I am participating in Amy Johnson's Crow's 52 ancestors. The theme the previous week was brick wall. A brick wall in genealogy is described as not being able to find information on a person. My wall is more a crumbling one.
Geneva M Wolf also know as Geneva M Groshong , Mabel Genevieve Wolfe, Jeneva M Berg, Dorothy Mae Geneva McElwane (1903-1993) is my crumbling brick wall. Geneva was a woman with many names. For this story, I am going to call her Geneva. I know so much and so little.
She was mother to my husband's grandfather, Pappy(using a nickname for privacy purposes), and according to family tales she up and left during the middle of winter in Aiken, Minnesota. Yes, she left during a Minnesota winter. Geneva left her young son not even a year old by the fire, His father, Carl, returned to find him cold and the fire long since burnt out. He ran the cold child to his parents house, a good few miles away.
As a Mom I have so many questions. Where the conditions so bad this was Geneva's only way out and why did she leave her son? This kind of leaving in the middle of winter I think took some preplanning. Their homestead was far from a town and it was a small place that everyone knows everyone. She would of have needed assistance to leave. Where did she run to? Why didn't Carl go after her?
Pappy would remain at grandparents until his formal schooling years. Geneva was to come into contact with Pappy after WW2 when she sent him a red cross message. They reconnected briefly and he met his half sister LaVera Sandstrom (1924?- ) According to Pappy, LaVera had the most beautiful baby girl. He also believed that LaVera was also married to a GI. Pappy is mentioned in Dorothy Mae Geneva McElwane's obituary along with LaVera.
I cannot find Geneva in the 1930 or 1940 census. I believe that Geneva met Carl because she replied to an ad for a housekeeper but Carl was also a well known fiddle player that played at all the local dances. Geneva was from Crow Wing, Minnesota. It is possible she met him at a dance. In 1919, Carl had just returned from World War 1. He was a decorated Army military vet. He received the purple heart. His family also said he was a very different person once he came back from the war. Pappy also believe his mom, Geneva, to have a lot of different marriages up to 9 possibly. I can only account for 2 legal marriages- one to Carl in 1919 and one to Henry Tuttle Haight. Geneva married Harry Tuttle Haight in 1925 in Des Moines, IA. I believe Harry Haight was a store clerk at the time. She also appears to be married to Randall Garland McElwane. I am unable to find a marriage record for Randall Garland McElwane and Geneva aka Dorothy. Randall McElwane was a WWII vet. I think they were possibly married in 1944. This is time she appears in city directories in California with that name.
My brick wall specifically is what happened to Geneva after she left Carl especially in the 1921 to 1940 years. I know Geneva was married in 1925 but I believe that was a short marriage. Geneva eventually ended up living in Lost Angeles and Harbor City, California.
I also would like to know about her daughter La Vera or Vera. which I can find her in the 1940 census as living with her grandparents Mary and Peter Groshong in St Paul, MN listed as Vera Groshong, Step Grandchild. LaVera is listed as LaVera Sandstrom in the obituary for Dorothy Mae Geneva McElwane. She listed in the 1940 Census as being born about 1924. I don't know who was LaVera's father was. I have searched the Minnesota Birth Records and cannot find a birth record. It is made challenging by the fact that Geneva often went by different names. I have tried her many aliases without much luck.
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