Who was Little Baby Viola?
Laura Twilliger
Little Baby Viola was a “Fat Lady” in the Hagenback-Wallace Circus in the early 1920's (see attached picture).
First some background.
I sent the email below this one separately to both Rich and Craig week, as I didn’t know if everyone was interested in the Walters/Fales side of the family. Then I realized that all of these families are interrelated, because was I bumping into Davis and Whitman family members in my research. So read that email first. (An added note to that email, Damon’s sister Irene, who is listed on his WWI Draft Registration Card, married George Walters Jr.)
So … in my research of the Fales family I came across several Ancestry trees that link “Little Baby Viola” to Viola Fales, daughter of Edward Fales and Margaret Walters. But I did not see where the solid connection was that Viola Fales was “Little Baby Viola”. There are 2 census record for Arthur C Barton and Viola for 1920 and 1930. In 1920, they are living in Massachusetts and in 1930 they are living in California. Both records have the correct age for Viola and show her as being born in Michigan. The 1930 census shows Arthur as being a novelty man for carnivals. But still, nothing concrete. So I went looking to see if I could prove or disprove the Little Baby Viola connection.
This is what I figured out …
Viola Fales married Arthur Whitman in 1897. (And I think Kathy was looking for information on Arthur Whitman several years ago). Arthur was the son of Henry Whitman and Mary Alida Davis.
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NQQS-G3P
They had two children, William and Mary, and all four are listed on the 1900 census.
In 1909, there is a death listing for Mary Whitman (shows parents A.E. Whitman and Viola Fales) in Centralia, Lewis Washington.
In 1910, Arthur is living with his brother Alfred in Bohemia, Lane, Oregon, and their sister Nettie Hoyt is living next door. Arthur is listed as married, and has been married 12 years. No sign of Viola or son William
In 1920, Arthur is living with his sister, Nettie. Again, is listed as married, and no sign of Viola or William.
In 1923, Arthur dies in Lane County, Oregon, and is buried in Laurel Grove Cemetery. There is a “Find a Grave” listing for him, and it states. “Wife Viola. No stone”. So where is Viola? And did she in fact run off to join the circus?
…. Apparently, she did!
I found the following California marriage record for Arthur Barton and Viola Whitman. Viola is widowed and her parents were Edward Fales and Margaret Walters, all born in Michigan.
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/K8F7-TRY
Also, see attached news clipping of Viola suing Arthur for divorce, because he made her so nervous, it caused her to lose weight!
(In the clipping “st.” refers to stone which is a British unit of weight, which is equivalent to about 14 lbs.)
This is my tree for Viola.
http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/12924461/person/13894133934
Regards to All!
Laura
From: Laura Twilliger [mailto:laura.t...@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, June 07, 2013 5:37 PM
To: 'Rich Shults'
Subject: Riddle me this ... who was Joseph Fales?
Rich,
Just recently I have started looking back through my Ancestry trees for the children of Nathaniel Walters and Nancy. I have been trying to figure out Nancy’s maiden name based on the information in marriage and death records of their children. So far, I have come up with Nawrick, Vawrick, Vinerick and Vinrick. None quite look right.
I was revisiting my tree for Leonard Walters and Mary Davis. As you know, Leonard and Mary moved with their family to Oregon prior to 1910. On both the 1910 and 1920 censuses, there is a listing for Joseph Fales, who is their grandson.
Now, I know Leonard’s sister Margaret married Edward Fales, and they had quite a few children. But I could not initially figure who were the parents of Joseph. And I could not find any records that showed the names of either or both of the parents.
I looked up and down the trees for both the Walters family and the Fales family and nothing was making sense. It seems like everyone was accounted for.
The one thing odd was Leonard and Mary had a daughter Nancy. Nancy was married in 1899 to William “Durlam” Sayers. However, Nancy was living with her parents in 1900 in Michigan. I could not find any census records for 1910 and 1920 for Nancy and William, but I did find one for 1930 for Nancy and William and they were living in Foster, Linn, Oregon.
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N3XR-WZD
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F87T-CD4
Now this is where it gets interesting. I did find two census records for Nancy for 1910 and 1920 in which she is a resident of the Northern Michigan Asylum (known as Traverse City State Hospital in 1920). I was not sure it was Nancy, but I kept it in the back of my head.
Now I went looking down the Fales Family Tree, and again I could not find anything, but I did notice I was missing some children. On the 1910 census Margaret Fales lists she has had 15 children, 10 of whom are still living. I went looking at other Ancestry trees to see who I could find, and I found about 4 more kids. (With the missing records from the absence of the 1890 census, it is easy to not be able to track everyone in families, especially girls who got married young, In addition, Margaret got remarried in 1899, and she as well as many of her kids are “invisible” on the 1900 census.)
One of the kids I did find was Damon who was born in 1884. When I started tracking Damon I found a 1910 census record, in which he was a resident of the Northern Michigan Asylum. There also a death record dated 1919 from the Traverse City State Hospital list lists the length of residence as almost 18 years.
Ding Ding Ding!
Nancy and Damon must have met at the Northern Michigan Asylum. Maybe they knew each other because they were first cousins. The two “got friendly”, and Nancy got pregnant. Being that Nancy would be unable to raise Joseph, her parents took him in.
It all fits!
Interesting!
Laura
Heriford, Kathy
Kathy Heriford
Teleco, Inc.
430 Woodruff Road, Suite 300
Greenville, SC 29607-3464
864-297-4401 extension 2282 voice
864-616-2923 cell
www.teleco.com
From: the-davis-fa...@googlegroups.com [mailto:the-davis-fa...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Laura Twilliger
Sent: Tuesday, June 11, 2013 5:03 PM
To: 'Davis Family of New York and Michigan'
Subject: Who was Little Baby Viola?
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