Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My great-great aunt Vina Loyd married George William Leavell around 1913 or so. Vina (pronounced Viney) was born June 1895 in Iron county, Missouri. George was born somewhere around 1878 in an unknown location. Their children were Frances (b. 1914 married Albert Cook), Mary (b. 1914 married Hosea Mell), Johnny William (b. 1915 in MO and d. 1989 in CA, married Geneva Laxton), Rodney (b. unk.), and Edward Thomas (b. 1919 in MO and died 1952 in KY, married Elsie Bartlow).
Here's where the mystery comes in. We know that Vina died in 1925 in Iron county, Missouri. After that, George disappeared. Some state that he "went out for shoes and never came back." Generally concensus is that he abandoned his family. Some believe he may have started a new family somewhere else, possibly St. Louis. His children were raised by relatives after that. A family tree I found said that he died in 1913, but that was impossible because his children were born after that. That said, the MO death records site doesn't appear to have Vina's death record, either. Find a grave doesn't have it, either.
I've searched the Missouri death records and can't find him Missouri Digital Heritage : Death Records Certificates and I've done familysearch searches and haven't found him. I talked to one of my cousins who has researched this and I don't think they've found out anything, either. It's like he vanished off the face of the earth.
If he did die in Missouri, there doesn't appear to be a record of it. If he changed his name, I'm not sure there would ever be a way to find him. It probably wasn't hard to create a new identity back then.
If he did start a new family (he would have been, I think, in his late forties, but that wasn't too late for a man to start over) I do wonder what his family's name was and if they had any idea he had other children. I wonder how many lies he told, especially about who he was. Maybe he didn't change his name, but for some reason he just can't be found. He doesn't sound like father of the year, certainly.
You guys may not be able to help me. It may be a mystery lost to time. It just makes me wonder. I can't seem to find this family on familysearch's 1920 census, so I don't remember where I got all the dates from, probably from other people. I don't know anything about George's parents. I would try to search death records for an alias, but I wouldn't know where to begin.
On a strange note, George's son John's infant son was killed in 1940. He was accidentally smothered at home. That same couple lost two other boys in infancy, the last one was lost when he separated from the placenta. They died in the 1940s, but two of the infants I cannot find the official death record for.
It kind of bugs me. I'm not sure there will ever be an answer. The records don't seem to be there. I don't have an ancestry subscription, but I can still preview things and even the previews don't seem to have anything. I guess a person really can vanish off the face of the earth.
Vina was born January 1898 in Illinois to Henry Alfred Lloyd (1865-1929) and Margaret Ann Moss (1870-1921). George W. Leavell was born 28 May 1886 in Arkansas to Richard Harley Leavell and Martha Frances Douthit. I don't have a clue what happened to George, either, but in the 1930 census Vina lists herself as a widow. There is a death certificate for a Geo. W. Leavell for 1 February 1919 in Chambers, Alabama (volume 4, roll 2, page 369) but somebody needs to see a copy to figure out if that's the right George W. Leavell. And I've got him as George Washington Leavell, not George William Leavell. That's how he's listed in the World War I draft registration card.
A cousin of mine has been working on this for a while and so far has found some of this, I think, but not all of it. Viney died in 1926, though (I have her death certificate), so she couldn't be in the 1930 census. But the other stuff makes sense. I'll see what my cousin makes of it. He's a descendant of theirs.
If he did start a new family (he would have been, I think, in his late forties, but that wasn't too late for a man to start over) I do wonder what his family's name was and if they had any idea he had other children. I wonder how many lies he told, especially about who he was. Maybe he didn't change his name, but for some reason he just can't be found. He doesn't sound like father of the year, certainly.
I always wonder if these guys who abandon their families really started over after leaving or if they instead had something going before they left and they just couldn't maintain a double life any longer. You might find any children his second significant other had were born before he left his original family.
the 1920 census show Vina widowed at 24, living with the 3 children you mentioned and her widowed father 'Alford' who was 64 in Des arc. Iron Cnty MO - it is indexed as Lowell.
1900 she was living with her parents, Alfred & Margaret & brs/sisters - She was transcribed as Irme. Her father's mother and both her mother's parents were born in TN.
1910 their last name is indexed as Layd
so looks like between 1910 & 20 she married and was widowed -- unless the widow part was just a convenience - - - -
a tribute to census takers and interesting handwriting everywhere :+)
Source Information:
Ancestry.com. Missouri Marriage Records, 1805-2002 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007.
Original data: Missouri Marriage Records. Jefferson City, MO, USA: Missouri State Archives. Microfilm.
Name: George Leavill
Marriage Date: 5 Jun 1912
Marriage Location: Wayne, Missouri
Marriage County: Wayne
Spouse Name: Viney Loyd
WORLD WAR I DRAFT
Name: George Washington Leavell
1624 State, Granite City
County: Madison
State: Illinois
Birth Date: 28 May 1886
Race: White
medium height/build, gray eyes, brown hair
blacksmith
relative: Vina Ellen Leavell, same address
FHL Roll Number: 1614347
DraftBoard: 3
1920 census Marion, Iron County, Missouri (transcribed as "Lovill" but reads "Leavell" on census)
Vina Leavill ...24...MO, MO, MO...head...widow...white
Frances A Leavill...6...MO, MO, MO...dau
Johnie W Leavill...4...MO, MO, MO...son
Tomas E Leavill...1...MO, MO, MO...son
Alford Loyd...54...MO, MO, MO...father...laborer, wood something...widowed
(Apparently a census error, as he should be Alfred Loyd)
One ancestry.com family tree claims this is he:
Source Information: Ancestry.com. Alabama Deaths, 1908-59 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000.
Name: Geo. W. Leavell
Death Date: 1 Feb 1919
Death County: Chambers
Volume: 4
Roll: 2
Page #: 369
Source Information:
Ancestry.com. Missouri Marriage Records, 1805-2002 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007.
Original data: Missouri Marriage Records. Jefferson City, MO, USA: Missouri State Archives. Microfilm.
Name: George Leavill
Marriage Date: 5 Jun 1912
Marriage Location: Wayne, Missouri
Marriage County: Wayne
Spouse Name: Viney Loyd
WORLD WAR I DRAFT
Name: George Washington Leavell
1624 State, Granite City
County: Madison
State: Illinois
Birth Date: 28 May 1886
Race: White
medium height/build, gray eyes, brown hair
blacksmith
relative: Vina Ellen Leavell, same address
FHL Roll Number: 1614347
DraftBoard: 3
1920 census Marion, Iron County, Missouri (transcribed as "Lovill" but reads "Leavell" on census)
Vina Leavill ...24...MO, MO, MO...head...widow...white
Frances A Leavill...6...MO, MO, MO...dau
Johnie W Leavill...4...MO, MO, MO...son
Tomas E Leavill...1...MO, MO, MO...son
Alford Loyd...54...MO, MO, MO...father...laborer, wood something...widowed
(Apparently a census error, as he should be Alfred Loyd)
One ancestry.com family tree claims this is he:
Source Information: Ancestry.com. Alabama Deaths, 1908-59 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000.
Name: Geo. W. Leavell
Death Date: 1 Feb 1919
Death County: Chambers
Volume: 4
Roll: 2
Page #: 369
Oh my goodness you have knowledge of my grandfathers side!
STLCardsBlues1989;19130319]My great-great aunt Vina Loyd married George William Leavell around 1913 or so. Vina (pronounced Viney) was born June 1895 in Iron county, Missouri. George was born somewhere around 1878 in an unknown location. Their children were Frances (b. 1914 married Albert Cook), Mary (b. 1914 married Hosea Mell), Johnny William (b. 1915 in MO and d. 1989 in CA, married Geneva Laxton), Rodney (b. unk.), and Edward Thomas (b. 1919 in MO and died 1952 in KY, married Elsie Bartlow). <<<<< WE ARE RELATED!!! >>>> My family has been trying since before I was born to find out information on our family tree and the mysteries that lie within. My mother Lois. daughter of elsie who was married to Edward Thomas Leavell (Leavill), her father. That is a mystery to her and us. We have little to no information regarding him and what happened to him. Lots of speculation but hardly any facts. If you read this and if you can, will you please email me any bit of information you may have on him and the brothers and sisters? It would be a burden off my mothers heart and her two brothers as well. Thank you soo much for your time and this bit of information has been a huge ordeal for my mother and her brothers to actually know a birthdate and a death with states. Its somewhere new to start that may give them the closure they have been seeking all their lives. Thank you again.
K e i t h a h 1 6 @ Y a h o o . c o m
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Parents of George W. Leavell and Vina Ellen Lloyd
family mystery--Vina Loyd/George W. Leavell
