Events
Birth: 1878-05-14, Age:70y 7m 18d, South Dakota
Married: ?1900 , Age:70y 7m 18d, ?California, Role:bride
Death: 1949-1968, Age:70y 7m 18d, ?California
Letter-written: 1949-04-19, Age:70y 7m 18d, Lompoc, Santa Barbara county, California, Role:writer, Other Party, cousin, Nell Searls?, May wrote a letter on 04-19-1949 from her home in Lompoc, California to her cousin Nell. This Nell was probably her first cousin, Nell Searls, daughter of Nell's aunt Mary Louise (Douglass) Searls. Mary was the sister of May's father. In this letter May mentioned many scattered facts about her immediate family plus those of her aunts and uncles. She said her brother Bruce calls her "the family historian". She goes on to say she has the records of both the Douglass family and those of her mother. Among the facts mentioned:
- May will turn age 71 on May 14 [thus born 05-14-1878]
- May lived alone in an apartment and had a pet parrott "Dick"
- her son travelled often as a Ship Carpenter
- son Doug also lived near King City, CA and had one son plus a step-son
- May had a daughter Cleota who died about 1925 leaving a 3 month old son George who May raised until age 8, George was age 24 [thus born in 1925] and lived in San Jose with his father and step-mother and was studying to be an architect like uncle Bruce
- May's parents lived in King City, California for a while and used to be visited there by uncle Arch and his children
- brother Bruce lives in San Luis Obispo and has two grown sons, Malcolm and Clark. Malcolm has a daughter and a baby son and they live in Carmel, Clark has four daughters and lives near King City on a ranch near Greenfield
- brother Bruce was losing the use of his legs due to a childhood injury, he was an architect and would turn age 63 on March 20 [thus born 03-20-1886]
- many of her relatives lived near her area
- Nell's mother died within the past several years [Nell's mother Mary Louise (Douglass) Searls died in 1945]
- Pearl often wrote to May but not lately
- aunt Dell [Sarah Ordellie] had children
- uncle John [?John Orson] had a son Bert
- Bert worked for the Santa Barbara post office for many years
- Bert was married and had two daughters that both had children
- uncle George [?George Emmet] had a wife and sons and lived near Los Angeles
- uncle Arch [?Archibald Stone] and family lived near Portland, OR and the family owned and operated a large lumber and mill company and his son Percy, address 7015 N. Johns Ave., was the head of the company, and Percy's sisters, Bertha Golding and Kitten Butts, were both married and had sons. They all worked for the company.
- sister Stella had daughters Ethelda Copley and Charlott Miller who both lived in King City, CA
- neice Ethelda had a son that was married and lived near King City
- neice Charlott had two daughters and one son
- Jennie "Jane" Butler [probably a sister of May] had two daughters and one son, the eldest daughter died, Jane lived with the other daughter and her husband and their one daughter age 6, Jane's son has a daughter and a son
- Jane [probably a sister of May] will turn age 65 on May 13 [thus born 05-13-1884]
- Elmer [probably a brother of May] will turn age 59 on Sept. 9 [thus born 09-09-1889] was in World War I and inhaled mustard gas and had problems with his lungs
- Elmer was a carpenter and had two daughters, the oldest was married on 03-20-1948
- Nell Lendel [?? not the addressee of the letter since this Nell was referred to in the third person] was married and had a son and three grandsons. [It is unknown how this Nell ties in to the family].