I recently have started sharing with family tidbits of what I am finding in my genealogical searches. This has brought my aunt to share pictures and items with me. One little piece of information really caught me off guard.
One night after the house was put to bed my phone chimed and I knew it was a Facebook message. I waited to open it and the next morning I was gob smacked by what I found.
At first glance, I saw an Obituary for a man I did not know but a name I knew well stood out, Betty L Lewis. My first read through, it appeared that my Grandma Betty had a son that none of us knew. My aunt said that this was grandma’s first born.
My mind was racing, as I read over it again many things started to stand out to me. The father was not the same man my Grandmother was married to. Her first husband was a Lewis, it was a different Lewis. Both parents preceded him in death. He passed in 2009 and my Grandmother Betty passed in 2012. Lastly, if this were true then my grandmother had a child at 13. THIRTEEN!
So I began digging. I immediately opened the find a grave app on my phone and found a grave marker for both individuals. This Betty L Lewis passed away in 1984.
After sharing with my aunt the news and picture of the grave she expressed that Grandpa had told her that grandma was sent away at 13 to have a baby.
Of all the closets that have been opened and all the family skeletons that have come out this one probably is the most frustrating. All the individuals who would have been witness to that are no longer living. And even if Grandma was still alive I doubt I would have the gumption to ask her straight out. She has shared a lot of tales and secrets but they had all been initiated by her. Those are her cats to let out and if she wanted to share then she would have opened that bag.
If true…. What happened, was it a voluntary or involuntary act, how was it received, where was she sent, what happened to the baby, did she ever meet the child later in life…so many questions. As I try to put this skeleton back together or lay it to rest I am at a loss as to where to start this new search of information.
Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him…Colossians 2:7