“Mother’s Two Brothers” Part 1 about Roscoe Webb can be found here, and Part 2 about James Webb can be found here.
The two “Mother” candidates were Roscoe and James Webb’s two sisters, Alice and Mary. I looked up Alice’s marriage to John A. Kirk and Mary’s marriage to Ivins Davis on Familysearch.org, thinking that the Shaws from Indiana might be found in either Kirk or Davis lineage. However, my sideways studies quickly became unwieldy as I found births and deaths and marriages and censuses …
I realized that Grandma and Grandpa Shaw from Indiana could be:
- Grandparents of Webb in-laws John Kirk or Ivins Davis.
- Grandparents of the unknown spouses of Kirk or Davis children.
- Grandparents of anyone, unrelated to the Webb family in any respect.
I admit it. I was starting to get frustrated with barking up the wrong trees, if you’ll pardon the saying. Since I wasn’t getting anywhere with either the Kirk or the Davis lineages, I decided to move on. I had discovered Delayed Birth Records for both of Alice’s daughters on Ancestry.com, which showed their married names. Maybe one of their husbands had Indiana Shaw roots.
My second time viewing Mary Alice Kirk’s Delayed Birth Record revealed the identity of “Mother.” On the first look, I saw only information.
On the second, I saw handwriting. Oddly familiar handwriting, with a decidedly left-ward slant.
I freed the picture of the two brothers from its sleeve and looked at the back. The same caption that first gave me the tools to pursue this mystery suddenly yielded an unexpected clue. The image of the birth record is not in the public domain, so I am showing here only what is necessary to make the point.
Caption on the back of the photo of the two Webb brothers, shown above.
Complete image available via Ancestry.com (subscription access required).
Notice the slant. Notice the letter M. Notice the way the name Webb is written.
On the line for Mother’s Maiden Name, the shadow figure comes in clear: Alice Webb is “Mother.” Her daughter Mary Alice Kirk Tracy completed (and signed) her own Delayed Birth Record on March 5, 1959. I still don’t know how, or if, Grandma and Grandpa Shaw are connected to the Webb family, but if the assumption that the whole lot of old photos belong together proves true, then Mary Alice Kirk Tracy’s story is the next one to follow.
