Week 14: Great--How Many Great-grandchildren Did Warren Lancaster Really Have?
My great-grandfather, George W. “Warren” Lancaster died in
1964 and his obituary mentions his surviving relatives.
His survivors include his wife, Mrs. Maidee Lancaster, two
sons, Col. R.D. Lancaster, Alexandria, Va., and Wayne Lancaster of Pampa, a
daughter Mrs. Pansy Louise Johnston of Pleasant Hill, Calif., nine
grandchildren and one great grandchild; two brothers, Wilson of Muleshoe and
Early of Southland; three sisters, Mrs. Jodie Lovelace and Mrs. Maggie Self
both of Fort Worth and Mrs. Pearl Weatherly of Ropesville.[1]
Whenever I read obituaries like this, I try to figure out
who the survivors are, especially when they are not named. In this obituary, these
numbers don’t add up. I am one of the great-grandchildren and by 1964, I had two
brothers and one sister, making a total of four great-grandchildren.
If the great-grandchildren number is wrong, are the other
numbers correct? I checked my genealogy database. For grandchildren, I found his
son, RD, had seven children, his daughter, Pansy, had one, and his son, Wayne,
had two children. That totals ten, not nine.
Why were the numbers off? One possibility is my mother and
her four children lived in California and perhaps, “out of sight, out of mind.”
It was possible that whoever wrote the obituary didn’t realize there were three
more children born in California.
I think that the only time Warren came to visit his daughter
in California was in 1946. My mother was just twelve and her family was still
living in Walnut Creek. Here is a photo of Warren with Pansy and Lela next to
the jeep owned by Pansy’s husband, Tom. It’s the same jeep on the cover of this
blog, taken on the same day.
The likely reason for having wrong number of grand- and great-grandchildren is the person who wrote the obituary just had no idea of the California family. Perhaps it was Warren’s second wife, Maidee, who wrote the obituary. She would have never met Pansy, her daughter, Lela, nor any of Lela’s children.
Do you do the math to check the numbers mentioned in an
obituary? The numbers could be wrong.
Your explanation is probably correct. I have to "out" myself. I had to correct the original obituary I gave to the funeral home twice after my mother died. They were able to do the first correction before it was sent to the newspaper, but the second corrections are just on the website. My errors were in step children and step grandchildren numbers. I will attribute it to grief, confusion and lack of sleep caring for a very ill elderly person and just generally confusion with life these days.
ReplyDeleteI believe you are correct. And I understand the grief following the death of a loved one. When I spoke to the funeral director after my father's death, I couldn't remember his birthplace. I told them I'd get back to them after I look at my records. Your brain just doesn't function a full throttle in those times.
DeleteI noticed you have an ancestor that has the name R.D. Lancaster. My grandfather's name was R D and it did not stand for anything. Did your ancestor's R. D. stand for a name?
ReplyDeleteIt did. Rayburn Dinion. I don't think he was ever called that.
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