The Hyphen Family Lineage

Note: Researching Velma Helen Trullender and family

Outside of the US Census records for her parents' household and a burial listing for "Velma Helen Courtney" on the FindaGrave.com website, I have found little in the way of confirmed records for Velma. The following is the best I can do at this point in assembling a history for her.

The earliest record I have found for her is the 1920 US Census listing for her parents' household in Bluffton, Wells Cty, Indiana, in which Velma was listed as the only child yet born to parents Arthur and Flossie. That record, dated 7 Jan 1920, listed Velma as eight months old (putting her birthdate around April or May 1919). That record also noted her as Indiana-born, most likely in Wells Cty.

In the 1930 US Census listing for her parents' household, dated 4 Apr 1930, Velma was listed as ten years of age and the oldest of four siblings, now living in the small town of Ossian, Wells Cty, Indiana. By the time of the 1940 US Census, Velma's parents had separated, and were living in different parts of Muncie, Delaware Cty, Indiana. Velma, now twenty, was living with her teenaged brother "Billie" and her mother Flossie, and was listed with the surname "Courtney." Velma was listed as married, and with her was a two-year-old boy named Donald Courtney, listed in the census record as a grandson of the head of household (Flossie).

I have not been able to find any birth record for Velma's son Donald, nor any marriage record for Velma. Online pedigrees gave Velma's death as occuring in 1956, but did not include further details. My next find of any substance was a 2006 obituary for Donald Courtney Jr. (b. 4 Jul 1937, d. 2 Jan 2006), which named his deceased parents "Donald and Velma Courtney." The obituary went on to name his grandmother, Flossie, as preceding him in death, as well. This seemed strong confirmation that this man was the same two-year-old from the 1940 US Census record.

From that obituary, I was able to find Donald Sr.'s father's burial listing on FindaGrave.com, which named him Donald Beverly Courtney, and named his spouse as Velma Helen Courtney, linking to her burial listing in Mount Tabor Cemetery in Muncie (the same cemetery where Velma's mother Flossie is buried).

Donald Sr. was the oldest of three children born to Wells Cty, Indiana natives Paul Courtney and Vera Hazel Rhea. Paul and Vera, when in their early twenties, married in Hillsdale, Hillsdale Cty, Michigan in September 1911. (I suspect the two of them eloped, as just a year prior both of them were living in Nottingham Twp, Wells Cty, Indiana - Paul with his mother, and Vera with her grandmother.) From there, the pair moved to California, where Donald Sr. was born in Los Angeles Cty (on 12 Jun 1912), and then to Idaho, where their next son Burton Arnold Courtney was born (on 22 Sep 1918). By the time of the 1920 US Census, the family had moved to Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Cty, Utah. Prior to the birth of their youngest son, Ardwood Rhea Courtney (on 30 May 1928), the family had moved back to Indiana, and in the 1930 US Census were all back in Nottingham Twp in Wells Cty, Indiana.

By the time of the 1940 Census, Paul and Vera Hazel were still living in Nottingham Twp with their two younger sons, but Donald Sr. was not listed there. I have not found any listing for Donald Sr. in the 1940 US Census at this time - not with his parents, not with his wife and son, and not elsewhere. The only records I have found for him are his California birth record, the 1920 and 1930 US Census listings with his parents and siblings, his death record from 1972 (interestingly, also in Los Angeles Cty, California), and his burial listing (with photograph of his headstone) on the FindaGrave.com website.

Velma appears to have had no other marriages that I can find, and, as mentioned, I have not found record of her marriage to Donald Sr. The obituary for Donald Jr. mentions no other siblings and no step-parents, though it does mention he was survived by one son and two grandchildren.