Welcome to the first in our series of guest blogs here at Family Wise! We’re excited to feature an exciting range of posts from researchers within the genealogy community, sharing their knowledge and experiences. If you’re passionate about genealogy or family history and would like to contribute a blog, we’d love to hear from you! Simply drop us a message on social media or email maddy@family-wise.co.uk to get involved. Introducing our first guest blog, ‘Will The Real Roy Hammond Please Stand up?’ by Ron Williams.
In the sometimes-cruel world that is family research, records can be elusive and messy with information not always directly available or forthcoming. For researchers such as us, the results can be frustration, despair, or even anger.
Enter, the census report. To family historians, the census report offers a safe guidepost, a dependable edifice upon which we may reasonably expect to discover pertinent and useful information. Well, I believed I was the fortunate recipient of such information when I turned to the United States Federal Census to learn about my grandfather’s mysterious past before he settled in Vancouver and became a father to my dad.
Complicating the task was the unfortunate fact that my grandfather – Alfred Victor Williams – had strangely chosen to live under an alias for the majority of his adult years. Thus, I searched under the alias, “Roy Hammond”, in attempts to discover my dad’s dad.
Target Identified
I was rewarded almost instantly for my modest efforts with two separate entries that seemed to match my elusive research target.
From the 1930 census report:
Name: Roy Hammond
Age: 33
Estimated Birth Year: 1897
Address: 6077 2nd Street, NW, Seattle
Birthplace: England
House Members: Celia Hammond (33), Betty M. Hammond (3)
From the 1940 census report:
Name: Roy Hammond
Age: 42
Estimated Birth Year: 1898
Address: 1121 Minor Avenue, Seattle
Birthplace: New York
House Members: Vennice Hammond (34), Betty Hammond (14)
The Seattle residences, the matching names, the almost identical birth years as well as the duplicate presence of an appropriately aged daughter named Betty led me to accept that I’d found my man, twice.
Still, I wondered why his partner is identified separately as both “Celia” and “Vennice”, attempting to convince that one or both could certainly be middle names. However, the age discrepancy was difficult to ignore, with Celia’s birthdate of 1897 differing from Vennice’s 1906 earthly debut.
Could the enumerators be off by a decade? Of course, it’s possible my grandfather had separated from Celia at some point, opting instead for a domestic habitation with Vennice, a full decade younger. But what of the daughter? I assumed that in 1940 it would be unusual for the male to maintain custody in such affairs.
Quiet! Research in Progress
I determined that further research was in order. I didn’t know much about my grandfather; however I possessed a 1942 draft card with enough corroborating details to convince me that he was living under the name “Roy Hammond” in 1940s Seattle, so I determined to first verify the 1940 census report.
Using online resources, I learned that “Vennice” Hammond was originally Cynthia “Vernice” Jensen born October 12, 1908, in Monroe, Utah. In 1925, Vernice marries William John Silver and the two welcome Betty Bernice Silver one year later. I accept that this Betty is a child of William John Silver, leaving the possibility that if this is my grandfather, he is likely stepfather only to young Betty.
Shifting targets, I learn that Celia Hammond in the 1930 census is originally Celia Theresa Fleury born March 27, 1897, in Green Bay, Wisconsin. By 1916 she is in Seattle, Washington, where in 1923, she marries her husband, listed as Roy Hammond. Their daughter, Sylvia “Betty” Mae Hammond, is born in Seattle three years prior to the 1930 census.
Confirming that Vernice and Celia are not one in the same, as well as accepting that the two “Bettys” are separate beings, convinces me that the females involved – all four – are not two in the same.
My next task? Determine if both, one or none match my grandfather.
Convinced and Confused
On Ancestry, “cupidcarol” is the owner of a member tree listing Celia Theresa Fleury. Exploring further, it appears that “cupidcarol” may be Betty’s daughter. I decide to cease my hypothesizing and contact directly.
“Hello: I am very interested in Syliva “Betty” Mae Hammond, born 1927. In the 1930 census, her father is Roy Hammond. I believe that Roy Hammond is my grandfather. Sincerely, Ron Williams”
Within the hour, I received a succession of brief replies.
“Roy Hammond is my grandfather as he was my mom’s dad. Who was your dad?”
I congratulate myself that I was correct in guessing “cupidcarol” was Betty’s daughter. The responses soon continued.
“Roy Hammond was the name he used in the United States, but he was born in England as Leslie Thomas Watkins.”
I was floored. The admission that “Roy Hammond” is an alias, leaves me both one hundred percent convinced this was my grandfather and at the same time one hundred percent confused at the name Leslie Thomas Watkins, my own grandfather’s legal name being Alfred Victor Williams. While I’m contemplating, my newest electronic pen pal is typing.
“Have you taken a DNA test?”
This last comment causes pause. If “cupidcarol” is, in fact, my grandfather’s granddaughter, she would appear as a close match in my father’s DNA connections. While I already know the results, I check his matches to ensure. No “cupidcarol”. I share the news she already knows.
“You are not a DNA match with my father, so that eliminates my grandfather as the biological father of Syliva “Betty” Mae Hammond. However, I must share that my grandfather – born Alfred Victor Williams in 1889 in England – also adopted the alias, ‘Roy Hammond’.
The fact that both my Alfred Victor Williams and your Leslie Thomas Watkins took on the same name “Roy Hammond” leads me to believe they are one and the same and actually a stepfather to your mother.”
“Cupidcarol” responds that DNA results confirm she is a product of the Watkins family, sharing she is in touch with relatives today. Simply put, the Roy Hammond married to Celia Hammond in the 1930 census is not my grandfather.
All That Remains
Further scanning “cupidcarol’s” tree, I see an entry in the 1936 Vancouver City Directory:
Watkins, Thos L (Celia T) 6272 Windsor Street.
Later, pursuing online copies of the Vancouver Sun newspaper, I spy the heading, “RCAF Veteran Among Four Sudden Deaths”, I read, “Thomas Leslie Watkins, 48, who suffered a heart attack in his room in the Cecil Hotel, 1336 Granville, at 6:10 pm Tuesday, died before medical aid could reach him.”
I wonder at the coincidence of a man sharing my grandfather’s “Roy Hammond” moniker dying in a Vancouver hotel, not ten minutes away from my grandfather’s Vancouver home. Being so near in proximity, and likely both fond of drink, I find myself wondering if they ever crossed paths. If so, I’d love to have heard their conversation.
Days later, further research would provide me the corroborating evidence I needed to determine that the Roy Hammond in the 1940 census – only the 1940 census – was my man.
I still couldn’t help but marvel at the strange coincidental circumstances concerning the alias, “Roy Hammond”.
The Lost Fifty-Secen: A Genealogical Journey of Discovery, Deception, Secrets and Scandal by Ron Williams will be available in all formats on Amazon and other locations this November. Visit www.ronwilliamsmemoirs.com for more details.
