Gene Notes

Some random and some not-so-random thoughts on family history.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

More on the Find-A-Grave Conundrum

Tuesday evening I was gifted with some information on Frank C. Christe (or Christie), the first husband of my step-grandmother, Florence Bush Christe Percival. I had found them on the 1930 census but not on any previous census. Or later. I suspected they were divorced by 1940, or at least separated. With the new spelling I was able to dig up some information on the first husband.

First, the spelling was never clear. My dad spelled it Christie. However, I found it as Christe in the census and on his World War I draft record. Specifically, Frank Charles Christe, born October 4, 1881. The 4 was written as an open number and not the 4 that you see here. However, his World War II draft registration gives the date as October 9, 1881.  I dipped into the death records database on Family Search for Michigan and that record also gives a birth date as October 9, 1881. Given the birth year, I felt sure I could find him on the birth records. I did. And there, neatly transcribed as October 19, 1881, was Frank C. Christa. The indexing gives his name as Christa, but its kind of illegible.

Frank and Florence were indeed separated by 1940. On the census record, she is designated as married with a ?. Yeah. The divorce didn't actually come until September 11, 1946. Florence married my grandfather, John Percival on September 23, 1946 in Angola, Indiana. That was a little more than two months after my parents were married. 

The conundrum? Well, I have no idea where Frank Christe was buried. So I won't add a Find-A-Grave memorial for him. However, I will put a note in Florence's record.

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