I know I said a few weeks ago that I wouldn’t write anymore about my family tree and family history, but I ran across something a few days ago that too important to just put into a file.
The good news is I’ve been able to trace my paternal family roots back 1,000 years and my maternal family roots long before that, but I have to admit, record keeping is sketchy the further you go back in time.
And that brings me to why I’m telling another family tree story, sketchy record keeping.
Two years of work and a family traced back 1,000 years, but one mystery remains. Two of my first cousins can’t be found. They both grew up in Fargo yet they have disappeared from public records.
Their names are Loren and Vicky Lynn Davidson and their parents were Lloyd Davidson and Myrtle (Baker) Davidson. My aunt Myrtle died in 1961 and Lloyd died in 1996. I found his obituary in the Ransom County Gazette in Lisbon. That’s where the trail goes cold.
A few days ago I did another search hoping there was something I might have missed in the process. I found Loren’s name and Fargo address and for a few moments at least, I was euphoric. It didn’t last long.
Remember the last time I wrote about this and said people don’t scrutinize their information enough? In this case, it was a little more severe.
Yes, Loren was born in Fargo in 1948, but the 1950 census was incorrect. It had Leo and Inez listed as his parents and Lloyd and Myrtle as siblings. Vicky was born in 1956. Leo and Inez weren’t his parents and I wonder how many others may have experienced this.
I knew it was wrong, but I called my aunt Bernice in Linton just to make sure I wasn’t having a bad dream or something. Leo and Inez Davidson were uncle and aunt to Loren and Vicky. In fact, Leo was a twin brother to their father Lloyd and they both attended school at Fargo Central in the 1930s.
Unfortunately, mistakes like this can lead a person researching their family down the wrong path quickly. And in my experience from working on this the past two years is that if you take that path, a greater amount of information is incorrect until you find an obvious mistake.
Then, you have to try to figure out where the initial mistake occurred and that can be a major headache to straighten out the incorrect chain of events.
Yes, the U.S. Census got it wrong in 1950. And had I not already known about Loren and Vicky from family stories, I may have gone down that wrong path and quite literally would have become more frustrated than I am in not finding my first cousins.
Something like this could have serious social and/or legal ramifications. A lot of people have relied on census data since the 1790s and how do you know it’s correct? I was lucky to have caught the mistake since it’s a family matter. But what if it wasn’t?
That’s why it’s so important to cross reference this material. Don’t just accept a date or place as the gospel. Cross reference it. I can’t imagine how the census takers could actually get the information wrong, especially when Leo and Inez had their own children.
Honestly, I don’t know if Loren and Vicky are living or deceased. I can only assume that Vicky probably got married and changed her last name. Or, they could be living right under our noses.
One thing I can say is that when Loren and Vicky were kids growing up in Fargo, their family owned a bicycle shop in downtown Fargo. I’ve reached out to Fargo historians, but nobody has come forward with information.
Otherwise, I’m at a dead end.
Getting desperate, I contacted a genealogist for hire and was told the fee starts at $3,500 and could go as high as $10,000. Even then, there is no guarantee Loren and/or Vicky will be found.
Two of my aunts, who both live in Linton, would like to connect, if they can. That’s why I’m working so hard to solve this mystery.
If anyone out there has any information about their whereabouts, please let me know. I want to make contact too, assuming they are both living. Several of us who are first cousins and our aunts recently reunited after nearly 60 years and it’s a great feeling simply to meet all over again.
This is a tough egg to crack, but I’m just going to have to keep digging. And my work could be a lot more efficient if I didn’t have to correct unnecessary mistakes along the way.
