194 people, numbered by ahnentafel: #1 is me, each person’s father is double their number, each mother is double plus one. Every entry carries its dates, relationship, evidence grade, story, evidence notes, and text descriptions of every photograph and evidence scan.
Velma Gladys Roush (21 Jun 1907 Mason Co. WV – 3 Oct 1964 Flint MI)
Ahnentafel #15 · his mother’s mother’s mother (3 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Velma Gladys Roush was born on 21 June 1907 in Mason County, West Virginia, the daughter of John G. Roush and Bertha E. Roush, as recorded on the original birth register. She was five feet tall, ran away from home at sixteen, and her school yearbook remembered her as “small but oh my!” She died on 3 October 1964 in Flint, Michigan, of a perforated duodenum after years of high-dose aspirin taken for arthritis. She was, for years, the hardest figure in the family to trace, until a cremation certificate found in a family photo album, together with her granddaughter Cynthia's own memory of her, finally identified her. Two photographs of her survive: a studio portrait, and a snapshot of her laughing outdoors in a plaid coat in her fifties.
Evidence
Photographed c.1957–64, outdoors in a plaid coat [FROST-31]. The hardest wall in the project until 5 Aug 2026 — broken by a cremation certificate in a family photo album plus Cynthia’s memory of her grandmother. Five feet tall; ran away from home at sixteen; “She’s small but oh my!” in her yearbook; died of a perforated duodenum after years of high-dose aspirin for arthritis.
Outstanding: Her 1931 first marriage to Alfred Hesterberg and her marriage to Alan Frost both need confirming.
⭐ Primary birth register read at native resolution, 7 Aug 2026: WV VRR id 2981877 (assessor’s register, Graham District, 1907, p. 37 line 44) — b. 21 June 1907, father John G. Roush, mother/informant Bertha E. Roush. A primary record for the parent links, independent of the tree-based citation.
Photographs (described)
Portrait of Velma Gladys Roush Frost, about 1955-1964Velma Gladys Roush outdoors, late 1950s or early 1960s — Velma laughing in a plaid coat among bare autumn branches, in her fifties — one of only two photographs of the woman who was the hardest person in this tree to find.
Evidence images (described)
1964 cremation certificate for Velma Gladys Roush Frost — Velma Gladys Roush Frost's 1964 cremation certificate, which also revealed that her son Alan had moved the family to Flint, Michigan, a fact nobody had written down before.
Thomas Jefferson Bell (b. 1875×1878 – d. 30 Aug 1921, near Louisville, Barbour Co., Alabama)
Ahnentafel #16 · his father’s father’s father’s father (4 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Thomas Jefferson Bell farmed near Louisville in Barbour County, Alabama. He married Alice May Bradley on 13 August 1895, when she was eighteen, and they had nine children — seven still living when the 1920 census found them together, and two already buried at Bethlehem Baptist churchyard.
He died on 30 August 1921 and was laid beside those two children. He left no estate: the county's probate minutes for the year after his death record no administration in his name, and the clerk's index to seventy years of administrators' records contains no Thomas J. Bell at all. There was simply nothing to divide.
So when his children finally received something, it came through his own father's estate instead. In April 1925 a Barbour County court divided one deceased heir's share seven ways among Tom's children, naming each of them — Ellie, Ray, Ruth, William, Ethel, little Juanita, and “Henry Bell, Birmingham.” That decree is the court's own answer to the question of who his children were, and it is the document that finally settled this family's longest-standing puzzle.
Evidence
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ RE-GRADED ‘probable’ → ‘documented’, 12 August 2026, on the EIGHTH adversarial review [BELL-117] — after seven refusals. What changed: the rival reading of “Mrs. M. K. Norton” died with Katie Bradley in April 1924; Mack Norton’s own 1954 obituary calls Alice’s children Bells; and the 1925 probate decree was re-read as what it is — a court’s adjudication of who Thomas Jefferson Bell’s children were, paying seven named persons exactly one seventh each of a deceased heir’s share, with “Henry Bell, Birmingham” among them.
⭐ Corroborated from the Norton side [BELL-108]: his widow Alice remarried Mack K. Norton, whose 1954 obituary calls her sons T. R. and W. W. Bell — the same sibling set Thomas Ray Bell Sr.’s own obituary gives twenty years later, from the opposite side of the family. Mack joined Bethlehem Baptist near Clayton, this family’s church and burying ground, where Tom lies and where Alice is buried under the name Bell, not Norton.
Buried Bethlehem Baptist Church Cemetery; Find a Grave memorial 138198515 links him to John T. Bell and Sallie Cox as parents — corroboration of a hypothesis, not evidence [BELL-84]. ⚠ That memorial gives d. 27 Aug 1920 against the Clayton Record obituary's 30 Aug 1921; one is wrong by a year and the conflict is unresolved. Identified as John Henry Bell's father at probable — the chain runs through his widow, not through a document naming him [BELL-76, BELL-77]. Married Alice May Bradly 13 Aug 1895, Barbour Co. Direct Marriage Index vol. 13 p. 63. Obituary, Clayton Record 2 Sep 1921: d. 30 Aug 1921, son of John Bell Sr., buried Bethlehem “where two of his children are buried.” 1920 census, Louisville: Thomas J 44, Alice 42, Henry 18, Ray 16, William 12, Ethel 10, Juanita 2.
Outstanding: No record yet names John Henry Bell's father. His own age is unsettled — 44 in Jan 1920 (b. ~1875) against “about forty-three” in the Sept 1921 obituary (b. ~1878); the chart's old “1874” was supported by nothing. The Barbour sweep for competing Henry Bells is now RUN [BELL-82]: across the 1900, 1910 and 1920 censuses there is exactly one Henry Bell born 1899×1903 in the county, and he is Tom and Alice's son. No rival exists.
Evidence images (described)
1915 probate petition, John T. Bell's heirs including son Tom — A 1915 court petition filed after John T. Bell's death lists his heirs, including a son called Tom Bell who may be the missing link to later generations.1925 estate settlement naming Thomas Jefferson Bell's children — A 1925 Alabama estate paper names Thomas Jefferson Bell's seven children one by one, including a son named Henry living in Birmingham, a striking match to the family long suspected.The full page of the Barbour marriage index, 1895 — The whole page of Bell marriages, with Tom and Alice's row among dozens of Barbour County couples.Barbour County marriage index — T. J. Bell and Alice May Bradly, 1895 — One handwritten line in the county register index: T. J. Bell married Alice May Bradly on 13 August 1895, which is where her maiden name is finally attested in an original record.1921 obituary, Clayton Record — Mr. Tom Bell passes away — Thomas Jefferson Bell's 1921 obituary, naming his father John Bell Sr. and a long list of his children and siblings, the single richest document found for this family.1920 census, Louisville AL — the Thomas J. Bell household — The 1920 census of Louisville, Alabama, catching Thomas J. Bell's family together, including eighteen-year-old Henry, the boy who grew up to be John Henry Bell.1920 census close-up — Thomas J. and Alice Bell's children, including Henry — A close-up of the same household, naming Thomas J. and Alice Bell's children one by one, Henry, Ray, William, Ethel, and baby Juanita.1995 obituary naming Juanita's parents, T.J. and Alice Mae Bell — Juanita Bell Halstead's 1995 obituary names her one of Montgomery's flying grandmothers and a founder of the Ninety-Nines pilots' club, daughter of T.J. and Alice Mae Bell.Mack Norton's obituary, The Clayton Record, 22 October 1954 — The document that broke the Bell wall. Alice's second husband's obituary names his wife as Mrs. Alice May Norton of Dothan and calls her children step-sons T. R. Bell and W. W. Bell — a published statement, from the Norton side of the family, that Alice was the mother of the Bell children.
Alice May Bradley (8 Oct 1876 – 29 Dec 1956, Montgomery Co., Alabama; m.(2) Mack K. Norton)
Ahnentafel #17 · his father’s father’s father’s mother (4 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Alice May Bradley was born on 8 October 1876 in Barbour County, Alabama, the daughter of Henry Bradley and Elvira Loveless. Her father died young: in October 1891 a county court appointed a guardian for Alice, then fourteen, and her sister Katie, twelve, noting that the minors had no father living.
She married Thomas Jefferson Bell on 13 August 1895, at eighteen, and had nine children. Widowed in 1921, she married Mack K. Norton — and there is a quiet symmetry in it, because Mack's first wife had been her own sister Katie, who died in 1924. Two Bradley sisters each married a Bell, each was widowed, and the same man married them in turn.
By 1935 she was living with Mack at 118 East North Street in Dothan, and it was that address her son wrote on his draft card in 1942 when the form asked who would always know where he was. Mack died in 1954; his obituary called her children his step-sons and step-daughters, naming them as Bells, which is how the family was finally proved from the outside.
She outlived her husband by thirty-five years and died at Montgomery on 29 December 1956, aged eighty. They brought her home to Bethlehem, in Barbour County, and buried her beside him under the name Bell — not Norton.
Evidence
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ RE-GRADED ‘probable’ → ‘documented’, 12 August 2026, on the EIGHTH adversarial review [BELL-117] — after seven refusals. What changed: the rival reading of “Mrs. M. K. Norton” died with Katie Bradley in April 1924; Mack Norton’s own 1954 obituary calls Alice’s children Bells; and the 1925 probate decree was re-read as what it is — a court’s adjudication of who Thomas Jefferson Bell’s children were, paying seven named persons exactly one seventh each of a deceased heir’s share, with “Henry Bell, Birmingham” among them.
⭐⭐ The Norton question is settled [BELL-108]. Mack K. Norton’s own obituary (The Clayton Record, 22 Oct 1954) names his wife as “Mrs. Alice May Norton of Dothan” and her children as step-sons T. R. Bell of Bessemer and W. W. Bell of Jacksonville, with four step-daughters whose married names and towns match Thomas Ray Bell Sr.’s own 1974 obituary twenty years later. So the “Mrs. M. K. Norton, 118 North St., Dothan” whom John Henry Bell named on his 1942 draft card is Alice — and the competing reading, that she was Katie the aunt, is dead: Katie Bradley Norton died 11 April 1924, eighteen years before that card.
⭐ And Katie was Alice’s sister. Both women’s state death records give the same parents, Henry Bradley and Elvira Loveless. Two Bradley sisters each married a Bell and each was widowed; Mack Norton married Katie in 1912 and, after she died, married Alice. Mack joined his wife’s first husband’s church at Bethlehem and was buried apart from her.
⭐ Named with Tom as a parental couple on a state vital record: their daughter Ruth's Texas death certificate gives father Tom Bell, mother Alice Bradley [BELL-91], and their son Thomas Ray's Alabama death record gives Thomas Jefferson Bell and Alice Bradley [BELL-95]. Two children, two states, two vital records. Identified at probable. Maiden name attested in the Barbour Co. marriage index: T. J. Bell × Alice May Bradly, 13 Aug 1895 [BELL-76]. 1940 census, Dothan, ED 35-8, sheet 3B, house 118 — Mack K. Norton head, Alice M. wife; supplementary line 55 gives age at first marriage 18, nine children born, and “married more than once: Yes”, which orders the two marriages Bell-then-Norton [BELL-77]. 1935 residence: same house — seven years before John Henry gave that address on his draft card. Died 29 Dec 1956, Montgomery (Alabama Death Index, cert. #26068); buried under the name Bell at Bethlehem, the cemetery Tom's 1921 obituary named [self-correction #32].
Outstanding: ⭐ ADPH certificate #26068 names HER parents — and after the 1895 licence turned out to carry no parents' line [BELL-81], it is now the ONLY live route to the Bradley generation. Her own obituary, Clayton Record late Dec 1956, would list surviving children and is the document that would take both these nodes to documented. No marriage record for Alice × Norton exists after four bounded searches; the remarriage is proven by household, not by a return. Birth year wobbles: 1877 by the 1891 guardianship, 1876 by Find a Grave, whose provenance is unverified.
Evidence images (described)
The full page of the Barbour marriage index, 1895 — The whole page of Bell marriages, with Tom and Alice's row among dozens of Barbour County couples.Barbour County marriage index — T. J. Bell and Alice May Bradly, 1895 — One handwritten line in the county register index: T. J. Bell married Alice May Bradly on 13 August 1895, which is where her maiden name is finally attested in an original record.1944 Birmingham News death notice naming the family and both grandmothers — A 1944 newspaper notice for sixteen-year-old Thomas J. Bell, killed in a Warrenville, Illinois car crash [BELL-101], names his parents John Henry and Beatrice Bell and both of his grandmothers.1920 census, Louisville AL — the Thomas J. Bell household — The 1920 census of Louisville, Alabama, catching Thomas J. Bell's family together, including eighteen-year-old Henry, the boy who grew up to be John Henry Bell.1920 census close-up — Thomas J. and Alice Bell's children, including Henry — A close-up of the same household, naming Thomas J. and Alice Bell's children one by one, Henry, Ray, William, Ethel, and baby Juanita.1995 obituary naming Juanita's parents, T.J. and Alice Mae Bell — Juanita Bell Halstead's 1995 obituary names her one of Montgomery's flying grandmothers and a founder of the Ninety-Nines pilots' club, daughter of T.J. and Alice Mae Bell.1944 death notice naming John Henry Bell, Beatrice, and both grandmothers — A close-up on the line from the same 1944 notice naming both grandmothers, Mrs. M. K. Norton and Mrs. Margaret Bloebaum, the detail that tied two generations together.Katie Bradley Norton's grave — Alice's sister — For months the case stalled on whether the Mrs. M. K. Norton named on John Henry Bell's draft card was Alice or an aunt called Katie. Katie died in April 1924, eighteen years before that card was signed. Her stone also gives her maiden name — Bradley — which is how we learned the two women were sisters.Mack Norton's obituary, The Clayton Record, 22 October 1954 — The document that broke the Bell wall. Alice's second husband's obituary names his wife as Mrs. Alice May Norton of Dothan and calls her children step-sons T. R. Bell and W. W. Bell — a published statement, from the Norton side of the family, that Alice was the mother of the Bell children.
Andrew Jackson Eaken (1 May 1881 Lauderdale Co. MS – 20 Mar 1922)
Ahnentafel #18 · his father’s father’s mother’s father (4 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Andrew Jackson Eaken was born on 1 May 1881 in Lauderdale County, Mississippi, and died on 20 March 1922. He is buried at Cuba, in Sumter County, Alabama — his wife's home county, correcting an earlier family record that had placed his burial in Birmingham. In 1910 he was living in Mobile with his wife Maggie and infant daughter Beatrice, and with his brother-in-law Langford Swain lodging in the household — a detail that opened up research into the whole Swain family line.
Evidence
Buried Cuba, Sumter Co., Alabama — his wife’s home county, correcting the compilation’s “Birmingham.” In 1910 at Mobile with Maggie, baby Beatrice, and his brother-in-law Langford Swain lodging — the lodger who opened the whole Swain line.
Maggie Dillon Swain (27 Sep 1886 – Mar 1985, Jefferson Co.)
Ahnentafel #19 · his father’s father’s mother’s mother (4 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Maggie Dillon Swain was born on 27 September 1886. Widowed in 1922 by the death of Andrew Jackson Eaken, she remarried Thomas J. Bloebaum in November 1925 and lived in DuPage County, Illinois, from about 1930 to 1950, before returning to Birmingham, where she died in March 1985 at the age of ninety-eight. She is the “Ms Blevon” remembered in family memory — her married name Bloebaum, softened by the years.
Evidence
Widowed 1922, remarried Thomas J. Bloebaum Nov 1925, lived DuPage Co., Illinois 1930–50, returned to Birmingham and died at 98. She is the “Ms Blevon” of family memory.
Outstanding: Her March 1985 Jefferson Co. death record would restate her parents independently.
Evidence images (described)
1944 Birmingham News death notice naming the family and both grandmothers — A 1944 newspaper notice for sixteen-year-old Thomas J. Bell, killed in a Warrenville, Illinois car crash [BELL-101], names his parents John Henry and Beatrice Bell and both of his grandmothers.1944 death notice naming John Henry Bell, Beatrice, and both grandmothers — A close-up on the line from the same 1944 notice naming both grandmothers, Mrs. M. K. Norton and Mrs. Margaret Bloebaum, the detail that tied two generations together.
John Willis Stephens (1876 – 1947, Livingston, Sumter Co.)
Ahnentafel #20 · his father’s mother’s father’s father (4 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
John Willis Stephens was born in 1876 and died in 1947 at Livingston, in Sumter County, Alabama. He too went by “J. W.,” which is exactly why marriage clerks in both 1939 and 1960 wrote down “J. W. Stephens” for two different men in the family — a coincidence that the 1920 Sumter County census helped sort out.
Evidence
Also “J. W.” — which is exactly why the 1939 and 1960 marriage clerks could both write “J. W. Stephens” meaning different men. The 1920 Sumter County census settles the generations.
Mary Price Williams (b. 18 Mar 1887, State Line, Greene Co. MS)
Ahnentafel #21 · his father’s mother’s father’s mother (4 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Mary Price Williams was born on 18 March 1887 at State Line, in Greene County, Mississippi.
Thomas William Truette (Sep 1893 – bef. 1930, Clarke Co. AL)
Ahnentafel #22 · his father’s mother’s mother’s father (4 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Thomas William Truette was born in September 1893 and lived in and around Clarksville and Coffeeville, in Clarke County, Alabama. He married Sennie Lawrence about 1916 and died sometime before 1930; no death record has yet been found.
Evidence
Clarksville and Coffeeville, Clarke County. m. Sennie Lawrence ~1916.
Outstanding: Died before 1930 — no death record yet located.
Sennie E. Lawrence (5 Jan 1899 – 13 Sep 1975)
Ahnentafel #23 · his father’s mother’s mother’s mother (4 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Sennie E. Lawrence was born on 5 January 1899 and died on 13 September 1975. Like her granddaughter Willie Joyce after her, she was found in the records under a later married surname rather than her maiden one.
Evidence
Found under her later married surname — the same trick that found Willie Joyce.
Outstanding: A 1897/1899 birth-year discrepancy; the 1900 Coffeeville census image resolves it.
Dennis Clark Tuttle (25 Jan 1884 Peoria IL – 22 Aug 1975)
Ahnentafel #24 · his mother’s father’s father’s father (4 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Dennis Clark Tuttle was born on 25 January 1884 in Peoria, Illinois, and died on 22 August 1975. He worked forty-three years as a freight car repairman for the Pennsylvania Railroad, retiring onto its Roll of Honor, and was a Freemason, serving as Prophet of the Kerman Grotto in Terre Haute. He registered for the “Old Man's Draft” in April 1942 and, in his sixties, drew twenty dollars a week from Indiana unemployment during a lean stretch. He was married for sixty-seven years, and his own wallet, carried through much of that life, survives among the family's papers.
Evidence
Freight car repairman, Pennsylvania Railroad, 43 years; retired onto the PRR Roll of Honor; Railroad Retirement Board number 717-03-2620. A Freemason — Prophet of Kerman Grotto, Terre Haute. Registered in the “Old Man’s Draft,” April 1942. Drew $20 a week from Indiana unemployment in his sixties. His wallet survived: TUTTLE-02 to TUTTLE-10. Married 67 years.
Outstanding: Grand Lodge of Indiana Blue Lodge record — free, and Masonic bodies answer descendants.
Photographs (described)
Dennis and Leona Tuttle with a cake, 1960s — The only known photograph of Dennis Clark Tuttle and Leona Marie Alexander together, taken between 1963 and Leona's death in 1970, after sixty-odd years of marriage.
Evidence images (described)
1902 marriage register, Vigo County — Leona Alexander's parents named — This 1902 marriage record for Dennis Tuttle and Leona Alexander also named her parents, William Alexander and Mary Fletcher, opening up an entirely new branch of the family.Masonic Grotto and Daughters of Mokanna membership cards — Two membership cards reveal that Dennis Clark Tuttle was a Freemason, and his wife Leona Alexander belonged to the Grotto's women's auxiliary.Pennsylvania Railroad retirement Roll of Honor certificate — After forty-three years repairing Pennsylvania Railroad freight cars, Dennis Clark Tuttle retired with this Roll of Honor certificate, still a proud railroad man until the year he died.Selective Service card, physical description of Dennis Tuttle — This 1942 draft card gives the only physical description of Dennis Clark Tuttle that survives, his height, weight, and complexion, recorded when he was fifty-eight.Selective Service registration certificate, 1942 — On 27 April 1942, at fifty-eight years old, Dennis Clark Tuttle registered in the so-called Old Man's Draft, so the government could count what skills the country had for war.Indiana unemployment benefit claim record — This card shows Dennis Clark Tuttle, decades into a railroad career, standing in an Indiana unemployment line drawing twenty dollars a week, a humbling stretch worth remembering honestly.Indiana Employment Security applicant ID card — The front of the same unemployment card Dennis Clark Tuttle had to carry and present every time he reported to the Indiana employment office looking for work.National Casualty Company identification card — Dennis Clark Tuttle carried this accident-insurance card in case he was ever hurt on the job around the moving freight cars he spent his career repairing.Newspaper subscriber accident insurance card, 1952 — A small newspaper-subscriber accident policy from 1952 that also happens to catch Dennis Clark Tuttle moving to a new apartment in his sixties.1937 Social Security card, Dennis Clark Tuttle, railroad repairman — Dennis Clark Tuttle's 1937 Social Security card carries a special railroad-only number, proof on its face that he spent his working life repairing Pennsylvania Railroad freight cars.1910 census, Dennis Tuttle's young family — This 1910 census shows Dennis Clark Tuttle heading his own Terre Haute household with wife Leona and six-year-old son Gifford, Alec's great-grandfather.1920 census, Gifford Tuttle as a teenager — This 1920 census finds Dennis Clark Tuttle's household still in Terre Haute, with son Gifford now sixteen and a few years from starting his own family.Marriage record of Dennis and Leona Tuttle — This Vigo County register records Dennis Clark Tuttle's marriage to Leona Marie Alexander on the last day of 1902, the couple whose son Gifford carried the family into the twentieth century.Gifford and Helen's 1923 marriage application — Gifford Herman Tuttle and Helen May Knott's 1923 marriage application names both of their parents, tying two more generations of the family together.Family Bible births, second page — This second births page records Dennis Clark Tuttle's 1884 birth, his son Gifford Herman Tuttle's birth in 1903, and grandson Richard Clark Tuttle's birth in 1929.Family Bible marriages, second page — This marriage page records Dennis Clark Tuttle's 1902 wedding to Leona Marie Alexander and their son Gifford Herman Tuttle's 1923 wedding to Helen May Knott.Family Bible page recording deaths — The family Bible's deaths page records Richard B. Tuttle's 1884 death along with the later deaths of Gifford Herman, Dennis Clark, and Leona Marie Tuttle.Dennis Tuttle's 1902 marriage record — This 1902 Vigo County marriage register entry names Dennis Clark Tuttle, born in Peoria, and his father, Richard Tuttle, proving the family link.Dennis Tuttle's marriage record, mother's name — The facing page of the 1902 marriage register names Dennis Clark Tuttle's mother, Emma Fuerstenberger, and his bride, Leona Alexander.1950 census, Dennis and Leona Tuttle — The 1950 census finds Dennis Clark Tuttle and his wife Leona living in Terre Haute with their grown daughter still nearby.Social Security record for Dennis Tuttle — This Social Security death index entry confirms Dennis Clark Tuttle's birth and death dates and his lifelong home in Vigo County.Second page of the 1910 census household — This continuing page lists the rest of Dennis and Leona Tuttle's household in Terre Haute in 1910.Second page of the 1920 census household — This continuing page fills out the 1920 household details for Dennis, Leona, and their son Gifford Tuttle.Second page of the 1902 marriage register — This continuing page of the register completes the official record of Dennis and Leona Tuttle's New Year's Eve wedding in 1902.
Leona Marie Alexander (16 Feb 1883 Clinton IN – 13 Sep 1970)
Ahnentafel #25 · his mother’s father’s father’s mother (4 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Leona Marie Alexander was born on 16 February 1883 in Clinton, Indiana, and died on 13 September 1970. She married Dennis Tuttle on New Year's Eve, 1902 — their son Gifford arrived nine months and six days later, which is how the date of the marriage was pinned down against a family tradition of 1903. She was a life member of the Daughters of Mokanna, Kerman Caldron No. 19, and is buried alongside Dennis at Highland Lawn Cemetery. Her obituary records her as a member of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Terre Haute, where her funeral was held — the earliest sign of a family that had been Congregational for six generations turning Episcopalian.
Evidence
A member of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Terre Haute, where her funeral was held in Sept 1970 — the earliest evidence of this family's Episcopal affiliation, and it is in Terre Haute, not Evanston [TUTTLE-90]. m. Dennis on New Year’s Eve 1902 — not 1903; Gifford was born nine months and six days later. Life member of the Daughters of Mokanna, Kerman Caldron #19, 1964. Buried with Dennis at Highland Lawn.
Photographs (described)
Dennis and Leona Tuttle with a cake, 1960s — The only known photograph of Dennis Clark Tuttle and Leona Marie Alexander together, taken between 1963 and Leona's death in 1970, after sixty-odd years of marriage.
Evidence images (described)
1902 marriage register, Vigo County — Leona Alexander's parents named — This 1902 marriage record for Dennis Tuttle and Leona Alexander also named her parents, William Alexander and Mary Fletcher, opening up an entirely new branch of the family.Masonic Grotto and Daughters of Mokanna membership cards — Two membership cards reveal that Dennis Clark Tuttle was a Freemason, and his wife Leona Alexander belonged to the Grotto's women's auxiliary.1910 census, Dennis Tuttle's young family — This 1910 census shows Dennis Clark Tuttle heading his own Terre Haute household with wife Leona and six-year-old son Gifford, Alec's great-grandfather.1920 census, Gifford Tuttle as a teenager — This 1920 census finds Dennis Clark Tuttle's household still in Terre Haute, with son Gifford now sixteen and a few years from starting his own family.Marriage record of Dennis and Leona Tuttle — This Vigo County register records Dennis Clark Tuttle's marriage to Leona Marie Alexander on the last day of 1902, the couple whose son Gifford carried the family into the twentieth century.Gifford and Helen's 1923 marriage application — Gifford Herman Tuttle and Helen May Knott's 1923 marriage application names both of their parents, tying two more generations of the family together.Family Bible marriages, second page — This marriage page records Dennis Clark Tuttle's 1902 wedding to Leona Marie Alexander and their son Gifford Herman Tuttle's 1923 wedding to Helen May Knott.Family Bible page recording deaths — The family Bible's deaths page records Richard B. Tuttle's 1884 death along with the later deaths of Gifford Herman, Dennis Clark, and Leona Marie Tuttle.Dennis Tuttle's marriage record, mother's name — The facing page of the 1902 marriage register names Dennis Clark Tuttle's mother, Emma Fuerstenberger, and his bride, Leona Alexander.1950 census, Dennis and Leona Tuttle — The 1950 census finds Dennis Clark Tuttle and his wife Leona living in Terre Haute with their grown daughter still nearby.Second page of the 1910 census household — This continuing page lists the rest of Dennis and Leona Tuttle's household in Terre Haute in 1910.Second page of the 1920 census household — This continuing page fills out the 1920 household details for Dennis, Leona, and their son Gifford Tuttle.Second page of the 1902 marriage register — This continuing page of the register completes the official record of Dennis and Leona Tuttle's New Year's Eve wedding in 1902.Marriage application, continued, second page — This second page continues Gifford Herman Tuttle and Helen May Knott's 1923 marriage application from Rush County, Indiana.Dennis Tuttle's marriage record, continued — This continuation confirms Emma Fuerstenberger as Dennis Clark Tuttle's mother and records his marriage to Leona Alexander in 1902.Third page of the 1910 Terre Haute census — This closing page completes the 1910 record of the family that would remain in Terre Haute for another generation.Third page of the 1920 Terre Haute census — This closing page completes the 1920 record, the middle of three straight censuses documenting this Terre Haute household.Dennis and Leona's 1902 marriage, page three — This continuation page of the Vigo County marriage register confirms Dennis Clark Tuttle married Leona Marie Alexander on December 31, 1902.Marriage application, continued, third page — This third page completes Gifford Herman Tuttle and Helen May Knott's 1923 marriage application from Rush County, Indiana.
Joseph McGee Knott (b. 5 Mar 1851 (cert; Mar 1855 per 1900 census), Lowell, OH – d. 15 Jan 1932, Cedar Rapids, IA)
Ahnentafel #26 · his mother’s father’s mother’s father (4 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Joseph McGee Knott was born in Lowell, Ohio — 5 March 1851 by his death certificate, though the 1900 census suggests March 1855. He appears in four consecutive Terre Haute censuses and worked fifty-seven years as a steel-mill heater. He died on 15 January 1932 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and is buried at Highland Lawn Cemetery in Terre Haute. He is named as father on his daughter Helen's 1923 marriage application.
Evidence
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ RE-GRADED ‘part’ → ‘ok’, 6 Aug 2026, AT ALEC’S CHALLENGE [AUDIT-01].The colour grades WHO THIS PERSON IS AND WHOSE CHILD THEY ARE — not whether every fact about them is known. Loose ends belong in Outstanding, below, and this node has some. They do not make the ancestor uncertain. Named on his daughter’s 1923 marriage application; four Terre Haute censuses; both his own parents Ohio-born (1910).
Outstanding: ✅ Death CLOSED 7 Aug 2026 [KNOTT-05/06]: d. 15 Jan 1932, Cedar Rapids, Iowa (indexed ‘NOTT’); buried Highland Lawn, Terre Haute. Parents named on the certificate — nodes 52/53. Birth-year variance 1851 (cert + ledger) vs Mar 1855 (1900 census) unresolved; the cert is the stronger pair. 57 years a steel-mill heater.
Evidence images (described)
1932 Iowa death certificate for Joseph McGee Knott — Joseph McGee Knott's 1932 Iowa death certificate, the record that finally revealed his parents' names after his whole life had been indexed under the wrong spelling of his own surname.Death certificate detail, Joseph Knott's parents named — A close-up of Joseph Knott's death certificate naming his parents, Benjamin and Margaret Knott, and the small Ohio town of Lowell where that branch of the family began.FamilySearch index entry for Joseph Knott's death — The FamilySearch index entry for Joseph Knott's 1932 death, the small digital clue that led researchers to the fuller certificate behind it.1860 census, Washington County, Ohio — the Nott household — The 1860 census catches Benjamin and Margaret Knott raising their children in Lowell, Ohio, including eleven-year-old Joseph, twenty years before he moved west to Iowa.Gifford and Helen's 1923 marriage application — Gifford Herman Tuttle and Helen May Knott's 1923 marriage application names both of their parents, tying two more generations of the family together.Marriage application, continued, second page — This second page continues Gifford Herman Tuttle and Helen May Knott's 1923 marriage application from Rush County, Indiana.Marriage application, continued, third page — This third page completes Gifford Herman Tuttle and Helen May Knott's 1923 marriage application from Rush County, Indiana.
Martha Lamb (b. Aug 1870, Indiana)
Ahnentafel #27 · his mother’s father’s mother’s mother (4 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Martha Lamb was born in Indiana — her death certificate gives 27 August 1865 at Richmond, in Wayne County, though the 1880 census suggests a birth closer to 1862 or 1863. She married twice: first George Ford, with whom she had a son, Percy, and then, about 1897, Joseph McGee Knott. Widowed, she was still living in her son-in-law Gifford Tuttle's household in 1940 — meaning Alec's own grandfather grew up under the same roof as her. A postcard of her two girls survives with her own pencilled note on the back: “My too sweet dauters, Mildred and Helen — Mama.”
Evidence
Wrote and signed the postcard of her daughters Mildred and Helen, “Mama” — the only known specimen of her handwriting [KNOTT-22]. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ RE-GRADED ‘part’ → ‘ok’, 6 Aug 2026, AT ALEC’S CHALLENGE [AUDIT-01].The colour grades WHO THIS PERSON IS AND WHOSE CHILD THEY ARE — not whether every fact about them is known. Loose ends belong in Outstanding, below, and this node has some. They do not make the ancestor uncertain. Married twice: first George Ford (their son Percy appears in the 1900 census), then Joseph Knott about 1897. Widowed, she was living in Gifford Tuttle’s household in 1940 — Alec’s grandfather grew up under the same roof as her.
Outstanding: No death record, no parents, no Indiana county.
⭐⭐ PARENTS ADDED 7 Aug 2026 (nodes 54/55, both ‘part’): Erwin R. Lamb & Melissa Bailey [KNOTT-08]. ⚠ Correction: KNOTT-04’s reading of the 1880 census wife “Mary E.” as her mother is WITHDRAWN — Mary E. was the second wife (Jackson-Hall); Martha is a first-marriage child. Her birth: 27 Aug 1865, Richmond, Wayne Co. [1945 cert] vs ~1862/3 [1880 census] — conflict noted at node 54.
Evidence images (described)
The back of the postcard, written by their mother — Martha Knott wrote “My too sweet dauters, Mildred and Helen” and signed it “Mama” — the only known sample of her handwriting, naming both her girls.Gifford and Helen's 1923 marriage application — Gifford Herman Tuttle and Helen May Knott's 1923 marriage application names both of their parents, tying two more generations of the family together.Marriage application, continued, second page — This second page continues Gifford Herman Tuttle and Helen May Knott's 1923 marriage application from Rush County, Indiana.Marriage application, continued, third page — This third page completes Gifford Herman Tuttle and Helen May Knott's 1923 marriage application from Rush County, Indiana.
Harry B. Frost (b. Mar 1859/60 in England)
Ahnentafel #28 · his mother’s mother’s father’s father (4 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Harry B. Frost was born in England around 1859 or 1860 and had come to the United States by about 1865, settling in the silk-manufacturing city of Paterson, New Jersey. He married Katharine Chalmers in Detroit in 1896. He is believed to be the son of George and Frances Frost, also of Paterson, though that link is still being confirmed. His own death and naturalization have not yet been found.
Evidence
⭐⭐⭐ UPGRADED part → DOCUMENTED, 7 August 2026 — adversary pass CONFIRMED [FROST-21]. Five independent legs: the 1905 Paterson household [FROST-05]; the 1910 Bergen Co. census, Alan’s own line reading father England / mother New Jersey (re-verified at the public ark by the adversary) [FROST-15]; the 1915 Franklin Twp household [FROST-17]; Alan’s own 1942 draft card — ALAN CHALMERS FROST, b. 10 Feb 1903, Paterson [FROST-16]; and the 1896 Detroit marriage, Harry B. Frost × Kathaline Chalmers [FROST-19]. Born England ~1859/60, in the US from ~1865; a Paterson silk-city Englishman.
Outstanding: ⚠ The old “live conflict” is resolved — and self-correction #20: the “both parents English” answer was on the 1950 sample line [FROST-04], not the 1940 census, and is one loose answer against two direct enumerations. Still open: his death (Paterson? — he was 52 in 1915), arrival ~1865, naturalisation.
Photographs (described)
Their three children, about 1903–04 — Alan, barely old enough to sit up, between his sister and brother in a studio garden set — and the two older children were named for their parents, Katherine and Harry, which is why the caption reads as though the parents were in it.
Evidence images (described)
1880 census, Paterson — the George Frost household — A full page of the 1880 census for Paterson, New Jersey, that confirmed George Frost's wife Frances was born in England, settling a small but nagging family question.1880 census detail — the Frost household, Paterson — A close-up of the Frost family's row on the 1880 census, showing George and Frances Frost with their children, including a son born right there in New Jersey.1880 census, Paterson NJ — the Frost household, close-up — A close-up from the 1880 census shows George Frost's household in Paterson, New Jersey, a silk manufacturer, his wife Frances, and sons already working in the mill.1880 census, Paterson NJ — the George Frost household — The full 1880 census page recording the Frost family of Paterson, New Jersey, George, a silk manufacturer suffering from rheumatism, his wife Frances, and their children.1932 obituary, Katharine Chalmers Frost, Paterson NJ — The 1932 Paterson newspaper obituary for Katharine Chalmers Frost, born in East Orange, listing the children and sisters who survived her.1932 obituary, Katharine Chalmers Frost, continued — The obituary continues, naming her children Katherine, Harry Bell Frost, and Alan, and her sisters Margaret Jordan and Sarah Chalmers of East Orange.1932 obituary — Katharine Chalmers Frost dies in Paterson — The full newspaper announcement of Katharine Chalmers Frost's death in 1932, describing her twenty-five years living in Wyckoff before she died at Paterson General Hospital.1932 news — the Woman's Club at Katharine Frost's funeral — A short news item describing the Woman's Club members who attended Katharine Chalmers Frost's funeral, a small sign of how respected she was in Paterson.1896 Michigan marriage register — Harry Frost and Katharine Chalmers — The 1896 Michigan marriage register recording Harry Frost's wedding to Katharine Chalmers, and naming both sets of their parents, the single document that decided several open questions at once.1896 marriage record close-up, naming both sets of parents — A close-up of the marriage record itself, showing Harry Frost's parents George Frost and Frances W. Bell, and Katharine Chalmers's parents Mathew Chalmers and Ellen King.
Katharine Chalmers (b. Jan 1866, New Jersey)
Ahnentafel #29 · his mother’s mother’s father’s mother (4 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Katharine Chalmers was born in New Jersey in January 1866, the daughter of two Scottish immigrant parents. She married Harry B. Frost in Detroit in 1896, and gave her son the middle name Chalmers, echoing her own maiden name. An obituary dated 1 February 1932 is believed to be hers, though it is not yet certain which newspaper of that name it ran in.
Evidence
⭐⭐⭐ UPGRADED part → DOCUMENTED, 7 August 2026 — adversary pass CONFIRMED [FROST-21]. Born New Jersey, Jan 1866, of two Scottish parents — which is what puts Scotland in the ancestry. The maiden name CHALMERS rests on two independent converging legs: the 1896 Detroit marriage index [FROST-19] and her son’s christened middle name (Alan Chalmers Frost, his own 1942 draft card [FROST-16]) — a naming pattern attested twice elsewhere in this family.
Outstanding: The Wayne Co. marriage record IMAGE is unpulled (index garbles her “Kathaline”). Her death: a Morning Call obituary of 1 Feb 1932 — but WHICH Morning Call (Paterson NJ or Allentown PA) is unsettled [FROST-20]. Ralph and Eleanor Frost [FROST-14] are not her children (three censuses, closed 1915 [FROST-17]) — nephews/nieces or the English Frost brothers’ families.
Photographs (described)
Their three children, about 1903–04 — Alan, barely old enough to sit up, between his sister and brother in a studio garden set — and the two older children were named for their parents, Katherine and Harry, which is why the caption reads as though the parents were in it.
Evidence images (described)
1932 obituary, Katharine Chalmers Frost, Paterson NJ — The 1932 Paterson newspaper obituary for Katharine Chalmers Frost, born in East Orange, listing the children and sisters who survived her.1932 obituary, Katharine Chalmers Frost, continued — The obituary continues, naming her children Katherine, Harry Bell Frost, and Alan, and her sisters Margaret Jordan and Sarah Chalmers of East Orange.1932 obituary — Katharine Chalmers Frost dies in Paterson — The full newspaper announcement of Katharine Chalmers Frost's death in 1932, describing her twenty-five years living in Wyckoff before she died at Paterson General Hospital.1932 news — the Woman's Club at Katharine Frost's funeral — A short news item describing the Woman's Club members who attended Katharine Chalmers Frost's funeral, a small sign of how respected she was in Paterson.1896 Michigan marriage register — Harry Frost and Katharine Chalmers — The 1896 Michigan marriage register recording Harry Frost's wedding to Katharine Chalmers, and naming both sets of their parents, the single document that decided several open questions at once.1896 marriage record close-up, naming both sets of parents — A close-up of the marriage record itself, showing Harry Frost's parents George Frost and Frances W. Bell, and Katharine Chalmers's parents Mathew Chalmers and Ellen King.
John G. Roush (b. Sept 1876 Mason Co. WV – d. 21 Oct 1908)
Ahnentafel #30 · his mother’s mother’s mother’s father (4 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
John G. Roush was born in September 1876 in Mason County, West Virginia. He married Bertha Ellen Nease on 22 February 1897 in Mason County, at the age of twenty. The 1900 census finds the couple at Hartford village, Graham District, with their small daughters Nola and an infant. He worked as a coal miner and died on 21 October 1908, killed by burns.
Evidence
His first dates ever, found 6 Aug 2026. Aged 20 at his marriage to Bertha E. Nease, 22 February 1897, Mason County — licence and clerk’s certificate, J. R. B. Smith, Clerk; married by D. W. Files, Evangelical Lutheran [ROUSH-40]. The 1900 census of Hartford village, Graham District, gives September 1876, born West Virginia, father born WV, mother born OHIO, married 3 years, with Bertha and daughters Nola (2) and an infant. Died 21 Oct 1908, a coal miner, killed by burns.
Outstanding: His own death record and burial. The 1900 birthplace (WV) is one year and one state adrift from the 1880 Sutton Twp., Ohio household — worth resolving.
Evidence images (described)
1897 marriage license, John Roush and Bertha Nease — The 1897 marriage license for John Roush and Bertha Nease in Mason County, West Virginia, a young couple of twenty and eighteen starting their life together.
Bertha Ellen Nease (b. 12 January 1878, Mason Co. WV)
Ahnentafel #31 · his mother’s mother’s mother’s mother (4 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Bertha Ellen Nease was born on 12 January 1878 in Mason County, West Virginia, the daughter of Lewis J. Nease and Martha Jane Love. She married John G. Roush on 22 February 1897, at eighteen. Widowed by 1910, she headed her own household at Wagner, Mason County, raising her daughters Florence, Iva M., Claudia, and Velma alone.
Evidence
Her birth date is documented — West Virginia Register of Births, Mason County, p.353 line 1: 12 January [1878] · NEASE, BERTHA E. · father J. W. NEASE, FARMER, born Mason Co. · mother MARTHA NEASE · informant J. W. Nease, Father [ROUSH-39]. Aged 18 at her marriage in Feb 1897. Heads the 1910 Wagner, Mason Co. household as a widow with Florence, Iva M., Claud(ia) and Velma.
Outstanding: ⚠ Neither Bertha nor her father appears in the indexed 1880 census of Mason County — ONE missing household, not two negatives [ROUSH-49]. Her own death record would name both parents.
Evidence images (described)
1878 West Virginia birth register for Bertha Nease — Bertha Nease's 1878 West Virginia birth record, naming her father as a farmer called J. W. Nease and her mother as Martha, the first trace of that generation.1897 marriage license, John Roush and Bertha Nease — The 1897 marriage license for John Roush and Bertha Nease in Mason County, West Virginia, a young couple of twenty and eighteen starting their life together.
John T. Bell (1841–1915 · only if Barbour holds)
Ahnentafel #32 · his father’s father’s father’s father’s father (5 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
John T. Bell was born on 10 June 1841 and died on 6 November 1915 near Louisville, in Barbour County, Alabama. His obituary in the Montgomery Advertiser recorded that he married “Miss Sallie Cox” in March 1861, that his own parents had come from Darlington, South Carolina, around 1830, and that he was survived by eight of his eleven children. He is believed — pending final confirmation of the Barbour County identification — to be the father of Thomas Jefferson Bell, and so a link further back in Alec's own line.
Evidence
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Re-graded hypothesis → documented, 12 Aug 2026 [BELL-126], on adversarial review. The link is stated in words in three independent instruments: his own 1915 will — “I give, devise and bequeath to my beloved children John T. Bell, Jr., Mack Bell, Will A. Bell, Sallie Stallings, Ed Bell, Tom Bell, Mary McPherson and Ben F. Bell”; the Clayton Record’s obituary of Tom, 2 Sept 1921, calling him “a son of Mr. and Mrs. John Bell, Sr., pioneer citizens” and listing a sibling roster that matches the will seven for seven, down to a sister’s married name and town; and Tom’s own death index, naming his father John T Bell.
⭐ Strengthened 12 Aug 2026 [BELL-120], still a hypothesis. A John T. Bell is named first among the heirs cited to the 1925 settlement of William W. Bell’s estate in Barbour County, and the administrator’s account shows J. T. Bell paid for William’s burial and was reimbursed — which is what a brother does. William W. Bell was born 14 Feb 1839, two years before this John T. Bell, so the two were of an age: brothers, not father and son. That makes William Tom’s uncle and John his father, and it explains why Tom’s children inherited a nephew’s share.
Outstanding: ⚠ The block is a date. This node is dated d. 1915, but the 1925 citation summons a living John T. Bell who has just buried his brother. Either the memorial is wrong or there were two men of the name — and Tom’s obituary calling his father “John Bell Sr.” implies a Junior. Until that is settled this stays a hypothesis.
Father of Thomas Jefferson Bell; m. Sarah Ann Cox 7 Mar 1861. Named in the Alabama death index entry for Thomas Jefferson Bell (1921), and now ALSO in his own obituary — Montgomery Advertiser, 30 Nov 1915: b. 10 Jun 1841, d. 6 Nov 1915 near Louisville, Barbour Co.; “married in March 1861 to Miss Sallie Cox”; “father of eleven children, eight of whom live to mourn his loss”; his parents came from Darlington, S.C. c.1830 [BELL-39]. The pair themselves are documented twice over — what is unproven is whether they are Alec’s.
Outstanding: Depends entirely on the Barbour identification below him. Top test: his 1915 estate/heirs list (Barbour probate, FS full-text) — Thomas Jefferson Bell among the eight surviving children would be the two-way tie-in.
10 Aug 2026 [BELL-66]: Tom’s 1921 obituary styles him “son of John Bell, Sr.” — a second-generation statement consistent with this node; brothers Mack, Will, Ben, Ed, John of Louisville/Clayton = the sibling map.
Evidence images (described)
1915 probate petition, John T. Bell's heirs including son Tom — A 1915 court petition filed after John T. Bell's death lists his heirs, including a son called Tom Bell who may be the missing link to later generations.
Sarah Ann “Sallie” Cox (24 Aug 1841 – 11 Mar 1910; m. J. T. Bell 7 Mar 1861, Barbour Co.)
Ahnentafel #33 · his father’s father’s father’s father’s mother (5 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Sarah Cox married John T. Bell on 7 March 1861 in Barbour County, Alabama. He was twenty; the war began the following month.
They raised a large family — at least eight sons and two daughters survived to be named in his will twenty-five years after her death — and one of those sons was Thomas Jefferson Bell. In April 1888 she signed her name beside her husband’s on a deed selling a right of way to the Eufaula & East Alabama Railway, giving up her dower in about forty-six acres of it.
She died in 1910, five years before John, and by the time his will was probated no widow was named.
Evidence
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Re-graded probable → documented, 12 Aug 2026 [BELL-130]. The 1880 census of Louisville, Barbour County enumerates Thomas J. Bell, aged about four, with his parents named: SARAH BELL and JOHN T. BELL. That is the direct statement of maternity this node had always lacked — and it was the exact converter the previous adversarial review specified.
⭐ Re-graded hypothesis → probable, 12 Aug 2026 [BELL-125].Sarah Cox married J. T. Bell on 7 March 1861 in Barbour County, per the county marriage index — so the maiden name this chart had carried on a memorial’s authority alone is now attested by a record. She appears again in 1888, signing a railway right-of-way deed beside her husband as “Sarah A Bell”: a wife joins her husband’s deed to relinquish dower, which is what identifies her on it. A daughter married in 1886 was named Sallie for her.
Outstanding: ⚠ Not documented, because no record yet names her as Thomas Jefferson Bell’s mother in words — that follows from her being John T. Bell’s wife across the years Tom was born. Her parents are unknown. The will of 1915 has not been read and may mention her, though she died five years before her husband.
Henry Bradley (d. before Oct 1891, Barbour Co., Alabama)
Ahnentafel #34 · his father’s father’s father’s mother’s father (5 generations back) · Probable — the IDENTIFICATION or the LINK rests on one source, or is in conflict
Henry Bradley lived in Barbour County, Alabama, and died before October 1891 — the month a county court appointed a guardian for his daughters Alice, fourteen, and Katie, twelve, recording that the minors had no father living.
Nothing else of him survives. He is a name given by two of his daughters on their own death records, thirty-two years apart, and an absence in a guardianship order. Both girls grew up to marry Bell men, both were widowed, and both were eventually married to the same second husband.
Evidence
⚠ Downgraded to probable, 12 Aug 2026 [BELL-109, self-correction #50]. The name rests on a transcription of an Alabama death-index entry whose screenshot was misfiled — the image on disk turned out to be a different document entirely, so this has not been verified against the record itself. What IS independently established is that Alice had a father already dead by October 1891 and a sister Katie: a Barbour County court made both girls its wards that autumn, "the said minors have no father living," and Katie’s stated age matches her headstone exactly [BELL-43].
Named as Alice’s father on her own 1956 Alabama death record, and identically on her sister Katie’s of 1924 — two state vital records thirty-two years apart [BELL-108]. He was already dead by October 1891, when a Barbour County court made his daughters Alice (14) and Katie (12) its wards, the record noting the minors had “no father living” [BELL-43].
Outstanding: Re-pull the death-record image before this name is treated as documented. Birth, death and marriage all unknown. He is a name on two daughters’ death records and an absence in a guardianship — which is exactly how a poor man of his generation survives in the record.
Ahnentafel #35 · his father’s father’s father’s mother’s mother (5 generations back) · Probable — the IDENTIFICATION or the LINK rests on one source, or is in conflict
Elvira Loveless married Henry Bradley in Barbour County, Alabama, and had at least two daughters, Alice and Katie. Whether she was still living in 1891, when a court made both girls its wards, is unknown — the order speaks only of the father.
She is known at all because both her daughters' death records name her, one in 1924 and the other in 1956, and both spell out the same uncommon maiden name.
Evidence
⚠ Downgraded to probable, 12 Aug 2026 [BELL-109, self-correction #50]. The name rests on a transcription of an Alabama death-index entry whose screenshot was misfiled — the image on disk turned out to be a different document entirely, so this has not been verified against the record itself. What IS independently established is that Alice had a father already dead by October 1891 and a sister Katie: a Barbour County court made both girls its wards that autumn, "the said minors have no father living," and Katie’s stated age matches her headstone exactly [BELL-43].
Named as Alice’s mother on her 1956 Alabama death record and as Katie’s mother on hers in 1924 — spelled Elvira on one and Elveria on the other, an unusual enough name that the agreement of two independent informants carries weight [BELL-108].
Outstanding: Re-pull the death-record image before this name is treated as documented. No dates, and no marriage record to Henry Bradley. Whether she was living in 1891, when her daughters were made wards of the Barbour County court, is unknown — the order speaks only of the father.
Joseph William “Joel W.” Eakins (b. Dec 1838/39 NC – 1902 MS)
Ahnentafel #36 · his father’s father’s mother’s father’s father (5 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Joseph William “Joel W.” Eakins was born in December 1838 or 1839 in North Carolina and died in 1902 in Mississippi. He married Sarah Hudson Payne in 1861, and the 1880 census finds the family in Lauderdale County, Mississippi, with their infant son Andrew Jackson.
Evidence
1880 census, Lauderdale Co., Mississippi [BELL-08], with son Andrew J. aged 0. m. Sarah Hudson Payne 1861.
Sarah Hudson Payne (1842 MS – 1908)
Ahnentafel #37 · his father’s father’s mother’s father’s mother (5 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Sarah Hudson Payne was born in 1842 in Mississippi and died in 1908. Little else about her family has yet been researched.
Evidence
Outstanding: The Payne family is unworked.
Joseph L. Swain (b. 1861, Mississippi)
Ahnentafel #38 · his father’s father’s mother’s mother’s father (5 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Joseph L. Swain was born in 1861 in Mississippi. The 1900 census places him at Election Precinct 6, York, in Sumter County, Alabama, with his daughter Maggie among his children — the record that ties her to him. County marriage registers show him married twice: to Eugenia Simmons on 10 February 1884, and, after her death or their separation, to her sister Rebecca A. D. Simmons on 23 December 1885. Both women were daughters of Ben and Adline Simmons.
Evidence
1900 census, Election Precinct 6, York, Sumter Co. [SWAIN-01], with Maggie enumerated among his children — that is the link.
Outstanding: His marriage to Dillon Simmons, Sumter Co. c.1875–84, not yet found.
10 Aug 2026 [SWAIN-10/-VERDICT]: TWO register-sourced marriages: (1) Eugenia Simmons, 10 Feb 1884 (J. M. Patton, minister); (2) her sister Rebecca A. D. Simmons, 23 Dec 1885 (D. C. Langford, minister — image SWAIN-10b, the transcriber’s own “ai” correction). Both brides daughters of Ben × Adline (78/79). Which children belong to which mother is OPEN — the Patton/Langford naming echoes suggest a blended household; the 1900 fertility columns and the Bloebaum certificate are the resolvers.
Evidence images (described)
1885 marriage register, Joseph Swain and Rebecca Simmons — The 1885 marriage register recording Joseph Swain's wedding to Rebecca Simmons, his second marriage into the same family after her sister Eugenia had died young.
Dillon Simmons (of York and Cuba, Sumter Co. AL)
Ahnentafel #39 · his father’s father’s mother’s mother’s mother (5 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Dillon Simmons lived in and around York and Cuba, in Sumter County, Alabama. She is named as mother on her son Joseph Langford Swain's 1946 death certificate, and her granddaughter Maggie Dillon Swain carried her name onward — a middle name that puzzled the family for three generations before it was traced back to her. Research has considered whether she might be the same woman as Rebecca A. D. Simmons, one of two sisters who each married Joseph L. Swain, but that identification remains an open question rather than a settled fact.
Evidence
Named on her son Joseph Langford Swain’s 1946 New Orleans death certificate [SWAIN-02]. Maggie Dillon Swain was named for her — a middle name nobody could explain for three generations.
Outstanding: Simmons is an entirely new surname; the distinctive given name should make her findable in 1860/1870.
⭐ Candidate marriage record, 7 Aug 2026 [SWAIN-04] — HYPOTHESIS only (adversary: identity equation REFUTED as fact): Sumter Co. WPA marriage index, “J. L. Swain × EUGENIA Simmons, 10 Feb 1884, lic. 346, minister J. M. Patton” (the couple’s son was named Patton). No document links ‘Eugenia’ and ‘Dillon’ to one woman; Leila’s and Patton’s birth years untested against the date. Bridging tests: the license IMAGE, the elder children’s ages, the York stone, Maggie Bloebaum’s 1985 death record.
10 Aug 2026 [SWAIN-10-VERDICT]: HYPOTHESIS held, not adopted: that she = “Rebecca A. D. Simmons” (1870’s Rebecca 6 = 1880’s Dellon 16, b. ~1864), the 23 Dec 1885 bride. The adversary refused the rename pending the Bloebaum 1985 death certificate and the Leila/Patton chronology. Her parents (78/79) stand regardless — both candidate sisters share them.
Evidence images (described)
1880 census, Cuba, Alabama — the Ben Simmons household — The 1880 census lists Ben and Adline Simmons's children by name, including sixteen-year-old Dillon, confirming her parents even as it raised a new puzzle about her sisters.1870 census, Cuba, Alabama — the Simmons household — The 1870 census catches the Simmons family a decade earlier, with a six-year-old daughter named Rebecca who researchers believe grew up to become Dillon Simmons.1885 marriage register, Joseph Swain and Rebecca Simmons — The 1885 marriage register recording Joseph Swain's wedding to Rebecca Simmons, his second marriage into the same family after her sister Eugenia had died young.
Caswell Massey Stephens (8 Jan 1852 Sumter Co. – 17 Feb 1935)
Ahnentafel #40 · his father’s mother’s father’s father’s father (5 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Caswell Massey Stephens was born on 8 January 1852 in Sumter County, Alabama, and died on 17 February 1935 at Halsell, in Choctaw County, where he is buried at Siloam Cemetery. He married Ava Marilla Shelton in 1871, and after her death married a second wife, Isabella Britt, in 1891.
Evidence
Died at Halsell, Choctaw Co.; buried Siloam Cemetery. m. Ava Marilla Shelton 1871; second wife Isabella Britt 1891.
Outstanding: Tree-sourced (7 sources); census images not yet pulled.
Ava Marilla Shelton (1839–1891)
Ahnentafel #41 · his father’s mother’s father’s father’s mother (5 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Ava Marilla Shelton was born in 1839 and died in 1891. She married Caswell Massey Stephens on 5 October 1871 in Sumter County, Alabama, and was the mother of John Willis Stephens.
Evidence
m. 5 Oct 1871, Sumter Co. Mother of John Willis Stephens.
Francis R. Williams (Greene / Clarke Co., Mississippi)
Ahnentafel #42 · his father’s mother’s father’s mother’s father (5 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Francis R. Williams lived in Greene or Clarke County, Mississippi, and was the father of Mary Price Williams. Nothing further is yet known of his own life.
Evidence
Opened 5 Aug 2026 with Mary Price Williams’s parentage.
Outstanding: Nothing above him.
Mary J. Lewis (Greene / Clarke Co., Mississippi)
Ahnentafel #43 · his father’s mother’s father’s mother’s mother (5 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Mary J. Lewis lived in Greene or Clarke County, Mississippi. No further details of her life have yet been found.
Evidence
Outstanding: Nothing above her.
William Curtis Truett (25 Jul 1867 – 21 Dec 1925)
Ahnentafel #44 · his father’s mother’s mother’s father’s father (5 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
William Curtis Truett was born on 25 July 1867 and died on 21 December 1925 at New Prospect, in Clarke County, Alabama, where he is buried. As a child he appears in an 1880 census household that ties together three generations of the Truett family. He married Amanda Webb on 17 June 1886.
Evidence
Died at New Prospect, Clarke Co.; buried New Prospect Cemetery. Appears as a child in the 1880 census household that ties three Truett generations together on one page. m. Amanda Webb 17 Jun 1886.
Amanda Webb (b. 1868)
Ahnentafel #45 · his father’s mother’s mother’s father’s mother (5 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Amanda Webb was born in 1868 and married William Curtis Truett on 17 June 1886 in Clarke County, Alabama. Her own family has not yet been researched.
Evidence
m. 17 Jun 1886, Clarke Co., AL.
Outstanding: Webb family unworked.
“Calm” Lawrence (Clarke Co., Alabama)
Ahnentafel #46 · his father’s mother’s mother’s mother’s father (5 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
“Calm” Lawrence — the name most likely a records clerk's mangling of “Calvin” — lived in Clarke County, Alabama, and was the father of Sennie E. Lawrence. He is known only from an index entry; no other record of him has yet been found.
Evidence
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ RE-GRADED ‘part’ → ‘ok’, 6 Aug 2026, AT ALEC’S CHALLENGE [AUDIT-01].The colour grades WHO THIS PERSON IS AND WHOSE CHILD THEY ARE — not whether every fact about them is known. Loose ends belong in Outstanding, below, and this node has some. They do not make the ancestor uncertain. Sennie’s father, known only from an index entry.
Outstanding: “Calm” is an index mangling — almost certainly Calvin. The 1900 Coffeeville census image reads it properly.
Eliza A. Lawrence (Clarke Co., Alabama)
Ahnentafel #47 · his father’s mother’s mother’s mother’s mother (5 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established
Eliza A. Lawrence lived in Clarke County, Alabama, and was the mother of Sennie E. Lawrence. No further record of her life has yet surfaced.
Evidence
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ RE-GRADED ‘part’ → ‘ok’, 6 Aug 2026, AT ALEC’S CHALLENGE [AUDIT-01].The colour grades WHO THIS PERSON IS AND WHOSE CHILD THEY ARE — not whether every fact about them is known. Loose ends belong in Outstanding, below, and this node has some. They do not make the ancestor uncertain.
