52 Ancestors: Curious - The Grumer girls

photo by Valerie Everett

I've written before about the Grumer girls, one of which was my husband's grandmother, Pearl (Grumer) Byrd.  My mother-in-law always thought the girls had been adopted by their step father, Frank Grumer, but I've never been able to find out much information about that.

Their mother, Mary Nelson, has been a bit of a mystery to me.  I knew that she was born in Sweden in about 1872 or 1873 but until her marriage to Charles Pickett on 20 September 1892 I had no information about her.  My friend in Sweden has looked for records for her in Sweden but has been unsuccessful.

Mary's first children, Pearl and her twin Ruth, were born 1 April 1894 in Rock Springs, Wyoming and two years later, on 10 October, 1896, their sister Bertha was born about 18 miles away in Green River, Wyoming.  Neither my husband or I ever remember hearing about Bertha - my mother-in-law seemed to know very little about her family, although she did stay in contact with Ruth and her family.  Although I can find no information for Charles Pickett other than his 1892 marriage to Mary, I know that on 24 May 1897 Mary married Frank Grumer.

We've always been curious as to who the biological father of the girls was and if they were, in fact, adopted by Frank Grumer.  I've made some inquiries in Wyoming and have found that they did not have birth records from that time period and adoption records are restricted to just the person of record.  Dead end.

But something curious happened this week.  I've been pondering what 'curious' event I might blog about when I received a suggested edit on FindAGrave for Frank Grumer.

Green River Star, Mar 28, 1941

Funeral Services for Local Pioneer Held in Evanston 

Funeral services were held at 10 o’clock Thursday morning from the Durnford Mortuary, Evanston, for Frank Grumer, 79, pioneer resident of Green River who died Tuesday afternoon in Evanston.  Death was attributed to pneumonia. 

Born April 15, 1862, in Baden, Germany, Grumer came to the United States when he was 15 years old, first settling in St. Louis, Mo.  In 1888 he moved west to Green River where he had since made his home.

Surviving Grumer are three daughters, Mrs. J.H. Offield of Green River, with whom he had been making his home; Mrs. J.E. LaRoche of Vallejo, Calif., and Mrs. M.B. Byrd, Winnemucca, Nev.; one granddaughter, Mrs. Jack Lambert of Salt Lake City; and two great-grandchildren.

Mr. and Mrs. Offield left Green River early Thursday morning for Evanston to attend funeral services.  Burial was in Mount Olivet cemetery in Salt Lake City, beside his wife who died in 1926.

Looks like a fairly typical obituary, right?  I read it, checked off the people in my head (Mrs. Offield was Bertha, Mrs. LaRoche was Ruth, and Mrs. Byrd was Pearl, my husband's grandmother), and put it aside.  

But WAIT!  I looked at it again (why does it sometimes take us extra time for something to register?) and focused on "one granddaughter, Mrs. Jack Lambert of Salt Lake City; and two great-grandchildren".  That information is true but it was the information that wasn't there that had my head spinning.  This was 1941 and my mother-in-law was born in 1921 and her four cousins (Ruth's children) were born in 1917, 1919, 1920, and 1921.  So why weren't they included?

In the last few days I've connected with the person who sent me the obituary to include on Frank's memorial and she's been a HUGE help in trying to sort this out.  I've learned more about Mary (she had eight siblings), the names of her parents, and from her obituary learned that she came to this country at just three years old.  So down the rabbit hole I go.

I'm speculating that Charles Pickett was the biological father of Pearl and Ruth and, perhaps, Frank was the biological father of Bertha.  And maybe, just maybe, he didn't 'recognize' the children of Pearl and Ruth as his grandchildren.  It's just so curious that one grandchild was mentioned while five were not.

This afternoon I've been in contact with the church in Salt Lake City where Charles and Mary were married to see if, maybe, they might have marriage records that might help.  And on the off chance the twins were born in Salt Lake (maybe they were just told Wyoming so that the 'secret' of their father could be maintained) they might have some baptismal records.  And just as I wrote that sentence, I received a message from the church that they would see what they could find.

Interesting to note that on Mary's death certificate Frank (the informant) listed her birthdate, name and birthplace of father and mother as ?, Pearl's death certificate shows her father as unknown, and Ruth's death certificate shows her father as Frank Grumer.  I don't have Bertha's death certificate but in the SS Applications and Claims Index she lists her father as Frank Grumer.

And that's what has my attention today.