July 1, 2009 - Was There A Jeanette Lewis?

Evening,

I entered the name Jeanette Eley Lewis from the Descendant Chart that had been created from family files and was provided to me. The offspring of Ben 1856-1932 and Sarah (Sarah) Turner 1861-31 on the chart as entered are: Ora 1-8-90-9/70, O’Dell, Mildred, John, Jeanette Eley, Sadie, Ila, and Jewelle. I have inserted a copy of the same.

The logic of her death entered from a “Highly reliable” source is taken from the fact that she does not appear as a part of the list of house members on the 1900 US Census for Troy Township, Monroe, Iowa dated the 20th June 1900. The 1900 Census lists all the household including: Ben, Sallie, Udel T., Mildred J., Ora L., John E., Jewell E., Sada N., and Ila. There is no indication of a Jeanette Eley as indicated on the Chart.

When I first compared the two documents; the 1900 US Census and the Descendant Chart I noticed that Jeanette Eley only appears on the Chart, whereas Jewell E. appears on both. This means that there are three possibilities that I can think of:

1. Jeanette Eley may have passed away at some time before the 1900 Census was recorded,
2. Jeanette Eley was staying at someone else’s house at the time that the Census was taken, or
3. Jeanette Eley and Jewell E. are the same person, and the information on the Descendant Chart is less reliable.

At this point in time I decided to enter both names, Jeanette Eley and Jewell E. to your database. I decided to go with the first point that Jeanette Eley had passed away. My reasoning:

1. The birth years of all the other children who are included in the Census range between 1886 and 1899 which would indicate that unless she, Jeanette Eley, was older than Udel T. and it could mean that she had possibly left the family and could be recorded elsewhere or
2. There are some “conception possibilities” between the birth years of the children that she had been born and passed away at an early age.

The source, the Census is what is “Highly reliable”, definitely not my logic nor the Descendant Chart. And of course the 1890 US Censuses were destroyed by fire in St. Louis so at this point there is not any other documentary proof immediately accessible.

I hope this makes sense. It does not mean that it is fixed in stone and of course can change at any point.

Jim