Sunday, January 16, 2022

Ancestral Discoveries: The Death Certificate of Alfred Morris

Ever since I began researching the ancestry of my mysterious paternal grandfather, Luther Allen Saddler Sr., I have found roadblock after roadblock when it comes to my Appalachian roots. This is because Appalachia, and by extension the Deep South, either didn't keep good records, they were lost, or indexed poorly. 

By far and away, the worst example of this is my 3rd great grandparents, Alfred Morris and Julia Bragg, of Covesville, Albemarle County, Virginia. Even though they both died after 1930 (and Julia after 1940), neither of them seemed to have extant Death Certificates, records, obituaries, graves, anything. The State of Virginia began statewide registration of deaths in 1912, so their deaths had to have been recorded. Yet for years, neither me nor a relative who researches this family could find anything on their deaths. What did we know? In 1930, Alfred Morris, aged 82, and his wife Julia, aged 71, lived with a boarder, Joseph L. Baber, 64, in Samuel Miller, Albemarle County, Virginia. In 1938 Alfred and Julia's son, George Alexander Morris (my 2nd great grandfather) died, and his obituary states that his mother survives him, so we knew Alfred died between 1930 and 1938, while Julia died after 1940 (she appears in the 1940 Census as well). 

The other day, I posted on Reddit about this conundrum. And much to my amazement, within minutes, a very helpful Redditor had posted a link to Alfred's death certificate, incorrectly indexed on Ancestry as Alfred Mims. It shows that Alfred Morris, aged 84, a farmer, husband of Julia Morris, died on April 13, 1931 in Samuel Miller, Albemarle County, Virginia, of Aortic Regurgitation. Everything is consistent with what we know about his life, down to his place of death. It is almost certainly the same Alfred Morris as my 3rd great grandfather. 

This is an amazing find, after several years of looking and confusion. Thanks u/phronimost for your help! 

No comments:

Post a Comment