Census Forms and Military Draft Forms Hold Fascinating Hints About Life in Twentieth Century Kentucky
Edward Elias Sears: 1881-1943
Annie Pearl O’Neal: 1882-1968
Daisy Lee Sears: 1906-1969
At first glance, the life of Edward Elias Sears, my husband’s
first cousin twice removed, offered no surprises. He was born in Muhlenberg
County, Kentucky, like many of the Smith ancestors. His mother was a Smith:
Sarah Frances was Willis Smith’s older sister. Other than a stint in World War
I as a Sergeant in an Army Medical Company, he lived in Kentucky all his life.
Most of the other trees he appears in on Ancestry show that he married one
wife, Corda Miller, and had two sons, Richard and Ray.
But a few other trees showed something surprising and made
reference to the census of 1910. Apparently Edward had a wife before he married
Corda, before he served in the military. And this marriage ended quickly after
the birth of a daughter and seemed to have provoked shame on the part of both Edward
and his first wife, Annie Pearl.
It was time to take a second look at the 1910 census. Were
these other trees to be trusted? Were there documents to back up their assertion
that Edward had a failed first marriage?
I tried to find records of this supposed marriage between
Edward and Annie Pearl O’Neal. I assumed it took place in Kentucky in 1905 as
their daughter was born in February 1906. Annie was born in Paradise, Kentucky,
located in Muhlenberg County where Edward had grown up. Her parents, Tobias and
Mary Jane O’Neal, were farming, just as Edward and his father were. The
families appear only four pages apart on the 1900 census. Edward was 19 in
1900, and Annie was 17. They probably attended the same small high school and
would have known one another.
However, I couldn’t find a marriage certificate or record
for them on Ancestry. A few trees listed a date late in February 1906 as the
date of the marriage, but this seemed unlikely as it was after the date their
daughter Daisy Lee Sears, was born on February 15, 1906. I could find no birth
certificate to confirm Daisy’s birth date, but that date appears on her Social
Security and death records, so I believe it is correct. I found no Ancestry
records for Edward, Annie Pearl or Daisy between the 1900 census and the 1910
census.
Still, the specificity of the date the other trees provided
for the marriage puzzled me. I turned to Family Search, and while I struck out
searching under Edward’s name, I found the marriage record under Annie Pearle O’Neal.
Edward gave his name on the marriage license as “E. E. Sears” which explains
why I’d failed to find it. The certificate shows they were married at the home
of Annie’s father on February 24, 1906, nine days after Daisy’s birth.
Obviously there is a story there, the details of which can
only be imagined. I would guess that either Annie or Edward had resisted
marriage when they discovered Annie was pregnant, but once the baby had
arrived, the reluctant party gave in. Was this a true shotgun marriage? Did
Annie’s dad demand that Edward “do the right thing”, even if it was nine days
too late to make Daisy legitimate?
The other striking thing about the marriage record is Edward’s
occupation: instead of “farm laborer” like he lists on the 1900 and 1910
census, he states he is a “book agent”. Since I don’t believe he was brokering
book deals for local authors, I suspect he was what we now call a
"bookie", and was operating at the edge of illegality. Perhaps he was
a local bad boy who had ducked out on his responsibilities to Annie just as he
ducked out respectable employment. This is all speculation, of course. I have
no evidence other than a couple of words on a document.
By the time the 1910 census was conducted, the marriage had
already failed and the young couple was living apart. I immediately noted what
the other genealogists had remarked upon: Edward is living with his parents and
helping his father with the farm. He lists his marital state as “widowed”.
Yet just down the road and only three pages away on the
Muhlenberg County census, Annie Pearl and daughter Daisy, now four years old,
are living with Annie’s brother James Elbert, and their sister and mother.
Annie also lists her marital state as “widowed”.
So what happened on this census form? Obviously, no one had
died. Both families lived very close to one another, and were perfectly aware
this supposed widower had a wife and child just down the road, close enough
that Edward could easily pop over for a visit with little Daisy. Was this just
the work of an oddly prudish census worker, who didn’t want to list people as
divorced? Or is this a sign of shame on the part of the two families, who were
unwilling to tell a stranger the ugly truth about a broken marriage? We may
never know.
The 1920 census shows Annie Pearl, now listed as “Perly
Sears” still living with her brother and mother, and still claiming to be a
widow. Daisy is now 13.
Edward, now home from the war, has relocated to Paducah, Kentucky
and has remarried. I can find no marriage record for him and his second wife,
Cora or Corda Miller, on either Ancestry or Family Search, so I don’t know
whether he was truthful about his previous marriage on his new marriage license
or not.
Not until the 1930 census, does Annie Pearl, still living
with brother James Elbert, correctly list her marital status as “divorced”. Was
the change due to a more liberal attitude toward divorce in 1930? Or was it
just a more accurate and knowledgeable census taker?
So what happened after the divorce drama? Daisy grew up and married
a man named Herman Wood in Tennessee, and they ended up living in Indianapolis
where Herman worked in the steel mills. The couple met in Daisy’s hometown of
Paradise, Kentucky—Herman Wood was born there. Daisy and Herman had five
children.
 |
| Annie Pearl and her brother James Elbert |
Annie Pearl never remarried, continuing to live with her
brother and visiting Daisy and her grandchildren until her death in 1968 at age
85. Daisy died a year later in April of 1969 (although several trees and her
Findagrave entry incorrectly list the death date as April 1968—more unreliable
info corrected through close examination of documents, including her death
certificate and a newspaper death notice!)
As for Daisy’s father Edward Sears, he had one more fascinating
document that needs mention: his World War II draft card. I did a double-take
when I read the entry under “Employer’s name and address”. It reads: “Retired:
totally disabled by government.”
Disabled by the government? At first I assumed he had
possibly been injured in World War I—you could sort of blame that on the
government. But then I realized what the entry really meant: he had been
approved by the government for disability payments under Social Security. He
didn’t mean the government was the cause
of his disability. I had to laugh. Further proof that close reading of
documents can provide humor as well as important information!
Sources:
"Kentucky Marriages, 1785-1979", database,
FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F4QR-J3Z : 22 July 2021),
Annie Pearle Oneal in entry for E.e. Sears, 1906.
https://img.newspapers.com/img/thumbnail/106331769/400/400/2289_4555_543_180/
Death notice for Daisy Sears Wood Apr 1969
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