Donna Darling Collection – Part 53

Shamokin – Donna appears after “Baby Marie Osborne”

Treasure Chest Thursday

By Don Taylor

For this week’s Treasure Chest Tuesday, I’m looking at a page from the Donna Darling Collection. The page includes two articles, one newspaper banner, and five tiny clips.

The two articles both appear to be from the Shamokin Daily News, Friday, February 10, 1922, but they might be a day apart.

BABY OSBORNE HEADS STRONG PROGRAM AT THE STRAND

This article talks about “Baby Marie Osborne,” at length, before it begins to talk about Donna or any of the other shows. The section about Donna reads,

“Miss Donna Darling, former musical comedy star, who is appearing on the Keith bill at the Strand the last three days of the week, has one of the most appealing and enjoyable musical and dancing acts seen here this season. Miss Darling is all that her name implies in appearance and ability and is supported by two talented young men, both of whom are gifted dancers and vocalists. The stage settings are among the most elaborate seen here this winter while Miss Darling’s vocal selections appeal to people of all ages.”

The “last three days of the week,” in this case, means February 9^th, 10^th, and 11^th.

A second article,

FAMOUS CHILD ACTRESS HEADS THE STRAND PROGRAM

also talks about Baby Marie Osborne before mentioning Donna. The Donna part reads,

“Another widely known star of the stage appearing on the same program is Miss Donna Darling, former musical comedy star and who is now on the Keith circuit in a high class vaudeville revue I which she is most popular as well as pleasing.”

With Donna at the Strand are

Baby Marie Osborne
Frank Markey (the “Banjo Boy”)
Coogan and Casey (Song act)
Crumley and Jones (Comedians)

Along with the two larger articles on the page are five small clippings, some of which are cut off (I use the symbol of “}|” to indicate the place where the image was cut off.)

ELMIRA (First Half) – Jean & White – Hunniford – Donna Darling Co.—Manuel Romaine Co.—At the Party.

ITHACA (Second Half)—Homer Romaine—Peel & Corvan—Donna Darling Co.—Gobson & Price—At the Party.

OLE}|
(First Half)—Crowden’s }|
&Casey—Alf Grant—Don}|

WHEELING
(First Half)—Hunniford—Harr}|
mings—Donna Darling Boys—Co}|
—Murray Kissen Co.

NEW CASTLE (Second Half)—Polli Cassi Co.—Hunniford—Ahern & Peterson{|
Donna Darling Co.

Analysis

I have long known that Donna played in Elmira the January 28^th thru 31st, 1922.

I knew she played in Ithaca on Feb 2^nd. The “Second Half” would indicate that she was in Ithaca on February 2^nd thru the 4^th. That added two new days to my schedule for Donna.

I have known that Donna played in Olean Feb 13-15, which would be the first half of that week.

I have never had a record of Donna playing in Wheeling. The clipping’s placement seems to be between Olean, NY, and New Castle, PA. The first half of the week following Olean would be February 20, 21, & 22. The rest of that week would be 23, 24, and 25, February for her to have been in New Castle, PA.

So, thanks to this page of the Donna Darling Collection, I learned of two new venues for Donna’s schedule.

Feb 9-11, 1922 – Shamokin, PA – The Strand – Donna Darling
Feb 20-22, 1922 – Wheeling WV – Unknown Theatre – Donna Darling Boys

Sources

Donna Darling Collection – Image SCAN0087.

DNA – Glennis’ Paternal Search – Part 15

Looking at Viola Cline more closely.

By Don Taylor

My half-sister Glennis is a DNA match on Ancestry.Com with several individuals who have common ancestors with Nathan Smith Morgan and his wife, Belinda [sometimes Malinda Odell. In the search to determine Glennis’ biological father, I am continuing to develop a tree of the descendants of Nathan and Belinda.

On the last DNA Day, 22 March 2018, I began to suspect that someone close to Viola Cline was going to be a likely candidate. I looked at a couple of Viola Cline’s grandsons and determined they were possible, but unlikely, candidates. I had quite a bit of difficulty tracing Viola’s daughters and their children. So, I thought I’d look at Viola again and see what I could learn.

Discover you family history through historical newspapers at Newspapers.com I learned that Mary Corinne Huber married Roy Lee Ezzell. In the 1940 Census they still hadn’t any children. Placing them out of consideration.

I examined John Clifford Huber previously. His two sons are possible but unlikely candidates.

Genevieve married Chas (Charles?) Osborne. The 1940 Census indicates that they had 1 son who was a 1year-old so, he’s not possible.

Finally, Elenore Elizabeth married Wilmont Schlaff. They had a son (possibly living), who is not a candidate.

1. Descendants of John and Viola (Cline) Huber

#.#	Child	Notes/Comments	Status
1.	Mary Corinne Huber	Married Roy Lee Ezzell Married [Unk] Cook
1.1	Possibly Living	Born 1944
2.	John Clifford Huber	Married Naomi Stewart
2.1.	[Possibly living]		Possible but Unlikely
2.2.	Roy L. Huber		Possible but Unlikely
3.	Genevieve Huber	Married Chas Osborne
3.1.	Possibly Living	Born 1939	Not Possible
4.	Eleanor Elizabeth Huber	Married Wilmont Schlaff	No apparent children in 1940 Census.

There don’t appear to be any likely candidates from the descendants of Viola Cline.

I also took a look at the matches Glennis has on Ancestry.Com and GEDMatch.Com. Neither had any new matches that could shed light on Glennis’ DNA connections.

As such, next I’ll investigate the descendants of her four siblings.

Fotilla Cline – born 1873/4.
Amos C Cline – born 1875
Forest Cline – born 1877/8
Rufus Cline – born 1879.

Note – My Criteria:

“Candidates” are males born between 1925 and 1935.
“Not considered” are females who are unlikely to have had a male child between 1925 and 1935.
“Not a Candidate” are males born between 1915 and 1925 as being too young to have had a son between 1925 and 1935 and too old to be a candidate.
“Possible but unlikely” are males born between 1925 and 1935, but are not named Paul or Phil, which are the likely names of Glennis’ biological father, or otherwise don’t appear to fit the likely candidate who would have been in Minnesota or Michigan in 1953. I will revisit these possibilities later of this project fails to find a potential candidate.

DNA – Glennis’ Paternal Search – Part 14

Following Descendants of Nathan Smith & Belinda (Odell) Morgan – Samson Green Morgan

By Don Taylor

Descendants of Nathan and Belinda (Odell) Morgan I have examined:

John Wesley and Oelia T. (Maxwell) Morgan.
Francis Marion and Fannie (McGreggor) Morgan.
Sanford/Sansom/Samson Morgan.[i]

3. Descendants of Samson Green and Marybell (Hartley) Morgan

#.#.#	Child	Notes/Comments	Status
1.	Elizabeth Leota Morgan	Married John William Galloway	1 Known child.
1.1.	Mary Bertha Galloway
1.1.1	Mary Leota McClellan	Married Clyde Bennett	One child, Boy born 1931. Possible but Unlikely
1.1.2	Bertha E McClellan	Married Thomas Gill	No children until 1937.
1.1.3	Chester L. McClellan, Jr	Single in 1940
2.	Liddie Morgan	Died at age 4

3.Descendants of Samson Green and Harriet A (McHenry) Morgan

#.#.#	Child	Notes/Comments	Status
3.	Elvira Jane Morgan	Married Sheridan Hardman	Four Children
3.1.	Clarence R Hardman	Died in 1916.
3.2.	Bessie Levalda Hardman	Married Calvin Ezekiel Braden	Four Children
3.2.1.	Leota P Braden	Married in 1942
3.2.2.	Boy[ii] Braden	Born 1921	Not a Candidate
3.2.3	Boy Braden	Born 1923	Not a Candidate
3.2.4	Boy Braden	Born 1926	Possible but unlikely
3.3.	Earl S Hardman	Married Osa Jane Dawson	1 child
3.3.1.	Velda Faye Hardman	Born 1915	1 child
3.3.1.1	Girl[ii] Pratt	Female	Not Considered
3.3.2.	Girl Hardman	Born 1919	Not Considered
3.3.3.	Boy Hardman	Born 1921	Not a Candidate
3.3.4.	Girl Hardman	Born 1925	Not Considered
3.3.6.	Girl Hardman	Born 1927	Not Considered
3.3.7.	Osa Earline Hardman	Died as infant.
3.4.	Jessie D. Hardman	Married Robert Lee Barker	1 Child
3.4.1.	Gladys Geraldine Barker	1917	Not Considered.
4.	John E. Morgan	Died 1897, Single
5.	Homer Martin Morgan	Married Susan Nora Selman	2 children
5.1.	Arthur Edwin Morgan	Married Josephine Frances Leroy	No Children before 1940.
5.2.	Flossie Mae Morgan	Married Byrd Russel Johnson	3 Children
5.2.1.	Betty Jean Johnson	Born 1926	Not Considered.
5.2.2.	Margaret E Johnson	Born 1930	Not Considered.
5.2.3.	FNW Johnson	Born 1936	Not Considered.
6.	Flora Alice Morgan	Married Perry Albert Deem	5 Children
6.1.	John Emery Deem	Died 1920 at age 22
6.2.	Ethel Ann Deem	Married Clemence Sylvester Schilling	8 Children
6.2.1.	FNW Schilling	Born 1923	Not Considered
6.2.2.	Martha Ann Schilling	Born 1925	Not Considered
6.2.3.	Mary A Schilling	Born 1927	Not Considered
6.2.4.	Clarence F Schilling	Born 1929-1930	Possible, but Unlikely
6.2.5.	Francis J Schilling	Born 1931-1932	Possible, but Unlikely
6.2.6.	William G Schilling	Born 1934-1935	Possible, but Unlikely
6.2.7.	FNW Schilling	Born 1936	Not Considered
6.2.8.	FNW Schilling (Male)	Born 1938-1939	Not a Candidate
6.3.	Samson Earl Deem	Married Naomi Hemsworth 1922	5 Children
6.3.1.	Margaret Deem	Born 1923	Not Considered
6.3.2.	Earl Deem	Born 1924	Not a Candidate
6.3.3.	William J Deem	Born 1925	Possible but Unlikely
6.3.4.	Betty Lou Deem	Born 1927	Not Considered
6.3.5.	Robert Deem	Born 1929	Possible but Unlikely
6.3.6	Alice Frances Deem	Born 1933	Not Considered
6.3.7	Naretta Deem	Born 1938	Not Considered
6.4.	Opal Justine Deem	Married Austin Markel Cranston 1935	Not Considered
6.5.	Delbert Buel Deem	Born 1914	Not a Candidate
7.	Lura A Morgan	Married Dexter P Bailey 1892.	4 Children
7.1	Arthur G Bailey	Married Hazel Hendrick	1 child
7.1.2	Lura Jane Bailey	Born 1918	Not Considered
7.2	Hazel C. Bailey	Married David William O’Brien	No apparent issue.
7.3	Willis Bailey	Married Ethel ___ v. 1925	1 Child
7.3.1	Girl Bailey	Born 1927	Not Considered
7.4	Mildred Bailey	Married Ernest L. Barnes	3 children
7.4.1	Boy Barnes	Born 1928	Possible but Unlikely
7.4.2	Boy Barnes	Born 1930	Possible but Unlikely
7.4.3	Girl Barnes	Born 1933	Not Considered

There don’t appear to be any likely candidates from the descendants of Samson green Morgan. There were nine males that were “Possible but Unlikely.” All of the Descendants of Samson Green Morgan appear to have remained in the West Virginia and Ohio area. None seem to have moved until at least after World War II.

Follow-up

Further investigate the 9 “possible but unlikely” individuals if other candidates do not arise.

Note/– My Criteria:

“Candidates” are males born between 1925 and 1935.
“Not considered” are females who are unlikely to have had a male child between 1925 and 1935.
“Not a Candidate” are males born between 1915 and 1925 as being too young to have had a son between 1925 and 1935 and too old to be a candidate.
“Possible but unlikely” are males born between 1925 and 1935, but are not named Paul or Phil, which are the likely names of Glennis’ biological father, or otherwise don’t appear to fit the likely candidate who would have been in Minnesota or Michigan in 1953. I will revisit these possibilities later of this project fails to find a potential candidate.

Sources:

This is a quickly developed “notional” tree and does not have the indepth sourcing attached to the findings that I typically follow. I di have supporting documents regarding much of Samson Green Morgan and his descendants. All records used were found at the following sites:

Family Search
Ancestry
Find a Grave
Genealogy Bank

For specific sources, please contact me.

ENDNOTES

[i] I’m pretty well convinced that Sanford, Sansom, and Samson are the same person. I believe that Sanford and Sansom were errors by the individuals who wrote what they think they heard. In any event, I am using Samson unless I have a compelling reason to use something else.
[ii] I used “Boy” and “Girl” for living individuals born since 1918 because they are possibly living.

DNA – Glennis’ Paternal Search – Part 9

Following Morgan/Morgan (Dora & Ephriam)
By Don Taylor

My half-sister Glennis is a DNA match on Ancestry.Com with several individuals who have common ancestors with Francis and Fannie (McGregor) Morgan. In the search to determine Glennis’ biological father, I am continuing to develop a tree of the descendants of Francis and Fannie (McGregor) Morgan of Pleasants County, West Virginia. This time I look at Dora D. Morgan and Ephraim Stokeley Morgan. They are the fifth and sixth of twelve children to be examined.

Dora D. Morgan – Born 4 Jun 1876, Died 7 Feb 1879 – No issue.

Ephraim Stokeley Morgan – Born 1 Jan 1883 in Pleasants County, West Virginia.
Married Edna Ethel Wagner 15 May 1904 in Pleasants County, West Virginia.

Helen Virginia Morgan Born 1906, Married Louis Victor Scott 1929.
Helen Lou Scott – Born 1930-1931 – Not considered.
No other children to this couple before 1940. No Candidates.

Ralph W. Morgan, Born 1911, Died 1912 – No Issue.

Francis and Fannie (McGregor) Morgan’s 12 children

Child	Children	Notes/comments
Clara M Morgan	Gail Hemsworth Naomi Hemsworth	Married Everett Luzader Married Earl Deem
Henry Clifford Morgan	None.	Died at age 15.
Lewis V. P. Morgan	Lula Edna Morgan Opal Jean Morgan	Died at age 2. Married William Davis
Rosa Virginia Morgan	Carrie Vernice May Clara Bernice May Mary Fannie May Edna Marie May Roy Harold May	Married Pearl W. Dutton Married Hezekiah Martin Morrison Married Floyd T. Williamson Married Clarence Gorell Married Della Olive Hooper
Dora D. Morgan	None	Died at age 2.
Ephraim Stokeley Morgan	Helen Virginia Morgan Ralph W. Morgan	Married Louis Scott– No CandidatesDied at age 1
Nathan Spencer Morgan
John A. Morgan
Sarah D Morgan
Unnamed Morgan
Orien E. Morgan
James Cyrus Morgan

“Candidates” are males born between 1925 and 1935.

“Not considered” are females who are unlikely to have had a male child between 1925 and 1935.

“Possible but unlikely” are males born between 1925 and 1935, but are not named Paul or Phil, which is the likely name of Glennis’ biological father, or otherwise don’t appear to fit the likely candidate who would have been in Minnesota or Michigan in 1953. I will revisit these possibilities later of this project fails to find a potential candidate.

Sources:

FamilySearch.Org

WVCulture.Org – Vital Research Records Search for Birth, Marriages, & Deaths

Not a Grimm Tale (So far).

My Glennis DNA Project

By Don Taylor

Now that I have solved my greatest genealogical challenge, (Who was my biological father?) it is time to address my second biggest challenge – Who is my half-sister Glennis’ biological father?

The first step was to have her DNA tested. We used Ancestry DNA as our testing service. Initially, there weren’t any close matches, but a few months later a second to third cousin (I’ll call “MA”) tested and matched. Glennis and MA share 201cM across eight segments. Looking at Blaine Bettinger’s chart, it is clear that the matched amount fits a second cousin better than a third cousin, although both are within range. If Glennis and MA are second cousins, then they share a common great-grandparent. Then, the exciting bit of information, MA has a tree online with all eight of his great-grandparents identified. So, if I follow all of the descendants of those eight great-grandparents, I could have the name of Glennis’ biological father. If one of them was in the right place at the right time, I might have a definite candidate to be her biological father.

Abels
Anderson
Biddle
Bishop
Grimm
Hemsworth
Morgan
Wykert

He also had two more surnames for 2nd great grandparents.

HallS
Sullivan

Which I will follow-up with, if I need to.I decided to work on each of the family surnames alphabetically for no real reason, so I began with MA’s great grandparents, George W. Ables and Nancy Grimm, who were living in Jackson County, Virginia, when their son, John W. Ables, was born.

TIP: West Virginia Culture (Virtual Research Records) is one of my favorite websites for vital records. They have Birth, Marriage, and Death registers available for search and include images of the various records. http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/. If you don’t already have it bookmarked, you should. It is a great site for anything West Virginia.

William George Ables and Nancy Grimm

William George Ables was born between 1826 and 1827 in Virginia. His wife, Nancy Grimm was about two years younger having been born between 1828 and 1829 also in Virginia. I suspect they were married about 1848-1849.

Known Children:

Julia A Ables (1850-1871) – Never married.
James A Ables (1851-?)
John W. Ables (1854-1925)
Jacob L. Ables (1856-?)
Joseph M. Ables (1859-?)
Arthur Ables (1867-?)

I also traced John W. Ables’ children. He and his wife, Alice P Anderson appear to have had 12 or 13 children. Also, with William and Nancy’s only daughter passing without a child, it reduces the potential for additional surnames. Finally, it appears that the entire family spent all of their lives in West Virginia. As such, it is less likely that their descendants were in Minnesota in 1953. Consequently, I will set aside research of Ables family descendants for the time being. I will return to the Ables research and examine the further if I need to study their offspring closer.

Next, I’ll look at the James Luther Hemsworth and Mary Belinda Morgan descendants.

Another cousin, 3rd to 4th, has a Mary Morgan in his pedigree chart. Not a descendant, but maybe close enough to a common descendant. Based upon that, I probably should have picked the Morgan line first, but didn’t notice the surname match until after I was well into researching the Ables/Grimm line.

If no success there, I’ll look at Jeremiah Anderson & Parcidia Bishop descendants.

Finally, I’ll research the Samuel Biddle and Francis Wykert descendants.

It is so exciting to be zeroing in on Glennis’ biological father.

Sources:

Ancestry DNA Matches (Private)
West Virginia Culture & History; Vital Research Records Selection Search; Birth, Marriage, and Death Records. Surname Ables, County Jackson.
Family Search, 1850 & 1860, Censuses, Jackson County, Virginia.
Family Search; 1870 Census; Jackson County, West Virginia.

———- DISCLAIMER ———-

Shamokin – Donna appears after “Baby Marie Osborne”

Treasure Chest Thursday

Analysis

Sources

Looking at Viola Cline more closely.

By Don Taylor

1. Descendants of John and Viola (Cline) Huber

Following Descendants of Nathan Smith & Belinda (Odell) Morgan – Samson Green Morgan

By Don Taylor

3. Descendants of Samson Green and Marybell (Hartley) Morgan

3.Descendants of Samson Green and Harriet A (McHenry) Morgan

Follow-up

Note/– My Criteria:

Sources:

ENDNOTES

Following Morgan/Morgan (Dora & Ephriam) By Don Taylor

Francis and Fannie (McGregor) Morgan’s 12 children

Sources:

My Glennis DNA Project

By Don Taylor

William George Ables and Nancy Grimm

Known Children:

Sources:

Following Morgan/Morgan (Dora & Ephriam)
By Don Taylor