A little white lie?

I found a discrepancy in my ancestor, Alvin Theodore Godwin's date of birth. His draft registration card from 1918 says he was born 27 Jan 1878 in Mammoth Springs, Fulton County, Arkansas. His death certificate says he was born 27 Jan 1879 (a year later) in Saddle, Fulton County, Arkansas (which is about 13 miles south of Mammoth Springs). I'm not too worried about the location of his birth as much as the year.

Here is a cropped image of his draft registration card, dated 12 Sept 1918 in which he states his date of birth was 27 Jan 1878 and his age as 40. (Downloaded from Ancestry.com, 3 May 2012)

Here is a cropped image of Alvin Godwin's death certificate, stating his date of birth was 27 Jan 1879 and the informant's name of Alvis Bryson from Mammoth Springs, AR. (Downloaded from Missouri Digital Heritage Site "Missouri Death Certificates.") 

My first instinct is to believe the draft registration card because that is something that my ancestor actually filled out himself, or at least provided verbal information to the draft board about. He would know better than anyone (except his mother and other people who were present at the time he was born) when he was born.

I do not know who the informant of the death certificate was - Alvis Brysom. He could have been a son-in-law, someone who worked in the nursing home, or a friend. My inclination would be towards a family member because according to Alvin's death certificate, he lived in Mammoth Springs, AR which was over 200 miles from Springfield, MO.

However, upon second thought, when I looked at what Alvin's age would have been had he been born in either 1878 or 1879 in 1918, the time the draft board took his information, I found that he would have been 40 years of age if born in 1878 like he told the board or only 39 years of age if he had been born in 1879.

I do not know anything about the laws of the military from WWI, but I wondered if the age of 40 was significant? At least significant enough that he might have lied about his age and made himself one year older? Did he have a less chance of being drafted if he was 40 years of age or older?

Treasure Chest Thursday: Death Certificate of Nova Martin

Photo of Nova Martin and great-granddaughter, Ginger R. Smith taken in Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1995, privately held by Ginger R. Smith, Durham, North Carolina. 

Nova Lee Peters was my Great-Grandmother on my Mother's Father's side. She was born September 11th, 1908 in the town of West Plains, Oregon County, Missouri to William Edward Peters and Dora King. On November 9th, 1927, she married my Great-Grandfather, Orville Godwin, in Thayer, Oregon County, Missouri. (View their marriage License and Certificate here). Nova died August 22nd, 2000 at the age of 22 in Fort Smith, Sebastian County, Arkansas.

Orville Godwin was from the town of Mammoth Springs, Arkansas, just a hop and a skip across the MO-AR border below Thayer, which is where their five children - Lou Ella, Dorthy Mae, Jennie Lee, Lawrence Orville Jr., and Mary (died in infancy) - were born and raised in the 1930s prior to Nova and Orville's divorce sometime in the 1940s. Orville Godwin ended up in Tulsa, Oklahoma working for a sign painting company and Nova ended up in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Orville met an unfortunate death at the hands of his neighbor and his handgun in 1956. You can read about his murder in the Tulsa Daily World here.

Nova remarried to a man named Eddie Martin and stayed in Fort Smith, Arkansas until her death, August 22, 2000. We had just celebrated her 90th birthday two years prior. Eddie had been gone for a long time, but Nova never lost her zest for life.

For this week's Treasure Chest Thursday, I have decided to focus on Nova Martin's death certificate that was obtained from the Arkansas Department of Health, Division of Vital Records. I have one of the original copies given to my Grandfather at the time of her death.

A poor scan of Nova Martin's death certificate, Fort Smith, Sebastian Co., Arkansas, 22 August, 2000, privately held by Ginger R. Smith, copyright 2010. 

Information provided in this death certificate:
Name of deceased: Nova Lee Martin
SS#: 431-16-8832
Date of birth: 11 Sept 1908 in West Plains, Howell Co., MO
Date of death: 22 Aug 2000 in Fort Smith, Sebastian Co., AR. Died in the Fort smith Rehabilities facility in Fort Smith, Sebastian Co., NC.
Marital Satus: She was widowed.
Occupation: a Federal Employee with the US Government
Residence: 1504 Bluff Ave in Fort Smith, Sebastian Co., AR, 72901
Parents: Her father was William Peters, mother was Dora King
Informant:  Lawrence Godwin, Jr. of 1504 Bluff Ave, Fort Smith, Sebastian Co., AR 72901
Undertakers: Putman Funeral Home at 4300 Jenny Lind Rd., Fort smith, Sebastian Co., AR, 72901
Burial: 24 Aug 2000 at Mt View Cemetery in Hackett, Arkansas (View her tombstone here)
Cause of death was "Cerebral Vascular Accident"

This death certificate was instrumental in determining who Nova Peters' Mother was. It clearly lists her parents as William Peters and Dora King. Up until seeing this death certificate no one in the family had any idea what her Mother's name had been. But upon hearing that her Mother's name was Dora King, the family immediately recognized the name and remembered that Dora had died young from a snake bite, around 1912, and William Peters had remarried two or three times after.

I was also able to check off another box in my "My Great-Grandparents" post I published last year in order to help me see what I had and what I was missing in terms of obituaries and death certificates in my collection. I had hoped to have it 100% completed by the end of this year, but i'm not sure if that will still happen.

Tombstone Tuesday - David Orr Godwin

David Orr Godwin, b. 10 May 1854, d. 24 Oct 1928 - Personal collection of Ginger R. Smith, photograph taken May 1, 2006 by Ginger R. Smith, Saddle Cemetery, Saddle, Fulton County, Arkansas

David Orr Godwin was the son of Agrippa Sprinks Godwin and Eliza Ann Orr. He was born 10 May 1854 and died 24 October 1828, one year before his mother Eliza Godwin died. Eliza lived in Ash Flat, Arkansas and was buried at the Old Baptist Church Cemetery in Ash Flat, Arkansas. Her headstone was pictured here.

David Godwin and his wife, Zilphia Ann Pulley (headstone pictured below), raised their 15 children in Saddle Arkansas, then they sold their farm and moved to a smaller farm in the town of Mammoth Springs, Arkansas where they ran a boarding house in the 1920s.

Zilphia A Godwin, b. 13 Aug 1858, d. 22 July 1930 - Personal collection of Ginger R. Smith, photograph taken May 1, 2006 by Ginger R. Smith, Saddle Cemetery, Saddle, Fulton County, Arkansas

However their roots were still firmly planted back in Saddle, so that is where they were buried, along with several of their children. I will be presenting tombstones of their children in future Tombstone Tuesday posts, so check back here often.

---

This post is part of the daily blogging theme hosted by GeneaBloggers.

---

Tombstone Tuesday - Vibert Peters

Stone marker for burial of Vibert Peters. - From the personal collection of Ginger R. Smith, photo taken at Riverside Cemetery, Mammoth Springs, Arkansas, May 1, 2006

Vibert Peters was the brother of my great-grandmother Nova Peters Godwin, son of William E. Peters and Dora King. Vibert Peters died November 4, 1936 in Fulton County, Arkansas from Tuberculosis.

This marker was one of two placed by Patsy Pendergrass Cook's family of Mammoth Springs, AR. the other one, simply etched with "Godwin" was placed upon the burial site of Nova's 5th child born, a baby girl named "Mary Godwin" who died in infancy.

Riverside Cemetery is located in Mammoth Springs, Fulton Co., AR. Photos taken by Ginger Smith, May 1, 2006.

---

This post is part of the daily blogging theme hosted by GeneaBloggers.