For Love

I finally have all the documents in order to draw my conclusion to the Cleo Mallison Hughes and Illda Martha Austin debacle.

A baby girl was born to Dennis E Austin and Minnie (maiden name Daniels) Austin on 15 Mar 1895.  They had not named the baby yet.  Dennis and Minnie only had one baby which they eventually named Illda Martha Austin.  The Illda came from a Russian novel that Minnie was reading at the time and I'm pretty sure the Martha was Minnie's mom.  The baby was born in Toledo, Ohio.  Illda was born in Toledo, Ohio.  Granny Illda's birthday was 15th of March.  I feel it is safe to say that Illda, my grandmother was that unnamed child of Dennis and Minnie Austin.

I have in my possession 2 birth certificates or record of birth for my grandfather Cleo Mallison Hughes.  The record number is 181 on page 158in the County of Branch Michigan.  Earl Linn, the Clerk of Branch County, Michigan says that Cleo Mallison Hughes was born or 28 March, 1903.  His parents were Alfred J. Hughes of Coldwater City, Michigan, and Ella E Hughes of 1st Ward.  Alfred J Hughes was born in New York and was a carpenter by trade.  Ella was born in Michigan.  The date of record is May 14, 1904.

Now here comes the fun.

I have here in front of me the marriage license:

Up in the right hand corner, you can see the date is 1920.

Now here's a close up of the pertinent information:

Cleo claims that at the time of this license he is 21 years old.

Now Cleo was born in 1903.  Hmmmm.  According to my math, in 1920 Cleo would have been 17 years old.  I do believe 17 was too young to get married without your parents permission.

Illda claims to be 22 -- only one year older than her intended.  Illda was born in 1895.  In 1920 she would have been 25 years old.

I'm pretty sure that Cleo might not have known how old Illda was, but you can sure as hell bet that Illda knew that Cleo wasn't 21.

I wonder what old Ella Mallison Hughes thought when her baby boy brought home a 25 year old bride?  Of course, Ella made some questionable decisons herself.

Here is a picture of Cleo Mallison Hughes.  There is no date on it but I reckon he's around 15 or 16.

I think I look like him.  I grew up thinking that I was his favorite grandchild.  Maybe it's because we shared a face.

And here's a trio of shots of Illda Martha Austin.  I can't get it any lighter.  I'm guess she is around 11 as there is now date.

There's More to Me Than Being a Drake

Sometimes I get hung up on my families.  It's fun researching the Drake side of me for several reasons.  First, there is a paper trail.  When we start getting way back, many of my family were men who owned their own businesses and men of the sea -- not just sailors, but men who owned their own boats.  Later we became farmers, but that was much later.  Most of the men in the family read.  We came from money and I think we treated our women -- wives, mothers and daughters as equals.  There has been a lot of stuff written about the Drakes.  And, you can spend weeks and weeks jumping from Drake family tree to Drake family tree on Ancestry.com.

But sometimes I've got to suck it up and spread my time around.  I mean, why continue to go over someone else's research on an already well documented family.  So today I'll give you a little background on Illda Martha Austin Hughes.  

Considering she lived with me for about a year, I really don't know much about her.  I know that she was born 15 Mar 1895 in Toledo, Lucas, Ohio.  Her mother was Minnie M Daniels, a milliner, and her dad was Dennis E Austin, a railroad man.  As a kid, I knew that Illda LOVED Texas.  I remember them closing the store for a few weeks and racing off to Texas.  Galveston.  I knew that Illda and her husband Cleo, had bought land in Texas and were planning on retiring there.  I knew that at one time, Illda had been a nurse.  She had bad eyes, she had bad feet, and she had bad legs.  She was a good cook and a good artist.  She was very quiet and shy, but every once in a while, she would whisper a zinger that would have me laughing all day.  She had a temper.  She always told me that she was Irish.  She worked like a dog in their grocery store.  She wasn't very tall.  By the time she came to live with me, I towered over her.  I'm thinking she was around 5'0" or 5'2"

Here is a picture of her: