The Brick Wall of the Common Name - Robert M. Johnson of Seward Nebraska

[Spidermonkey]

The 1870 census has an Elias and Eliza (say that when you've had a bit too much to drink!) CRaig in Salem, knox, Illinois.  No Flora, but there is a Francis aged 3

[avm228]

The 1870 census has an Elias and Eliza (say that when you've had a bit too much to drink!) CRaig in Salem, knox, Illinois.  No Flora, but there is a Francis aged 3

Yes I see.  They have Sarah A, 5, and Francis, 3, (a girl) in 1870 and then by 1880 supposedly three children who should have been born before 1870 - Sarah J 14, Mary F 12, Flora E 13.

Perhaps Mary F in 1880 is "Francis" from 1870 and there's an error in 1880 regarding Flora's age.  What order do the girls appear in in 1880? 

[Spidermonkey]

Yes, I think we can perhaps match the Mary F with the Francis.  Flora could have been visiting elsewhere, or perhaps a mis-formed 8 has been read as a 13?

I think that Elias and ELiza married 24th June 1865 https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-17963-55262-17

[Spidermonkey]

oooooooooooohhhhhhhh!!!

Flora marries Oscar Chevalier (must be a movie star!) and confirms lots of our suppositions https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XJDH-284

[avm228]

Brilliant!  Doesn't he sound glamorous!  And fantastic that Flora's parents are confirmed.

I recall that she appeared in the Johnson surname as Divorced in one of the censuses (1920??) so perhaps the "movie star" marriage did not last. 


Added: yes, it was 1920: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MCK9-LR5

[Spidermonkey]

I don't think it could have lasted, because in 1920 census Oscar is married to Daisy, and living with their 6 month old son Charles (lets all do the maths and see what Oscar was doing between 1918 and 1920!!)

[avm228]

Had Oscar in fact been lawfully married to Daisy since 1909?

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XJQB-BX6

[Spidermonkey]

  What was he up to?!

Are you on Ancestry?  I don't know whether this is on family search, but there is a census entry for Iowa in 1915 for Charles Chevalier, who is 39, single (!), with father born in Switzerland (even though ancestry has transcribed this as Czech Republic) and mother born in Pennsylvania

[avm228]

How strange. (No I am not on Ancestry, just FS).

And where did all the Dostart children appear from (see 1920)?

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M81S-ZLF

Perhaps Oscar had a separation from Daisy, she went off and had children with a Mr Dostart, he went off and made a bigamous marriage to Flora, then they both thought better of it, got back together and had Charles?

The Dostart children's birthdates don't really fit with a 1909 marriage between Oscar and Daisy though.