The Hyphen Family Lineage

Note: Researching Albert Ernest Vincent

I have found very little in the way of records to try and document Albert's life, and this has left me with several unanswered questions. A description of what I have found so far, along with some speculation and guesses, follows.

The earliest record I have found for Albert is the listing in the 1900 US Census for his parents' household, when he was reported as a three-year-old boy, one of four children of the household at that point.

He was not listed in his parents' household in the following federal census, but it should be noted that there is a household in Chicago, Cook Cty, Illinois in the 1910 US Census that included a thirteen-year-old Pennsylvania-born Albert Vincent. In that listing, he was noted as the son of the head of household, thirty-five-year-old Pennsylvania-born Louis Vincent (with his wife Louise, thirty-two years old and also born in Pennsylvania). Louis, the head of that household, reported his father's birthplace as France and his mother's birthplace as Indiana. I believe this census listing is that of Louis Edward Vincent (b. 28 Apr 1874 in Pennsylvania), as Louis' mother was born in Ohio but raised in Indiana before marrying and moving to Pennsylvania with Louis' father, Alexander Vincent (who was born in Pennsylvania but whose parents I believe were French-born). Later, in September of 1918, the two men in question - both Albert and his presumed uncle Louis - completed draft registration cards for WWI. Albert reported his birthplace as Cochranton, Crawford Cty, Pennsylvania, and that his nearest relative and employer were the same man - Louis Vincent. The address Albert gave for Louis was the same one that Louis reported as his home address on his own draft card, though Louis names his closest relative as his wife.

After this record, the next record I have found for Albert appears to be his inclusion in his younger brother Ralph's household in the 1940 US Census, still in Chicago. In this record, Albert reported that he was married, and that his occupation was as a butcher in a retail meat market. (Of note is that Louis, on his WWI draft card, reported that his occupation was running a retail meat market, and as Albert was his employee at that time, it seems likely that this became his lifelong trade.) I have not found a marriage record for Albert, so I have not information on his wife or ultimately the fate of his marriage. No wife was noted as present in that last census listing.

Finally, the next record I have found is Albert's US Social Security Death Index record, which gives a birthdate that matches the birthdate reported on his WWI draft card, and which gives his date of death as November 1962. There is a listing for Albert on the FindaGrave.com website that includes birth and death dates which are close to the information I have (b. 6 Aug 1897, d. 4 Oct 1962), and lists him in Cochranton Cemetery in Cochranton - where several members of his extended family are buried. Though the listing does not include a photo, there is some supplemental text that gives that he was the son of "Ernest S & Adelaide," mistakenly reports him as a husband of "Louis E," and also includes the text "WW I." I would guess that this is meant to convey that he served in the military during WWI, and I would further guess that he shares a gravesite (and possibly a stone) with his uncle Louis, leading the submitter to believe this was a married pair and not a nephew and his uncle. I am uncertain whether the listing is accurate as to Albert's actual burial in that cemetery, though it seems that much is likely correct and the only part in obvious error would be the supposed spouse.

As noted above, I have not found any marriage record for Albert, nor have I found any indication that Albert had any children; given the large gaps in the records I have found so far and the unresolved questions at hand, I simply cannot say for certain what his life entailed.