The Hyphen Family Lineage

Note: The family of Isaac S. Weible

Owing to a number of factors - including Isaac's early death, the scarcity of information on his wife, and the countrywide migration of his two children - sorting through the history of Isaac's family has been difficult, with several unanswered questions remaining. The following is the best summary I have, including items that I cannot confirm at this time or events and people for which there are not significant continuity in the records.

After he was last counted in his father's household in the 1860 US Census, the next record found for Isaac is his marriage to Almira (or Elmira) Mccoy in Van Wert Cty, Ohio on 17 Feb 1868. The indexed record contains very little information beyond their names, the location, and the date. In the two census records that follow, Isaac and Almira can be found in Delphos, Van Wert Cty (1870) and Van Wert, Van Wert Cty (1880), with their daughter Della and their son John A.

Following that is Isaac's burial listing on the FindaGrave.com website. Though the picture of his gravestone does not show the vital information as clearly as I would like, the listing gives his date of death as 29 Jun 1889, with his age as "44y1m7d," which follows back to a birthdate of 22 May 1845.

Less than a year after Isaac's death, daughter Della's marriage to John W. Carpenter was recorded on 15 May 1890 in Van Wert Cty, Ohio. Again, no additional information is given on the indexed record. After that, there are a few potential records that may or may not apply to our Della.

- 1900 US Census in Columbus, Franklin Cty, Ohio, with Ohio-born "Jake W. Carpenter," age thirty-five, Ohio-born daughter "Jenne Carpenter," age eight, and two Indiana-born children (Helen Bretz, age five, and Roland Bretz, age two); Della's age is given as thirty-two.

- 1910 US Census in Garfield, Salt Lake Cty, Utah (a former mining town), with Ohio-born "John M. Carpenter," age forty-four, and daughter Jennie Carpenter, age seventeen; Della's age is given as forty, and the indexer has interpreted the handwritten location of Jennie's birth ("Geo") as Germany, but this differs from every other entry denoted for German birth on that census page, so I suspect it may have meant Georgia.

After those two records, assuming they apply, the next (and last) record I can find for Della is the 1920 US Census record in Miami, Gila Cty, Arizona, where she is counted as living with her mother "Allie A. Weibel," age seventy, and brother "John A. Weibel," age forty-nine, all listed as Ohio-born. I have not found further records for Della, including her date of death and burial location. Additionally, I have no further information on the two Bretz children listed in her household in 1900, though I suspect they may have been fostered by Della and John. I have not determined a death date or location for her husband John, nor do I know his burial location. I also have not determined for certain whether Jennie was their daughter by birth or adoption, or neither, her place of birth, or her vital dates; after the 1910 US Census listing, I have not found any other confirmed records for her, though I have a suspected connection for her detailed below.

Isaac's son, John A. Weible, seems to have had a somewhat complicated history, as well. After the 1880 US Census listing for his father's household, the next record I can find for John is the 1920 US Census record mentioned above, where he is listed as a widower living with his mother and sister. In between those years are the following records, for which I have varying degrees of certainty as to whether they apply to our John A. Weible.

- a birth record for Myra Mae Weible from Lima, Allen Cty, Ohio on 9 Jan 1898, naming parents J.A. Weible and Eva Hallyburton.

- an obituary posted online to the FindaGrave.com website, cited from the Van Wert Times, 18 May 1900, reporting the death of "Mrs. Eva Weible, wife of John A. Weible, formerly of Van Wert," on 15 May 1900 at their home in Lima, Allen Cty, Ohio. The burial listing is for Woodland Union Cemetery in Van Wert, where the obituary states burial was to take place. No children are mentioned in the brief obituary, nor is her maiden name given.

- A 1900 US Census listing for a twenty-eight-year old John Weible in Lima, Allen Cty, Ohio, giving his marital status as widower; the listing page bears a date of just one month after the death of Eva. No one else, including children, appear to be listed with him in that residence.

- A marriage record from Hancock Cty, Ohio on 28 Nov 1901 for a "J.A. Weibel," born in Delphos, Van Wert Cty about 1871 (parents named Isaac S. Weibel and Elmira E. Mccoy) to a woman who appears to be named "Cad A. Shannon" born about 1872 in Lima, Allen Cty, Ohio. She is listed as a widow, with her parents named John Dixon and Sarah Korns. I have not had much success determining her identity for certain.

- A 1910 US Census record from Garfield, Salt Lake Cty, Utah listing for Ohio-born "John A. Weibel," age thirty-eight, with Kansas-born wife Edna, age thirty, and Kansas-born children Clarence (age fourteen) and Myra (age twelve). Also listed with them are Kansas-born nieces Gladys Leach and Frances Leach, age eleven and nine, respectively.

Following those is, of course, the 1920 US Census listing with his mother and sister; I have not found any further records that might apply to John, so I do not know his vital dates or burial location. He appears to have married at least twice, and possibly three times or more, but I have not found further marriage records. (I feel certain Edna, his wife in the 1910 US Census listing, is not the woman he'd married in Ohio in 1901.) I am also unsure how many children he may have had - Myra's is the only birth record I have found naming John as the father. The only record I can find of Clarence is that 1910 US Census listing, and I have not found information confirming him as a child of John's, nor do I know his vital dates or burial location.

I will note that one of the users of the FindaGrave.com website included additional information about Myra on the burial listing for her mother Eva, giving her birthdate and birthplace, along with noting her marriage in Miami Cty, Arizona to Jesse Taylor Kinsey in 1919 and her death on 29 Apr 1972 in Lynwood, Los Angeles Cty, California, and that Myra's burial location is unknown. With that additional information, I have found the following records that may apply to Myra and her family.

- A 1930 US Census listing in Lynwood, Los Angeles Cty, California for Texas-born Jess Kinsey, age thirty-two, with Ohio-born wife Myra, age thirty-two, and nine-month-old son Lyle T. Kinsey.

- A 1940 US Census listing in Long Beach, Los Angeles Cty for Ohio-born Myra Kinsey, age forty-two, divorced, with California-born son Lyle, age ten, Georgia-born cousin "Jean Neal," age forty-seven, married, and three male lodgers between the ages of forty-seven and eighty-seven. I suspect cousin Jean may be "Jennie Carpenter," presumed daughter of Della (Weible) Carpenter, though it is entirely possible that the woman in this census record is a different relation of Myra's, possibly from her mother Eva's family. (I will note that Lyle is also counted in the 1940 US Census listing for his father's household in Huntington Beach, Orange Cty, California, where Jess was counted as living with his second wife and step-son.)

- A marriage record from Siskiyou Cty, California on 12 Mar 1960 for George M. Babock (b. 1892) to Myra M. Weibel (b. 1898). An alternate indexing of the same record gives her name as Myra M. Kent.

Further searches for Lyle Taylor Kinsey turn up a birth record from Los Angeles Cty, California, a death record in Hillsborough Cty, Florida (along with his US Social Security Death Index record), and thus his vital dates (b. 21 Jun 1929, d. 24 Nov 1996). There also appears to be an indexed obituary that may name his wife and children, though this is unconfirmed.

Returning to Della's daughter, Jean, in additional searches after finding the 1940 US Census record with her cousin Myra, I then found a 1930 US Census record from Long Beach, Los Angeles Cty, California for Utah-born Clifford J. Neal, age forty-two, with Georgia-born wife Jean M., age thirty-seven, and Utah-born son Clifford C. Neal, age fifteen. This led backwards to a marriage record from Davis Cty, Utah on 16 Mar 1914 for C.J. Neal (age twenty-six) and Jean Carpenter (age twenty-one), and then to a birth record for Clifford Carpenter Neal from Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Cty, Utah on 10 Jun 1914, with parents named Clifford James Neal and Jean Myra Carpenter Neal. Skipping forward in time again, I then found a death record for Jean Myra Neal in Orange Cty, California on 15 Nov 1982, giving her birthdate and place as 22 Jul 1892 in Georgia (and her parents' names as Carpenter and Vanatta). The FindaGrave.com website lists her as Jean Myra (Carpenter) Neal with the same vital dates but no photograph of her gravesite in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Cypress, Orange Cty, California.

The latter findings for Jean have suggested to me that Della may not have been Jean's biological mother, though whether John Carpenter was her father or not is also questionable. I have some speculations that she might have been John's daughter from a previous marriage, but her birthdate is during his marriage to Della. The death record may simply have the mother's name incorrect, but there are certainly questions that arise from this and her birthplace of Georgia, and there are as many innocent potential explanations for her parentage as there are salacious ones.