Biographical Notes |
Note: Once we knew a place of birth for John C. Waters, it was fairly easy to trace him, and this is what we found. [The birth date which we had for John was 16 November 1886; hower the 1900 census gives September 1883.] We found that John had been born into a Somerset County Chesapeake Bay farming family. The district was called "Dames Quarter" in the 1880 census, but St Peters in the 1900 census.
In 1880 John's parents, Hobart and Charlotte, had four sons, Edward C. nine, Frank M. seven, Richard D. five and Fred H. two. John C. would be born three years later.
In 1900 Hobart had died, leaving Lottie at 37 yrs a widow with six children. All of the older children had to work to support the family. Edward C. 20 was a farmer; Fred H. 21 an oysterman; John C. 16, a mail carrier. The three younger children, Clarence H. 14, Minnie J. 12 and Florence ten were at school. It was interesting, but not surprising, to note that there were many "oystermen" in the neighborhood.
Why John C. decided to leave Maryland and go to West Virginia and Ohio, we do not know; but it was there that he met Sue Dixon Heslop, whom he married in 1906.
In the 1910 census John 26 yrs, Sue 25 yrs and baby Nedra 8 months were living in Gallipolis, Ohio, where John's occupation was "window decorator in a clothing store." They had a domestic servant named Minnie Jones, 19 yrs, from West Virginia. John's birthplace was given as Delaware and Sue's as West Virginia.
John and Sue divorced sometime between 1910 and 1920.
John, now 35, had remarried Josephine K. 33 and had little Helen S., aged three. They were living in Canton, Ohio, where John was a "merchant in a gent's furnishings store. " Both Josephine and Helen had been born in West Virginia, but John in Maryland [not Delaware as in 1910].
By 1930 John C. 45 and Josephine K.40 had two daughters, Helen Sophie 13 and Miriam A. six. They lived on Farmington Avenue in Hartford, Connecticut, where John was a clothing merchant. They were renting their house for $135 per month. Again, John's place of birth and that of both parents was Maryland.
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