A Lack of Premarital Records

The last of his siblings to die, my husband's grandfather either didn't know or didn't remember the names of his paternal grandparents. His father, William Emmitt Hunter, was born 9 July 1874 most likely in Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, married in December of 1910 to Winnie Huddleston, and died in that same county on 4 April 1953. However, William hasn't been found in any census record prior to 1920. Where he was living before his 1910 marriage and the identity of his parents has been a mystery.

Oklahoma Department of Health, certificate of death 005619 (1953), William Emmitt Hunter.
[Obtained years ago from unknown source.]

For many years, William's 1953 death certificate was the only obtained document which contained information regarding his parents. The informant, my husband's grandfather, stated that William's father was Thomas Hunter and his mother's name was unknown.

William Emmitt Hunter, SS no. 526-30-2088, 3 Dec 1943, Application for Account Number (Form SS-5), Social Security Administration, Baltimore, Maryland.

Recently, an Ancestry "shaky leaf" hint for William led to the Social Security application index. According to this index, which states it was filled out in December of 1943, William was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, to Thomas Hunter and Wimnie [sic] Pierce. An actual copy of the application confirmed the information found on the index.

Efforts to locate William in the 1880 census, with or without his parents, have not been successful. Likewise, attempts to locate either Thomas Hunter or Winnie Pierce (or Hunter) in either the 1860 or 1870 federal censuses with reasonable birth years to have a child in 1874 have not been conclusive.

If you are related to the Hunter family, or have any more information about William Emmitt Hunter and his family, I'd love to talk! Please leave a comment or email me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

Tip: Working Around Wrongly Transcribed Families in Census Records on Ancestry.com

I hadn't been able to locate my husband's grandfather, Fred Hunter, and his family in the 1940 census. Searching for his parents and siblings individually didn't help me locate the family. So, I turned to a census "trick" to find this missing family.

PROCESS

I chose one of the more unusual names in the family: Mabel. I chose the 1940 U.S. federal census and searched for the following:

• First name "Mabel" set to "exact"
• Born in "1912" set to "+/- 2 years"
• Born in "Oklahoma" set to "exact"
• Lived in "Garvin County" set to "exact"

RESULTS

With this search I got 2 results, though neither were the correct family. So, I changed the "lived in" Garvin County from "exact" to "county and adjacent counties" and got 36 results. Near the bottom of the list was an entry for Mable Gunter with the correct parents listed. I had found the family!

1940 U.S. Census, McClain County, Oklahoma, Turnbull, population schedule, page 10A [written], household #163,
William E Hunter Household, image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 March 2017), citing
National Archives microfilm T627, roll 3308.

You can see it is a fairly poor copy, so it is understandable that it was transcribed incorrectly.

OTHER METHODS

There are several other ways I could have found this family:

• Searched for some of the family's 1930 "neighbors." Since the Hunters were still in the same, small community, it is likely I would have located them.
• Searched page by page through the 40 pages of this Turnbull enumeration. 
• Searched using either FamilySearch or MyHeritage, both of which have the family transcribed correctly as Hunter, not Gunter.
• Searched with the wildcard "?" to start the family surname by searching for "?unter." When there is a transcription error in surnames, it is often with the initial letter.

Do you have other tricks for finding missing families in census records? I'd love to hear! 

Please leave a comment or email me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Genea-Selfie

Randy, at Genea-Musings, offers a weekly "Saturday Night Fun" challenge. This is my first challenge, but I thought I'd join in the fun! This week's challenge...take a selfie of yourself and some genealogical item.

My husband's grandfather, who passed away only 11 months ago, served in the Navy Seals as a Seabee. Their slogan: "We build, we fight." During WWII, the Seebees built roads, airstrips, hospitals, housing, bridges, and more. Grandpa built bridges.

About 10 years ago, my sister-in-law took Grandpa's navy photo, ring, Navy patch, and Seabee patch, and created this shadowbox. After his death, these were passed along to my husband. We also have his two Navy yearbooks and the flag that was presented to the family during his military funeral.

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net