Paternity claim on Bat Masterson [closed]

Question

I find no evidence to support the claim of paternity for Inez Medler. Can the Wild West Projects review please? DNA evidence would work or, at the minimum, evidence putting Masterson in the same state would be something to consider.

Answer 1

Thank you, A, for bringing this to our attention. I will review any documentation on the profile, research additionally as needed, and post back here.

Can you add to the tags in the question Westward_Ho and United_States as that will get some additional eyes on the question.

~ T Stanton, Wild Wild West & Westward Ho Project Coordinator

Comments

Her grave marker, though very hard to read, appears to list year of birth as 1896 and not 1895.

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Social Security No 351322779: gives DOB 23 Oct 1895 and 1900 census gives Oct 1895

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Robert K. DeArment, said to be the “master” on Masterson, World War II veteran, and author of several books is also a contributing editor to True West. See Bat Masterson's Femmes Fatales in True West dated 2001 where he discusses known paramours of Bat. DeArment states that once Bat had settled down with Emma Walter by 1891 (there is no record of a marriage though one of Bat's brothers said they were married) there were no other women in his life. Unless it can be proven that Bat was in Illinois Jan-Mar 1895 and in (very close) proximity to Lily Medler, I think the Inez Medler story must be considered a fanciful creation regarding an illegitimate child.

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Yes my thoughts exactly. Most likely as Masterson had a newsworthy reputation by 1895, someone has taken liberty with his name and that may have initiated the paternity claim by the family.

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I've been trying to find the origin of the copy on the profile. I saw it over at Ancestry in Comments on the profile (and one of your notations under it) but plugging that text into various searches has not resulted in where it came from.

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Full SSN should be removed from G2G messages for privacy and security reasons

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Just fyi: SSNs for dead people are public record - I see them on ancestry.com all the time.  Any SSN older than 120 years is public record even if Social Security never received notification of death.

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It was said of Napoleon I that there was conflict between families claiming descent from him, but he left "descendants" wherever he went.

Answer 2

In reading the data on the profile and the information given on where Masterson was living at the time period I think it's highly unlikely he was the father of Inez Medler.  This appears to be another "family story" that has no evidence to substantiate the facts.  I would suggest removing Masterson as her father and adding a section to her biography that states according to "family stories" Masterson was believed to be her father.

Comments

Masterson's profile is a protected project. Can someone please oblige in removing the link?

Answer 3

The 1920 census lists her father as Richard Scritchlow

United States Census, 1920 

Her husbands full name was Emmet Bruce Mercer

Comments

Thanks, Eric. I had not noticed that last line in the Census record.

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Yes thank you very much Eric. What are the chances of her father being with them in 1920!!!

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Her father's age is given as 73 with a birth year of ca 1847.  In the 1900, 1920 and 1930 Federal census' Inez father's place of birth is listed as Illinois.

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Richard Scritchlow was born 28 Aug 1846 Ohio. His death certificate shows he died Shelby Illinois

Death Certificate of Richard Scritchlow 

He married the listed wife Nora 1889

Richard is definitely Inez's father. Age has nothing to do with a mans ability to sire a child and he would have been 49 in 1895

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Richard was buried in the Glenwood Cemetery Shelby, as were the Mercers, and his wife Nora Syfert/Harlow.

Find a Grave

Nora was 18 years his junior.

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A Soofie

"Richard was buried in the Glenwood Cemetery Shelby, as were the Mercers"

Well Done

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A hearty round of applause to all for helping sort this out. Perhaps their family legend of a connection to Bat is gone but now the actual father is known which is terrific.