A Conundrum

A Conundrum

      According to the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a conundrum is "an intricate and difficult problem." I would add, that in this case - "it is probably one with no solution."

     I am helping an 83-year-old friend try to find information about her father's family. Just finding her father's parents would be a success.

    A summary might make reading the rest of this article a bit less confusing. William Young is Miriam's father. William and Pearl are brother and sister, although the question might be - do they share just a mother, or a father too? Every document found/or ordered comes up with another possible set of parents for these two children. The most obvious possibility for the mother is Viola Long Young, mostly because she is mentioned twice on documents and Pearl and Viola Young are together in 1900 on the census.

    Miriam grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Her father, William Young, was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. His sister, Pearl, also resettled in New York (and worked in Vaudeville over the years) from Cincinnati.

    Miriam got my name from a friend recently and contacted me stating she wanted to find out more about her father and his parents. Her father, William, had done some research at the New York Public Library during the late 30's. Miriam used to go with him. He would sometimes meet Pearl there. Unfortunately, when William passed away, Miriam's mother didn't care about the research and threw away all the papers that her husband had collected. What had he collected?

     Over the past several months, and with MANY hours of research on my part and after hiring two different researchers in Cincinnati, we have all come up with --- nothing!

     The following is a timeline I constructed with the information gathered. NOTE: all last names are YOUNG, except where stated:

1890 - June 29:  Pearl was born in Cincinnati, birth record says parents are Peter and Mary (he was a horse trader), and they lived at 193 Cutter. The birth date strongly indicates this is our Pearl. The same date is given on her SS application and her death certificate.                   

   There was a Peter in Cincinnati connected with horses, but he had a long-time marriage (Lena) and several children. The 1890 City Directory for Cincinnati had a couple of businesses at the 193 Cutter address, no Youngs.          

1892 - Jul 10:  William was born in Cincinnati. No birth record can be found. He later wrote down for his daughter, Miriam, that his parents were Aaron and Avonia Long Young.

1894 - Feb:  A William Young (age 2) enters the Cincinnati House of Refuge (an orphanage or institution for troubled children and/or families). No record of parents names or when he left the orphanage. Intake information states: mother living/father deceased and he had a step-father.

1900 US Census:  Viola (b. Aug 1859) listed as head of household with Pearl (b. Jun 1890) daughter, they reside at  1304 Central, Cincinnati. Viola works packing tobacco. The census states Viola had four children, two surviving. No information was found on the other two children (presumably they died at birth).

1900 US Census:  William, (age 8) may be the William Young, listed as a resident at the House of  Refuge in Cincinnati.                

1906 - Nov. 9:  Pearl, (16) article in the newspaper about her being on stage. She was a dancer and played piano. She gave her current address as 239 Lawrence St., Cincinnati.

1910 US Census:  Viola or Pearl not found.

                     William (17) was stationed at the US Naval Training Station, Newport City, RI. He stated he was born in OH, as were his parents.

1916 - Aug 2:   Pearl and Joseph Mattus married in Manhattan, NY. She listed her parents as John Young and Viola Long.

1917 - June 17:  William Young married in Brooklyn, NY. He gave his parents as: William Young and Viola Vony. He stated his residence was 1018 Central Ave., Cincinnati. No Young's lived at that address in the 1917 City Directory.

1935 - William applied for SS - stated father/mother are: Aaron Young/Viola ?.

1942 - WW II Draft Card Registration, William stated he was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. Date of Birth: 10 Jul 1892.

1945 - Pearl applied for SS - stated father/mother were:     ? Young and Viola Long.

1958 - Mar 5:  William Young died. Death cert. stated unknown father, mother - Viola.

1981 - Oct 23:  Pearl Young Mattus died in NY. Death certificate stated Peter and Mary were parents. Miriam was listed as informant but she did not give information, just signed the form. Pearl had no children.

     As you can see, we have several choices for parents. The most obvious choice for mother is Viola Long Young. Aaron is mentioned twice, but there is no Aaron in Cincinnati at that time. There is a Peter in Cincinnati, but no Peter and Mary.

   I followed a Viola Long in Logan County until I found her married to someone else. There was an entry in the 1860 census for an Avonia Young (not Long), with parents Marion and Elizabeth in Brown County, Ohio - but I could not find them again. We followed a few William Youngs to no avail.

     The City Directories were perused. These just added to the conundrum. Following are the entries, ALL under the name of YOUNG. NOTE: Even "Mrs. Voney" in 1895, is under the Young name.  Note: Voney/Avonia/Vina are probably all the same person:

City Directories:   YOUNG

1881 & 1882:  None

1883:  Voney,  dress maker  191 Sycamore

1884:  Voney, Mrs.  dress maker  flat 9, Lorraine Bldg.

1885 & 1886: None

1887:  Vina (wid of Marion)  nec (northeast corner) Elder and Bremen  (think this is Avonia)

1888:  None

1889:  Vina   dressmaker  14 Elder  (probably Avonia)

1890:  None

1891:  Avonia, (wid. Marion), 8 Gest

1892:  Avonia (wid Marion)  dressmaker, 182 Clifton Ave (Buckeye)

1893:  Avonia (wid of Geo)  12th & Main

1894:  Harry J. printer, 12 DesMoines

1895:  Harry J. (printer)  h. bds (boards) at 292 Elm near 8th   

1895:  Mrs. Voney (note same address as Avonia in 1893), dressmaker, 2nd fl, flat  15, swc  (southwest corner) 12th  and Main

1896:  Avonia  dressmaker   447 E. 5th                     

1897:  Avonia (widow of James)  dressmaker, flat 15, 2nd fl. 1127 Main

1898:  NO  Harry J., Viola or Avonia

1899:  None

1900:  Viola (wid of Harry)  1304 Central  (NOTE: same address as 1900 census with Pearl (dau)

1901:  Viola (wid of Harry)  flat 11,  1304 Central

1904:  Viola (wid of Harry)  flat 11,  1304 Central

1905:  Viola (wid of Harry)  flat 11, 1304 Central

1906:  Viola  wid of Harry   flat 11, 1304 Central Ave

1907:  Aaron W.  lab  flat 3  1031 Foraker Ave

1917:  No Youngs at the address given in the Timeline by William as his address.

Note: the different names for husbands of Avonia/Vina/Voney (I really think this is the same person)  - again, all under the YOUNG name. None of these people can be found on censuses. I am guessing that the printer, Harry, may be the former husband of Viola (from 1900-1906 above), but really have no proof. Since Viola disappeared from the directories about 1906, she probably died. No burials can be found, no death records can be found for any of these Cincinnati people.

     There are no State Censuses for Ohio, and, of course, we don't have the 1890 Census to help us.

     Both professional researchers contacted in Cincinnati went through many books on births/deaths/marriages/burials/baptism records that are not online for Cincinnati and Hamilton County. Nothing.

     I have suggested Miriam do an autosomal DNA, only because maybe someone will match and help give our search a boost.

     It is A Conundrum!

(it is also a conundrum that the spacing gets so messed up when I download the articles I type.)