Unusual Info from a Usual Source
Obituaries are a very common source of information for genealogists providing dates, names, relationships, and places. However, when I found the obituary for Arthur Raymond Vandyke, I also found an unexpected puzzle piece that helped me further form a timeline for my paternal grandmother, Fanny Vandyke Watkins.
Arthur, or Ray as he liked to be called, was born February 9, 1912 in Strickler, Arkansas and died in Turlock, California on April 22, 1989.
His mother had remarried after the death of her husband, Marshall Vandyke. According to Ray’s obituary written in 1989, in 1930 he moved with his mother Elvira and his step-dad Robert Turner to Turlock, California where he lived until his death. (This sentence about moving in 1930 was the unusual piece of information since it happened so many years prior to his death. The 1930 census shows them living in Turlock then.)
1930 seems to be a pivotal year for my grandmother Fanny. Her mother, brother, and step-dad moved to California. Another brother, Claud, also moved to Turlock in 1930 after he left Panama where he was a soldier stationed at Fort Davis. Her oldest sister, Virginia, was living in Goose Creek, Texas with her husband, and Fanny gave birth to her youngest son, Billy Dean, my dad.
Fanny made the decision to follow her family to Turlock, California, leaving her husband, Donald, as well as her baby and toddler. Her divorce was finalized in 1932. Then all record of her disappears.
I am now my own source. When I was six I met my grandmother for the first and only time. The most important information (which cannot be found on Ancestry, Family Search, or MyHeritage) is that she changed her name to Delores Frances. I have not been able to find any record of her name change. However, after 1932 she is known as Delores. She met Elmer Russell and they had a daughter, Wanda, who was born March 27, 1934. Delores (who used to be known as Fanny) married Elmer on March 20, 1948.
