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A Brick Wall Has Been Broken

Yeserday, I decided to take a look at my grandmother's line again. My very first post on this blog was about my grandmother, Dorothy Musser, being a brick wall. A brick wall in genealogy jargon is a person who you can't go past, they are stopping you from moving on deeper down the line. It's not typical that a grandparent is the brick wall, usually it's an ancestor farther down the line, but mine was my grandmother. You can read more about that in my original post.

I decided to make a post seeking help on the Facebook page, Your Genealogy Brick Walls. I had been a member for a while, but never sought help before. I'm so happy I did, the members of the group were able to find information that I couldn't. I'd like to thank the members of the group for their help, I'm so grateful.

The first new piece of information I received was a tidbit about Phoenix, Maryland. My grandmother's primary residence was listed as Phoenix on her divorce certificate, when she and my grandfather, Paul Caldwell were divorced. I had previously tried to Google the road that is listed as her address, only the name of the road is given, which is Maynard Road. I can't find this road on Google Maps. I never thought just to Google the town name. A member of the group found a Wikipedia article on Phoenix and it seems it's a pretty affluent area. This leaves me with many questions on how my grandmother, a divorcée, could afford to live there. I have some suspicions, which I'll explore later in this post.

Next, someone found record of her marriage to my step-grandpa, Duke Pearson. Duke is who I consider my grandfather, since I didn't know Paul. Duke is still alive and my cousin Noel has contact with him, I'd like to see him one day, as well. My family lost contact with him because he and my dad didn't get along. My dad believed him to be a warlock who was putting curses on him. I really liked my grandpa and I wouldn't blame him if he did put curses on my dad, because my dad was horrible.

From the marriage record, I've learned:

  • Duke's middle name is Christian.

  • My grandparents were married in Miami-Dade County, Florida.

  • They were married on Valentine's Day, 1983.

I have seen this record in the past, but have overlooked it. I think I overlooked it, because as far as I know, my grandparents didn't reside in Miami-Dade, they lived in Orlando. This is why having unbiased people assisting you can really be helpful! In retrospect, my grandmother talked about Miami a lot. It was a place she really loved. So, it makes perfect sense she was married there. I remember one time she was talking about Miami and I said, "can I go to Your-Ami?" which she thought was really funny. I thought the city was called Ami.

Another member found her listed in the Baltimore City, Maryland Birth Index. This is how her mother's name was discovered. I already had her father's name in my tree, I don't remember how I originally came across it. Her mother's name was the mystery. Once that was discovered, the whole wall came tumbling down.

Birth Index

My great-grandmother's name was Virginia Deboard. My grandma always told people she didn't know her mom and only knew her stepmom. So far, no record has been found of Frank and Virginia divorcing, so that was possibly one of her many tall tales.

Next, Virginia's entry in Social Security Application and Claims Index was located. This told me that Virginia was born on February 4, 1915 in Grant, Grayson County, Virginia. She died only two months after my grandma in year 2000. No one even knew she had a mom and here she was around until after her own daughter's death. I wonder if she had secret contact with her or if she really was completely alienated from her whole family?

Also, from the same record Virginia's parents, my great-great-grandparents, names were discovered. They were Robert Calvin DeBoard and Emma Theora Blevins. Virginia's Social Security Number is also listed.

In the 1940 Census, Virginia was 25 and the Census brings the discovery that she had three siblings: Mabel, Charles, and Eva. There's also a major discovery that Virginia has a child named Gloria, though she is not married. Whether she was divorced is unknown. I have vague memories of my grandma mentioning a half-sister that she didn't get along with, this must be her.

Gloria's last name is listed as Blevins, rather than DeBoard which is curious, she also is the only one born in Maryland.

Two addresses were found for Frank Musser:

  • 2108 Eutaw Place, Baltimore, Maryland

  • 3962 Old York Rd, Monkton, MD 21111

2108 Eutaw Place on Google Earth took me to this intersection. It's possible the address doesn't exist or is inside one of these apartment buildings. This is where the Mussers would have lived when my grandmother was a baby as the address was found in the 1942 Baltimore Directory and my grandmother was born in '41.

3962 Old York Rd. goes to woods, maybe there's a house somewhere in there, the address comes up on real estate websites, sans pictures. It does say it was last sold in 2001 for $100,000 making me wonder if it's possibly just the land that was owned? I don't think the two larger homes in the back of the woods were his, but then again, you never know. Google Earth won't let me street view them.

Frank's Army Enlistment for World War II was also found. He enlisted only a few months after my grandma was born in 1942. He was a warrant officer. He was apparently a shorter man at 5'5 and 159lbs.

Back to the DeBoards. Virginia's parent's Find a Grave memorials were located and along with them birth years and burial places for the DeBoards. This is Emma's and this is Calvin's. Both are buried in Pennsylvania, the graveyard is near the border of Maryland.

Emma's father was Bynum Hampton Blevins. His Find a Grave Memorial actually included a picture! He is the man on the bottom right with the mustache. Find a Grave also gives him the title "Elder" which is probably related to his church member status. In my church, an Elder is a missionary, but Bynum appears to have been Baptist.

Bynum was born February 9, 1869 in Crumpler, Ashe County, North Carolina. His death certificate was also found, which states he died of cardiovascular disease. Bynum was married twice, first to Sarah Alice Carson and then to Elizabeth "Betty" Etta Galyean. Elizabeth's death certificate was also found.

The 1870 Census lists Bynum's parents as Elijah and Elizabeth Blevens. Bynum had six sisters: Mary, Miley, Caroline, Angeline, Elizabeth, and Samantha. Bynum had one brother, William. Bynum was the youngest of all the children.

Bynum's daughter (Virginia's sister, my grandma's aunt) lived in the affluent neighborhood of Phoenix, which may explain my grandma living there when she was divorcing my grandpa.

Several obituaries were also recovered, those I'll be going over on my blog over the next few weeks. I'll be taking up Sunday's Obituary to review these. I've learned a great deal of info from the obituaries he members of the group found. From these obituaries I discovered that my grandma had siblings.

  • Barbara

  • Ronnie

  • Judy

  • Tommy

  • James Calvin

Barbara appears to have a Facebook and I have sent her a message and a friend request. Judy passed away in 2015 and James in 1987. The others I don't know.

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