DNA tells no lies, but is it the whole truth and nothing but?
A lot of new stories have come to light since my half-brother, Ron and I had our DNA analyzed through Ancestry last year. One of the really great outcomes is that we've been able to clarify who our ancestors really are. No, really, it has. And, have we ever got some stories to tell.
For example, my grandmother, Isabelle Evelyn Heller, always used Griffith as her maiden name. Yet, I was really puzzled since I have been unable connect anyone closer than a very distant cousin by that name. As it is, we did not yet have any papers, not even a marriage license or certificate, that would illuminate this problem. Then, one day Ancestry said there was a record of Isabelle's application for Social Security. That's when I found out that her mother's maiden name was Le Comte. So I was then able to add her mother, Evelyn Virginia Le Comte, to my family tree. Not long after this connection, I was contacted by a distant LeComte cousin in England (he doesn't use a space in the spelling of his last name). As it turns out, we share DNA on Ancestry, and we started sharing information about our family trees. The Le Comte family appears fairly well documented and my gx3 grandfather, Nicholas Le Comte, emigrated from France in 1839. All of a sudden, I had documentation from which to understand a timeline - of sorts. I'll get back to that in a moment. The bottom line is that by finding the marriage certificate for James Griffith and Evelyn Virginia Le Comte married in New York City, 27 October, 1886, I now had information I could work with. But wait, there's more!
Prior to being issued the marriage certificate, the couple had to apply for a license, wherein a lot more information can be found. James Griffith was born in Ireland and he was 21 years old ("age at next birthday - 22"), worked in dry goods, and his parents were Robert Griffith and Margaret Bulfin. During this time, he lived at 348 East 84th St., NYC. Evelyn lived at 110 West 49th St., NYC, and was 18 years old and was born in NYC. Her father's name was Vincent Nicholas Le Comte and her mother's maiden name was Sarah Lanaster Sammis. The witness were Mrs. B. G. Griffith (I assume this is his mother perhaps?) and Jessie F Walt (or Welt?).
But wait, there's even more! Remember my distant LeComte cousin in England? He sent me another, later marriage certificate in NYC for Evelyn Griffith. Now this one was a big surprise, and is borne out by census data. On July 4th, 1890, Orrin E. Babcock, age 22, of 114 East 89th St, NYC, whose parents were John Babcock and Janey Gromhauer married Evelyn Griffith, of 323 East 84th St, NYC, a widow whose maiden name was Evelyn Le Comte, and this was her second marriage. Her parents are identically documented as in her first marriage. Wow! Talk about something to chew on. For some reason it hadn't even occurred to me that there was a second marriage - although as I reflect upon it, this makes perfect sense. Evelyn had two children by James Griffith - Robert and Isabelle - and survival for a single woman in her time, with two children, often meant that a new marriage was a goal for survival.
Further research to date has yielded little corroborative information about the subsequent movements of Evelyn and Orrin, except for the addition of more children. A couple of family trees say that she died in 1904, but I have been unable to find proof of that yet. As for James Griffith, I have found conflicting information - while I've been unable to locate any data about his death, a family tree on Ancestry has a James F. Griffith that died in 1914, and has this James associated with Evelyn Le Comte. This is either a different man, or Evelyn's husband did not die prior to her second marriage.
Never a dull moment in our family tree.
For example, my grandmother, Isabelle Evelyn Heller, always used Griffith as her maiden name. Yet, I was really puzzled since I have been unable connect anyone closer than a very distant cousin by that name. As it is, we did not yet have any papers, not even a marriage license or certificate, that would illuminate this problem. Then, one day Ancestry said there was a record of Isabelle's application for Social Security. That's when I found out that her mother's maiden name was Le Comte. So I was then able to add her mother, Evelyn Virginia Le Comte, to my family tree. Not long after this connection, I was contacted by a distant LeComte cousin in England (he doesn't use a space in the spelling of his last name). As it turns out, we share DNA on Ancestry, and we started sharing information about our family trees. The Le Comte family appears fairly well documented and my gx3 grandfather, Nicholas Le Comte, emigrated from France in 1839. All of a sudden, I had documentation from which to understand a timeline - of sorts. I'll get back to that in a moment. The bottom line is that by finding the marriage certificate for James Griffith and Evelyn Virginia Le Comte married in New York City, 27 October, 1886, I now had information I could work with. But wait, there's more! 
Prior to being issued the marriage certificate, the couple had to apply for a license, wherein a lot more information can be found. James Griffith was born in Ireland and he was 21 years old ("age at next birthday - 22"), worked in dry goods, and his parents were Robert Griffith and Margaret Bulfin. During this time, he lived at 348 East 84th St., NYC. Evelyn lived at 110 West 49th St., NYC, and was 18 years old and was born in NYC. Her father's name was Vincent Nicholas Le Comte and her mother's maiden name was Sarah Lanaster Sammis. The witness were Mrs. B. G. Griffith (I assume this is his mother perhaps?) and Jessie F Walt (or Welt?).
But wait, there's even more! Remember my distant LeComte cousin in England? He sent me another, later marriage certificate in NYC for Evelyn Griffith. Now this one was a big surprise, and is borne out by census data. On July 4th, 1890, Orrin E. Babcock, age 22, of 114 East 89th St, NYC, whose parents were John Babcock and Janey Gromhauer married Evelyn Griffith, of 323 East 84th St, NYC, a widow whose maiden name was Evelyn Le Comte, and this was her second marriage. Her parents are identically documented as in her first marriage. Wow! Talk about something to chew on. For some reason it hadn't even occurred to me that there was a second marriage - although as I reflect upon it, this makes perfect sense. Evelyn had two children by James Griffith - Robert and Isabelle - and survival for a single woman in her time, with two children, often meant that a new marriage was a goal for survival.
Further research to date has yielded little corroborative information about the subsequent movements of Evelyn and Orrin, except for the addition of more children. A couple of family trees say that she died in 1904, but I have been unable to find proof of that yet. As for James Griffith, I have found conflicting information - while I've been unable to locate any data about his death, a family tree on Ancestry has a James F. Griffith that died in 1914, and has this James associated with Evelyn Le Comte. This is either a different man, or Evelyn's husband did not die prior to her second marriage.
Never a dull moment in our family tree.
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