Yesterday I posted about how I solved the case of Nathan Gibson's wives -- solving that helped me to solve this case.
For years - I've wondered just who this Virlie Norton is that's buried in the main Gibson Cemetery in Corydon, KY. I knew she had to have Gibson blood...somewhere...somehow. Maybe not blood per se, but, be a relative of sorts.
The tombstone is incredibly hard to read and it's in desperate need of cleaning (here's to me hoping for a bottle of D/2 for Christmas).. in any case, another genealogist had managed to read "Daughter of EJ Norton." I wasn't sure if that was the father's initials, the mother's, or perhaps E & J for both of them.
I started to look up Norton's in the Henderson County census in 1900 thinking this couple must still be alive and married. Came up with nada. Okay... let's back track. Let's look at the 1880 census.... Nada. I couldn't find anything at all census wise... so I looked for birth / marriage / death... found something.
Harry J. Norton married Eliza J. Sutton in Henderson on June 20th, 1892. Well... there's those initials.. EJ. Could this be it? So I looked in my tree. The only Eliza J. Sutton I have is Eliza Jane Sutton, the daughter of Franklin Pierce Sutton and... you guessed it, Mary Elizabeth Blackburn.
Now, here's a refresher. Mary Elizabeth Blackburn was the daughter of Marietta Webster and her first husband, James Blackburn. Marietta then went on to marry Nathan Gibson and have a child with him (Susan E. Gibson in 1853), and then I believe she died. Nathan then went on to marry Marietta's sister, Eliza Jane Webster in November of 1853. Chances are... Eliza Jane Sutton is named after Eliza Jane Webster.
But... here's the kicker. I found Eliza Jane Sutton's marriage record to Moses Jones Buchanan in Union County, KY, on March 17th, 1897. It says.. "first marriage." Well crap, she can't be the right person.
Back to square one. Where is Harry Norton? Why can't I find him? Why can't I find Eliza (Sutton) Norton? Where is she? So I took to GenealogyBank to look at the Evansville newspapers that are digitized and available on there. I decided to look for the name "Harry Norton" between the dates 1890 and 1900.
Jackpot.
The first article from May of 1893 mentions that Harry J. Norton married Eliza J. Sutton on June 20th, 1892, and that she is the daughter of F.P. Sutton (Franklin Pierce Sutton). It goes on to tell about him being arrested the very next day and being unheard from until then, May 1893, when he returned.
Harry and Eliza have one child: Virlie, (Dates being the best the genealogist can read on the tombstone) born August 8th, 1894, and died June 23rd, 1896. 1896 didn't have death certificates so it's no telling what baby Virlie died of. It could have been any number of things in 1896, sadly.
Then comes the next article.. January 16th, 1897.. Harry J. Norton and Eliza J. Sutton divorce. Apparently she was so ashamed or so hurt by the end of her marriage (and probably the loss of her child) that when she married Moses Jones Buchanan on March 17th, 1897.. she made no mention on the application of her first marriage to Harry J. Norton.
And actually.. Eliza divorced/separated again. Because by the 1930 census, she's listed as "widowed," and her husband, Moses, is listed as "alone." They aren't buried together, either. They did have a couple children together.
So that solves why little Virlie is buried in the Gibson Cemetery. Virlie's step-great-Grandfather was Nathan Alander Gibson Sr, and he didn't die until 1899. It's very likely Nathan, being a kind soul, told his step-granddaughter, Eliza, to bury her young child in the family cemetery.
It's very likely, but not 100% known, that Marietta (Webster) Blackburn Gibson who died sometime in 1853 after the birth of her daughter Susan, is probably buried in Gibson Cemetery. It would make a lot of sense that Nathan would bury his first wife here.
In fact, Mary Elizabeth (Blackburn) Sutton *the step-daughter of Nathan Alander Gibson Sr* who died between 1900-1910 might, too, be buried in Gibson Cemetery.. but no tombstones have been found and of course, there are no death certificates available for 1910.
It's amazing what a genealogist can dig up. To this day, I'm not sure Eliza's living descendants even knew about her first marriage to Harry J. Norton. And to this day.. I'm not sure anyone knows what happened to him. The man totally disappeared. I found some more mentions of a Harry Norton in the Evansville newspaper after 1900 but I'm unsure if they're the same man. One article in 1901 says a judge ordered Harry Norton back to Illinois, but again, I don't know if it's the same guy or not. There's absolutely no Harry Norton in the 1900 census in Henderson County, that's for sure.
Well Virlie, your heritage is "unknown" no more. You're a very distant relation to me but a relation nonetheless. I'm glad to make your acquaintance, little one.
No comments:
Post a Comment