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This post is about a woman I really hope prospered. And it's another family mystery with a whiff of scandal. :-)
When I was 13, I asked my grandfather about his family's history. One of the things he told me was about a letter that came to his mother from a woman who was looking for her father's other family. My grandfather was curious about following up on the letter, but he didn't push it because it upset his mother so much.
Looking back now, I wondered who it was about. My grandfather sounded not personally involved, so it can't have been about his own father. Since it upset his mother, I guessed it might have been about her father. Poking around on ancestry.com, I failed to find anything suspicious, and I wasn't sure who I was looking for anyway. I mentioned this to my uncle, and he had heard the story from his father, too. Something about a letter from a woman who had learned her own father had a second family. Since my uncle had bins full of his grandmother's things, he thought maybe we could find the letter if we worked at it. Well, this weekend I visited him and we worked really hard. :-) And we found it.
My great-great grandfather, Sylvan Coffman, had a wife before my great-great grandmother. I learned about her a few months ago when the woman from The Mayflower Society sent me a copy of a copy of a family bible page that they had on record at Plymouth. Someone in my family applied for Mayflower Society membership ages ago and submitted this copy as documentation. Which was really cool, since I have no idea whatever happened to the bible itself. In it, Sylvan Coffman's wife is clearly listed as Ida B. Baker in large print, with my actual great-grandmother's name squeezed in in small writing, since obviously it was believed Ida would be the one and only wife. Until something happened. I'm assuming she died, but I don't really know. Anyway, so I already knew about Ida, but it sounds like Sylvan's daughter-in-law, Grandpa's mom, didn't. The letter, it turns out, wasn't addressed to her, so it must have come to her through her ex-husband's effects at some time later. And yet she was still scandalized. Anyway, the letter was addressed to Sylvan's brother, a man named Thomas Jefferson Coffman (yes, really) who apparently went by Jeff. The woman wrote to say she was the daughter of Ida Baker, she'd been raised by Ida's parents, and now she'd really like to find her father. Since Jeff was his brother, would he write and tell her where her father was? The letter is postmarked Feb. 1907, and is so fragile it was being held together with a straight pin. And the pin had rusted. When my uncle made a copy of the envelope for me, the envelope disconnected at the folds. So, for the curious, here's what the letter says:
Indianapolis, Ind.
Feb 18, 1907
Dear Uncle,
Well, uncle Jeff I thought I would write you a few lines in regards of finding the whereabouts of my father. This is Sylvan Coffman's oldest daughter you remember Ida Baker the girl he married in Hamilton, Ohio. She was the daughter of Adaline and Charles Baker. I know that you know them for often I have heard them speak about you. For they raised me from a child untill I was 7 years old and I was married when I was just 19 years. I found your whereabouts through Ella Liggett, Aunt Emerine Sykes's daughter, a few days ago. Ella said that a few years that papa lived in a short distance from you on a farm. She said that she thought you would know where he was at if anybody knew for you was his own brother. Well uncle, write as soon as you get these few lines for I am anxious to find where he is. I have been thinking of trying to find him for quite a while and I hope I will have success. Well I will close for this time. Write as soon as this letter reaches you good-By from your niece. This is my address.
Mrs. Ida Coffman Surface
2050 Bluff Avenue
Indianapolis, Ind.
It's really sad to think that the letter may have gone unanswered. It seems that Jeff may have handed the letter off either to Sylvan himself, or to Sylvan's oldest son, my grandfather's father, after which time it was found by my grandfather's mother. If Sylvan had been in contact with his daughter, it seems like the family would know about her, so I don't think he wanted to be found. The weird thing is, he raised nine children with his second wife, so he was not unable or unwilling to be a family man. Why did he abandon that first daughter and stay out of her life? Other odd things: Ida Baker was only 14 when 22 year old Sylvan married her. You might think she was pregnant, but they are living together in the 1880 census, three years later, with no child. Ida (junior) was born that year, some time after the census was taken, I imagine. By then her mother Ida was 17. Four years later Sylvan is married again and his first child by this second wife is born. What does he name her? Ina. That Ina, in fact, is the one who applied for Mayflower Society membership, so she had access to a family bible that clearly showed her father's first marriage. So, wha? It sounds like Jeff knew about Ida and Ida also. Family secrets. But why? And what happened to Ida Baker? I'm assuming death in childbirth, but my uncle is spinning more sordid tales. Something about it scandalized my great-grandmother. I mean, it's pretty scandalous to abandon your child and try to obscure that you ever knew her, I'll grant you. But somehow this feels like something even bigger was horrifying my great-grandmother. My uncle thinks the first wife might not have been dead, so the second marriage was bigamous. "We descend from a bastard line!" he pronounced in mock horror. "Shoot," I replied, "we'll never inherit the throne, then."
But back to Ida Coffman, the writer of the letter. I hope she prospered. She says her grandparents raised her until she was 7, but what happened to her then? I'm glad she was married; that sounds hopeful that her life wasn't that of an orphan in the streets. But it's sad to think no one answered her letter.
When I was 13, I asked my grandfather about his family's history. One of the things he told me was about a letter that came to his mother from a woman who was looking for her father's other family. My grandfather was curious about following up on the letter, but he didn't push it because it upset his mother so much.
Looking back now, I wondered who it was about. My grandfather sounded not personally involved, so it can't have been about his own father. Since it upset his mother, I guessed it might have been about her father. Poking around on ancestry.com, I failed to find anything suspicious, and I wasn't sure who I was looking for anyway. I mentioned this to my uncle, and he had heard the story from his father, too. Something about a letter from a woman who had learned her own father had a second family. Since my uncle had bins full of his grandmother's things, he thought maybe we could find the letter if we worked at it. Well, this weekend I visited him and we worked really hard. :-) And we found it.
My great-great grandfather, Sylvan Coffman, had a wife before my great-great grandmother. I learned about her a few months ago when the woman from The Mayflower Society sent me a copy of a copy of a family bible page that they had on record at Plymouth. Someone in my family applied for Mayflower Society membership ages ago and submitted this copy as documentation. Which was really cool, since I have no idea whatever happened to the bible itself. In it, Sylvan Coffman's wife is clearly listed as Ida B. Baker in large print, with my actual great-grandmother's name squeezed in in small writing, since obviously it was believed Ida would be the one and only wife. Until something happened. I'm assuming she died, but I don't really know. Anyway, so I already knew about Ida, but it sounds like Sylvan's daughter-in-law, Grandpa's mom, didn't. The letter, it turns out, wasn't addressed to her, so it must have come to her through her ex-husband's effects at some time later. And yet she was still scandalized. Anyway, the letter was addressed to Sylvan's brother, a man named Thomas Jefferson Coffman (yes, really) who apparently went by Jeff. The woman wrote to say she was the daughter of Ida Baker, she'd been raised by Ida's parents, and now she'd really like to find her father. Since Jeff was his brother, would he write and tell her where her father was? The letter is postmarked Feb. 1907, and is so fragile it was being held together with a straight pin. And the pin had rusted. When my uncle made a copy of the envelope for me, the envelope disconnected at the folds. So, for the curious, here's what the letter says:
Indianapolis, Ind.
Feb 18, 1907
Dear Uncle,
Well, uncle Jeff I thought I would write you a few lines in regards of finding the whereabouts of my father. This is Sylvan Coffman's oldest daughter you remember Ida Baker the girl he married in Hamilton, Ohio. She was the daughter of Adaline and Charles Baker. I know that you know them for often I have heard them speak about you. For they raised me from a child untill I was 7 years old and I was married when I was just 19 years. I found your whereabouts through Ella Liggett, Aunt Emerine Sykes's daughter, a few days ago. Ella said that a few years that papa lived in a short distance from you on a farm. She said that she thought you would know where he was at if anybody knew for you was his own brother. Well uncle, write as soon as you get these few lines for I am anxious to find where he is. I have been thinking of trying to find him for quite a while and I hope I will have success. Well I will close for this time. Write as soon as this letter reaches you good-By from your niece. This is my address.
Mrs. Ida Coffman Surface
2050 Bluff Avenue
Indianapolis, Ind.
It's really sad to think that the letter may have gone unanswered. It seems that Jeff may have handed the letter off either to Sylvan himself, or to Sylvan's oldest son, my grandfather's father, after which time it was found by my grandfather's mother. If Sylvan had been in contact with his daughter, it seems like the family would know about her, so I don't think he wanted to be found. The weird thing is, he raised nine children with his second wife, so he was not unable or unwilling to be a family man. Why did he abandon that first daughter and stay out of her life? Other odd things: Ida Baker was only 14 when 22 year old Sylvan married her. You might think she was pregnant, but they are living together in the 1880 census, three years later, with no child. Ida (junior) was born that year, some time after the census was taken, I imagine. By then her mother Ida was 17. Four years later Sylvan is married again and his first child by this second wife is born. What does he name her? Ina. That Ina, in fact, is the one who applied for Mayflower Society membership, so she had access to a family bible that clearly showed her father's first marriage. So, wha? It sounds like Jeff knew about Ida and Ida also. Family secrets. But why? And what happened to Ida Baker? I'm assuming death in childbirth, but my uncle is spinning more sordid tales. Something about it scandalized my great-grandmother. I mean, it's pretty scandalous to abandon your child and try to obscure that you ever knew her, I'll grant you. But somehow this feels like something even bigger was horrifying my great-grandmother. My uncle thinks the first wife might not have been dead, so the second marriage was bigamous. "We descend from a bastard line!" he pronounced in mock horror. "Shoot," I replied, "we'll never inherit the throne, then."
But back to Ida Coffman, the writer of the letter. I hope she prospered. She says her grandparents raised her until she was 7, but what happened to her then? I'm glad she was married; that sounds hopeful that her life wasn't that of an orphan in the streets. But it's sad to think no one answered her letter.