Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Mystery in New Mexico

Today I requested the 1908 guardianship file for Violet Hayward (1901-1991) from the New Mexico State Archives.

I am hoping the file will have information on her mother, Marie Schmitz, who is also my great-great grandmother.

I have a lot of questions about this whole situation and all the players in it.

Violet's dad (Marie's second husband) died in 1905. Marie is listed as a widow in the 1910 census, and Violet is listed as 8 years old. Why is there a guardianship file dated 1908 and who initiated it?

I have a theory, but I'm not telling.

I also ordered some records at the Family History Center today. Hopefully, I can piece this puzzle together. Never in a million pre-genealogy years would I have expected my ancestors to have such deep roots in New Mexico. Why did they go there? Why did they stay so long? And why did they leave?

Also, is it just a coincidence that Asmus Schmitt is buried in Las Vegas, New Mexico next to the second husband of Marie Schmitz? Is he my great-great-great grandfather? These are the questions I want answered. Hopefully, the records hold the answers.

3 comments:

  1. My grandmother was born in 1907. She and her siblings (older brother, two younger sisters, all within a few years of each other) lived in an orphanage for a while in the 1910's. My great-grandmother had run off with another man, and my great-grandfather worked for the railroad and couldn't care for the children. Maybe the situation was something like that>

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  2. I can't wait until you unravel the family mystery. Have you wondered if your family members went to New Mexico to work for early mining companies that operated there?

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  3. Wow, this is two big mysteries I have read about on blogs today (Terri on Ties That Bind has another). I feel like I'm living in the days of the old serial mysteries. Hope you solve this one soon!

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