The Hyphen Family Lineage

Note: Leroy Elsworth Baugher Middaugh and his family origins

In the 1930 US Census listing for the household of Melvin and Jennie Middaugh, two other names appear just below them - seven-year-old Leroy E. Bocker (presumed to be a phonetic misspelling of Baugher) and five-year-old Dorthy J. Winkler. In the column for their positions in the household, the original descriptions were crossed out and replaced with "lodger." For Dorthy's line, the original word is clearly "orphan." The description on Leroy's line is less legible, but appears to be "taken in." In the 1940 US Census for the household, his name appears as Leroy E. Middaugh, and he's listed as a son; no other person shows up listed in their household that year. All of this suggests to me that Melvin and Jennie had no born children, and instead fostered a few and ended up adopting Leroy.

On his marriage license (in 1941, to Betty Jane Stern), Leroy gives his parents' names as Melvin Middaugh and Jennie M. Kalb.

Leroy's listing on the FindaGrave.com website includes a portrait of him in his late teens or early twenties, and includes supplemental information specifically stating that he was adopted by Melvin and Jennie, and that his birth parents were William Elmer Elsworth and Hazel Mahoney (Farlow) Baugher. Sorting out the presumed birth parents for Leroy has been no end of confusing, as both of them seem to have come from a somewhat muddled background, as well.

Hazel appears to have been born in 1894; in the 1900 US Census, she's found listed as a six-year-old daughter in the household of John and Rebecca Farlow (both in their late thirties) in Polk Twp, Huntington Cty, Indiana. In 1910, the same household is found in the same township, but this time the fifteen-year-old Hazel's description is listed as "adopted daughter." Also present in the 1910 listing is a five-year-old nephew by the name of Lawrence Wamsley.

Hazel appears to have married six times - with the first presumably being to Elmer Baugher on 2 Mar 1911 (according to the bio on her listing on the FindaGrave.com website), though I've found no marriage record for the two of them yet. In the 1920 US Census, their household is in the city of Huntington, Huntington Cty, Indiana, and includes Elmer, Hazel, and three children (Paul E., aged six; Margaret B., aged four; Mark D., aged one). Following soon from this is a marriage record in Huntington Cty on 12 Oct 1922 to Charles Holcomb, the record of which states she was divorced from her first marriage as of 15 Jul 1922. (It should be noted that this is less than a month after Leroy's presumed birthdate of 19 Jun 1922.) This record gives her parents names as John Farlow and Addie Wambsley.

Immediately following this is another marriage record dated 9 Dec 1922 (less than two months after the marriage record to Charles Holcomb) in Huntington Cty to Ira Anson Stults. This record also gives her parents' names as John Farlow and Addie Wambsely, and says she was twice divorced (first on 1 Sep 1922 and next on 8 Nov 1922). This marriage also ended in divorce in 1923, noted in the next marriage record for Ira in 1930.

On 27 Oct 1923 in Huntington Cty, Hazel (giving the surname Stults) married a fourth time - this time to Walter Holley, a man ten years her junior. On this record, she gave her parents' names as Harvey Mahoney and Lillie Thomas. She noted that all previous marriages ended in divorce, but only gave a date for the most recent (as Oct 1923). This marriage also presumably ended in divorce, as Walter appears to be buried alone in Huntington, Huntington Cty, having died in 1992.

Hazel was next found in the 1930 US Census listed as a single servant (named Hazel M. Farlow) in the Andrews, Huntington Cty household of Ulysses Couch. Next is her fifth marriage, the record for which is from Huntington Cty on 28 Feb 1931 to the much older Shedrick Gamble, listing her parents as John and Lillie Farlow and stating that Hazel was married twice before, with divorces in 1921 and 1924. Her marriage to Shedrick is also believed to have ended in divorce, as he is buried in Lancaster, Huntington Cty, with a wife named "Anna." By the time of the 1940 US Census, Hazel was living with her daughter Margaret (Baugher) Slater and granddaughter Patty Jean Slater in the city of Huntington, Huntington Cty; both Hazel and Margaret gave their marital status as divorced.

The FindaGrave.com listing for Hazel includes a bio which indicates that her sixth marriage was to Walt McKinzie; that listing seems to indicate that he preceded her in death in 1946, though I've not found a marriage record for the two of them yet, nor have I found a confirmed death record or burial listing for him. The listing gives her vital dates as b. 16 Jan 1894 (which agrees with the birthdate found on all the marriage records I've found so far), d. 15 Feb 1977 at the Norwood Nursing Center in Huntington, Huntington Cty. That same listing and bio says there is no stone on her gravesite, and includes text from her obituary from the Huntington Herald Press issue of 16 Feb 1977 that states there were no immediate survivors. (This is incorrect, as Hazel had at least four biological children, all born during her first marriage, and at least two of them - Paul and Leroy - survived her by many years. It stands to reason, though, that Paul may well have been completely estranged from her in the last years of her life, and Leroy may never have known her.) That bio also states that Hazel was adopted by the Farlow family, suggesting that her birth parentage is also more than a little unclear at this point.

William Elmer Elsworth Baugher, commonly called Elmer, presented only one major point of confusion in the searches - and that was the existence of a man of nearly the same age (born the same year) and nearly the same name (Elmer Randolph Baugher) who also married a woman named Bernice (the name of Elmer Elsworth's second wife, and Elmer Randolph's first and only wife) and was resident in nearby Kosciusko Cty, Indiana. (I'll note that Elmer Elsworth's wife was named Bernice Helen, and had previously been called by Helen in some records.)

His obituary (from the Vidette Messenger issue of 10 Jul 1982, and posted online to the Findagrave.com website) gives his vital dates as b. 21 Mar 1893 in Adamsboro, Cass Cty, Indiana, d. 9 Jul 1982 in Valparaiso, Porter Cty, Indiana, and names his parents "Rubin" and Laura (Warner) Baugher. The earliest record I can find for him is 1910 US Census listing in Lancaster Twp, Huntington Cty, Indiana, which names him a seventeen-year-old stepson in the household of Charley and Laura Duzan. This suggests she was his mother; whether she was divorced or widowed is unknown, though she and Charles married in Sep 1898. Her marriage to Reuben appears to have been in Sep 1892, with Elmer born six months later. Reuben's vital dates are unknown, as is any confirmation of the spelling of his given name; Laura died in late 1937. Elmer had no siblings, full or half, by his mother, making Elmer Laura's only child.

After the marriage to (and divorce from) Hazel, and the residence in 1920 (with Hazel and three of their children), all noted above, Elmer married Bernice Helen (Weaver) Slater sometime in 1922, according to his obituary; they would remain married until her death in 1981. Bernice appears to have divorced her first husband (Ora Slater) sometime after 1920. The 1930 US Census listing (in Valparaiso) for Elmer and Bernice's household included three step-children bearing the Slater surname, along with Elmer's teenaged daughter Margaret Baugher (from his marriage to Hazel) and three children born to his marriage to Bernice (Beatrice, Elmer Jr., and Wanda). By the time of the 1940 US Census, the family was still living in Valparaiso but with only their four children (adding son Dallas) counted with them.

Elmer's obituary includes son Paul Baugher among the survivors, but not Leroy Middaugh. This suggests to me that Leroy's other biological sibling, Mark, had either preceded one or both of his parents in death or, like Leroy, had been adopted by another family. (His sister Margaret's second marriage, to Donald Brumbaugh, lasted until her death in 1970; both her parents survived her.) I have no record of Mark after the 1920 US Census, though I suspect that he, like Leroy, was adopted and carried on his life with another surname.