Bluebonnet Country Genealogy

Archive for November 20th, 2009

This week’s blogging prompt couldn’t come at a better time! Seek help for records that don’t make sense.

Who knew!

Just a couple of weeks ago I located a new reference to my great-grandmother Dovie C McBurnett’s third husband Lon Washington Epperson. That’s great, you say, the more, the merrier (References, that is. Not husbands! But that’s for another post…)

A new reference with a new source. Isn’t that what a genealogist is supposed to be happy to see? Maybe not…

Let me explain.

If you’ve been following this blog, then you already know about Dovie and her 6 husbands:

1. William Earl Hall- married Dovie in 1906, gone by 1913 (believed to have died in a railroad accident)
2. Oliver Stanley Porter- married Dovie in 1913, divorced in 1920
3. Lon Washington Epperson- married Dovie in 1920, gone by 1935
4. John Otys Priddy- married Dovie in 1942, gone by 1953
5. Joe Farr Bailey- married Dovie in 1953, died in 1961 (don’t know whether death or divorce separated these lovebords!)
6. Unknown Copeland- don’t have a name or a marriage/death/divorce date for this gentleman, but Dovie’s last name at her death was Copeland

Confused yet? Dovie’s love life gets even more interesting, believe me!

Let’s look at the details of the McBurnett-Epperson marriage.

Lon Washington (L W) Epperson first appears in our Desperate Housewives spin-off in the 1920 US Federal Census, dated 9 Jan 1920, living

next door to Mr and Mrs Ollie Stanley!

How convenient! I wonder if he knows what he’s about to get himself into…

Next appearance of Hubbie #3 is in the 19 Sep 1920 edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, this time

divorcing Dovie (by this time she had adopted her younger sister’s name Ruby. What happened to the original owner of this name? Working on it…)

Wait a minute… Ruby and L W are getting divorced? When did they get married?

Somewhere between 9 Jan 1920 and 19 Sep 1920, it seems. That musta been marriage on the fast track!

An interesting little tidbit from the Star-Telegram, dated 29 Nov 1921

Could explain a lot! (This is L W Epperson. The address, 1600 D Street, is the same as in Epperson’s 1920 Census enumeration.) Notice that “Dan” Epperson has a wife and family.

Where in the world is Waldo (I mean L W) now, in 1930?

Back living with Ruby D(ovie), now with a son born in 1925! Guess that divorce in 1920 didn’t take. Or was it the head injury? Maybe L W forgot about the divorce

In the 1935 Fort Worth City Directory, Lon is listed

with no spouse. Where in the world is Dovie?

Here is L W Epperson in the 1938 Fort Worth City Directory

Married to some lady named Willa M and with 2 kids. L W has been busy!

To be continued