Saturday, November 30, 2013

Phoebe Ellen DeWeese Barnard Simms Lacy

My 2nd great grandmother.  She was a little, loud woman with a horrible temper, according to the memories of my great grandmother, Edna America Stevens Barnard.  She was also an adulteress, according to the divorce record.  She divorced George Washington Barnard in 1892, then married James Simms in 1893.  She had a child with Mr. Simms; Charley.  I found him in two census records and then he disappeared.  Or maybe he's there and I just can't find him because his name isn't unique enough.  Either way, he's invisible to me.  So was Ellen, as she was called.  Until today.  Today I was looking for her sons and I found her.  In 1900 she's married to James Simms and living with him and Jerry B Simms (who is actually Jerry Barnard, her youngest son with George.) and Charley, and with James' brother, Mort, who ended up marrying Ellen's sister, Hester Ann DeWeese.  Hester has her own sordid past, which I will detail another time.

So while looking for Jerry, I found Ellen, who died under the name Ellen P Lacy.  Parents are correct and a "Jim Barnard" was the informant for her death certificate.  That would be James Spencer Barnard, another of her sons.  James and Jerry Barnard went to prison for killing a man, but they were released early.  Again, a story for another time.  I don't know who the Mr. Lacy was who gave her his last name, which she took to her grave.  I haven't been able to find Ellen in the 1910 census records.  I know she was buried in Mount Olive Cemetery, which used to be DeWeese Cemetery.  I think.  There is a Mount Olive Cemetery which at one time was the DeWeese Cemetery in Union County, Kentucky, where Ellen died.  But there's also a Mount Olive Cemetery in Hardin County, Illinois, where this particular branch of my family did most of their living and dying.  So which Mount Olive Cemetery is she buried in?  I wish I knew because if I did, I'd create a Find A Grave memorial for her so the rest of my Barnard side of the family could find her.



Here's her death record.  I (heart) Kentucky.

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