Birthday Observances, Hattie Belle Thompson Smith

Hattie Belle Thompson was born on 13 Feb 1872, in Iowa, most likely in Butler County Iowa to Linsley L. Thompson (AKA Lindsey, Linley and several other spellings) and his first wife, Artimissa (Artie) Jaquis Thompson. In July of 1875 Hattie's mother, Artimissa died. By 1880, her father, Linsley had moved to Erie County New York and had remarried.

On March 6, 1889 in Springville, Erie County, New York, Hattie married William A. Smith. Hattie and William had two children, Ethel Artie and Harold Lindsey.

On Febuary 20, 1920 Hattie died. She was laid to rest in the Maplewood Cemetery, Springville, Erie County, New York.

* Photo of Hattie, courtesy of Helen Gallmeyer DeWitt and Janet Jaquis Barnes

** This short biography is the result of hundred's of hours of research covering Hattie and her father.

*** Tonight I was delighted to find a memorial for Hattie over at Find A Grave. And, a photo of her tombstone!

**** Update:  Contacted the lady that had posted Hattie's memorial, and she graciously has transferred the care of the memorial to me.   Many thanks to her and Tana is rocking and rolling tonight cause I am genie-happy dancing all over the place.  WHAHOOOOOO.  Anne, WO, can you believe it??

Copyright 2010, CABS for Reflections From the Fence.
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Belva - Ada update, thanks mostly to "hummer", fellow blogger and very kind soul

Thanks to hummer over at Branching Out Through The Years I am able to bring some new information to light on Belva - Ada.

When I wrote the blog about Belva - Ada, I never in my wildest dreams expected someone to go out hunting for her. You can imagine my delighted surprise (and shock) when this AM I woke to find several email messages from hummer informing me that she had located Ada on the 1920 census, with her parents and the marriage record of her parents, plus a few other tidbits. I was really aghast when hummer told  me she had been up till 3 AM searching my Belva - Ada.

So, thanks to hummer I can now report that we know these new facts about Belva - Ada and her heritage:

In 1920 Samuel Riley, age 76 (or 46, according to the indexers), with his wife, Louisa, age 19 and daughter, Ada, age 1 year and 2 months are residing in Vermillion County, Illinois. *

Samuel married Louisa in 1917 in Randolph County Missouri.

There is a baptism for a Samuel Edward Riley in 1867 that we are investigating.

Louisa was Margaret Louisa Thompson, daughter of William Lafayette Thompson and his 3rd wife, Ada Mott. William and Ada had 3 children, Margaret Louisa and 2 sons, William Joseph Thompson and Morgan E. Thompson. In 1910 we find William, Ada, Joseph and Louisa living in Randolph County, Missouri.

William Lafayette Thompson died in Missouri in 1912. It appears that Ada remarried, maybe several times, as we find Ada and Morgan Tompson on the 1920 census in Randolph County Missouri. Ada is shown as the wife of Martin Shawver (this surname is quite hard to read and may be in error). In 1928 we find a marriage for a Ada Shawver to a JR Williams in Randolph County Missouri.

There are several family trees on Ancestry.com where we find William and Ada and their families listed. William’s parents are said to be William J. Thompson and Sarah Ball. Ada’s father is said to be Thomas J. Mott, her mother’s given name is said to be Mary Jane. These family trees give fairly complete dates for the birth and deaths of Margaret Louisa’s siblings, William and Morgan. So far we have found 2 marriages for Morgan and his obituary in 1992.

Thanks to hummer and her curiosity and kindness, I now know a lot more about Belva - Ada and her parents than I did just a short 24 hours ago.  As they say, the search has just begun.

I am having trouble finding words to express my appreciation for hummer's help.  Usually ole Carol has no trouble finding words, I usually find too many.  So, lets keep this sweet and simple.

THANK YOU HUMMER!!

* By the way, on the 1920 census the surname Riley was indexed as Raley on Ancestry.com. Seeing that the 1920 census find was the key to breaking down Belva - Ada’s wall, I humbly point out, that Spelling Don’t Count in Genealogy.
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