Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Elsie May Moyer Stanfield 1883-1943

One of the many mysteries has been solved.  Doing family history is so fun in that there are so many ways to find clues and get the answers to the many questions that arise.  This time, just being snoopy helped me.  My great great grandmother had two sisters by the same mother.  Their dear mother, Nancy McQuinn, died eight years after marrying their father, John Harve Moyer.  They were raised by him until they were married and they were all quite young when she died.  I was lucky enough to get information about the youngest sister Rebecca or Becky, but the only information I had was from the 1900 census that listed Elizabeth as the other sister.  I took a peak at someone else's family tree and noticed that they listed the sister as Elsie May.  I am always skeptical about assuming someone else's work is accurate, but since there were no other leads, I decided to look into it.  I am happy to report that when I received a copy of Elsie's obituary, it was confirmed that Mrs. O.W. Montgomery was indeed a living survivor as Elsie's sister.  The obituary also mentioned a surviving brother, Ed Moyer living in Miles City, Montana. 
I have found varying information about Elsie's date of birth.  Her obituary says she was 60 at the time of her death and that she was born February 27, 1883.  I find this peculiar because in my great great grandmother's obituary it says that she was born February, 17, 1883!  That would only make them ten days apart.  Just shows that sometimes the person who is giving the information to the newspaper doesn't always know the right dates or possibly the newspaper made a mistake.  I recently recently read an obituary of a relative where I know the information was incorrect.  It's all a part of the adventure!  The 1900 census lists the girls names and birthdays like this:

Stella, daughter, Nov 1881, age 18, actual birthday 17 February 1883
Elizabeth, daughter, Nov 1883, age 16
Rebecca, daughter, Nov 1884, age 15, actual birthday 22 June 1885

This is the census that has a lot of errors concerning the family.  I keep trying to figure out who it was that gave the information.  It may have been the grandparents of these three sisters, George and Sarah Myers, or maybe it was one the nieces or nephews that were living with the family.  It would make sense that they might not necessarily know everyone’s birthdates.  My theory is that if I do enough research about each person on that census and I find whoever has the correct birthday is probably the one that gave the information!  It could also have been John Harve, himself.  Sometimes dads don’t always remember the birthdates of their children.  It is also curious that all three of the girls have November birthdays. 
It is interesting to note that the surname Myers is listed on this census and that Elsie's children all list her maiden name as Myers on their marriage certificates as well as she used it on her own marriage certificate.  Both Rebecca and Estella use the name Moyer on their own marriage certificate.  See my post on that controversial subject of Moyer vs. Myers.
Elsie May was born in McPaul, Iowa.  I am assuming that she was the middle child of the three girls.  The only thing that gives me that information is the 190o Federal census that lists the girls in the order of Estella being the oldest and Rebecca being the youngest.  This is the only census that I have with the girls living in the same household before they all go and get married.
Elsie married Isaac Huff Stanfield on October 28, 1900 in Harpster, Idaho.  He was a native to the Dayton, Washington area.   On the 1900 census, he is living with the Calkin family in Mt. Idaho, Idaho.  Mrs. Millie Calkins maiden name is Myers and she is the daughter of George and Sarah Myers and sister to John Harve.  She is Elsie’s aunt.  Isaac is doing farm work for them on their farm.
Isaac and Elsie lived in the Dayton area for awhile and then around 1918 they are living in American Falls, Idaho.  Before 1930 they return to Dayton, Washington and Isaac dies on October 20, 1938.  Elsie passes away five years later on April 18, 1943.  They are both buried in the Dayton City Cemetery in Dayton, Washington.
They had five children, but only three lived past childhood.  They are as follows:

Clarence Stanfield, not sure on the dates
Tabitha Elizabeth Stanfield Workman Abraham, born March 13, 1905
Mabel Irene Stanfield Stevens Tate, born July 13, 1907
Anna May Stanfield, born March 29, 1910 and died May 6, 1911
Lucile Stanfield Skelton Stump, born in 1914

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