Sunday, October 12, 2014

Ethel Mae Mabee b. 1882

Today I found three marriages for Ethel Mae Mabee, daughter of Gabriel D. Mabee and Ida Jane Clow. I am not sure how the first two marriages fit together, but I have plenty of records documenting the marriage to George Schwartz.

Marriage to George Schwartz:

The last marriage was to George Schwartz from Ashford, Cattaraugus, New York. This was proven by a marriage record which listed Ethel's parents as well as the fact that it was her second marriage. In addition, the 1930 census record shows Ethel Schwartz being born in South Dakota with her father being born in Canada and her mother being born in Illinois.

Marriage to Harvey N. Best

There is a marriage record for Ethel M. Mobee (This is the indexed spelling. I have not seen the actual record.) This record identifies a marriage to Harvey N. Best on December 26, 1906, in Lake City, Calhoun, Iowa. Her parents are listed as G.D. Mobee and Ida J. Clow. This is definitely Ethel May Mabee.

Ancestry.com has another marriage record for Harvey N. Best in 1910. This record lists him as divorced. South Dakota Marriages: Marriage Record for Harvey N. Best

Marriage to John D. Allyn

Ethel has three children with the last name of Allyn. The first was born

The 1930 census record for Little Valley, New York lists two of George's step children with the last name of Allyn. I found a couple of obituary records for Lyle Harvey Allyn that identify his father as John D. Allyn and his mother as Ethel Mabee Allyn.

The documentation for the that proves the census record is Ethel May Mabee comes from two different obituary records. There is a record on Ancestry.com that is an index of people mentioned in Lyle Allyn's obituary. Among those names are John D. Allyn and Ethel Mabee Allyn.

I also found a transcript of the obituary on GenealogyBank.com.  The obituary reads as follows:

LYLE HARVEY ALLYN: Newspaper Obituary and Death Notice

Greensboro News & Record (NC) - Friday, December 3, 2004
Deceased Name: LYLE HARVEY ALLYN

REIDSVILLE Lyle Harvey Allyn, 97, formerly of 402 Ransom Street, died Wednesday,
Dec. 1, 2004, at Brian Center of Eden.

Funeral service will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday at Wilkerson Funeral Home Chapel. Interment will follow in Evergreen Memorial Gardens.

Mr. Allyn was born in Des Moines, Iowa, to the late John D. and Ethel Mabee Allyn. He grew up in Salamanca, N.Y., and married Nella Mae Simms in 1935. He retired from Erie-Lackawanna Railroad after many years of service and had lived in Reidsville since 1974, where he was a member of First United Methodist Church, Gideons and the Jefferson Penn Masonic Lodge 384 AF & AM.

He is survived by his wife of 69 years, Nella Allyn; son Clair Allyn and wife Betty of Chesterfield, Mo.; daughters, Dennie Kohler and husband Dennis of Hartsville, Ohio, Leah West and husband Don of Reidsville and Debbie Baldwin and husband Roger of Reidsville; seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

The family will receive friends at Wilkerson Funeral Home two hours prior to the funeral service.
Memorial contributions may be made to First United Methodist Church, 1520 South Scales Street, Reidsville, NC 27320 or Gideons International, P. O. Box 510, Reidsville, NC 27323.

Condolences may be sent to the family at www.wilkersonfuneral.com

The Social Security Death Index lists Lyle Harvey's birth and death dates. SS Death Record for Lyle Allyn

Possible Conclusion

Lyle Harvey Allyn was born Februay 1, 1907, but Ethel M. Mabee wasn't married to Harvey N. Best until December 26, 1906. It is possible that Lyle H. Allyn was the illegitimate child of John D. Allyn. Lyle's middle  name is Harvey, which is the same name as her spouse.

It is possible that the marriage didn't last, and Ethel followed John D. Allyn to New York where they had two more children before that relationship ended for good. Was she ever married to John D. Allyn? It is possible that the answer is no. The marriage record of her marriage to George Schwartz indicated that it was her second marriage.