Census records run in a circular motion

What fun.

I haven't had much of any time for genealogy but when I saw the 1935 Missouri Death Certificate images were now online I had to go check them out. I'd been guessing for some time that the "Lee Scott" and "R.L. Scott" living in McDonald, Jasper and Newton Counties, Missouri was my missing "Robert Lee 'Lee' Scott".

State Missouri
County McDonald
McMillen Township
s.d. 13th, e.d. 96, Sheet No. 5B
12 June 1900 by Dan Huckins
line 57, 90/90 SCOTT Lee. R. Head WM May 1873 27 M 3 Scotland Scotland Scotland 1887/13/Na Farmer Rents Farm Free of mortgage
Sarah. E wife WF April 1877 23 M 3 2/2 Missouri Missouri Missouri
Alick Son WM Feb 1897 3 S Missouri Scotland Missouri
George son WM Aug 1899 10/12 S Missouri Scotland Missouri

State Missouri
County Jasper
Duenweg Precinct Joplin Township
s.d. 13th, e.d. 57, Sheet No. 12A/48A
22th 23th April 1910 by David L Sidman
West Duenweg
line 16, 228/228 SCOTT Robert L Head MW 34 M2 15 Missouri Tennessee Tennessee Shoveler/Zinc Mine Owns Mortgaged Farm
Sarah Wife FW 32 M1 15 3/3 Missouri Missouri Missouri
Alock Son MW 14 S Missouri Missouri Missouri
Georgie Son MW 12 S Missouri Missouri Missouri
Dixie daughter FW 9 S Missouri Missouri Missouri

And his death certficate confirmed it:

Missouri Death Certificates online
Missouri State Board of Health
Bureau of Vital Statistics
Certificate of Death
Registration District No. 611
Primary Registration District No. 6258
File No. 40458
Registered No. 47

Place of Death:
County Newton
Township Five Mile
City Seneca Mo RR2

Full Name:
Robert Lee Scott
Seneca Mo RR2

Male White Married
Date of Birth: 4 - 6 /1871
Age 64 Years 7 months 25 days
Occupation: Farmer
Birthplace: Scotland, Mo
Father: Robert N. Scott, Tenn
Mother: Not known
Informant: Elick Friend [name hard to read]
Seneca Mo RR2 box 99A
Burial: Forest Park at Joplin Date: 12/2/1935
Undertaker: Darnell, Pitcher Okla
Filed Dec 1, 1935, Merle Sparlin, Registrar

Cause of Death: Natival Causes
Contributory: Chronic Interstial Nephritis
[signed] Ashely Bigham, Neosho Mo

But the thing that caught my attention and sent me off on a tangent was the informant: Elick Friend.

Lee had a son named, in census, Alick and Alock, so I thought it likely Elick Friend was a friend of the family or relative that he had named his son after. But it turned out to be more interesting than that.

Looking around in various places for Ellick I wasn't having much luck, except for his Draft Registration form which gave me the correct spelling: Ellic Friend.

WWI Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, ancestry.com
Serial No. 110
Registration No. 75
Name: Ellic Friend
Address: 500 West 15th St Kansas City Mo
Date of Birth: February 10th 1897
Where born: McDonald Co, Missouri USA
Native of the United States
Citizen
Father's birthplace: Missouri, USA
Employer: Armour + Co, Kansas City, Kansas
Nearest Relative: Jaunita Friend (wife)
500 West 15th St Kansas City Mo
[signed} Ellic Friend

REGISTRAR'S REPORT
Medium Height
Slender Build
Eyes: Gray
Hair: Black
Physical disability? No
[signed] B B Anderson
Local Board, Division No. 2
City of Kansas City
State of Missouri
315 Gumell Building
Kansas City, MO

So then I did a general Google search and found this note:

http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/MONEWTON/2007-01/1168722699
noted 8 August 2007
MONEWTON-L Archives
Archiver > MONEWTON > 2007-01 > 1168722699

From: "Doug"
Subject: [MONEWTON] Friend Ellic - obit/information request
Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2007 13:11:39 -0800
References:

Just wondering if you, or anyone on this list, has an Ellic FRIEND in their
information? He has been reported to have been born in Sarcoxie MO (Jasper
Co) 10 Feb 1897 and has been found in only the 1920 census in Ottawa Co OK
as Ellis with wife Juanita. His parents were reported to be Joe and Dolly
but I have no further info.

His wife, Juanita Lucille SCOTT was reported to have been born in Granby MO
(Newton Co) on 4 Sep 1900. It is also reported that she later married a
Robert Lee SCOTT.

They were married 4 Sep 1917 in Newton Co MO and had 8 children, 4 sons, 4
daughters, between 1920 and about 1930. He died Jun 1978 and she Sep 1978,
both in Salisaw OK (They may have lived in Muldrow).

I would be appreciative of any information received pertaining to this couple.
Is there someone that looks up obits Salisaw OK?
Can the birth records in MO be examined?
Other suggestions?

Thanks,

Doug

Juanita Scott, Juanita Scott...familiar. Very, very familiar. Where had I seen a Juanita Scott before?

Right!

I'd been tracing a Charles M. "Charlie" Scott from Granby, Newton County, Missouri to Denver, Colorado as a possible for a missing brother of Lee's. I looked at my notes. Yup. He had a daughter named Juanita. And when you looked at her census record as Mrs. Ellic Friend she said her mother was born in Virginia. As this Juanita Scott's was.

So, Ellic Friend was Lee's nephew-in-law? Usually someone closer (or just a nurse) is the informant. This seemed odd.

But it also seemed odd that I could never find Lee's son Alec.

And then I noticed that Ellic's draft registration form said he was born February 10th 1897. And Alec's 1900 census notation said he was born Feb 1897.

Right.

Then I looked more closely at the 1900 census record. Lee and Sarah were married 3 years. "Alick" was 3, born Feb 1897. Doesn't quite fit. So, now the question seemed to be was Ellic adopted? Or was Sarah his natural mother and Lee his step-father?

I'd never had much luck tracking down Lee's son George, so I turned my attention to daughter Dixie. And after looking at all the women named "Dixie" in the Missouri Death Certificates database who died in McDonald and Jasper Counties, I found the right woman in Newton County: Dixie Irene Scott Reber.

Father: Lee Scott
Mother: Dollie Friend
Informant: Mr. Ed Reber, Ritchey, Mo [husband]

And then I looked at Doug's note again. Ellic's mother was said to be "Dolly". And although every single census said Lee's wife was "Sarah", Dixie, too, said her mother was Dollie. Dollie Friend.

Seems to me that Sarah E. Friend was nicknamed Dollie and was either married to a Friend cousin before she married Lee or Ellic was born out of wedlock. Since typically in those circumstances the child was adopted by his step-father, or at least took his name, my thought is that she was married before she married Lee. Although there is one oddity. The death record of Paul Joseph Friend:

Missouri Death Certificates, 1910-1955
Paul Josephine Friend [sic: record says Paul Joseph Friend] October 26, 1926 Jasper Joplin 31982 view image
Date of Birth: Nov 29th 1925
Father: Alex Friend
Mother: Juanita Scott
[signed] Alex Scott, 1931 Indiana Ave Joplin
Burial Forest Park, Joplin Oct 28, 1926

Is this Ellic Friend signing as Alex Scott? Or is this another cousin or the actual son of Lee and Sarah (who appears in no other record except census that I can find). Hard to say. Checking marriage records in McDonald Co., MO would probably settle the questions about Sarah E. "Dollie" Friend.

One funny last note.

Did you notice that Lee and his parents were noted as born in Scotland in the 1900 census? It even gave a date of naturalization. That threw me for a while, but it was so obviously the same family that I stuck with it. And it seems confirmed that this is the right family. So where did "birthplace Scotland" come from?

Did you notice his death certificate? Birthplace: Scotland, Mo. His family is noted as living there in the 1880 census:

State Missouri
County Jasper
Jackson Township, S.D. 4, E.D. 64, Page No. 15/434A
[noted on previous census page: Village of Scotland]
11 June 1880 by WB McNeel
line 13, 125/125 SCOTT Robert N WM 37 M Farmer Kentucky NC NC
Martha WF 27 wife M Keeping house Missouri Geo MO
Willam WM 11 Son S At home attended school Missouri Ky MO
Charley WM 9 Son S Missouri Ky MO
Robert WM 7 Son S Missouri Ky MO
Alice WF 5 Daughter Missouri Ky MO
Anna WF 2 Daughter Missouri Ky MO
[near father Allen Scott]

This was the community founded by his grandfather Allen Scott.

Ah, census records. So helpful. And so misleading.