Help if you can. My great grandfather was William Oviatt of Theresa, New York (also Evans Mills and Watertown). His daughter, Mildred, was my grandmother. He was married to Ella May Conkey, ? date. Grandma told me he died in a hay press accident when she was 7 or 9. Indeed, Ella shows up on a 1920 census without William. According to my grandmother's information, he would have died circa 1916. HOWEVER, when I did an SSDI search it came up as him having died in 1959. My great aunt Irene was (apparently) from William's second marriage, according to grandma. But the man either simply appeared or disappeared, as the case may be, because I can't seem to find a paper trail.
Thoughts? Ideas? The 1910 census lists him as having been born in New York, and his parents having been born in New York as well. I could sure use a birth certificate but so far haven't been able to access that since NY is reluctant to put much of anything on the internet.
