Boschong Subscribers, I am reworking this post since it is important and was deleted. I had hoped someone would say something about the undocumented and absolutely off the wall post on Tessie Marie Bushong on the other List but no one did and in a way I truly understand why. :) I may be far from a perfect researcher but I am smart enough to know that with Tessie Marie Bushong, there is a lot more to know concerning this girl. That's is why back in December 2005 with the post on Lewis, I never actually came out and said that Frank was Tessie's father. I was skeptical of that information then and I still am. That was Stormy's information on the Forum, not mine. I just told the person that put the query on that Bushong Surname Forum, that I had researched Frank Bushong, son of Lewis Bushong, which was the truth since she had mentioned a Frank. And then there was some discussion between Stormy and others on that forum and a conclusion was reached and then this month submitted to the Bushong List without a single document. I would never have gone as far as to say publicly on any List that Tessie Marie Bushong was the child of Frank Bushong and his sister Elizabeth Bushong and as the result of incest. YIKES! What kind of genealogy is this? Did our researcher do any research in the Archival records of the Orphanage where Tessie Marie Bushong was living in 1930? I'll bet not. Did he send for an obit on Elizabeth, Frank and Tessie? I'll bet not. Has he sent for a death certificate for Tessie which may or may not give proper information, depending on who the informant was? I'll bet not. Has he talked to a living descendant? I'll bet not. Tessie's history remains a mystery until properly researched by someone who really knows how to do that and that obviously isn't the submitter of that post or there would have already been documentation to go with the post. Tessie is never in a single census living with Frank Bushong or his sister Elizabeth so other then some very shaky Oral history and the fact that they married in the same county that Frank was a resident of, where is the proof? Many people from other counties went to Poinsett County to marry. In fact the ONLY census record I could find Tessie in, is the 1930 census in the orphanage in Little Rock, a long way from Poinsett County back in those days. We don't know how she acquired that name. I am changing the statement about her not be enumerated in the 1920 census. She isn't found with the Bushong name. If you believe that she is the SSDI person born 8 January 1920 in Greene County, Arkansas, then she is in the 1920 census under another name not Bushong. The starting date for the 1920 census was April 1st so she would have been about 3 months old. The child in the household of Frank and Ollie Bushong in 1920 is their daughter Essie Mae Bushong who died in 1922 at the age of 10 years. Owen Chapel Cemetery Greene County, Missouri ESSIE MAE BUSHONG d/o J. F. and Ollie 26 September 1912 26 September 1922 ------------------------- TESSIE MARIE BUSHONG Born: About 1920-1921, Arkansas Died: Unknown Married: 4 July 1936, Poinsett County, Arkansas to Orville Dawson Buried: Unknown ------------------------- SSDI Tessie M. Dawson 8 January 1920 January 1984 If this is Tessie Marie Bushong and collecting social security, someone in her family should write to the Social Security Administration and get a copy of her original application, as it will give information on where she was born and her real name. --------------------------- The only census Tessie is found in is the 1930 census. Tessie was in an Orphanage in 1930 in Little Rock, Arkansas as a 9 year old. Census states she was born in Arkansas, parents unknown. But when did she enter that orphanage? As an infant? By July 1936 at age 16 she has married Orville Dawson in Poinsett County, Arkansas probably to get away from the orphanage. I could not find her in the 1940 census but she is definitely NOT living with Frank, Ollie and his sister Elizabeth who are living in Little River Township, Poinsett County, Arkansas in 1940. 1940 Federal Census: Arkansas Little River Township, ED 56-9, Poinsett County Enumerated 10 April 1940 Page 171A, Sheet 10 Lines 26-28, HH 188 Frank Bushong Head/M/W/49/Md/5thGradeEd/OwnsHome/FurnitureManufacturer/1935livinginTrumann/BornIL Ollie Bushong Wife/Female/White/45/4thGradeEd/WorkingInHome/BornArk Lizzie Bushong Sister/Female/White/40/Single/3rdGradeEd/WorkingInHome/BornArk During the 1920s and 1930s, Arkansas along with several other states was going through a terrible depression and drought of great magnitude. Tuberculosis was rampant in the country. Many people could not care for their children and placed them in Orphanages, sometimes even leaving them on the doorstep and fleeing. Thus Tessie is in an orphanage possibly because of the sad circumstances of some family. But even with oral history, it is ridiculous and bad genealogical research to conclude that she was the product of Bushong incest without some sound proof. Someone really blew this research. Tessie's lineage remains a mystery until a document between 1920 and 1930 can be found to explain her circumstances and her parentage. Perhaps or perhaps not, Elizabeth was her mother and the baby was dropped off at the orphanage after her birth because of illegitimacy. Perhaps Frank got some girl pregnant while married to Ollie and the girl dropped the baby off at the orphanage, knowing she couldn't give her a life with two parents. But I do not believe for one minute that brother Frank Bushong and sister Elizabeth Bushong are the natural parents. Like I stated, won't know until the orphanage records are read. As a point of reference just remember that written histories have proven to be flawed, Oral histories have been proven to be flawed and even with research, sometimes you are wrong because you may not have all the pieces. Since the proof is in the pudding and we know that Mitchell is not a Bushong as proven by DNA, the fallacy would have lived on for eternity. Ta, ta. Gloria Neiger Bushong