Finding Lillie Mae Dukeshier

The first time I see her is when she married my great-grandfather on 28 Jan 1869:
http://joedeshon.smugmug.com/photos/370163116_vLJsp-X3.jpg

Notice that he is listed as O. N. Deshon (or maybe Dishon). It is common to see our last name misspelled Dishon, which is wrong. There is some disagreement in our family how it actually should be spelled, though. Most people spell it with an upper-case "S". Some put a space in it ("De Shon") and some spell it CamelCased ("DeShon"). That's a whole different topic. I spell it "DeShon".

I know his name was Oliver. I have never been able to discover his middle name, other than the initial "N".

Notice that her name is spelled "Lillie M. Dukeshier". (She'll be "Mae" later.)

Also notice that she was only 17, so her father had to sign for her. I can't tell if his first name is supposed to be "Wentworth" or "Wintworth" or "Wintsworth". I've seen it just about every way. I stick with "Wentworth".

That was apparently not a happy marriage. I know that my grandfather, William Roy DeShon, was born on 22 Dec 1890. For many years, I thought he was an only child. Until recently, I never knew what happened to him.

The epiphany of my research happened when I stumbled on this census record:
http://joedeshon.smugmug.com/photos/370163537_mWVQM-X3.jpg

Oh my God. It showed my grandfather as a 9 year old boy living in Joplin, Missouri in 1900. I had no idea!

His name had been misspelled as Wm R "Dishon". That's why it never showed up in any indexes until I dug deeper and deeper. There he was, listed as a step-son of David Bigley. I had never heard of him. The dates for "Lillie M" line up. And it shows her being born in Iowa and her father being born in Canada. I knew I had found the right person.

But who was "Ralph" DeShon? Apparently, he was a second son of Oliver and Lille Mae. And this is the only record I have of him. I can only guess that he died before the 1910 census.

That led me to this marriage license for David and Lillie Mae on 25 Mar 1897 in Steelville, Missouri:
http://joedeshon.smugmug.com/photos/370176563_KLTh7-X3.jpg

My guess is that Oliver and Lillie Mae split up right around the time Ralph was born (1895). She moved to Steelville to be with her father. Somehow, she hooked up with David, who already had some children from a previous marriage.

Armed with that data, I started writing to some people in the Bigley family. (I found them to be much more cooperative than the DeShons.) Several of them remembered "Grandma Mae". Nobody remembered little Ralph DeShon, which leads me to believe he died soon after 1900.

Here's the family in the 1910 census:
http://joedeshon.smugmug.com/photos/370162436_oiJh6-X3.jpg

My grandfather, William Roy DeShon has moved out. Knowing him, he probably moved out the day after his high school graduation. Ralph has disappeared. (He would have been about 15.) It says that "May" (as she is listed here) has given birth to 9 children and 6 of them are still alive. One of the missing ones is Ralph. I haven't been able to account for the others. A few more children have been added.

Addie Crow is a sister-in-law living with them. So is a boarder, C. H. Nieswinger. I found out from other family members that Addie was a Lillie Mae's sister. But she was known to all the family as Addie Nieswinger. So she must have already married a "Crow" who had died (she is listed as a widow) and then married this guy right after the 1910 census.

David died in 1915. The Bigley family tells me that Mae and her sister Addie moved to Kansas City to live the rest of their years, although I have never found any records of them living together.

I haven't found them in the 1920 census. But I know she's living in Kansas City by 1923, because that's when I found this:
http://joedeshon.smugmug.com/photos/374224195_N8unB-X3.jpg

It's a marriage license that she signed for her under-age daughter. She lists her address as 716 W. 10th Street in Kansas City. She signed it "Mae Bigley".

I found her in the 1930 census in Kansas City:
http://joedeshon.smugmug.com/photos/370162562_CVM6A-X3.jpg

She's apparently living in a boarding house. They spell it "May" here. And this time she says her father is Canada-French (not English). And it also says her mother is Canada-French, which isn't correct. But perhaps that can be excused because of all the people in the boarding house.

And I already sent you her death certificate. Here it is again:
http://joedeshon.smugmug.com/photos/370162970_WV6KU-X3.jpg

To summarize all this, I have attached a descendant chart that I just dumped from Family Tree Maker. There's still more work to do on it, but that's what I have so far.

I can send you a gedcom file, if you'd like that. (I am a computer geek, after all.)

As far as I know, I'm the first person to ever trace Lillie Mae to this degree. Pieces of this exist in other place, but this is the only place you can get this much. (I doubt that she wanted to be traced!)

William White

http://www.mayflowerhistory.com/Passengers/WilliamWhite.php

Death: 21 February 1620/1, Plymouth.
Children: Resolved, Peregrine.

William White is a difficult individual to research, and much as been mispublished about him. There is a marriage record in Leiden, Holland, which records the marriage of a William White to Anna Fuller on 27 January 1612; the marriage was witnessed by Sarah Priest and Anna's brother Samuel Fuller. For many years this was thought to have been the Mayflower passenger, Susanna and Anna being reasonable variants of the same name.

This has been a heavily-debated issue: was this the marriage of the Mayflower passenger, or not? There are at least two William White's living in Leiden during the appropriate time period, one was a woolcomber, and one was a tobacco merchant. The William White who married Anna Fuller was called a woolcomber in the 1612 marriage record, which was witnessed by Sarah Priest. On 10 April 1621, well after the Mayflower had departed, William White woolcomber was a party to the antenumptual agreement of Samuel Lee in Leiden. Thus, William White, woolcomber, could not have been the Mayflower passenger. And since Sarah Priest had witnessed the will of William White in 1612, wouldn't it be reasonable to assume it was the same William White who witnessed her own marriage to Godbert Godbertson in Leiden in October 1621? The Mayflower passenger was also not the tobacco merchant, who appears in numerous Leiden records throughout the 1620s. So there was either a third William White in Leiden, or else the William White of the Mayflower may have joined onto the Mayflower's voyage from England.

In any case, William and his wife Susanna came on the Mayflower in 1620 with son Resolved; Susanna gave birth to son Peregrine while the Mayflower was still anchored off the top of Cape Cod waiting for the Pilgrims to discover a place to build their colony. William died the first winter, on the same day as three other passengers, including William Mullins. His wife Susanna remarried to Edward Winslow a few months later, being the first marriage to occur at Plymouth.

Mayflower Pedigree

Original Mayflower Pilgrim Ancestor: William White
Son/Daughter: Peregrine White Married: Sarah Bassett
Son/Daughter: Daniel White Married: Hannah Hunt
Son/Daughter: John White Married: Susanna Sherman
Son/Daughter: John White Married: Joanna Sprague
Son/Daughter: Andrew White Married: Sara Railey
Son/Daughter: Mary White Married: Georg Joseph Tuchsherer
Son/Daughter: George S. Dukeshier Married: Hester Cunnabell
Son/Daughter: Wentworth William Dukeshier Married: Priscilla Lattrell
Son/Daughter: Lillie Mae Dukeshier Married: Oliver N. DeShon
Son/Daughter: William Roy DeShon, Sr Married: Millie Hollowell
Son/Daughter: William Roy DeShon, II Married: Eva Kathryn Beckner
Son/Daughter: Joseph Allen DeShon

The Mayflower Society

http://www.themayflowersociety.com/

The Mayflower

This tree takes Wentworth Dukeshier's ancestry all the way back to the Mayflower:
http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/TreeInfo.aspx?tid=7556686&pg=50

Mable Claire Bulyar Beckner

This is a placeholder for a biography.

William Roy DeShon, Sr.

This is a placeholder for a biography.

Burl Leonard Beckner

This is a placeholder for a biography.

Lillie Mae Dukeshier DeShon Bigley

This is a placeholder for a biography.

Yet another Dukeshire wedding in Iowa

http://ftp.rootsweb.ancestry.com/pub/usgenweb/ia/page/vitals/marriages/c-names.txt

Page County, Iowa. Marriages C-names, 1852 - 1880

================================================================
Copyright. All rights reserved.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm
This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb
Archives by: (c) Pat Combs O'Dell <genpat@netins.net>
================================================================
...
<snip>
...
Cozad, Hezakiah to Sarah Dukeshire, 09 Nov 1859
...
<snip>
...

Another Dukeshire wedding in Iowa

http://ftp.rootsweb.ancestry.com/pub/usgenweb/ia/page/vitals/marriages/t-names.txt

Page County, Iowa. Marriages T-names, 1852 - 1880

====================================================================
Copyright. All rights reserved.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm
This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb
Archives by: (c) Pat Combs O'Dell <genpat@netins.net>
================================================================

...
<snip>
...
Taylor, Frank to ----? Muir, 16 Sep 1876
Taylor, Frank to Sarah J. Dukeshire, 17 May 1880
...
<snip>
...

Two Dukeshire weddings in Iowa

http://ftp.rootsweb.ancestry.com/pub/usgenweb/ia/page/vitals/marriages/d-names.txt

Page County, Iowa. Marriages D-names, 1852 - 1880


================================================================
====
Copyright. All rights reserved.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm
This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb
Archives by: (c) Pat Combs O'Dell <genpat@netins.net>
================================================================

...
<snip>
...
Dukeshire, George to Mahala Hall, 07 Jun 1876
Dukeshire, Sarah to Frank Taylor, 17 May 1880
...
<snip>
...

David Bigley's death certificate

http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/deathcertificates/results.asp?type=advance&tLName=&radSearch=Exact&tFName=&radFNSearch=Exact&sCounty=Jasper&tYear=1915&sMonth=7#null

David Bigley's first wife?

http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/th/read/BIGLEY/2003-05/1053027664

BIGLEY-L Archives

From: "Ann Wideman"
Subject: [BIGLEY] Julia Graham borned in Steelville
Date: Thu, 15 May 2003 14:41:04 -0500

Listers,
I have a Julia GRAHAM who married a David BIGLEY 1 Apr 1885 in Crawford Co.,
Missouri. I have been told that her parents are William GRAHAM and Rebecca
BROOKS. I do not have any dates for her except the marriage date, which I
retrieved from Brian Oster's marriage abstracts. Does anyone know if her
parents are the above mentioned and when she was born and died. I believe
that it is possible that she may have died in Joplin, Missouri or that area
or that she died in Kansas.
Any help would be gratefully appreciated. Thank you so much.
Ann
PS I have also sent this to the BIGLEY list so please excuse a duplicate if
you get it.

Jacque L. Moore (daughter of Addie Mae Bigley Hardy)

http://www.palaciosbeacon.com/home/obitarchivesC.shtml

JACQUE L. MOORE
Funeral services for Jacque L. Moore, 75, of Palacios, were held March 24, 2004 at the First Baptist Church in Palacios. Interment was at Hawley Cemetery in Blessing. Family and friends will served as pallbearers. Mrs. Moore was born March 5, 1929 in Joplin, Missouri to Jack Hardy and Addie Mae Bigley Hardy. She died March 20, 2004 at her residence. A resident of Palacios since 1965, she had worked as Librarian for the Palacios Public Library for many years. She was a member of the First Baptist Church, the Fraternal Order of Eagles #3821, Friends of the Elderly, and the Palacios Area Historical Association (Musuem). She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Sherry and Joseph Kalas of Bay City; son and daughter-in-law, Davie E. and Kathy Moore of Palacios; two sisters, Mary Grayson of Longdale, Okla. and Jayne Flesher of Webb City, Mo.; brother, Tom Lundstrum of Springdale, Ark.; three grandchildren; and three great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, David E. Moore; son, Sandy Sam Moore; and 11 brothers and sisters. Memorials may be made to El Campo Hospice, Senior Citizens Center in Palacios, Texas Library Association, Houston Library Association, or the University of Houston Alumni Association. Arrangements are with Palacios Funeral Home in Palacios.

Mary Evelyn Grayson (daughter of Addie Mae Bigley Hardy)

http://www.enidnews.com/obituaries/local_story_064232719.html/resources_printstory

MARY EVELYN GRAYSON
The funeral for Mary Evelyn Grayson, 74, of Longdale, will be 10 a.m. Thursday at First Baptist Church of Fairview. The Rev. David Mendenhall will officiate. Burial will be in Longdale Cemetery. Arrange-ments are by Haigler-Pierce Funeral Home.
She was born Dec. 28, 1932, in Joplin, Mo., to Jack and Addie Mae Bigley Hardy and died Sunday, March 4, 2007, at her home.
Surviving are her husband Roy Grayson; five children, Terry Lester, Mark Lester, Shirli Turner, Craig Lester and Dawn Tripp; eight stepchildren, David Grayson, Cathy Cook, Steven Grayson, Sue Pumphrey, Anne Mitchell, Linda Egan, Chuck Grayson and Jim Grayson; one brother, Tom Lundstrum; one sister, Janye Flesher; 37 grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by two children.
Memorials may be made through the funeral home to Gideon International.

Wentworth

wentworth Name Meaning and History
English: habitational name from places in Cambridgeshire and South Yorkshire called Wentworth, probably from the Old English byname Wintra meaning ‘winter’ + Old English worð ‘enclosure’. It is, however, also possible that the name referred to a settlement inhabited only in winter. Compare Winterbottom.

Dukeshier

Schneider is German for tailor.
As you mention, tuch, is cloth or fabric, schere, is scissors or shears,
so maybe it means somebody who works with, or cuts, cloth but is not a tailor.

Edit :
Schneider : Last name origin & meaning:
German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a tailor, literally ‘cutter’, from Middle High German snīder, German Schneider, Yiddish shnayder. The same term was sometimes used to denote a woodcutter.

Edit 2 : Well, how about that ?

Tuchscherer : Last name origin & meaning:
German: occupational name for a cloth cutter or merchant, from Middle High German tuoch ‘cloth’ + an agent derivative of schern ‘to cut’.

So there you have it !!