Unfortunately I was not as lucky with William Edward PETERS’ death certificate. I learned
from his death certificate and obituary that he was born March 10, 1874 in
Thomasville, [Oregon County] Missouri and that his last wife’s name was
Caroline PETERS, but none of this was a surprise to me. His daughter Danie PENDERGRASS filled out his death certificate and next to his parents’
names she informed that she “didn’t know.” She didn’t know where his parents
were born either.
Death Certificate of William Edward Peters, 3 Feb 1948, in the possession of the author.
So my 2nd great-grandfather, William Edward PETERS continues to be my brick wall in
that I still do not know who his parents were or where they were born.
The census reports were not much help either. I entered
information from the 1900-1930 census reports into a matrix so that I can
compare data quickly and easily. From the matrix I can see that William was
born in either Missouri or Illinois. His father was likewise born in either Missouri
or Illinois and his mother was born in Missouri, Illinois, or Tennessee.
Unfortunately, William was a boarder in the 1900 census, and lived with a
different wife on each consecutive census reports. We do not know who informed
the census taker about the people living in the house. It could have been the
husband or the wife or whoever was home at the time the enumerator stopped by.
Specific Information
|
Sources
|
|
Name
|
William Peters
|
1900 Census, Highland Twp., Oregon
Co., MO
|
William Peters
|
1910 Census, Big Apple Twp., Oregon
Co., MO
|
|
William Peters
|
1920 Census, Thayer Twp., Oregon
Co., MO
|
|
Will Peters
|
1930 Census, Bristow, Randolph Co.,
AR
|
|
W. E. Peters
|
Obituary Pocahontas Star, Feb 3,
1948
|
|
William Edward Peters
|
Death Certificate, William E Peters,
Feb 3, 1948
|
|
Birth Date
|
Mar 1877
|
1900 Census, Highland Twp., Oregon
Co., MO
|
Abt 1875
|
1910 Census, Big Apple Twp., Oregon
Co., MO, taken April 28, 1910: lists his age as 35; 1910-35=b. 1875
|
|
Abt 1872
|
1920 Census, Thayer Twp., Oregon
Co., MO, taken Jan 6, 1920, lists his age as 48; 1920-48 = 1872
|
|
Abt 1873
|
1930 Census, Bristow, Randolph Co.,
AR, taken Apr 15, 1930, lists his age as 57; 1930-57=1873
|
|
Mar 10, 1874
|
Obituary Pocahontas Star, Feb 3, 1948
|
|
Mar 10, 1874
|
Death Certificate, William E Peters,
Feb 3, 1948
|
|
Birth Place
|
IL
|
1900 Census, Highland Twp., Oregon
Co., MO
|
IL
|
1910 Census, Big Apple Twp., Oregon
Co., MO
|
|
IL
|
1920 Census, Thayer Twp., Oregon
Co., MO
|
|
MO
|
1930 Census, Bristow, Randolph Co.,
AR
|
|
Thomasville, MO
|
Obituary Pocahontas Star, Feb 3,
1948
|
|
Thomasville, MO
|
Death Certificate, William E Peters,
Feb 3, 1948
|
|
Father’s Birth Place
|
IL
|
1900 Census, Highland Twp., Oregon
Co., MO
|
Unk
|
1910 Census, Big Apple Twp., Oregon
Co., MO
|
|
IL
|
1920 Census, Thayer Twp., Oregon
Co., MO
|
|
MO
|
1930 Census, Bristow, Randolph Co.,
AR
|
|
Unknown
|
Death Certificate, William E Peters,
Feb 3, 1948
|
|
Mother’s Birth Place
|
MO
|
1900 Census, Highland Twp., Oregon
Co., MO
|
IL
|
1910 Census, Big Apple Twp., Oregon
Co., MO
|
|
TN
|
1920 Census, Thayer Twp., Oregon
Co., MO
|
|
MO
|
1930 Census, Bristow, Randolph Co.,
AR
|
|
Unknown
|
Death Certificate, William E Peters,
Feb 3, 1948
|
One last thing of note is that I was told by the daughter
of the woman who informed on William’s death that William was killed by three
men who though he had sold the farm where he was a caretaker. They were trying
to find where he had hid the money. Unfortunately, this story was not reflected
on the death certificate which said that William died of a heart attack due to
high blood pressure.
However I did write
previously of a story I found in an Iowa paper about a man named John PETERS who was shot and beaten to death on his
employer’s farm by a gang of brothers in Council Bluffs, Iowa in 1891. I wondered if
maybe this was my William’s father or close relative. The only problem is that
the 1880 census report listed John PETERS
as single (William was born in 1874) and living in Iowa, not Illinois or
Missouri like the census reports indicated. It also said John PETERS was from Denmark and I think I
would have heard about it if our family was from Denmark!
Wow ! You really did a lot of research to figure this mystery out . Keep going...........very interesting case story.
ReplyDeleteThanks HFR for reading! I love the hunt!
DeleteLots of great details here Ginger. With all your careful analysis and digging, eventually something will pop up to help fill in what you're looking for - sooner or later! Thanks for posting your work so thoroughly.
ReplyDeleteThanks Celia, I sure do hope something pops up eventually! And thanks so much for reading!
DeleteI'm not a big help with the brick wall, Ginger, but the news article was very interesting and the phraseology was great!
ReplyDelete