Virginia "Jennie" Shaw Part Two

Due to a message from a member at Find a Grave about linking family members I discovered why Jennie disappeared after the 1920 US Census.

Some time between the 1920 US Census and 1928 her husband Charles C Smith died.  On 11 Sep 1928 she marries Frederick Wesley Niles in Newburg, Phelps Co, Missouri. This is what I have been able to find so far...

Ancestry.com. Missouri, Marriage Records, 1805-2002 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007. Original data: Missouri Marriage Records. Jefferson City, MO, USA: Missouri State Archives. Microfilm.

The 1930 US Federal Census finds them living in  Springfield on North Campbell. Jennie's daughter, Margaret, is with them listed as Step Daughter to the head of household Fred. Margaret is listed as married with the last name Hurst but her husband is not in the household. Some searching finds Margaret's marriage certificate to Loren D Hurst on 23 Jul 1927. Fred's occupation is shoemaker in a repair shop. There is a notation in the margin that Fred and Jennie are "deaf & dumb".

Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002.Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930. T626, 2,667 rolls.

The 1940 US Federal Census shows that they are still in Springfield at 433 (E) High Street. It says in 1935 they were in the "same place". Both are listed as "unable to work", given their ages of 81 and 71 it's not surprising.

In 1946 Fred and Jennie are in the Springfield city directory living at 764 E Commercial.

Virginia Ann "Jennie" Shaw Baker Smith Niles died at home (2021 Benton Ave, Springfield, Mo) on 17 Mar 1948 of Acute Hepatitis. Jennie's Find A Grave memorial. She is buried at Maple Park Cemetery in a unmarked grave where her sister Frances Belle Shaw Pierpont and other Pierponts are also buried.

My mom and dad who live in Springfield found the area of Jennie's unmarked grave.

Frederick Wesley Niles passes away on 11 Oct 1948 in Springfield Missouri and is buried with his first wife, Mary Ellen Roberts, at Mill Creek Cemetery in Phelps Co, Missouri. Fred's Find A grave Memorial.

DNA Testing

DNA testing has proven that Virginia Jennie Shaw was my Grandfather Roy Henry Baker's mother. I have several matches to Jennie's father's line the Oldhams. There is still the mystery with the question of Roy's Baker paternity... trying to figure out if John D Baker was his biological father. I am working on the Baker line with a close DNA match but in true form messages at Ancestry DNA have gone unanswered so far. We have a couple matches that might solve the mystery if they would only check their messages and jump in with information!

I found out what happened to Jennie after the 1920 US Census. A post about that  is coming!