Ida Rene Bryant > Jacqueline Abbott Zaun > John B. Zaun > Teresa Zaun Austin
There are several unsolved mysteries regarding my great grandmother Ida. Some of what I have learned from family stories is contradicted by my research.
What I know to be true:
- Ida Rene Bryant was born in 1868 in Southhampton County to Eley and Margaret Bryant.
- She had a twin sister Addie who married Blucher Fletcher and lived in Princess Anne County.
- Ida married William Butler in 1895 and had three little boys, Earl, William, and Rawley. (?)
- She married George Abbott in 1904 and had three little girls, Miriam, Audrey, and Jacqueline, and a son George who died in infancy.
- She died of pneumonia in 1933 and was buried in Bethlehem Cemetery in Richmond.
Here are the tricky bits:
- Her marriage record to William Butler lists her as Ida Rena Williams, widow.
- Earl Butler was born in 1892, three years before her marriage to William Butler.
- In the U.S. Census 1900, it say she is the mother of TWO, though it lists all three boys.
- When she married George Abbott, they lived in Richmond even though neither had family there. The Butler boys did not live with them.
- Some of the facts in William Butler's obituary are not consistent with other records.
- UPDATE (Aug. 29, 2018): Ida was married at age 19 to a man named Llewelen Eley. What happened to this marriage? Annulment? Divorce? Llewelen went on to live a long life in Norfolk, Va, with a new wife and children.
- U.S. Census 1930 (?) says she was first married at age 16. Her marriage to Llewellyn Eley was at age 19. Who was she married to?
So here are my questions...
Who is this Williams guy? How can I find out about the first marriage of Ida's that no one in the family seems to know about? Was he from Southhampton County or Princess Anne County? Divorce? Annulment? Death?
Ida's birth year is given as 1868 in every early census (1870-1900), but is 1871 in her marriage record to William Butler. The 1910 census gives her birth year as 1877. The 1920 census says abt 1869. The 1930 says 1868. I'm guessing that 1868 is correct, which is what is on her death certificate.
It has never been questioned by the family that Earl was Ida's son. They were close all their lives. Is Earl really her son? Did Ida have Earl out of wedlock and wait three years to get married? Who was Earl's father?* Was William Butler married (and widowed) a second time between his first wife Sarah, and Ida? Where was William Butler between 1874 and 1895? Could Earl have been from Ida's first marriage to (?) Williams and adopted by William Butler? Earl's death certificate lists William Butler as his father and Ida as his mother, but I have seen other such errors on death certificates. Earl's children believed, and still believe, Ida was their grandmother.
*(UPDATE August 29, 2018: DNA results have proven that Earl was Ida's son).
Where did the three boys live after their father died? There is a record of a "Raligh Butler" living in Laurel Reformatory in Richmond, though his age and father's birthplace are wrong. Earl later worked as a "reformatory guard" according to the census, so it seems logical that it was the same facility. Were the boys placed in a boys home or orphanage? Is this why Ida moved from Lynchburg to Richmond, to be near her boys? Is it why Ida and George lived in Richmond after they married even though neither one had family there? Based on the fact that many widowed folks at that time were forced to place their children in orphanages, I am guessing that this is what Ida had to do. The Methodist Children's Home in Richmond was opened just after 1900 - this is a possibility but I haven't been able to prove it.
Why does William Butler's obituary give his age at death as 55 (he was 61), and why did it say he had only one son (he had three)? His occupation and death date are correct in the obituary. His tombstone is correct.
So many mysteries!
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