Friday, October 19, 2012

It's a Puzzle: Did Ralph really have a child at age 11?

I've been working in my genealogy database, and reviewing Problems (in RootsMagic 5, Tools > Problem Search).  One that popped up was a child born when the father was age 11.

That is based on this set of records in Texas vital records indexes (the actual records are not available).  The first, middle and last names are anonymized by initials in the text so that they don't show up in a search:

*  R1. A S1. was born 3 June 1951 in Lubbock, Lubbock, Texas:



*  R1. A. S1. married V. R2. S2. on 23  Nov 1974 in Travis County, Texas:




*  J. E. S1. was born on 18 March 1963 in Potter County, Texas to R1. A. S1. and V. R2. S2.



As you can see, the dates "hang together" very well.  The marriage record in 1974 says R1. was born about 1951, and the birth record indicates that also.

The parents named for the daughter are R1. A. S1 and V. R2. S2.

There are two more birth records for this couple in the Texas Birth Records, one born in 1968, the other in 1977.

The only rational conclusion I can draw here is that the 1963 and 1968 children are either adopted or were children of V. out of wedlock or by another husband.  I found no marriage record for V. in the Texas Marriage Records to an S2. male.  However, they might have been married in another state.

Does anyone have any other ideas about this?  These names are pretty unique.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/10/its-puzzle-did-ralph-really-have-child.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver



3 comments:

Sharon said...

Her birth date is apparently correct. I found her on several databases with that same date. Adoption would be my first guess. She lived in Austin, TX (Travis Co.) She currently lives in Snohomish, WA and is on Facebook as Jo Ellen Seaver. Maybe she'd like to hear from you.

Unknown said...

I'm not sure I can help with your problem there ... but now I'm wondering if you might be related to R2D2 somehow.

Sorry ... you know someone had to say it. :)

Anonymous said...

As it is a second marriage for him, and the marriage record shows her as 10 years older then he is, my guess is that they are hers from a previous marriage.