I wish I had been older and
wiser and had asked her about her life. Now that she's gone, I'm trying to put
pieces together.
Her early life is a
mystery. We don't know for sure where she was born or who her parents were.
There are several family legends that are most likely not true. Her death
certificate gives her date of birth as December 3, 1870 and place as Willis,
Texas. I really doubt the place of birth is correct. The
informant was her daughter, my grandmother, Maude Pettey and this was where she
was born. She might not really have known. Besides that, it’s a very stressful
time for many informants since they are dealing with the grief of losing a
loved one.
Ellen’s maiden name was Crane
or Crain depending on who was writing it down. I did find a family by that name
in Crockett, Houston
County, Texas[1], at the right time for Ellen to have met our
great-grandfather, William Marcus Jeffrey. William’s mother and siblings were living in
Crocket at that time. [2]
There is no 1890 census but
we have a record of the first daughter Daisy born in 1892[3] in
Oakwood, Texas. Oakwood lies in both Leon and Freestone counties.
William and Ellen married
in 1894 in Anderson County. William’s brother, Andrew was living in Anderson County at this time.[4]
The second daughter,
Mattie, was born in 1894 in either Leon County or Montgomery County. The records conflict here. Her son Radford’s birth
certificate gives her birthplace as Leon County. Her death certificate just says Texas and Ancestry.com says Montgomery County. I lean toward using the son’s birth certificate
since she might have given the information herself.
In 1900 we find the family
of William and Ellen in Willis Texas with four children, Daisy, Mattie, and
daughters Manni, age 2 and Maude age 2 months. The census also notes that Ellen
had five children and four living children[5]
This census was taken in
June of 1900. In May of 1902, Ellen married Albert Moore in Huntsville, Texas. We don’t really know what happened to William. Our
best guess is that he died and Ellen, like almost all women at the time needed
to find a way to survive. Most often the solution was to move in with relatives
or to remarry quickly. Ellen had in-laws living in Huntsville so I imagine that she went to stay with one of them
until she married Albert.
In the 1910 census of Walker County, Albert and Ellen are listed with three daughters,
Daisy, Mattie and Maude. We are told by family that Manni had died. We don’t
know how or when or where she was buried. Albert’s occupation is listed as
farmer. [6]
The family remembers him as a prison guard at the Huntsville Prison but I’ve
not been able to find him in any employment records for the prison.
On the 1920 census[7]
Albert and Ellen are listed with daughter Daisy. Mattie might have been already
married by then. Maud didn’t marry until 1922 but there are other reasons she
might not have been listed. We know from personal contact that she worked for
the phone company as an operator. She might just have been at work or maybe was
renting a room elsewhere. In any case, Albert is again listed as a farmer
On the 1930 Census[8]
the location is now the Goree Unit of the Huntsville Prison. Only Albert and
Ellen (listed as Helen) are there and Albert is listed as not working. Not
surprising since he died of cancer in August of 1931. His death certificate only lists his place of
burial as Near Huntsville.
Once again Ellen went to
live with relatives. This time she went to live with her daughter, my grandmother,
Maude Pettey and her husband Jesse. My dad has some great stories about her in
his memoirs.[9]
Ellen died March 7, 1959. She was buried in Pine Prairie Cemetery in Huntsville.
There are unanswered
questions about this woman. Why was she buried in Pine Prairie instead of Old North Church where many of my ancestors are buried? I can only find one other Moore in Pine Prairie - Frank Henry Moore Jr. and can't find any
connection to Albert. And Ellen died before her daughter Daisy or her husband.
Perhaps there’s an unmarked grave of someone we've been looking for. Or she knew Daisy would be buried there and
wanted to be near her. And what happened to her husband William Jeffrey and her
daughter Manni? Where are they buried? And where did she come from?
I would so love to go back
in time and find out the answers to some of these questions, but I know that
isn’t going to happen. I can only keep plugging away at the search and maybe
I’ll eventually discover the truth about Ellen Crain.
[1] Census
for Houston County
1880
[2] ibid
[3] Death
Certificate Daisy Robinson familysearch.org
[4] Anderson
County Marriages Index familysearch.org
[5] 1900
federal Census for Montgomery County, TX
District 1 West of the RR tracks.
[6] 1910
Federal census for Walker County
[7] 1920
Federal census for Walker County
www.archive.org
[8] 1930
Federal census for Walker County
www.archive.org
[9] Pettey,
Jesse, (Dec. 1, 2001) One More Mission,
A Journey from Childhood to War, Xlibris
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