No More Guilt

Week 23: #52 Ancestors – Mistake

By Eilene Lyon

I have just returned home from a three-week road trip to the west coast. It incorporated the National Genealogical Society Conference in Sacramento; visits with cousins; visits with friends; and a trip to the Portland area to see Mom and my Aunt B. I will share some things from the trip in weeks to come.

You may recall a recent post about my great-grandmother, Clara Ransom Davis, where I shared some of her watercolors. In a conversation with my aunt, she mentioned a love seat that her mother, Clare Davis Smith, had reupholstered.

I showed her Clara’s painting that has just half a loveseat and asked if it was the same one. It was! And she informed me that her mother had given it away. This is the same woman who insisted I keep the beaver lap robe. Aha! I no longer need to feel guilty.

My aunt also gave me Lila’s quilt while I was there. I’ve brought it home and have spread it out on the bed in my office to air out. According to the embroidery, my great-grandmother, (Mary) Lila Reams Smith, made the quilt top in February 1905.

Her two youngest children, Laurence and Loren, had not yet been born. Not surprisingly, Loren’s name does not appear on the quilt. I think Lila may have completed the quilt after May 1908, when my grandfather, Laurence, was born, because his name DOES appear on the quilt.

What is odd is the way the name is spelled: LAWRANCE. That is erroneous in two ways: the W, and the second A instead of an E. Grandpa always spelled his name LAURENCE. A Washington State birth index spells it that way, but I do not have a certificate issued at the time of birth. There is a delayed registration birth certificate filed in 1940, and it also spells his name as “Laurence.”

How curious that Grandpa’s mom spelled his name wrong. It is also the only name on the quilt that does not include the last name, Smith.