Last week I began a more in depth research of my father's mother's father's family. The family of Barney Beth Richardson had never intrigued me as much as other family lines and his was always relegated to the 'I'll get to him later' pile. As a child I had snickered at his name. Despite the bouncy easiness the alliteration afforded the pronunciation of his name, I was more hung up on the fact that my great grandfather had a girl's name. But I was young and only knew that my girl friend from school was named Beth. I did not understand the etymology or naming patterns of long ago times. Of course in today's world, names have become so gender neutralized, it would hardly be surprising to hear someone had named their son Beth.
Barney Beth was as far as I had seriously gone down that family tree and so I decided to set aside my other research and jump into a new line. His life was easily traceable. Born in 1885, he is found in all available census records through 1940. His WWI and WWII Draft Registration Cards are legible and consistent except for a couple years difference in birth dates. A Utah marriage record shows his marriage to my great grandmother, Lillie Collings. This was her second marriage and his first. They were together until his death in 1961. An Idaho death certificate confirms all the relevant details.
Barney's father, John Thomas Richardson, proved just as easy to find in available records. Born in Missouri in 1845, as young child, John T. moved with his family to Kansas. In 1863, he enlisted in the Civil War and was honorably discharged in 1865. His life is followed through marriage and census records. His grave marker with birth and death dates is found on Find A Grave accompanied by the newspaper account a kind soul posted of his unfortunate death in an automobile accident in 1917. His death date is confirmed by a report of Civil War veterans compiled by the state of Kansas.
It was the finding of John T. with his family in the 1850 census when it became clear to me where my great grandfather got his name. John was the son of Barney Richardson and Elizabeth Dollahide Richardson. It is an easy assumption to make that my Barney Beth Richardson was named after his grandparents, Barney and ElizaBETH. My heart was immediately softened towards John Thomas Richardson who loved his parents so much he wanted his son to carry both his father's and mother's names. I promise to never snicker again at his name.
In a perfect example of receiving "more than my own strength" I have to thank whoever posted the newspaper account to Find A Grave. My searches in Newspaper.com yielded no results for either newspapers in that city or anything about a John Richardson in that place at that time. The account includes the traditional married names (Mrs. Husband's Name) and locations of two of his daughters and the locations of three of his sons, including my great grandfather, Barney. The married names, i.e. husband's names, and locations of the daughters proved helpful as one of the daughters seemed unfindable without the knowledge of her spouse's name. This opened up an entire branch of the family that can now be added into the tree.
I used Ancestry, Find A Grave, and known family history to further my research of this part of my family. I'm looking forward to digging deeper into their lives. I'm especially interested in finding out what newspaper included the account of John Thomas Richardson's death. It seemed to be the hometown paper so I bet there are more stories to share about the family found within its pages. A quick Google search shows there is a small town historical museum with dedicated volunteers eager to preserve their towns stories and heritage. I think I'll give them a call.
