What a Tangled Web We Weave :: The 4th Part

If you haven't already done so, you may want to read part one as well as the 2nd part and part three of this series.

At this point we had pretty much determined that Joseph R. Joslin had indeed married Almira White and that Joseph had died after October 20, 1845 (when he sold several lots). Almira Joslin then married Robert Walker probably before 1849 when their daughter Sarah was born. Almira and Joseph Joslin were the parents of George W., James, Ora, and Rodney Joslin.

We know that James and Rodney died during the Civil War and that George W. moved to Kansas. So what became of their sister Ora?

She had married William Weeks in 1860. They are enumerated in the 1870 federal census in York Township, Noble County, Indiana with four children: Devido (?), Lettie, Ida, and Chas. William Weeks died prior to the 1880 census where Ora Weeks and her two-year-old son, Elmer, are residing as boarders in the household of Hannah Barlley in York Township.

On December 15, 1881 Ora Weeks was married to Johnson Butterbaugh. In 1900 she is listed as Orra Weeks in the census for Indianapolis, Marion County with her daughter and son-in-law, Homer and Violette Waltman. The letter “D” is in the column for her marital status. She divorced Johnson Butterbaugh in 1894 and apparently reverted to her previous married name.

In 1910, Ora Weeks is listed as mother-in-law in the household of her daughter and son-in-law, Madison and Ida Skinner in Columbia City, Whitley County, Indiana! When I saw that, I started looking at the Obituary Database online at the Peabody Public Library and found that her obituary was published on April 17, 1920 in the Columbia City Post. Also, even though Ora died in Noble County, her death is recorded in Whitley County records. Her son, Bert, at whose home she died, lived just across the county line near Ormas, which is in Whitley County. The published transcription of her death record gives her parents as Joseph Joslin and Elmira White, which is an additional confirmation of her parentage.

Her obituary is a gold mine of information. In addition to naming her eight living children, and giving their place of residence, it again provides confirmation of the names of her parents as well as the name of her first husband, when they were married and the year of his death.

Two of the children, Charles and Bert, lived in Noble County while two others, Mrs. Thomas Skinner and Elmer Weeks lived in Columbia City. Armed with that information, I went obituary hunting!