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woden_spoon OP t1_iyar3fd wrote

I assume that this was the marriage certificate of one of the original homeowners’ parents. A bit of the wall was bodged with wood from old shipping crates, which were stamped with the name “John Evans.”

Before I put the wall back up, I framed this to preserve it and put it back where I found it, hopefully for another century. Why risk being haunted?

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PopulationMe t1_iyas9e5 wrote

Would be interesting to see if they had any children and see if they’d want it?

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woden_spoon OP t1_iyaudvx wrote

Replying to PopulationMe (#784,948)

I was able to find their marriage record from wvgenweb.org, but I haven’t really found any other genealogical info (granted, I haven’t looked all that hard—and I don’t subscribe to any genealogical websites).

The previous owner of the house passed away before we bought it. I don’t know her maiden name, but I assume this was her parents’ marriage certificate, and was perhaps brought in when her father came to live with them (presumably after his wife passed away). As I mentioned in another comment, the wall itself was a partition partially built out of moving crates, with John Evans’ name and address stamped on them.

Edit to add: I live in Vermont, not West Virginia.

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librarianjenn t1_iyawrf7 wrote

That is really cool! If you cross post this to r/RBI someone will have their childrens’ names in 2 minutes

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dragonjz t1_iyb0b35 wrote

I have family named Faulkner

Oooh, just saw the detailed research in the other comment. I have Faulkner relatives somewhere in NY. Wonder if I'm vaugely related? Weird!

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AuburnElvis t1_iyb1ime wrote

You should cash it in for a free marriage!

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Super-_-Rat t1_iyb1xwn wrote

I wonder where the rest of that relationship is buried…. Check the garden for bodies!

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granknoxx t1_iyb4xl7 wrote

Gertrude. Now that's a name you don't hear anymore.

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bburghokie t1_iyb91re wrote

If you can post a link to a high res version where everything is legible then I can add this to the records on familysearch.org

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Busy_Bitch5050 t1_iyb9iwi wrote

Replying to woden_spoon (#785,436)

I found this in the 1900 census from Grant, WV:

John T Evans - 57 - Head of Household

Jane Evans - 51 - Wife

Walter Evans - 22 - Son

Fanny Evans - 17 - Daughter

Ocie S Evans - 13 - Daughter

Henry H Evans - 11 - Son

John E Evans - 5 - Son

According to wvgenweb.org. he was 26 when he married in 1922, so this could be accurate.

EDIT: In 1930, he and Gertrude lived in New York, NY with five children (Hazel - 16, James - 14. Eva - 12 [this may be a typo by the census taker--2 seems possible, but Im not sure], Elizabeth - 5, and Jeneva - 1). From 1930 Federal Census.

EDIT 2: The 1940 Census has four additional children. (Virginia May - 10, Frank - 8, Dorothy - 5, and Walter - 3). They lived in Babylon, Suffolk, NY in 1935 and at 259 Main St., Fishkill, Dutchess, NY in 1940.

Remember, these are 10 years apart from the previous census.

EDIT 3: WWI service records seem to indicate his serial number was 5,831,951. He may have served overseas from Feb. 26, 1916 - Apr. 5, 1919. Honorably discharged Apr. 21, 1919.

EDIT 4: WWII Draft Registration shows serial number 2970 and a birth date of Dec. 8, 1895.

EDIT 5: Youngest child, Walter W. (1937-1998), born and died in Fishkill, Dutchess, NY. Buried in Fishkill Rural Cemetery. Married to Nancy Jane Evans (Oct. 27, 1938-Dec. 5, 2019).

EDIT 6: John E. Evans' Gravesite and his daughter, Dorothy Louise Evans Carr (obituary at bottom of page). Dorothy was born Sept. 2, 1934 and passed away peacefully in her sleep on Nov. 11, 2020.

That's all I've got for now, but OP did say this:

>The previous owner of the house passed away before we bought it. I don’t know her maiden name, but I assume this was her parents’ marriage certificate, and was perhaps brought in when her father came to live with them (presumably after his wife passed away). As I mentioned in another comment, the wall itself was a partition partially built out of moving crates, with John Evans’ name and address stamped on them.

And this:

>I live in Vermont, not West Virginia.

I suspect it may have been Dorothy Louise Evans' home as she resided in Burlington, Chittenden County, Vermont, at the time of her death.

Sadly, every family member I have listed thus far had passed away prior to Dorothy.

FINAL UPDATE: OP has confirmed that the house belonged to Dorothy.

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cadude1 t1_iyb9l37 wrote

It's interesting that the line for the first person's name has "Mr." printed, but the line for the other person's name has just "M". I wonder what the other possibilities were besides "Miss"

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TheUnseen_001 t1_iybbdin wrote

Somewhere, one set of bones is giving another the "I told you it was in the house" face.

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woden_spoon OP t1_iybdgdp wrote

Replying to cadude1 (#789,445)

Probably Miss (Ms.), for previously unmarried women, and Mistress (Mrs.) for divorcees, widows, etc. For men, the common abbreviation for Master and Mister (Mr.) was the same.

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DrDalekFortyTwo t1_iybfhq7 wrote

Replying to Coastal_wolf (#790,395)

You can 100% post pics there. They even have information on "best practices" for pics in the rules. I think this would be perfect there. I don't see anything prohibiting cross posting either in the rules

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ALC_PG t1_iybhg0v wrote

I see they opted for the destination wedding instead of getting married in Benwood.

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ShortysTRM t1_iybie6f wrote

This is how I know I'm living in a simulation...I zoom in on an interesting post and of all places that Reddit exists, it's from my tiny US state. Since it is WV, hopefully they're not siblings.

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BugOperator t1_iybj80m wrote

It’s still crazy to me that I hear something is 100 years old and it’s not from the 1800s.

/old man yells at cloud

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Busy_Bitch5050 t1_iybl08v wrote

Replying to shrimpcest (#792,471)

Thank you! Maybe it will help OP, or maybe they've already forgotten about it. But at some point, someone is bound to look up their genealogy from the Evans family and possibly find this post. I figured it would be cool for them to be able to see their ancestors' marriage certificate was found in their old home and is preserved in the walls lol.

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Busy_Bitch5050 t1_iyblmv0 wrote

Replying to woden_spoon (#785,436)

>The previous owner of the house passed away before we bought it. I don’t know her maiden name, but I assume this was her parents’ marriage certificate

Do you happen to know her first name?

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Moloshe t1_iybm5rc wrote

Replying to Busy_Bitch5050 (#792,750)

this is just something really cute and fun to follow through on, and i especially love that they can find it online now if they want to. at the same time i would be pretty creeped out to find that strangers had researched my genealogy when i simply chose to search my grandmothers name or something, lol

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MaxMMXXI t1_iybmmux wrote

Nobody gets married during Lent, unless...

When was their first child born?

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ShouldBeWorking2nite t1_iybqzqx wrote

Replying to Busy_Bitch5050 (#789,432)

The obituary for Dorothy Louise lists a funeral home of Corbin & Palmer Funeral Home at 9 Pleasant Street in Essex Junction, Vt. If this is not far maybe OP can reach out explain what he found and ask if the funeral home has a point of contact for the family. I know my family tend to use the same funeral home in the near by town, almost every family members funeral I can remember was held at the same place. If this is true in Vermont they might be able to help reunite that piece of family history with the family.

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Busy_Bitch5050 t1_iybrj6p wrote

Replying to ShouldBeWorking2nite (#794,391)

Thats what I was thinking too since my mom's side of the family also uses the same funeral home.

Dorothy passed away less than two years ago, so that would be a really good option. I would love to hear that I helped reunite this piece of family history with their descendants, but I also wouldn't blame OP if they left it alone since it's already been framed and placed back in the wall that's now sealed up again lol

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happycheff t1_iybvrkg wrote

Replying to Busy_Bitch5050 (#789,432)

Her obituary says she had 8 children and only one predeceased her. She died in 2020 so im certain there is somebody near the house where this was found that would be interested in having this document!

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tucci007 t1_iybyfat wrote

keep digging, perhaps you'll find Gertrude as well

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devanttrio t1_iyc0eip wrote

Now that is pretty flippin neat!

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Busy_Bitch5050 t1_iyc0y90 wrote

Replying to Gbrusse (#796,469)

For this one, I first went to the site that OP used to verify the marriage certificate. Once I had the date, location, names, and ages, I Googled census records from the 1930s and 1940s by including all the information I had in the search. After that, I figured John E Evans may have served in the war, so I Googled for service records and verified from a few sources, one being ancestry.com (no membership needed this time). Then I searched for his gravesite, but I still needed his age at death. I found several candidates on ancestry, but only one perfectly matched his family's names from the census records.

The trick is to stay completely objective. I don't care what I find when I start because I don't want to influence the outcome. Many people fall into this habit and before you know it, we're all related to some famous king or queen lol. Just follow the evidence and go with whichever path is most likely and rational.

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Grateful_Couple t1_iyc2x27 wrote

I don’t like the reverend’s handwriting 🤷‍♂️

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[deleted] t1_iyc6ica wrote

It's always sobering to consider this document was very important to somebody at one time and now it's just floating in time

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Unhappy-Craft-2609 t1_iyc6qn0 wrote

That's incredible. Ps thanks for all the personal info ;D Wink wink

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SuccessfulLoser_ t1_iycibbr wrote

Well preserved, I must say!

Can't say much about the marriage though ... lol

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DarknoorX t1_iycrbj2 wrote

Good days... I didn't need to exist there to know.

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CC-1112 t1_iycsbis wrote

Benwood is near Wheeling WV. Benwood may have a local historical society and maybe they have other records of this people and they may have descendents to give this too.

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TootsNYC t1_iycyi21 wrote

Is that a comma after the word “Holy”?

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Pathfinder6 t1_iyd3jmj wrote

West Virginia? Their last names are different. Now that in itself is mildly interesting.

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Hypurr2002 t1_iyd8xkg wrote

After hurricane Ida when I was hanging drywall in my house, I put a lot of stuff in the walls for someone to find later. A newspaper, candy, a candle, some bones, a turtle shell, etc.

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Banana-Ham t1_iyd9ixe wrote

If you’re unable to locate a family member, I bet the Marshall county historical museum in West Virginia would take it. Who knows, they might have other items that belonged to the family. Might be worth contacting them.

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MacDugin t1_iydalja wrote

Someone might be happy to see that.

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redwoman72 t1_iydefrl wrote

Was this hidden inside the wall?

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dorkpho3nix t1_iydovwg wrote

Is it written in pencil? I guess they still might change their mind.

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woden_spoon OP t1_iydpvcb wrote

Replying to redwoman72 (#811,047)

Yes—it was a partition partially built with pieces from old shipping crates. I assume this somehow became stuck to one of those pieces—as you can see, it had been folded and taped, so it might have slipped between slats.

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suid t1_iydugvf wrote

"I am with you alway , even unto the end of the world."

Don't they proof-read these documents, considering how important they are to the recipients?

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Busy_Bitch5050 t1_iydwjn5 wrote

Replying to suid (#816,221)

"Alway" is an archaic form of "always" that is widely used in the KJV Bible. Seeing as this is a religious ceremony overseen by a pastor, it makes perfect sense.

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wildcatshadow t1_iyejlvj wrote

Keep searching and you might find the divorce papers

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tvtb t1_iyekj6j wrote

Replying to woden_spoon (#784,713)

> A bit of the wall was bodged with wood from old shipping crates

Reduce - Reuse - Recycle

Older generations really were better at reducing consumption and reusing than today, although we might be better at actual recycling today since that is highly technological.

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BugOperator t1_iyet5xj wrote

Replying to tvtb (#824,832)

You know what always blows my mind? There were only about 65 years between the first powered airplane flight and a man being rocketed to and landing on the moon. Crazy how much was accomplished and advanced in that relatively short amount of time (and how war and conflict and a geopolitical pissing contest were the driving forces behind such expeditious achievements).

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Busy_Bitch5050 t1_iyfecas wrote

Replying to [deleted] (#829,967)

Thank you very much! I try to stay impartial in my research and go with the strongest evidence I can find. It gets tricky sometimes, but I had a very specific goal with this case, which makes it much easier.

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