Same?

In all of your genealogy research, have you ever run into a family where you think two of the children are the same person but you just can’t find the proof? That’s where I am with the family of Alzeda Hutchinson and her husband, William Frank (or Frank William) Ferguson. I have two potential daughters: Laveda and Mary Emma that may be the same person.

The 1920 census shows William F Furgurson as a 28 year old head of the household in Washington township, Buchanan County, Missouri. William Furgurson was employed as a laborer in the hide house. According to this census record, the family included

• Wife, Sadie aged 28
• Daughter, Lavada aged 9
• Daughter Blanch aged 6
• Daughter Ruth aged 3
• Twin Daughter May aged 1 8/12
• Twin son Ray aged 1 8/12

In 1930, there is a Frank Furgison living in Marion township, Doniphan County, Kansas. (Doniphan county, Kansas is across the Missouri River from Buchanan County, Missouri.) Frank was listed as a 38 year old laborer for a fruit farm. The family in this 1930 census record included

• Wife, Sadie, aged 38
• Daughter, Ruth aged 14
• Son, Ray F aged 11
• Son, Charles aged 6
• Son, William, aged 4

In 1940, a Frank Ferguson was listed as a 48 year old head of household. He was employed as a hide handler by hide brokers. The family in this 1940 census record included:

• Wife, Zady J aged 48
• Son, Charles A aged 16
• Son, William I aged 14
• Son, Archie H aged 6

IF all three of these census records are for the same family, then the family would include the following children with birth years estimated from the census records:

• Lavada, born about 1911
• Blanche, born about 1912
• Ruth, born about 1916
• May, born about 1918
• Ray born about 1918
• Charles, born about 1924
• William I, born about 1926
• Archie H, born about 1934

The fact that May was listed on the 1920 census as a toddler twin but missing from the 1930 census led me to look for her death. There is a Missouri death certificate for Ella May Ferguson with parents of Frank Ferguson and Elzada Hutchinson. This record shows that Ella May died 2 Feb 1926 in Greene County, Missouri. Based on the census records, that left 7 children: 4 boys and 3 girls.

To help verify this family structure, I turned to obituaries. Since Ray (Frank Ray Ferguson) died in Germany during World War II, his obituary is the first one available.

Died in Germany
Private First Class Frank R Ferguson died in Germany July 4, according to word received by his wife, Mrs. Julia M. Ferguson, 6323 Sherman street. The 27 year old infantry man went overseas the first of March and served with the 99th division of the 3rd army. In addition to his wife, he is survived by three sons, Richard, Larry and Frank; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Ferguson of Parsons, Kan.; three brothers, Charles, William, and Archie and three sisters, Mrs. Mary Gualt, Mrs. Blanche Starks and Mrs. Ruth Fisher.

“Died in Germany,” St. Joseph News-Press (St. Joseph, Missouri), 3 August 1945, Page 8; digital image, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 24 September 2021).

Thus the six surviving children have been identified as

• Charles
• William
• Archie
• Mrs. Mary Gualt
• Mrs. Blanche Starks
• Mrs. Ruth Fisher

All of the names match up except for Mary. Mary is not listed on the census records. And, Lavada is mentioned on the census records but not named in this obiturary.

To keep track of which family members were mentioned in which records, I created a spreadsheet to track when each person was mentioned.

Vada Gault is mentioned in two later obituaries while Mary Gault is not. Mary Gault’s obituary in 1971 lists Blanche Burr, William and Archie as siblings. These three match up to the children of William Frank Ferguson and Alzeda Hutchinson that were still living in 1971.

Based on the current information I have for these individuals, I believe that Mary Emma Ferguson and Lavada Ferguson are the same person. However, I have not been able to locate any record that would support this conclusion. All I have are 2 obituaries that place Mary Emma Gault in the family and 2 other obituaries that place Veda Gault in the family.

So far, I haven’t found a family tree that merges Mary Emma Ferguson Gault and Lavada Ferguson Gault. I’m still looking for records that would help determine whether these are two separate individuals or the same person. But, my current theory is that they are the same individual.