The Mushroom Factor

The term “mushroom” factor refers to a phenomenon associated with older (and some not-so-old) houses in which repair projects “mushroom” into far bigger and more expensive projects. (Yes, we live in an old house.) Now I am beginning to think that term can be applied to certain areas of my research.

Did you ever have one of those families that was so big, and had so much information available on it, that the research on it just sort of … mushroomed?

That is what has happened with my Norman family. This is my paternal grandmother’s family – to be precise, the family of her paternal grandfather – Joseph Madison Carroll Norman. He had three wives and is reputed to have had 27 children (he had well over 20, that’s for sure).

Grandma Sallie Norman Brinlee’s parents – William Henry “Jack” Norman and Sarah Jane Sisson – were the last set of great-grandparents I found when I first started researching. In the beginning, I didn’t have a lot of sources of information, and research on this family was slow to pick up steam.

Somewhere along the line, that changed. Radically. I could account for many of those 27 children based on census records as well as cemetery records, but my research was still spotty and it was difficult to trace what had happened to some of the children.

So I adopted a research plan and stuck with it. Part of that plan was to contact as many fellow Norman researchers as I could find. I used e-mail addresses that I found through various forums and had some decent success. Norman researchers are a very generous group, and soon I had information on their families, a number of scanned photographs, and, very important, a copy of the Inez Cline Norman Family History. As I mentioned previously, it is a solid work representing many interviews with JMC Norman's descendants as well as a good bit of legwork.

Now my research was really “cooking with gas.” The Garland County Arkansas History and Heritage book arrived in the mail. Each bit of new information pointed to more sources of information.

Until recently, I felt I was keeping up with all of these different sources. Then this weekend I realized that, for many of the Normans who ended up in Texas, I had forgotten to look up Texas Death Records (images) for them on Family Search Record Search. So there was a lot more information to input. Then I tried inputting some Arkansas Normans to see what came up. Marriage records! Lots of them, also with images.

I thought I had hit the final stretch (i.e., children of the last wife – there are still 10 of them), but now I see I have to go back and make sure I have “touched all the bases” for each member of this gigantic family.

Not that I am whining about having “too much information” – would that all of us suffered from this problem in all of our research – but sometimes it makes it difficult to prioritize projects. For instance, my Lizzie Smith brick wall project needs to get a bit more attention, especially if I attend the FGS Conference in Knoxville in August, where I can find out about and possibly use some Tennessee resources. There are other projects that need to be attended to as well.

Yet I have interrupted Norman research twice before, only to return and be totally at sea: where was I, who was I researching, what had I found, and what was left to do? (I did make notes about this before I stopped, but they didn’t make complete sense to me after a long break.) On one hand, I’m afraid of losing momentum again if I take a break, but on the other, this could take a long, long time and cause all my other research to suffer. Perhaps research worksheets will help.

Time to take a big breath, quit dithering, and get to work. Besides, I now have a scientific reason to choose to remain with the Normans for the time being. I just found a picture of one of my great-grandfather’s brothers on Ancestry, with information on that family – a little known one – apparently provided by a descendant. And that’s a sign.

Mystery Normans and Source Citations – Part 8

In my research up to this point, I had learned that “Aunt Jane” Norman was:

--The mother of Jackson Norman (who married Dissie Norman, one of “my” Normans)

-- The mother of Thomas Moore (aka Tom Peat Moore, possibly the son of Michael Thomas Peater Moore, whose family had many connections to my Normans)

-- The last wife of Zera Lucern Cotton (a Civil War veteran and the husband of at least six wives)

-- Possibly the daughter of Louisiana Norman, the sister of my great-great-grandfather Joseph Madison Carroll Norman.

I was extremely curious about her and wanted to learn more, especially about her family and possible relation to “my” Normans.

The Puzzle Piece

I believed that I had enough information to search for Sarah Jane Norman on the 1870 and 1860 censuses: date and state of birth (1857 in Arkansas), possible county of origin (Montgomery, Arkansas), possible name of her mother (Louisiana), and a possible sister’s name (Nancy).

Finding her on the 1870 census was no problem. And to say that what I found whetted my appetite for more information is an understatement:

1870 US Federal Census, South Fork Township, Mt. Ida Post Office, Montgomery County, Arkansas, pages 7 and 8, enumeration date 24 January 1870

Line number 38, dwelling 52, family 61

Norman, Lousa Age 31 Female White Keeping house Born in Arkansas Cannot read or write

[Norman], Sarah J., Age 11 Female White Born in Arkansas Cannot read or write

[Norman], Nancy Age 9 Female White Born in Arkansas

[Norman], John W. Age 5 Male White Born in Arkansas

Here was Sarah Jane. Here was Nancy. And here was Lousa – Lousiana? She was the right age to be J.M.C. Norman’s sister Lousiana (both were born in around 1839), but that Lousiana was born in Alabama, not Arkansas.

So my next step was to try to find Lousa and Sarah Jane in the 1860 census. If Lousa had a husband named Norman in that census, she probably wasn’t “my” Louisiana Norman.

…

I’m not going to wait to post that information. I do have to wrap this story up!

I believe this is the same family:

1860 US Federal Census, Mazarne Township, Mt. Ida Post Office, Montgomery County, Arkansas, Page 86, enumeration date 13 August 1860

Line number 7 Dwelling 575 Dwelling 565

John Norman Age 28 Male Farmer Personal estate value $300 Born in Alabama
Jonann [?] Norman Age 23 Female Born in Iowa [?] Cannot read or write
Louisa Norman Age 4 Female Born in Arkansas
Sarah Norman Age 1 Female Born in Arkansas

Although there are a lot of discrepancies in the information for Sarah Jane Norman’s mother, I believe that John Norman was Sarah Jane’s father. The older sister’s name here, Louisa, would indicate that Jonann (it’s not really clear from the handwriting that that is the actual name, but that is how it has been transcribed) is probably Lousiana/Louisa. I do not know why the state of Jonann’s birth is listed as Iowa. The location, Mt. Ida Post Office, Montgomery County, Arkansas is the same as for the Lousa Norman family on the 1870 census.

And this John Norman was born in Alabama. That doesn’t mean that he was one of “my” Normans, but it doesn’t rule it out, either.

The Sources

Lousa Norman household, 1870 U.S. Census, Montgomery County, Arkansas, population schedule, South Fork Township, dwelling 52, family 61; Roll M593_59, Page: 283; Family History Library film: 545558. Accessed via Ancestry.com.

John Norman household, 1860 U.S. Census, Montgomery County, Arkansas, population schedule, Mazarne Township, dwelling 575, family 565; Roll M643_56, Page: 936; Family History Library Film: 803046. Accessed via Ancestry.com.

The Wrap-Up

In addition to the census, I used Findagrave, Worldconnect, Google, and a blog page – not exactly the basis for in-depth research, but definitely serviceable “tip lines” for pointers to an intriguing story. For now I’ve spent enough time on this detour, but I have entered the relevant information on Jackson Norman’s family in my genealogy program (he did marry Dissie Norman, after all). And when I go back to research the parents and grandparents of J.M.C. Norman in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina, I’m going to keep these Normans in mind. You never know; there might be a relationship after all.

I could not find Jackson Norman on later censuses, but I did find his brother Thomas Norman and his mother Sarah Jane Norman Cotton on the 1930 census:

1930 US Federal Census, Lincoln Township, Garland County, Arkansas, E.D. 26-27, Page 11A, 5 April 1930

Line number 44 Dwelling 9 Family 9

Moore, Thomas Head Home owned Family lives on farm Male White 45 years old Male Married at age 44 Did not attend school in year Can read and write AR AR AR Can speak English Farmer Farming Employer Actually at work Not a veteran Farm number 8

Moore, Pearl Wife Female White 36 years old Married at age 34 Did not attend school in year Can read and write Ark Ark Ark Can speak English Occupation: None

Cotton, S. Jane Mother Female white Age 76 Widowed Did not attend school in year Can read and write AR TN AL Can speak English Occupation: None

The Source

Thomas Moore household, 1930 U.S. Census, Garland County, Arkansas, population schedule, Lincoln Township, dwelling 9, family 9; Roll 75; Page 1A; Enumeration District 27; Image 657.0. Accessed via Ancestry.com.

Mystery Normans and Source Citations – Part 7

In the last “Mystery Normans” post I said that my next stop would be WorldConnect to sort out the Moore families for which Sarah Jane Norman and (her probable sister) Nancy Norman worked as domestic servants. That’s not quite accurate; before doing that, I checked in again at Findagrave to find the maiden name of John L. Moore’s wife Rebecca and, sure enough, the information was there: she was Rebecca Lucinda Wacaster. This information should pull up something in WorldConnect. Michael T. P. Moore, head of the household where Nancy worked, was also there.

The Puzzle Piece

Several hits came up for John Lawrence Moore and Rebecca Lucinda Wacaster; the children listed for them varied, and I looked among the sons for one that might have married Sarah Jane Norman or had a child by her. Among the married sons I did not see any connection made, though there was one son, Sanford Ezelelar Moore, who was said to have died young. Perhaps he was the father of Sarah's son Thomas Moore? Michael T. P. also showed up in these lists; he was married to Mary Catherine Kinsey. His name was spelled out: Michael Thomas Peter Moore. And one or two of the hits, the ones with the most complete and precise information, gave his name as it had probably actually been spelled – a rather unusual variant – Michael Thomas Peater Moore. Tom Peat Moore. That was the name of Jane’s older son as given on his tombstone.

There was probably a connection. Michael Thomas Peater Moore may have been Tom Peat Moore’s father. I thought this the most likely scenario, although it is possible that some other Moore male had been the father and the baby had been named for Michael T. P. Moore.

These indications that one or both of Sarah Jane Norman’s sons may have been illegitimate made me curious to learn about her mother, Louisiana Norman. Was it Joseph Madison Carroll Norman’s sister Louisiana Norman? Since I was fairly sure Norman was Sarah Jane’s maiden name, and the blog article on Zera Lucerne Cotton had mentioned that she came from Montgomery County, Arkansas I decided to check for Sarah Jane Norman on the 1870 and 1860 censuses and see who was listed as her mother.

The Source (for the spelling of the name)

David Beardsley, Moore-Brumley Family, Rootsweb’s WorldConnect Project, online, http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:1737204&id=I81218217; entry for MIchael Thomas Peater Moore, accessed 20 Feb 2010.

Mystery Normans and Citations – Part 6

My hope was to be able to find “Aunt Jane” Norman Cotton in the 1880 census for Garland or Montgomery County, Arkansas. I would start with known surnames associated with her – Norman and Moore – and if I couldn’t find her that way, I would look for her by name, age, and state of birth, though I feared that would not narrow down the field enough.

The Puzzle Piece

No need to fear. And no need to even try more than one surname. I found her as a single woman, working as a servant in the household of John L. and Rebecca Moore, listed as Sarah J. Norman – so Norman was her maiden name.

1880 US Federal Census, Lee Township, Garland County, Arkansas, E.D. 75, Page 21, 11 June 1880

Line 1 Dwelling 186 Family 190

Moore, John L. White Male 52 years old Married Farmer GA NC NC
-- Rebecca White Female 45 years old Wife Married Keeping house Cannot write GA NC GA
-- James J. White Male 11 years old Son Cannot read or write AR GA GA
-- Rebecca White Female 7 years old Daughter AR GA GA
-- George A. White Male 5 years old Son AR GA GA
-- Henry F. White Male 5 years old Son AR GA GA
-- Pellie B. White Female 2 years old Daughter AR GA GA
Norman, Sarah J. White Female 18 years old Single Domestic servant Cannot read or write AR MS AR
Simpson, Francis E. White Female 18 years old Single Domestic servant Cannot read or write AR GA GA

Moreover, there was another goldmine on the previous page of the census: a Nancy Norman, single, age 17, working as a servant in the family of William Adner Powell and Mary Elizabeth Moore (a daughter of the John and Rebecca Moore above), and living next door to them, William Henry Monroe and his wife Eliza Ann Monroe, who would marry Zara Lucerne Cotton before Sarah Jane Norman did. And living next to them was the family of Michael T. P. Moore, a son of John L. and Rebecca Moore. His possible involvement in this mystery will be covered in the next installment. One other interesting note: at least two people in these families appear to have been ill with rheumatic fever on the day the census was taken – Nancy Norman and Michael T. P. Moore’s son Roland.

If Norman was Sarah Jane’s maiden name, her son Jackson may have been illegitimate, and possibly her son Thomas Moore as well. The reason this was important to me was to find out how these Normans might be related to my Norman families.

I figured there was a strong chance that Nancy was Sarah Jane’s sister, and I very much wanted to use this information (plus the information from the blog that Jane Norman was from Montgomery County) to see whether I could find them with their parents in previous censuses. However, even before that I wanted to look into some of the Moore family relationships. As people who have studied families in these close communities probably understand, in this little corner of Garland County at this time these large families were closely tied to one another by kinship and intermarriage: Normans, Powells, Moores, Wacasters, Kinseys, Westons, and a few others.

There was no easy way for me to tell who Jackson Norman’s father was, but I might find Tom Peat Norman’s father by looking into these relationships. Since Sarah Jane Norman had worked as a servant for the John L. Moore family, I decided to see whether or not there was any mention of a marriage of one of the sons to Sarah Jane Norman or of an illegitimate child by her.

One place I could look again was Peak Cemetery on Findagrave, since a lot of family relationships are given there; that information could be correlated with census information. However, to quickly sort out a large family, there is another place that is quicker and easier, though risky: Rootsweb’s WorldConnect Project. I decided to check there first to see whether or not anything jumped out at me.

The Sources

John L. Moore household, 1880 U.S. Census, Garland County, Arkansas, population schedule, Lee Township, dwelling 186, family 190; National Archives Microfilm Publication, Roll T9_45; Page 21; Enumeration District 75. Accessed via Ancestry.com.

William A. Powell household, 1880 U.S. Census, Garland County, Arkansas, population schedule, Lee Township, dwelling 182, family 186; National Archives Microfilm Publication, Roll T9_45; Page 20; Enumeration District 75. Accessed via Ancestry.com.

William Henry Monroe household, 1880 U.S. Census, Garland County, Arkansas, population schedule, Lee Township, dwelling 183, family 187; National Archives Microfilm Publication, Roll T9_45; Page 20; Enumeration District 75. Accessed via Ancestry.com

Mystery Normans and Source Citations – Part 5

I love Googling when I have distinctive names or terms to use. Zera/Zura Lucerne Cotton should bring up something … I hoped.

The Puzzle Piece

It did. Boy, howdy, did it. The hit that I zeroed in on was a page of a blog entitled “Men of the 3rd Michigan Infantry: Biographies of the 1,411 Soldiers Who Served in the 3rd Michigan Infantry between the April of 1861 and June of 1864.”

The page, which was devoted to Zara Lucerne Cotton, had a lot of information on him, as did the comments on the post: they contained information on his Civil War service and a list of his six wives, at least some of whom he divorced. The last two wives were given as “a widow by the name of Eliza Ann Powell Monroe” (her married name was actually Moore) and Mary Jane Norman (actually Sarah Jane Norman), who was from Montgomery County (date of marriage 13 December 1903). The author of the post further stated: “His widow Mary Jane apparently remarried in 1907, but in 1916 she applied fore and received a pension (No. 836449; it appears that her second husband died).” One of the comments gave the last two wives’ names as Eliza Ann Powell and Jane Norman. And Eliza Ann Powell was one of the wives whom Zera Lucerne Cotton had divorced.

So one part of the mystery was solved. Zera Lucerne Cotton had married both of the women listed under the name Cotton in Peak Cemetery, having divorced Eliza before he married Jane. The writer of the comment gave Eliza Ann’s maiden name (Powell); both he and the author of the post gave Jane’s last name as Norman. So was Norman her married name or her maiden name?

I was starting to suspect that Norman was Jane’s maiden name. I went back to look at the entry for her in Findagrave, and was stunned to see a name there that I had somehow failed to see the first time: “Daughter of Louisiana Norman.”

Well, now. Not to jump to conclusions, but … Joseph Madison Carroll Norman had a sister named Louisiana. But if this was her daughter … this went too far into the realm of “either had an illegitimate child or married a man (cousin?) with the same last name” – just the same sort of thing I suspected in Jane’s case, and of course Dissie Norman had married Jane’s son Jack Norman. My head was starting to hurt.

It was time to try to track down Jane Norman’s maiden name. Was she a Norman or not? Only the 1880 census might tell.

The Source

Steve Soper, “Zara Lucerne Cotton – updated 2/28/09,” Steve Soper, “Men of the 3rd Michigan Infantry: Biographies of the 1,411 Soldiers Who Served in the 3rd Michigan Infantry between the April of 1861 and June of 1864," 10 May 2008 (http://thirdmichigan.blogspot.com/2008/05/zara-lucerne-cotton.html, and comment by Tom Cotton to the post: accessed 18 February 2010.

Since I am also referring to a comment to the post, it is necessary to mention it, but I am not certain whether to post a separate reference for the comment or put it in the same citation. Above it is shown in the same citation.

Mystery Normans and Source Citations – Part 4

The entries for Peak Cemetery on Findagrave had previously provided me with a lot of information on the Normans and the families related to them by marriage: who was married to whom, which children belonged to which parents, and so forth. Although we have to be careful with transcriptions such as those found on Findagrave, many of the transcriptions were accompanied by pictures of the tombstones. And I needed information on what ties my Mystery Normans had to other families in the community.

The Puzzle Piece

When I did a surname search on “Cotton” in Peak Cemetery, three names came up:

Aunt Jane Cotton, 1857-1933 (this was the Jane Norman I was interested in)

Eliza Ann Powell Moore Cotton , daughter of Poly N. Dunn and Joseph Powell, wife of Zera (Zura) Lucerne Cotton, Jan. 28, 1857-Jan. 18, 1927

Zera Lucerne Cotton , May 9, 1834-Sep. 4, 1905

I then did a search on “Moore” and found this entry:

Tom Peat Moore, Aunt Jane’s son, age 67 years, Death: Nov. 18, 1951 (the age and date of death seem to have been an addition to the information on the gravestone).

Hmm; Zera died at the right time to have left Jane Norman Cotton a widow, but it appeared that Eliza Ann Powell Moore was Zera's wife. (There’s that Moore connection again, and the Powells were a family with quite a few marriages into the Norman family.) Jane had married a Cotton after the 1900 census and was widowed before the 1910 census, so I wanted to either confirm or rule out Zera. Perhaps he had a brother. I needed to have more information on Zera Cotton, and he had a nice, distinctive name, so … time to hit Google.

The Sources

Findagrave.com, Peak Cemetery, digital image (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Cotton&GSiman=1&GScid=669303&GRid=5665467&), accessed 17 February 2010, photograph, gravestone for Aunt Jane Cotton (1857-1933), Garland, Arkansas.

Findagrave.com, Peak Cemetery, digital image (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Cotton&GSiman=1&GScid=669303&GRid=5706860&), accessed 17 February 2010, photograph, gravestone for Eliza Ann Powell Moore Cotton (Jan. 28, 1857-Jan. 18, 1927), Garland, Arkansas.

Findagrave.com, Peak Cemetery, digital image (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Cotton&GSiman=1&GScid=669303&GRid=5698234&), accessed 17 February 2010, photograph, gravestone for Zera Lucerne Cotton (May 9, 1834-Sep. 4, 1905), Garland, Arkansas.

Findagrave.com , Peak Cemetery, digital image (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Moore&GSiman=1&GSsr=41&GScid=669303&GRid=5713657&), accessed 17 February 2010, photograph, gravestone for Tom Peat Moore (d. Nov. 18, 1951), Garland, Arkansas.

Mystery Normans and Source Citations – Part 3

I crossed my fingers and hoped that I would find Jane Norman and her two sons on the 1910 census. Dissie had died in 1908, so someone recognizable as her husband Jack Norman might still be around in 1910.

The Puzzle Piece

For a 1910 US Federal Census search on Ancestry, I entered “Norman” in the last name field, “Arkansas” in the state field, and “Garland” in the county field. The Norman names that showed up in the results did not include a Jane or Thomas Norman, but they did include a “Jackson W. Norman,” age 22 – and he was listed together with a Sarah J. Cotton, age 53, and a Thomas P. Moore, age 25. This was the very family that Inez Cline had referred to. Sarah J. was Sarah Jane, Thomas was the “other son named Moore,” and Jackson was Jack! When I checked back on the 1900 census to see why there was a discrepancy in Jack’s name, I could see that “John M.” was probably actually “Johnson” – apparently the census-taker could not remember his exact name. Most importantly, Jack’s marital status was given as “widowed.” As on the 1900 census, the Newton Norman family was right next door.

I still wanted to know if there was not only a connection by marriage, but also a connection by kinship to “my” Normans. Before I did any more census research, I decided to visit what I knew to be a rich source of information on the Normans and numerous members of the Arkansas families related to them. Next stop: Findagrave, specifically the entries for Peak Cemetery, Garland County, Arkansas.

The Source

Sarah J. Cotton household, 1910 U.S. census, Garland County, Arkansas, population schedule, Lincoln Township, dwelling 136, family 139; National Archives Microfilm Publication, Roll T624_50; Page 9A; Enumeration District 71. Accessed via Ancestry.com.

Mystery Normans and Source Citations - Part 2

I mentally filed away the information on Dissie Norman’s marriage to Jack Norman and started census work for the family of her father, Newton Leonard Norman. What I found on the page where the Newt Norman family information was entered whetted my appetite for more information on Jack Norman and his mother Jane:

The Puzzle Piece


You can enlarge the image above by clicking on it. Here is the information:

1900 US Federal Census, Lincoln Township, Garland County, Arkansas, Enumeration District 31, sheet number 5B, enumeration date 8 June 1900

Line number 86, dwelling number 84, family number 84

Norman, Jane Head White Female May 1858. 42 years old at last birthday. Married. Mother of two children, of whom two are still living. Born in Arkansas, father born in Alabama, mother born in Arkansas. Farmer. Months not employed: 0. Can read, cannot write, can speak English.

[Norman,] Thomas Son White Male Dec 1885. 14 years old at last birthday. Single. Born in Arkansas, father born in Arkansas, mother born in Arkansas. Farm laborer Months not employed: 0. Can read, cannot write, can speak English.

[Norman, John M.] Son White Male Mar 1891. 8 years old at last birthday. Single. Born in Arkansas, father born in Arkansas, mother born in Arkansas.

So here is Jane Norman with her two sons, Thomas (Norman) and John M. Norman (that is how the name is interpreted in the Ancestry transcription). I found this entry several families above the Newt Norman family, and on either side there are Moore families - remember that according to Inez Cline’s “Norman Family’s History” one of Jane’s sons was a Moore. Here she and her sons are all listed as Normans. This would lead me to believe that she was not born a Norman but had married a Norman. According to Cline and according to the census, she had only two sons, so was one of these sons actually a Moore? The other son, John M., would probably be the “Jack Norman” in question. Another intriguing item was that the “M” for “married” appears to have been written over an “S”.

This was the information that set off my detective instincts. It was one thing for Cline to have listed this family as having married into the Newton Norman family, but here in 1900 the family in question is living quite close to the Newton Norman family as well as to Moore families which I knew to be connected to “my” Norman family by marriage. Norman families living in close proximity would seem to indicate the probability of kinship, wouldn’t it?

I went through my list of known sons and grandsons of J.M.C. Norman. Almost all of them were “otherwise accounted for.” J.M.C. did have a son named John; the only information Inez Cline had for him was “13 in 1880 [on the 1880 census]; N.F.R. [no further record].” Though nine years younger than Jane, theoretically he could have married her and been the father of her two sons. However, the fact that Cline had no other information on John from Norman descendants seemed to indicate that he had died young. Also, this would have meant that Dissie Norman married a first cousin. Possible, but I didn’t think it was likely.

This made me wonder whether Jane Norman’s husband and the father of Thomas and John might have been a more distant Norman relative, possibly a cousin of J.M.C. Norman.

I decided to try to find out more about Jane Norman and her sons; next stop: 1910 census.

Source

Jane Norman household, 1900 U.S. Census, Garland County, Arkansas, population schedule, Lincoln Township, dwelling 84, family 84; National Archives Microfilm publication, Roll T623_59; Page 5B; Enumeration District 31. Accessed via Ancestry.com.

Mystery Normans and Source Citations – Part 1

The 2010 GeneaBloggers Games started right after I encountered a “little mystery” in my Norman research (mentioned in the previous Family and Friends Newsletter Friday). Since at the end of each day of the Games I have been and will be claiming a new source citation total for the day (for Event Number One, Cite Your Sources), I got an idea about posting a little bit each day about the mystery and discussing how each source I cite (one per day for this mystery) moves the solution of the mystery along, as well as discussing how the source should be cited and why. This will prove that I am actually doing some source citations and will also enable me to discuss a very complex mystery in “bite-sized” pieces.

The Puzzle Piece

The following appears in Inez Cline’s “Norman Family History” as the information for Dissie Dulcina Norman, oldest child of Newton Leonard Norman and Rebecca Dulcina Weston: “b. Aug. 5, 1891 d. Oct. 9, 1908 m. Jack Norman, son of Jane. Her other son named Moore. No issue.”

This is the only mention I have seen that Dissie was married. No mention is made on other online family trees or on the Findagrave entry for her. Since her last name remained Norman and she died relatively young, it must not have occurred to anyone, especially if they have not seen Cline’s work. So, the question immediately arises: Was this Jack Norman related to Dissie? Norman is a common name, but still, it’s quite a coincidence.

Source

My source for the first day is the one that has turned into the backbone for my Norman research, Inez Cline’s “Norman Family History. “ Immediately below the title and author lines is the following: “(with help of descendants).” While some of the information is based on records research, a good bit has obviously been taken from interviews with Norman family members. The article covers what is known about the life of Joseph Madison Carroll Norman and contains a list with basic dates and information on his descendants. Since it is known that J.M.C. Norman had 26 or 27 children from three wives, that means quite a few descendants, so a lot of work must have gone into getting all the facts and figures as accurate as possible. Cline may have been helped considerably by the fact that for many years the Norman family had an annual (or biannual) reunion on the grounds of a local church in Garland County, Arkansas (my Uncle Billy Jack remembered my grandmother Sallie Norman Brinlee and her sister Mollie Norman Watson attending these reunions).

From what I have been able to find out about the family from other documentary sources (and I had done several months’ worth of research before receiving the “History”), Cline’s “Norman Family History” does well for thoroughness and accuracy. The major exception that I am aware of is for the family of J.M.C. Norman’s son Joseph James Norman; she has only five children listed for him, whereas from numerous sources I know that there were at least 12.

Issues of type of document and provenance: I received two different copies of the “History” from two different Norman cousins. One was a scan and the other was a Word document which appears to be OCR’d from the former. A page is missing from the scan but not from the Word document; however, there appear to be a few name misspellings in the Word document resulting from the OCR process. At first I believed that the document was an unpublished manuscript, but when I noticed that the page numbers went from 61 to 74 I realized that it must have been a published article, so I did a Google search, which revealed that it was published in The Record 1975 of the Garland County Historical Society. Since I have only copies of the article but not the original publication in which it appeared, at this time my information on the article and periodical may be incomplete. For one thing, I do not know whether Cline’s sources were originally included with the article; they do not appear on the copies that I have.

Here is what I am able to put together for my source citation:

Cline, Inez E., “Norman Family History,” The Record 1975, Garland County Historical Society: 61-74.

(I am counting this as a new source citation, because I had been using the author-title shorthand and had not researched the type of document it is. This is therefore a more complete citation, though it will probably have to be amended when I am able to locate a copy of the periodical.)