Finding Grandma Emily: A Lucky Break Through a Brick Wall

 Hello and Happy New Year, Farmgirl Sisters!!

In my last post, I said I would tell you about a brick wall that stumped me for a long time. 

In an earlier post, I talked about a treasured box of keepsake items I received from my maternal grandmother, Roberta. The first picture is Roberta in the early 1930's, before her marriage to my grandfather. The second was taken in the early 1970's.

Roberta was the daughter of Robert W. Keigley and Bessie Belle Duckworth. This photo is Rob and Bessie on their wedding day, December 25, 1905. Yep, Bessie wanted to be married on Christmas Day.

Robert was the son of Clayton C. Keigley and Emma Seymour. This picture of them was taken between 1890 and 1900 after they moved from Iowa to Louisiana.

So, back to the treasure box. I mentioned in another post that I got the box long before the advantage of online searching.

One of the most wonderful things in the treasure box was a huge album of post cards written between 1900 and 1920.

It took a long time to go through them and in many cases, it took a long time to figure out who was writing to who. What I noticed was that not only did the adults family members write constantly to each other, but that the older adults seemed to especially love writing to the children. I came across a lot of cards written from grandparents, aunt and uncles to very young grandchildren, nieces and nephews. When one considers how communication is today, these beautiful handwritten notes are pretty amazing.

The postcards weren't in any particular order in the album. As time allowed, I went through them and tried to organize them in date order. I found a number of cards from "Grandma Emily" For a time, I thought "Emily" might actually be Emma, But then I read a card that suggested that wasn't true at all.

On the card below, "Grandma Emily" wrote to "Robbie W, Bessie B, and Robbie D" (this was 4 years before Roberta was born. Robbie D was her older brother)  and wished them a Happy Valentine's day in 1909. Remember that Emma is Robert W's mother. It stands to reason that since she wrote to the family which included her grandchild Robbie D, she might sign it Grandma instead of Mother or Mama.

Later on I found this one...

Another card from Grandma Emily, but this one was specifically for Robert W. I realized that Emily who wrote this card and Emma who was Robert W.'s mother were definitely two different people. I already knew that Robert's father was Clayton Keigley and I knew that his parents were William Keigley and Elizabeth Throckmorton Keigley. The only other explanation was that Emily had to be Emma's mother.

This was something brand new for the family tree, and a total mystery. Nowhere in the treasure box was there any information about Emma's mother or her father. I learned from my grandmother that the likely reason for the lack of information may have been because the family home burned  It would take many more years of searching and piecing together one little clue after another to finally establish Emily's identity, but when I did, I discovered a motherlode of information about that branch of the family tree. 

I had two clues to start with. First of all, I knew that Emma's maiden name was Seymour. Second, I found a newspaper clipping in the treasure box from the early 1900's detailing a garden party Emma hosted at her Louisiana home. The clue there was a mention of her younger sister, MISS Laura Wright, providing a lovely piano recital during the event. If Emma's maiden name was Seymour and her sister was Miss Wright, what does that suggest? Clearly, the first thought was that if Emily was Emma Seymour's mother, she was possibly married at least twice - first to a Seymour, then to a Wright. This was all still before I evened owned a computer and had access to Ancestry.com and all the various online genealogy content. When I did at last purchase my first PC and start figuring out how to search for family info, it was a very slow process, but I kept at it.

I learned that a genealogical society in Acadia Parish, Lousiana had copied hundreds of obituaries from local newspapers dating back to the late 1800's and placed them in binders at a parish library. That's only a few hours drive from me and I took a trip there one day. I have many ancestors who lived in that area and I wanted to see how many of their obits I could find. The trip was more successful than I could have ever imagined. I found many of the obits I was looking for, but more importantly, I discovered something I didn't know was there - a very short obituary for Mrs. Emily Stewart, mother of Mrs. C. C. Keigley. That was my big break. With that information, I began to trace Emily backwards through time, and I put as much of her story together I could find.

Several years ago, I prepared a pair of family history books detailing what I had learned about my maternal ancestors. These are photos of the pages I made for Emily.

Sometimes the facts come quick and easy. Sometimes one has to dig long and deep. But if that results in the discovery of a genealogical pot of gold, it is well worth the time and effort.

In my next post, I'll introduce you to Emily's parents, Cyrus and Virena. While there aren't really any brick walls with them, there are still some questions about them I would really like to answer.

Until next time, please have a safe and Very Happy New Year!!

Stacy Sundgren, Farmgirl Sister #7112