The Hyphen Family Lineage

Note: Unresolved questions for Charles H. Weible and family

Researching Charles and his family has not proved as conclusive as I would like, in two particular areas - the identity and subsequent life of potential daughter Zua Weible, and the fate of Charles' marriage to Melissa L. Peck and the specifics of his life after 1885.

After the 1860 and 1870 US Censuses, which listed Charles in his parents' household in Henry Twp, Wood Cty, Ohio, the next record I have found is his marriage in 1878 in Piatt Cty, Illinois to Melissa Peck. In the 1880 US Census, the two of them are counted in Parkersburg, Richland Cty, Illinois with a twelve-year-old daughter named Zua W. Weible. Her birthplace is given as Illinois, with her parents' birthplaces given as Ohio (father) and Illinois (mother), which matches the known birthplaces of Charles and Melissa. This same girl is counted with them again in the 1885 Iowa State Census in Villisca, Monthgomery Cty, Iowa, listed as an Illinois-born sixteen-year-old. I have not found further record of her that specifically ties her to Charles' family, and her birth predates his marriage to Melissa by roughly a decade.

Zua's identity as it relates to the Weible family is uncertain, as she does not appear with Charles in 1870 with the rest of his family, nor have I found any earlier marriage record for Charles. There is a household in Willow Branch, Piatt Cty, Illinois in the 1870 US Census that lists Isaac (age fifty-three), Mary A. (age forty-nine), Melissa (spelled "Malissia" on the form, age twenty-one), and Missouri, a two-year-old girl. This census listing pertains to Melissa and her parents (as her parents were named in her marriage record to Charles), and I suspect that the young Missouri is Melissa's daughter, later to be called Zua in the later census records. I do not have confirmation of this guess, nor have I found further information for Zua after 1885.

After 1885, the next record that I can find for Charles and his family is a 1900 US Census record that lists Melissa as a widowed forty-nine-year-old woman, living with her teenaged daughter Fay (b. 1882 in Iowa) in Omaha, Douglas Cty, Nebraska. Sometime in the next several years, Fay married Fred A. Towl, and Melissa lived with them over the following decades, primarily in the vicinity of Omaha but for at least some time in Arkansas, with her marital status consistently reported as widowed. Melissa died in early 1940, and was buried near Omaha.

My initial presumption, then, was that Charles died between 1885 and 1900, possibly in Iowa, but further searches unveiled some records that made me doubt this. Charles' birthplace was consistently reported as Ohio, and in the 1885 Iowa State Census his occupation was given as "RR Agent." In the 1900 US Census, there are two listings that caught my attention:

- Chas H Weibles, b. Dec 1850 in Ohio, a lodger in Ridgway, Ouray Cty, Colorado; status given as married for twenty-five years, occupation as "R.R. Agent," both parents' birthplaces given as Ohio.

- Charles H Weible, b. Dec 1850 in Ohio, with twenty-eight-year-old Ohio-born wife Martha Weible in Montrose, Montrose Cty, Colorado; the form indicates they were married for two years, and his parents' birthplaces are reported as unknown, while his occupation is reported as "R.R. Agent."

The two locales are only about twenty-five miles apart, and were both on the line for the Rio Grande Southern Railroad. The first listing was on a form dated 13 Jun 1900, while the second listing was on a form dated 3 Jul 1900. Looking further, I found an indexed marriage record from Colorado for Charles H. Weible and Martha J. Halliwell on 27 Aug 1897. Additionally, in the 1910 US Census I found a listing for Ohio-born C.H. Weible, age fifty-nine, with thirty-seven-year-old Ohio-born wife Martha J. Weible in East Newcastle, Garfield Cty, Colorado; in this listing, his parents' birthplaces are listed as "United States" (father) and Ohio (mother), with his occupation given as "farmer."

The belief I have now is that the two 1900 US Census listings apply to the same man, and that this man is the same Charles H. Weible as was married to Melissa Peck in Piatt Cty, Illinois in 1878. Whether he and Melissa divorced, or whether there was some less socially-palatable explanation, is not known to me at this point. I do not know Charles' actual date or location of death, nor his burial location, nor do I know in all actuality how many chidlren he may have fathered. Thus far, the only confirmed child of his is Fay Leo (Weible) Towl, and whether she or her family had any contact with her father in later years is also uncertain.