Saturday, January 6, 2007

What happened to Virgil?

I went to bed last night wondering what happened to Virgil Corporon, the 13 year old boy in 1913 who was found on the streets of Kansas City by the cops after his parents divorced and nobody wanted him. He seemed like an enterprising lad. I was hoping that he turned out to be a successful person.

In the 1910 census, he resided with his parents Edward and Annie Corporon in Centerville, Appanoose County, Iowa. I couldn't find him in the 1920 census records. I did find him in the 1930 census records, living in Norwalk, Los Angeles County, CA, with a wife Edith and a daughter Viola. He was a truck driver.

There are no WW 1 draft registration or World War 2 Army enlistment records for him. The CA death records (1940-1997) and SSDI did not reveal a death date. There are no obituaries or newspaper articles about him in the Ancestry.com newspaper and obituary collections. He is not listed at www.interment.net or at www.findagrave.com.

A good Google search revealed nothing but the Kansas City story. He is in the LDS Pedigree Resource File, based on the KC story (it was a Sebree (one of the cop surnames) researcher).

There are several entries for Lewis Virgil Corporon in the Ancestry World Tree files. It says he had a second child by Edith, that he married a second wife Nettie Mae Barton in 1942, and that he served in the US Navy during World War 2, and that his daughter Viola Corporon married Earl Jones in 1946. The WW 2 military records at www.militaryindexes.com were searched without finding a record of him.

Unfortunately, we don't have online access to ALL of the newspapers of the past, nor to ALL of the state death indexes, nor to ALL of the military, land and court records. But isn't it amazing what resources are available online now, and just think what it will be like in 5 to 10 years!

I'm glad that Virgil found a job, got married, and had at least one child. I still hope that he was successful in life.

UPDATE 7 January, 7 PM PST: Sharon Elliott took the new information about Virgil and found Louis Corporon in the SSDI - he died in 1975 in Oklahoma. She also found him in the 1920 census in Iowa living with his brother, Leo. Thanks, Sharon!

3 comments:

Sharon said...

You do keep me busy, Randy!

In 1920, Virgil is living in a rooming house in Davenport, IA with his brother Leo.

Virgil is in the SSDI as Louis Corporon. He died in the oil town of Cushing, OK in 1975. Last known address for Nettie was 315 South Cleveland Ave, which appears to be a modest house near the center of town.

~Sharon

Anonymous said...

PnVFce The best blog you have!

dogbon said...

Louis Virgil Corporon was my grandfather. He fought in both world wars. WWI in 142nd field artillery battallion, WWII in the SeeBees.
He married Nettie Barton in 1942 and went on to the war. He returned to Cushing Oklahoma after the war and raised Nettie's three daughters as his own. He retired from Deep Rock refinery in 1962.
At the time of his passing in 1975, he had 8 grand children and one great grandson.
He was the finest grandad that ever lived and was my best friend.