Great-Aunt Barbara
Last week, I wrote about finding my grandmother's parents. My grandmother, Dorothy Musser, had long been a "brick wall" for me, being that she was a very private, secretive person. With the help of members of the Facebook Group, Your Genealogy Bricks Walls, I was able to dive deeper into the Musser line. Along with finding my great-grandparent's names, Franklin William Musser and Virginia DeBoard, several other ancestors and relatives were discovered, as well. Sadly, many relatives on my grandmother's line have passed away, but with the help of a member of Your Genealogy Brick Walls, I was able to find a living relative, my great-aunt, Barbara Cruey.
I didn't have much hope that messaging Barbara would be helpful. If you are not someone's friend on Facebook, Facebook will typically filter the message into a spam folder that most users don't realize exist. I decided to send her a friend request along with the message in hopes Facebook would push the message into her inbox. It worked!
Barbara responded to my message and answered many of my questions. My first question in my initial message was basically just "does the name Dorothy Musser sound familiar?" When she replied that Dorothy was her sister who lived in Florida I was so happy! If you've been reading my blog, you may know that I didn't even know my grandmother had siblings. It turns out she had five!
Barbara says that my grandmother was not raised with the rest of the siblings. She says, the story goes that Barbara and my grandmother were in a crib when their grandma, Victoria Johnson Musser, declared she was taking one of them home with her. Barbara says that their grandma wasn't the kind of person one says "no" too, so their father just agreed to it. Their grandmother chose my grandmother, Dorothy to take home with her. To me, I can't imagine my mom telling me she's taking one of my children home! Barbara remembers her father paying their grandmother child support!
Barbara asked me a few questions about myself and if I knew the whereabouts of a few relations and then she told me she'd be happy to answer any questions. Very nice! I just wish I could have been more helpful answering her questions, mostly about her Aunt Dorothy Turner.
I asked Barbara if my grandmother ever went to a boarding school, my grandma had many stories about her time there. Barbara says she never recalls my grandma ever going to boarding school. She said my grandma lived in Broadway, Virginia. Apparently, she was giving her grandmother a hard time, so her father went to Broadway to get her, she promised him that she learned her lesson, so he let her stay, but warned if he had to come back that was going to be it. I asked Barbara if my grandmother was always trouble and she gave the very diplomatic response, "she had fun wherever she would go."
I then asked Barbara about their half-sister Gloria. Gloria shows up on the census as daughter to my great-mother, Virginia DeBoard. Barbara said her sister was told about eight years ago that Gloria belonged to their aunt and wasn't actually their sister, rather their cousin! She said the family is crazy. Gloria lived with her grandparents, recalled Barbara.
I asked Barbara if my grandmother went to college, my grandmother had always said she was a biochemist at John Hopkins University during the Ford Administration. Barbara says, no. She then mentioned that my grandmother stayed with her for about two months at her home in Maryland when she was divorcing my grandfather, Paul Caldwell. This confirms the Phoenix, Maryland connection I was researching.
Paul and my grandmother divorced on the grounds of adultery on her part and Barbara confirms my grandmother had seen many men, one of them being a police officer who was fired for being caught on-duty with my grandma! My mom recalls my grandma talking about the police officer and telling stories of him.
I then wanted to confirm that the plantation I visited as a child while in Virginia belonged to our family. Barbara confirmed yes, it belonged to her granddad Marco. I'm very thankful to Barbara, also, for aiding me in my research and identifying her grandparent's names, Marco and Virginia. I have since learned more that I'll be sharing in a later post. I asked her the location of the plantation and she said it is near Bristol. This is something I need more information on, I'd like to find the exact location and visit during my next trip to Virginia.
From there, it became late and we wished each other farewell. Barbara very kindly told me to text her anytime.
