The Ancestral Pen

  Sometimes the most charming stories in our family history come from the unexpected hurdles our ancestors faced on their way to "I do." This week's theme of "wedding bells" brings me to a delightful tale of bureaucratic obstacles, young love, and a sympathetic clerk who saved the day for my great-great-grandparents. A Saturday Surprise On Saturday, May 7, 1893, David Isaiah Rollett had everything planned perfectly. He would visit the recorder's office in St. Joseph, Missouri, obtain his marriage license, and wed his beloved Rosa W. Clark the following day. What could go wrong? Everything, as it turned out. When David appeared at the recorder's office that Saturday afternoon, eager to make his upcoming nuptials official, he was met with disappointing news: the license was refused. Rosa was underage, and her father's consent was required. The catch? Her father was in St. George and couldn't possibly arrive before the office closed for the week...

   Thomas and Martha with their three oldest boys. Like a wheel in motion, my 2x great-grandfather Thomas Miller Hoard's life was characterized by constant movement across America's heartland as he sought better opportunities for his family. Throughout his 69 years, Thomas's journey would take him through multiple states - from Missouri to Nebraska, Arkansas to Kansas, and finally to Oklahoma - as he raised a large family and adapted to the changing economic and social landscape of late 19th and early 20th century America. Early Life and Family Background Thomas Miller Hoard was born on June 27, 1867 to James W. Hoard (1837-1911) and Emily Letitia Scott (1848-1948), Thomas came from a family with its own interesting history. According to his father's obituary, James was born near Atlanta, Georgia on June 7, 1839. As a boy, he moved with his parents to Alabama, where he lived until the Civil War broke out. James then enlisted in the Confederate Army and served for three ...

Some relatives leave behind stories of triumph and success. Others, like my 2x great grand uncle Jay "Jaybird" Roe, leave stories that reflect the harsh realities of a different era – stories that remind us how far we've come in understanding and treating medical conditions, yet how far we still have to go. Born around 1900 in Kansas, Jay first appears in the 1910 census as a 7-year-old boy living with his father Jerry Rae in Otoe, Noble County, Oklahoma. The family, though they attempted to claim Native American heritage on census records, were actually Romani Travelers. Like many nomadic peoples throughout history, they faced prejudice and struggled to find acceptance in mainstream American society. Jay's life would be marked by his epilepsy – a condition deeply misunderstood in early 20th century America. During the 1920s and 1930s, epilepsy was heavily stigmatized and often conflated with mental illness or intellectual disability, even though many people with ep...