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In the Census

In the Census - week 5 of #52ancestors

 You always have to take census information with a grain of salt. Sometimes a pound.  I haven't found anything truly startling in the census, but there was something unexpected that led me to a further understanding of my great-great-grandmother's relationships.

 Lucinda Layton married my great-great-grandfather, Albert Newton Brown, in 1858. After he died in 1868 she married Henry Cryder, who she divorced after 18-1/2 years of marriage. She was 46 when she married her third husband, Finley P. Mowdy, in 1888. They had a daughter named Grace who was about 8 when they married. I have a picture of an elderly woman labeled "Aunt Grace Mowdy", identified I believe by my grandfather's sister Alma.

 I had trouble finding them in the 1900 census. Eventually I found Lucinda in Cedarville Township, Greene County, Ohio, living with Thomas and Grace Lovett with a relationship of mother-in-law. The handwriting is admittedly hard to read; it could be "Lucindy" or "Lisindy". But FamilySearch has her indexed as "L Dy", of all things. Her marital status is widowed.

 Yet who should appear in neighboring Clark County but Finley P. Mowdy, divorced! He is living in Springfield Township, one of nearly 20 boarders in the "household" of David Schram, hotel keeper.

 Lucinda certainly has plenty of company in listing herself as widowed instead of divorced, but that information was not passed down. I wonder which of them filed for divorce, and why? Why did they wait 8 years after Grace's birth to get married?  Why were they married in Indiana? And is it just coincidence that Grace, like her mother, was married three times? For every question you answer, several new ones pop up!


Labeled "Mellissa Lucinda Layton Brown Cryder Mowdy"

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