What Became of Aunt Agnes?I

What Became of Aunt Agnes?

A Genealogical Mystery Solved by Genealogist Frederick Walton

Do YOU know where Aunt Agnes is?

3 April, 1940, White Plains- According to Federal authorities, who gathered the official United States Federal Census on this date, my grandparents, Frederick and Gertrude Walton, resided at 27 Harding Avenue, White Plains, New York with their three children.¹

Using the address my dad provided made it fairly easy to locate the specific census page from over 3.9 million census images made available on April 2, 2012. The 1940 census sheet for ED 60-353, page 4, line number 45-49 clearly lists the Walton family. The oldest child is my father, Frederick L. Walton. (actually Frederick Stanley Walton). He is nine years old.  His brother Edgar, age 7, is listed next, followed by a daughter named Agnes, age three. The only problem is…my grandparents only had two children. Fred and Ed.

During my youth, I was well acquainted with the fellow listed on line 47, my father, Fred Walton, who I saw nearly every day. As a young child I could hardly wait until he got home, sometimes bearing treats for us in his overcoat pockets. As I entered my troublesome teen years, my mother would sometimes foretell my father’s return with the prophetic words. “Wait until your father comes home!” usually resulting in another sort of well deserved and memorable “treat”! Now, as an adult, any time I can spend with my dad is an eagerly anticipated and well enjoyed treat.   

My grandparents, Fred and Trudy, (line 45 and 46) lived next door when I was an adolescent, giving me a lot of firsthand knowledge of them. If I wasn’t at their house two or three times a day, my name is not “Dennis the Menace.” 

My Uncle Ed (Edgar, line 48) was another story.  He was the father of the three smiling children in the picture that graced Nanny’s living room.  She claimed they were her other grandchildren, which I found absurd since she was MY grandmother, but she did occasionally disappear for several weeks and return home with stories about my cousins in Idaho.  The whole thing was too much for my seven year old head to grasp!  When I was about 12 or 14, Uncle Ed, Aunt Virginia and my cousins came East to visit, which finally validated this myth. 

Agnes is listed as the Daughter of Frederick and Gertrude in the 1940 Census

 But, who was “Aunt Agnes”.  Her name never came up in family stories, which I could never get enough of.  I loved to hear the tales of my father’s youth in exotic sounding places like White Plains, Ardsly, Elmsford and Tarrytown.  I vividly recall his adventures in the school band, as a boy scout, a sea scout, playing sand lot ball with his “gang”.  In my youthful mind I imagined the colorful adventures of  his friends and as a real life version of a cross between “Our Gang” and “the Bowery Boys”.  But, he never mentioned any Agnes and neither did my grandparents.  Had I stumbled on some sinister family secret?

If he wanted me to know about Agnes, I’m sure he would have told me, so I was a little nervous having to ask him.  In the end, I figured the direct approach was best, like ripping off a band aid quickly. I gave dad a phone call.

“Hi Dad, I found the 1940 census for your family at the address you gave me … so…, who is Agnes?”

Silence...

“Huh?!?" replied Dad "What do you mean? Agnes who?”

“Your sister, Agnes?  It says here you a three year old sister named Agnes.”

“What!  I never had a sister.”

“Are you sure?”

I was both relieved and suspicious.  My father would never lie to me, so there must be some mistake!  But wait…this is the official 1940 U. S. Census we’re talking about.  There is the name"Agnes" in official U. S. Government black and white.  Plus, it’s on the internet AND it’s on Ancestry.com.  They couldn’t all be wrong... could they? 

Oh no!, perhaps this was some family tragedy that my father was sworn to never reveal to preserve the family honor. Maybe he was brainwashed! Maybe he never knew the REAL truth. Maybe I’ve been watching too many 1940’s late night movies!

Pondering my next move, the popular phrase WWJD popped into my head…what would Joe Friday do?  "Just the facts, Ma’am, just the facts."  If Agnes was three in 1940, she was born in 1937, so maybe I could find her birth record or some other record of her, even though I knew she didn’t really exist. Birth records are challenging because they are not usually on-line. Also the problem with researching women is there are not too many records available before they get married and change their name. This was going to be a tough investigation, so I rolled up my sleeves and did what any competent genealogist would do….I Googled her name… just in case!

After searching around the internet, I didn’t find any Agnes Walton, but that really didn’t prove anything.  I decided to verify all the neighbors in the apartment building at 27 Harding Avenue. I made a list of all five families. One by one, I substituted each neighbors name and searched for any records I might find.  Suddenly, a 1930 census popped up for neighbor Raymond F. Baker and his wife Agnes Baker.²  Since "Aunt Agnes" wasn’t born until 1937, this seemed an unlikely match, but I had already found other mistakes.  For example, my father’s middle initial is S (for Stanley, his maternal (Bell) grandfather), not L as recorded in the 1940 census, so this looked like a promising lead. 

Checking the 1930 census, I found a Raymond F. Baker, age 29 employed as a railroad telegraph operator.  He had a wife named Agnes, age 28 and a daughter named Jacqeuline (sic), age 9 months.

1930 Census for Baker Family

1940 Census for Bakers and Waltons

Jumping back to the 1940 census³, I found the family listed directly above the Waltons to be: Raymond F. Baker, age 40 employed in the electrical department for the Railroad.  He had a wife named Jacqueline, age 38 and a daughter named Barbara Ann age 9.

Hmmm…..Did I find Aunt Agnes after all? Until the Baker clan hires me to do a more exhaustive genealogical study, I have to conclude the following:

1. The Raymond F. Baker family listed in the 1940 Census for ED 60-353, page 4, line 42-44 is a match for the Raymond F. Baker family I found in the 1930 Census.
2. Jacqueline Baker, age 38, listed on line 43 should actually be Agnes Baker, (incorrectly listed as Agnes Walton on line 40.)
3. Daughter, Barbara Ann, on line 44 should have been daughter Jacqueline, age 10, confirmed by the 1930 census and my father’s recollection of his schoolmate.
4. Agnes “Walton” on line 49, the bottom entry for the Walton Family should actually be the bottom entry for the family above, the Baker Family.
5. Barbara Ann should slide down as this final name and be listed as the 3 year old daughter of Raymond and Agnes Baker

I guess Mr. Edwared E. Brerlton, the enumerator, spilled his morning coffee over his notes when he was filling out his final paperwork and got a few names in the wrong place.

I know it’s hard to believe, but… the census, the internet and Ancestry.com were WRONG.  So today’s lesson is to verify your genealogical “facts” from as many sources as you can.

In the end…Dad was right.  Good ‘ol Dad – if you can’t trust him, who can you trust!  I called Dad and told him the good news.

“Hi Dad, I found Agnes”

Silence

“Huh?  Agnes who?”

“Your sister Agnes”

“I didn’t have a sister”

“I know, I know….she was actually your neighbor.”

“I don’t remember a neighbor named Agnes.”

“Well Agnes was actually the mother of a little girl who was your neighbor…named Jacqueline.”

“Oh yeah, I remember Jackie.  We were in the same class.”

“So Dad, you never had a sister named Agnes.”

“I know….that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!”

Just the facts, I smiled, just the genealogical facts. I think I solved this mystery, at least to my satisfaction. I’m just glad I’m not the Baker family historian searching the 1940 census for Aunt Agnes!

Citation:

11)      1940 U.S. census, Westchester, New York, population schedule, White Plains,  enumeration district (ED) 60-353, sheet 2B, dwelling 41, Line number 45-49, Walton  household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com : accessed 04  Apr 2012); citing Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1940. T627, 4,643 rolls.

22)      1930 U.S. census, Westchester, New York, population schedule, White Plains,  enumeration district (ED) 60-354, sheet 7B, family 161, Line number 71-73, Baker  household; index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X4GJ-GKD : accessed 6 April 2012)

33)      1940 U.S. census, Westchester, New York, population schedule, White Plains,  enumeration district (ED) 60-353, sheet 2B, dwelling 40, Line number 42-44, Baker  household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com : accessed 06  Apr 2012); citing Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1940. T627, 4,643 rolls.