As I attached records for Henry J. Snellgrove, I ran across some children listed in his household in the 1910 U.S. Census.1 When doing descendancy research add any children mentioned in the records, even if you are not quite sure. One of the children in the 1910 U.S. census was Queen V. Wilcox. She was clearly identified as a daughter of Henry J. Snellgrove, 20 years old, widow, a mother of one child, one child living. This child was not mentioned in any other records for Henry, so there were questions right away.
Once I finished attaching all of the available records for Henry in Ancestry and FamilySearch, Queen appeared to be the oldest child of Henry and Leah Snellgrove. The next step in my descendancy research was to take a closer look to see if Queen was truly a child of Henry J. Snellgrove.
Table of Contents
Step 1: Review Queen V. Wilcox
Not much is known about Queen V. Wilcox. The 1910 U.S. Census gives an estimated birth of 1890 in Georgia. The census index found on both FamilySearch and Ancestry make the assumption her parents are Henry J. and Leah Snellgrove. No other records show a connection between Henry J. and Leah Snellgrove and Queen V. Wilcox.
Another thing to note is Queen’s birth year of 1890 is before the marriage of Henry and Leah on 3 Aug 1902 in Irwin County, Georgia.2 It is still possible they are the parents, but it would be a bit unusual. It would also be unusual to be a mixed race family in 1910 in Georgia.
Step 2: Evaluate Sources and Record Hints
The next step is to take a closer look at the 1910 U.S. Census. Queen V. Wilcox and her brother Frederick Snellgrove were listed as children of Henry J and Leah Snellgrove. In this census, the family is split between two census pages.
Looking at this a bit closer at the top of the next census page, it becomes clear the index is missing Willis Snellgrove. The three children listed on the next page are Willis Snellgrove, Federick D Snellgrove, and Queen V. Wilcox. It is unusual for an index to completely miss an individual. This census would have been indexed by two indexers, checked for agreement, and then published. But both indexers would have missed Willis for the index to be published missing Willis. The index is the same on both Ancestry and FamilySearch, so likely FamilySearch did the original indexing and shared it with Ancestry.
The next thing to check is the sheet numbering of the census pages.
Henry J. Snellgrove, Leah, and Johnnie are listed on the census on sheet 8B. Willis, Federick, and Queen V. Wilcox are listed on sheet 8A. This means this section of the census has pages which are out of order! When it appears a family is split between sheets, the indexers would assume the children listed on the next page were the children of the parents listed on the previous. They would not have looked at the sheet numbers. This is the reason one should always look at actual images and not rely on the index!
Willis, Federick, and Queen are, as a result, not the children of Henry J. and Leah Snellgrove. Whose children are they? Is it possible that Henry’s actual children are listed on another sheet? The answer to both questions are found on the census. The sheets were ordered as 7B, 8B, 8A, 9A. Queen’s parents should be on the bottom of sheet 7B and Henry’s children should be on sheet 9A.
The bottom of sheet 7B lists Queen’s actual parents Ed W. and Hannah Fuller. By putting the correct sheets together, this is what we learn about this couple and family.
| Name | Relationship | Age | Married/Single | Years of marriage | No. of children born | No. of children living |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fuller, Ed W. | Head | 45 | M1 | 24 | ||
| Fuller, Hannah | Wife | 42 | M1 | 24 | 7 | 5 |
| Fuller, Willis | Son | 22 | S | |||
| Willis, Federick D | Son | 19 | S | |||
| Wilcox, Queen V. | Daughter | 20 | Widowed | 1 | 1 |
Skipping ahead to sheet 9A, we find the rest of Henry J. and Leah’s children, Willis, Eva, and Ora L.
This is now what Henry’s family looks like:
| Name | Relationship | Age | Married/Single | Years of marriage | No. of children born | No. of children living |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snellgrove, Henry J | Head | 33 | M1 | 8 | ||
| Snellgrove, Leah | Wife | 28 | M1 | 8 | 4 | 4 |
| Snellgrove, Johnie | Son | 6 | S | |||
| Snellgrove, Eva | Daughter | 3 | S | |||
| Snellgrove, Ora I | Daughter | 1 1/2 | S |
Step 3: Update FamilySearch
The next step is to make sure the Snellgrove and Fuller families are correct on FamilySearch – meaning the children are connected to the correct parents. The next step is to make sure the census sheets are linked to the correct individuals. Henry J. Snellgrove’s family appears to be correct on FamilySearch, but both Queen and the rest of her family need to be cleaned up.
Edward Fuller and his family were in FamilySearch, but there were duplicates of all of the family members. The 1910 U.S. Census was connected to either duplicates are completely different individuals.
These were the steps I took to clean up the Fuller family (detailed in the accompanying video).
- Merge the duplicates for Edward, Hannah, Willis, and Frederick.
- Followed the links for the 1910 U.S. Census and found the census was connected to Queen Wilcoxson.
- Queen Wilcoxson was the daughter of Edward Wilcoxson and Victoria. Willis Snellgrove and Frederick Snellgrove were listed as children.
- Merged Willis Snellgrove with Willis Fuller (surviving record)
- Merged Frederick Snellgrove with Frederick Douglas Fuller (surviving record)
- Detached Willis and Frederick from the Edward Wilcoxson family.
- Detached the 1910 U.S. Census from Queen Wilcoxson.
- Attached the 1910 U.S. Census to Queen Fuller.
There were quite a few steps needed to clean up the Edward Fuller family and ensuring the records were attached correctly. It was satisfying to have this family cleaned up and ready for more research by their descendants. It was also a fun mystery that required some detective work.
Sources
- Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Original data:Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910 (NARA microfilm publication T624, 1,178 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. For details on the contents of the film numbers, visit the following NARA web page: NARA.
- Ancestry.com. Georgia, U.S., Marriage Records From Select Counties, 1828-1978 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: County Marriage Records, 1828–1978. The Georgia Archives, Morrow, Georgia.
