SNGF - Did Any Of Your Ancestors Suffer the Loss of a Parent At a Young Age?

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: 

It's Saturday Night again - 

Time for some more Genealogy Fun!!

Here is our assignment tonight from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings:

1)  Do you have ancestors who suffered the loss of one or both parents early in their life?  Did the surviving parent remarry soon after one parent died?  Was a guardian appointed for your ancestor to protect their physical or legal interests?    

2)  Tell us about one or two of your "orphaned" ancestors and how this affected their life.

Here's mine:
The first person who came to mind is my great-grandmother, Nell (Hutson) Johnston, who died on 14 July 1919 at the young age of 31. Even though Texas has been recording deaths since 1903, there is no death certificate for her, so I do not know her cause of death.[1] Her notice in the newspaper said her death was untimely.[2]

At the time of her death, she left five children ten years and younger, three boys and two girls:

• Beryl, age 10
• Mildred, age 9
• Tom, age 7
• Hal, age 4
• Luther, age 18 months

One would expect that her husband, Thomas Newton Johnston, would have remarried so he had someone caring for his young children. However, in 1920, the family was enumerated together and there was no live-in housekeeper or nanny.[3] He did not remarry until 1931, when he married Zilpha E. Morris on December 12.[4] My mother remembered her as her grandmother, whom they called Mama Zip.

Who took care of the children while he was working? The older children would have gone to school, leaving Hal and Luther to be cared for during the day. I looked at what I knew about Thomas’ sisters. His youngest sister, Nina, was 25 and single in 1920, but she lived with her father, Ruben M. Johnston in Comanche County.[5] He had no other unmarried sisters. I looked to Nell’s sisters and found they were married and living in Comanche County. My conclusion: he must have hired someone to be there during the day while he worked.

I wished I had known about these families when my grandfather, Tom Jr., and his sister, Beryl, were still alive. I would now ask them what it was like when their mother died. I hadn’t even known they grew up without their mother, except, my aunt did tell us a story.

She said when she started her first menstruation, she had no idea what was happening to her. She thought she was dying. I guess the cramps probably didn’t help alleviate her fears. She told us she used rags and washed them out daily, hiding the fact from her father and brothers. I do not remember who finally told her what was happening, but I’m sure someone did. Perhaps it was a teacher at school.

Beryl, as the oldest, probably had extra responsibility taking care of the younger children. Hopefully, her sister, Mildred, helped her. Beryl never had any children of her own. Could it be that she had had enough of taking care of younger siblings?

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[1] “Texas Vital Records,” FamilySearch Wiki (https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Texas_Vital_Records#Death).

[2] “Mrs. Tom Johnson Dead,” Comanche Chief Exponent, 18 Jul 1919, p. 5, col. 3.

[3] 1920 U.S. census, Comanche Co, Texas, pop. sched., digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com), Comanche, ED 70, sht 7a, p. 47 (stamped), dwelling 136, family 138, Thos N. Johnson household, roll 1789.

[4] "Texas, County Marriage Records, 1837-1977," digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1803985), Erath Co, Marriage Record Bk R, p. 150, T.N. Johnston to Mrs. Zilpha E. Burford, 1931; citing FHL 4820400, image 80 of 808.

[5] 1920 U.S. census, Comanche Co, Texas, pop. sched., digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com), Prec 2, ED 73, sht 7b, household 144, fam 150, Ruben M Johnson.

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