Moffitt Mystery – Part 2

And the journey continues . . .

In my previous post, Moffitt Mystery, I told about how I discovered that the family of C.C. (Christopher Columbus) Moffitt was related to my maternal line, the Johnson family. I found the reunion minute book and the letter I wrote about. I also found another letter in the book that I had forgotten about.

In a letter from Bess Lukens, daughter of C.C. Moffitt and Elenora Johnson, and wife of Ben Lukens, written on August 21, 1940, to those at the reunion and addressed to my grandmother (who was secretary of the reunion committee at the time), she said:

Dear Johnson & Shively,
Would like very much to be with you this year and enjoy the day, but am sorry to say it will be impossible to do so.  Will send you the names of my children and their families. My eldest son, Robert, his wife Jane and children, Bobby, Billy and Janene, then my daughter Doris Dalrymple, her husband Lawrence and their daughter Carol Ann – they all live in Knightstown.  My youngest son Eugene is in the Marine Corp at Great Lakes, Ill.
Hope this will help you out, should you wish any more information that I can furnish you, please write me.  Hope to with you all some day.
I remain, a cousin
Bess Lukens
Knightstown, Ind.

That letter provided me with other names I had seen in the past – either connected to the Johnson-Shively reunion or letters of my grandparents.  It didn’t tell me anything other than somehow Bess was related to the Johnson family. It would take more information for me to discover just who she was.

On August 28, 1941 a letter was written – also addressed to my grandmother – from Helen Land who lived at 217 N.W. 5th St., Richmond, Indiana.  She was Bess’ sister and the youngest child of C.C. and Elnora.  She wrote:

Dear Johnsons:
We received the card announcing the Johnson – Shively reunion and are so sorry we won’t be able to attend, as our plans were made for over Labor day, for several wks. prior to receiving the card, but it is much to my regrets that I can’t be with ou all, and enjoy that scrumptous dinner, you Johnsons and Shivelys can prepare, and to mingle with my mother’s people again.
In some way or another the Johnson blood tie is very dear to me. I believe Mother must have been a typical Johnson. She was surely a fine woman and tho’ she’s been gone most twelve years (will be Oct 26) I miss her every day & miss her companionship. Our Dad has been  gone away now two yrs. last July 8. His last few years were very declining and his going was a great relief to himself & I really miss him – for I was my “Daddy’s baby” and was for 37 yrs and that was a long time you know to be loved so tenderly as he always did me. (Now I told my age.) ha!
Well so much for that. The rest of the girls are well. Our oldest sister, which some may remember, attended the reunion with us several yrs back, when held at Riverside at Anderson, is now located at Goble Oregon and I had a letter not long since & they are well & happy.
Our one and only brother seems to be doing quite well for himself. He is a general contractor in Waldport Oregon. He has two grand children and four children in the west too.
One sister, Elva, whom I really think has never attended a reunion lives at Lafayette. Lena, whom you all know, lives here in Richmond and I see her and her family quite often. Her daughter’s husband (Ernest Fletcher) whom you’ve all met died suddenly a yr. ago last Mar 22 and that was quite a shock to all of us. Lena said to tell you, that they should like to have been with you, too, had like wise made previous plans for over Labor Day.
Bess, Ethel and Hazel all live at Knightstown and Hazel had the misfortune to lose her son Howard Price almost 3 1/2 yrs ago. Bess is a widow now too.
Well now all eight of us are taken care of I think – only to tell you that I think I have three nice kiddies & of whom I’m real proud. My oldest girl is 19. My son most 17, and my baby girl is nost 13, and they are all quite large. Phyllis is working, having graduated in ’40. Weldon will enter the 11A class in Senior Hi. this fall.  Ruth Eleanor will enter the 7A. class in Jr. Hi. Carlos, the husband and daddy is well and working hard on the defense work in the shop and as to myself since having had several surgical operations and one thing and another have gained back a lot of that weight that I used to carry around but I do feel well and why should I let a few pounds worry me. Eh? Anyway mama was stout and I was proud of her & people tell me I look like my mom so why should I let it worry me – I say.
I am wanting to know why and when the Reunion was changed to the last Sun. in August? Was supposed it was over with or  there just wasn’t any anymore. The Moffitt’s have their reunion on the first Sun. of Aug. now. We didn’t attend it this yr either. As to the J-S’s reunion if there should be another, I hope to be able to attend it, and would have this year if I had known about it just a few days earlier but we had made other plans for over Labor Day and again I’m sorry but know you’ll all have a nice time & altho’ I won’t be there in person, I’ll be thinking of you and send all my Love and best wishes to you (all) and hope to be with you next year.
Sincerely yours
Helen M. land
I should be glad to have some of you write to me.
I always will remember the swell times I always used to have with all of you.

 Helen Land’s letter gave me the clues that her mother was a Johnson – and even though that is such a common surname – she was part of this Johnson clan; information about her siblings, children, and spouse; and how regretful she was that she wasn’t able to attend the reunion.  From her sentence about how long her mother and father had been gone, I knew about what year they had died – which corresponded to the date of death for C.C. Moffitt that I’d found in the reunion book.  I also learned the correct spelling for her maiden name – as I have also seen it spelled “Moffett”, “Moffit”, “Moffatt”, and “Moffet”.  Two “f”s and two “t”s and an “i” – not an “e” or “a”.

My research has been online (as I am not able to travel to see the actual documents).  What I found for C.C. Moffitt’s and Elenora Johnson’s children are as follows:

1. Ancestry had census records for the Jesse Virgil Kenworthy family – which confirmed that Myrtle Moffitt (oldest daughter of C.C. Moffitt and Elenora Johnson was his wife.  The 1900, 1910 and 1920 U.S. Census recorded them living in Oregon.  They had two sons.  The 1930 U.S. Census showed that the family had moved to California.  I also found a marriage record on Familysearch in Indiana. They married on August 8, 1899 in Rush County, Indiana.  Interestingly, I found another marriage record for them on June 21, 1925 from Gooding County, Idaho.  So sometime between the recording of the 1920 U.S. Census and then, they divorced but got remarried.  Another mystery – what happened?  Jesse Virgil died on April 16, 1956 in Clackamas, Oregon and Myrtle died on December 12, 1970 in the same county.  So the couple returned to Oregon from California.

2. Lena Moffitt’s married Earl B. Atkins in Knightstown, Indiana on February 12, 1902.  Her mother’s first name is spelled Elnora.  It also shows that this was the first marriage for both.

3. Elva Moffitt married Harry F. Griffith in Henry County, Indiana on March 31, 1909.  Her birth place is listed as Rush County, Indiana.  Mother’s name is listed as Ellen Johnson. Elva and Harry are found in the 1920 U.S. Census living in Deer Creek, Carroll County, Indiana with their two children – Kathryn and Paul.  They are in the same area in the 1930 U.S. Census and Paul is the only child at home.  Harry died in September 1971.  Elva died in April 1979.

4. Carl A. Moffitt – only son of C.C. and Elenora – married Clenna Marie Smith on November 25, 1909 in Henry County.  His place of birth is listed as Rush County. The family is found in the 1910 U.S. Census on Ancestry in Rush County, Indiana.  There are no children.  The World War I Draft Registration Card for Carl is in Missoula County, Montana.  In the 1920 U.S. Census they are in Wayne Township, Henry County, Indiana with their two oldest children – Donald and Juanita. In the 1930 U.S. Census they are living in Portland, Oregon with their three sons and 1 daughter: Donald, Juanita, David and Dick. The Social Security Death Index shows that Carl died in August 1971 with his last residence in Lincoln County, Oregon.

5. Bessie Pearl Moffitt married Benjamin Lukens in New Castle, Indiana on November 26, 1912.  Bessie was born in Rush County, Indiana.  This was the groom’s second marriage and Bessie’s first.

6. Ethel Fay Moffitt married Horace E. Worth in Henry County, Indiana on December 14, 1910. Her place of birth is listed as Henry County, Indiana.  Mother’s name is listed as Ellen Johnson.

7. Mary Hazel Moffitt married Otto B. Price in Henry County, Indiana on February 10, 1914.  Hazel was born in Henry County, Indiana.  In the 1930 U.S. Census on Ancestry, the family is living in Knightstown, Henry County, Indiana with their two children, Howard and Janice.  Also in the household is Hazel’s father, listed as Columbus C Moffitt, age 75.  He is listed as a widower.

8. Also on Familysearch I found the marriage information for Helen Moffitt (spelled “Moffett”) to Carlos E. Land in Rush County, Indiana on July 24, 1921.  The bride’s mother’s name is listed as Ellenora Johnson and the bride is listed as being born in Henry County, Indiana on November 9, 1902.

There are more records to research – still no idea how Elenora is related to my Johnson’s.  I’ll take a look at Jacob and Ann (Shields) Johnson’s children next to see if Elenora was a child of one of them.

Stay tuned for Part 3!

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Remembering Sharon Amore Brittigan

Many, many years ago (around 10), as I was posting queries to message boards searching for information on my paternal Amore side of the family, I ran across a woman who I began an email relationship with.  She was the granddaughter of my great-uncle Clarence Amore and his first wife, Nellie Buchanan.  Sharon shared some pictures and what information she had, and I returned the favor.  We were both of the same generation, both great-granddaughter’s of our mutual ancestor William “Henry” Amore and Mary Angelina (Annie) Werts (or Wertz – depending on how they were spelling it at the time).  I believe that would make Sharon and I second cousins.  Her grandfather, Clarence, and my grandfather, Lloyd, were brothers.  The really cool thing (for me) was that Uncle Clarence and Aunt Mary (his second wife) had spent several days visiting us in our home.  I was only a small child, but I remember him very well and would always get a hug from him at the big Amore-Baker reunion held every summer in Coshocton, Ohio.  Not only did we share family history information but we shared stories about our immediate families. 

The communication between Sharon and I slowed in the last five years or so.  Once the initial “newness” of the family history search wore off, we weren’t corresponding as much as we had because the information we found didn’t come as quickly as before.  Sharon’s husband was very ill and needed treatment for cancer, so she spent quite a bit of time with him instead of traveling to find records.  She had written in December of 2004 to let me know that her husband’s cancer had returned and he was to start his chemo treatments as soon as his radiation treatments were over.  Two months later Bob Brittigan passed away.  Now that I think about it, she didn’t email to let me know and I was remiss for not contacting her with better frequency.  I know I’ve emailed her since then, but I’m sure that in her grief and stress that happens after a death (will, taking care of personal issues), it wasn’t important enough for her to contact me. 

Last week I thought I’d see if she was on Facebook – I’d looked before without any luck – and couldn’t find her so I did a google search of her name.  That’s how I discovered that her husband had passed away in February 2005.  I also ran across a listing in the Social Security Index for a “Sharon Brittigan”.  Not my cousin! was my first thought.  But the year of birth seemed correct and the state of issue would have been right.  Finally, I hit upon her obituary via Ancestry.  Sharon died on July 9, 2009.  No cause of death listed other than she died at her home.  I couldn’t tell if she was cremated because it listed the time for her memorial service as well as interment.  I don’t know if she had been ill for awhile.  I have no way of contacting her sons or siblings to express my condolences.  I feel as if I lost a cousin – even though we had never met in person. 

Picture from her obituary in the Washington Post

Sharon Lynn (Amore) Brittigan, widow of Robert Lee Brittigan, Sr. born on January 18, 1943 died on July 9, 2009 at her home in Virginia.  She is survived by two brothers, one sister, two sons, and six grandchildren.  Sharon was preceded in death by her parents, Theodore William Amore, on December 2, 1981 and Dorothy Belle (Moran) Amore on February 13, 2003. Sharon was buried next to her husband in Arlington National Cemetery.

In an email she wrote to me in January 2002, she said, “I’m working on a combined family book that incorporates the history of the times they lived in. It’s a challenge, but I’m learning an awful lot about what all the forebears lives must (or could) have been like. I’ve been to many of the places they came from and can describe those locales as a part of the history.”  I hope that if there really was a beginning family history book, that her children have preserved and kept it instead of abandoning it to that “black hole” where so many ancestral stories, documents, and pictures have gone.  I hope that one day, one of her sons or grandchildren will be searching the web and run across this blog, and get in touch with me.  I’d love to have copies of what she wrote.  What better way to remember her memory then to put her notes and words to use in helping our future Amore generations learn about their ancestors.

Rest in peace, Sharon.

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Moffitt Mystery

Follow me on my journey . . .

As I try to discover how the Moffitts were related to my maternal Johnson family.  My first brush with this family came when I was reading the minutes from the Johnson reunions.  These minutes were kept in a book and ended up in the possession of my grandparents – Glen R. and Vesta (Wilt) Johnson.  My grandmother was the secretary of the reunion committee for the last several years that it was held.

In the book for the 25th reunion, held on August 23, 1939 under Deaths was this notation: C. C. Moffitt, Knightstown, Ind.  Thus began my search for who C.C. Moffitt was in relation to the Johnsons.  In the back of the book was a list of addresses.  One of the listings was: Mr. C.E. Land, 18 North Franklin St. Knightstown, Ind.  Further down was: Mrs. C.C. Moffitt, Knightstown  R.R. #2.

Stuck in the back of the book was a letter from a Mrs. Helen Land.  She talked about not being able to attend one of the reunions.  Other items she mentioned alerted me that her mother, who had passed away, had been a Johnson by birth.  I started searching on some of the genealogy sites until I ran across a Helen Moffitt who had married a Carlos Land.  Helen’s father was Christopher Columbus Moffitt.  Mother reportedly Elenora Johnson.  Then I found some census records that documented the names.

At this moment, the reunion book and letter from Helen Land are in a file cabinet in the back of a room that is full of stuff right now.  Once I get my hands on that book and letter, I can go through it line by line to see if I can find some other clues since it’s been a few years since I read it. 

I’ve yet to find a relationship between Elenora Johnson Moffitt and my Johnson line.  Obviously there was a connection, hence the information in the Johnson Reunion minutes, the addresses of those people and a letter from Elenora’s daughter. 

Elenora was born in July 1859.  The information I took this from is an undocumented family tree on Rootsweb.  No parents were listed.  

So where did I go from there?  Stay tuned for the second part of my journey – exploring the census records.

If you have any information about the Moffitt / Johnson connection or are familiar with the Christopher Columbus Moffitt family – possibly a descendent – please let me know – perhaps we can solve this puzzle together!

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