Help reading mother's maiden name.

Question

Looking for Nancy's parents. How would you read her mother's maiden name? http://www.wikitree.com/photo/jpg/Branch-2209-3

Comments

Well, her first name was Emma, but the last name of Chami____ is what you are interested in.

To help with your quest, it would be useful to have some more information about the document image -- and a copy of the whole image. Apparently it is a death record? Where created? Where did you find it? Seeing the rest of the record, or possibly other records from the same place and time (written in the same hand) might help with transcribing it.

Also, it might be helpful to look for other records from her supposed place of birth (Kennett, Missouri) to see if there is evidence of a family named Chamisos (or similar).

The profile says that Nancy's death certificate gives her first name as "Mary." If that's the case (the name is not part of the image you shared), how do you/we know that it's the record for Nancy?

ADDED: I see fromhttps://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1656392/nancy-branchs-death-certificate-has-her-first-name-as-mary that you have a good basis for identifying "Nancy" as the woman whose death certificate calls her "Mary." That evidence should be summarized in her profile (here on WikiTree, cousins unknown to us may show up and question our conclusions -- it helps all of us if we document our reasoning).

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This is a copy of Nancy's death certificate from Ancestry. I haven't shared the whole image because I'm worried about copywrite issues. Here is the link to Ancestry: Nancys Death Certificate

I have, so far, been unable to find any Chami --- in Kennett in the correct time period. I've made google sheets for the census of the area in 1880 and 1900 so I could search alphabetically, no luck. I did find an Emma Hamilton who married a William (Billy?) Branch in Haywood, Tennessee. August 15, 1883 The problem is I can find no other connection between those two or between them and Nancy (:-( lost 1890 census) 

As far as making sure the death certificate belongs to Nancy: her Husband's name is J (James) F (Franklin) Harty, and The informant is Emma Fisher, her daughter. The birthday is April 1887 which is also listed on a 1900 census, the DC is the only proof I have of the day. She was buried in Oak Ridge Cemetary in Piggott, Arkansas. I went to the library in Piggott and was told by a cemetery worker that she remembered the flag that was put there but there was never a gravestone placed. Her daughter, Emma, was also buried in this cemetery. I did try to cross-reference with the funeral director records but they have been lost to time.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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I've added "research notes" with what I've outlined. My intention is to rebuild this profile completely with all the information I've gathered. This particular person, and her husband, have taken me down many paths that turned out to be very wrong. I'm learning as I go. Thank you for your time and advice.

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It's apparent that Nancy is a difficult challenge! I encourage you to try keep track of every detail you find for her, no matter how insignificant it might appear to be. Sometimes minor details turn out to be valuable clues.

I wish you the best of luck!

Answer 1

William A Branch findagrave ID 247768607

I put this on his profile

Comments

I had held off on doing that because I was unable to verify his parents or his wife referenced on FAG. I do know there is at least one other William Branch born in Tennessee who married Emma Hamilton. (I was certain this was Nancy's parents, but I found them elsewhere still married with many children)There is a William Branch who married Lilly Mae Sloan in 1892, One who married Mary in 1899, and one who married Georgia M Stall in 1907. all in Kennett, Missouri. The last three could be the same man married three times, but I haven't sorted them.

Answer 2

I think it is a clerk's misspelling of "Jamison". The clerk was taking down the verbal communication of the informant.

Answer 3

The Missouri Digital Heritage site is a service of the Missouri Secretary of State and offers a death certificate database with PDF copies of the records at no cost. https://s1.sos.mo.gov/records/archives/archivesmvc/deathcertificates  A query for the surname Harty for 1935-1940 returns a list including both Mary and James.

The document image for Mary is at this link which retrieves the PDF: https://www.sos.mo.gov/images/archives/deathcerts/1939/1939_00043168.PDF

Kennett, Missouri is in the far southeastern part of Missouri just above the boot heel.  It is just a few miles to Arkansas and across the Mississippi river from Tennessee.  A search of those adjacent areas may help find Mary's parents.

Best for your searching!

Answer 4

Not knowing anything about this part of Missouri, I looked at all the endings on other words and decided the letter at the end of the county might be the same as the letter at the end of the last name, and figured out it would be "n" - making the name Chamison.  The "i" has the dot and the "s" looks like others on the DC.  My actual first take was that it was someone trying to spell "Chamois" and got the letters mixed up.  Emma and Emeline are both variants in French.

I like the "Jamison" suggestion already made (just noticed.)