This is especially important where costs are involved. Eventually, to make progress, you're going to have to travel. But what if you know someone who is going to the area you need to research?
My mom and aunts recently traveled to Arizona and New Mexico to have a look at the areas my grandfather was born into, and research his family there. Boy oh boy did they bring back one doozy of a puzzle for me.
From my grandfather, the family in question is this one:
(3) Henry Eugene Stodghill (1928 - 1990)
(4) Jessie Mae Gibson (1904 - 1972)
(5) Joseph George Gibson (1871 - 1939)
- married -
(5) Effie Mabel Cook (1879 - 1861)
Since it tends to be helpful, here's a photo of the family unit in question (Jessie Mae is the oldest child here):
My mom and aunts revealed to me something I didn't know: Joseph George Gibson wasn't Effie Mabel Cook's first husband. Effie had three children; Joseph was the father of the last two. Family tradition held that Jessie Mae Gibson was actually the child of Joseph's twin, Moses W Gibson.
That was a name I had seen before on Jessie Mae's death certificate, but I had ruled it out as being an error because I could clearly see the family unit in the 1910 Census. Again, though, here was the name Moses W Gibson.
I took a look through Joseph George Gibson's family (his father was Joseph Smith Gibson), but was unable to find a Moses. However, Joseph had an uncle named Moses Washington Gibson, who also had a son named Moses Washington Gibson.
I remained skeptical of the link until my mom and aunts sent me an image from the Clerk's Office in Sierra County, New Mexico, of a marriage record from 1896:
There it was in black and white. Effie had been married to Moses in 1896. Note the city of origin for Moses: Grafton, NM. This was a mining community (as was Fairview, where Effie was living). In 1900 Moses is living in yet another mining community with his family, which has moved out of Utah. Jessie Mae Gibson's death certificate states that Moses was born in Utah:
This Moses Washington Gibson is the only Moses Gibson in the 1880 Census who was born in Utah. All of the above heavily implies that this Moses was the father of Jessie Mae Gibson.
That changes my lineage to this:
(3) Henry Eugene Stodghill (1928 - 1990)
(4) Jessie Mae Gibson (1904 - 1972)
(5) Moses Washington Gibson (1874 - 1918)
- married -
(5) Effie Mabel Cook (1879 - 1861)
I *still* haven't found any record of a marriage to Joseph George Gibson, either. Something weird happened after 1896, between 1903, when Jessie Mae is born, and 1907, when Joseph and Effie's first child is born. In 1900 Effie is listed as married in 1896 on the Census, but she is living with her parents and her husband isn't listed. Moses Washington Gibson is in Arizona, living with his parents, marked as single. Moses marries in 1901, and dies in 1918.
My *suspicion* is that the Gibson family was still practicing plural marriages after the 1890 Manifesto banned it. It wasn't until the Second Manifesto in 1904 that members of the church started getting excommunicated for it. I suspect the Gibsons did the only thing they could think of to ensure the family's survival both practically and religiously: they assigned Jessie Mae Gibson to a previously unmarried cousin. I suspect the "twin" story was cooked up in an effort to explain Moses' name on the records...it would have been Joseph and they just made a mistake.
Anyway, this issue isn't quite settled yet. I think that, given the timing, my explanation is highly likely, but I haven't exactly proven it yet.
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