Trying To Find Grandfather From Harrisonburg, VA (Virginia Beach, Arlington: high school, living) - City-Data Forum

ammwd · 11-27-2015, 12:01 PM

Hi, my name is Amanda. I am trying to find my grandfather, Richard Irving Mason, who lived/may still live in Harrisonburg, VA. I attached the only photo we have of him, from 1957. He married my grandmother in Delaware County, PA sometime around 1960 and his son (my dad) was born in 1961. The only other information we have is that he lived with his grandparents (the Clatterbucks) in/around Hinton, VA and he completed recruit training for the Navy at Bainbridge, MD in 1957. I don't expect anyone to have any information or to pass this on but I figured it was worth a shot.

mzfroggez · 11-28-2015, 07:48 AM

Hi Amanda - I did a quick search on Clatterbucks on Ancestry. com and the Rockingham County area had lots of them. Some have birthdates as late as 1938 and could very well be alive. I would suspect that he might actually show up on a 1940 census and will do a search if you like /I thought I would give you at least a heads up that you likely have a findable person. I also believe that anyone who has served in the military is on record through them and that could likely be information you could get with being a close relative.

Let me know if you want any more information on your granddad. (PS - I realize his name is not Clatterbuck but if I can't find him directly, that family with a little research would likely be able to give you some answers ) . Funny - most of my Virginia early ancestry came out of Rockingham and Shenandoah Counties so I spend a lot of time on line running back and forth there. I myself was a DC metro girl..............

ammwd · 11-28-2015, 09:05 AM

If you want to do a search for census records (or anything else), please do! If he's still alive, it would be nice to meet him. I will try to find military records. That's so cool that you have a connection to that area! I do know that they were divorced in 1967 and recently found some information that suggests he was a foster child, possibly adopted by Mr. Ellis Allen Clatterbuck and Mrs. Lula Betty Clatterbuck. He was serving on the USS Galveston as of 1960 (I think it was in/around Philadelphia somewhere). I really appreciate your help- please let me know if you find anything else

mzfroggez · 11-30-2015, 06:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ammwd

If you want to do a search for census records (or anything else), please do! If he's still alive, it would be nice to meet him. I will try to find military records. That's so cool that you have a connection to that area! I do know that they were divorced in 1967 and recently found some information that suggests he was a foster child, possibly adopted by Mr. Ellis Allen Clatterbuck and Mrs. Lula Betty Clatterbuck. He was serving on the USS Galveston as of 1960 (I think it was in/around Philadelphia somewhere). I really appreciate your help- please let me know if you find anything else

Will do and will keep you posted. And thank you for the additional data. I enjoy the search & know how good it is to "find" someone.

I never met my paternal grandfather/as a young child, I thought he was killed in the Civil War (quite a feat , if so, because my dad was not born until 1925- kids don't think in concrete terms when very small); then I thought he was in the Midwest which was so very far away because that was what was inferred. I knew he died sometime before 1970.

While seriously getting into genealogy this year, I found he is buried in Arlington National Cemetery; that he had been in D.C. all that time; had actually moved and stayed there when my grand mom moved the family back "home". . I knew my dad always regretted that in deference to his mom he never sat down with his dad. I do know now that my granddad actually watched the family from afar, respecting the refusal of his sons to see him.

So, I'll see what I can find for you. Today is a bit jammed packed with all the things I didn't do in the first 29 days of November plus research for a city meeting this evening , so tomorrow, I'll see if I can make a bit of progress. Back at you shortly

Mz T

ammwd · 11-30-2015, 05:48 PM

Wow! That must have been satisfying to finally find him. I know my dad is interested in finding his dad, even if he doesn't say much about it.

I found out today that I may have been looking at the wrong Clatterbucks. The E.A. Clatterbucks I was looking at had a son and daughter, William A. and Edna Frances, but we couldn't find any evidence that Edna had married a Mason. The Clatterbucks I found today are Edward "Eddie" Alexander and Annie Clatterbuck (nee Beach). They had a son and daughter, William and NORMA Frances (lol almost the same names) and she married a guy named Alfred Levine Mason in 1940. My grandad was born November 30, 1938 (according to divorce records I found). Still don't know if these are the Clatterbucks I'm looking for, but it makes much more sense than the other lead did.

Thank you so much for helping me, even with everything else you have going on! You are too kind

mzfroggez · 12-08-2015, 07:12 AM

Hi and apologies for delay
I did get on the search immediately - felt like I was making some progress but following through on your second suggestion produced different results. The Clatterbuck reference does play into the newspaper announcement on your grandparents' engagement. I found that after running things on Newspaper.com, and of course it had to be like the last thing I discovered. The Norma Frances person does show up on the Clatterbucks but she is divorced, has a child and it shows her married to a guy with a totally different name in that time frame. Anyway, I now know a good many Clatterbuck family histories....

I have run your grandfather several different ways and do show a Richard Irving Mason who died in the 70's in Virginia Beach as well as an obit in Oregon. Cannot get any connection to your family however. So at this point, I can't find that Norma Frances married Alfred Levine Mason. She is living with her parents and her sister in the 1940 census with her daughter, born in 1937 /1938 but not with Mason as a last name. Haven't found Richard IRving living anywhere as yet in 1940.

One aside - I have a very elusive person who married my grandmother and then died and she was later remarried to my grandfather. I have spent endless hours as well as the offspring of the first marriage and we have hit dead end upon dead end. We all have a story that should be easy to confirm but despite absolutely obsessive searching, we have a birth certificate for the child who is now in his 60's but the father - the spouse - well, for a man who was either an enforcement agent for the government who was disappeared somewhere near the Mexican border and finally declared dead which we have expanded to the railroad, private security, everything or an explorer who fell off a glacier (not in Mexico we assume) or was a spy in WW1 who must have entered the war before the United States was involved, he hasn't really vanished/we just can't get him to appear .

All to say that I have learned that anyone can say anything in newspaper announcements as to background and the like. Not saying it isn't true but that there could be a possibility that someone wove themselves a past which was presented in a manner that it would be believed. I can't say for sure that that was what was the case for my grandmother's first spouse or for your dad's dad and I will be glad to share with you the dead ends I got because I jotted much of it down as well as saved census data that appeared to follow the right people but then produced the wrong marriages.

There is an additional Clatterbuck daughter, also with a different married name but you hadn't mentioned her so there may be several directions there. I also checked the high school referenced in the announcement . I couldn't get the alumni info that would have been helpful but the school I believe only opened in 1957 I believe which would cause a conflict possibly with the Navy attendance date as well as close on the 1938 birth (but one needs to factor in a Nov birthdate (late entry to school in Virginia) and possibility of failing a grade etc. Like I said, I get into the rest of the story factors.

Let me know if you would like any documents copied to you. Actually, I think you can get the 1940 census on line for free now. One of the years you can. If I find something on reexamining what I got in notes, I will get back to you and if you find something that would help, I'll take a peek at that. I did check Fold3 which is military or supposedly but that was a total dead end - nothing . Not fail safe and the best bet may be the Government connected offices on people who have served because with your info, they should surely have a bit more as well as information on whether the person is living or dead. If you cannot get the info, your father should be able to as it is directly his parent.

Wish I had some great data - grrrr - but it was fun.....
Tricia

ammwd · 12-13-2015, 08:51 AM

Thanks for all the info!! I was able to use this to eventually track down his half-sister! I've been talking to her online. She said what I expected to hear- that he "disowned the whole family a long time ago" and that he "uses lots of different names to hide himself from people." I figured since it was nearly impossible to find a paper trail on him that he had been using fake names. Maybe I will find him, maybe I won't. Thank you SO much for your help!