth Announcement

Indianapolis Sun, Indianapolis, Indiana
June 13, 1898 page 2

Located my maternal great-grandmother, June Davis' birth announcement in the Indianapolis Sun newspaper of June 13, 1898.  

The birth announcement lists her only as a girl born to Atkinson and Ida Davis, just as her birth certificate lists.  Instead of a street address, the residence is listed as "Door of Hope".

Door of Hope was associated with the Wheeler Mission in Indianapolis and was established as a home for fallen women.  I have previously found Ida living at the Door of Hope in the 1900 census, this confirms that she was there in 1898 as well.  I remember my grandmother, Bonnie, when I had asked where her mother was born, saying that June was born in the city of Hope.  For a long time, I had assumed this was Hope, Bartholomew County, Indiana, where incidentally, there were Gilliland families.  Gilliland was the surname that June was raised with.  After her mother, Ida, died, June and her sister were raised by their grandmother, Mary Ellen (Swafford) Davis Gilliland.  Keeping this straight has been quite a lot of fun.

I have not been able to determine if the father listed on June's birth certificate is an Atkinson Davis or a _______ Atkinson.  I have not been able to locate an Atkinson Davis in Indianapolis are at the time.  This might be a mystery that is never solved.  Perhaps there is a bastardy proceeding somewhere that might shed some light.