This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: WASHBURN, CAVANAUGH, CORN, MORMAN Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/BMB.2ACE/1071.1.2 Message Board Post: Dear Bill, I've looked over your history of queries a bit, and while I don't find an answer to my brick wall, I'm curious if, in Washburn research, you have come across a Washburn who fathered a son in 1864 or 1865, in Missouri I'm not sure of the county. Famiy lore says Carthage, Jasper County, but I find my great grandfather (I think) first listed on the 1870 census in Springfield, Green Co., MO, Robert, age 5, MO, living with mother Louisa Washburn, 24, seamstress, MO, livng in the household of Martha King, 24, seamstres and her "daughter" Marshall Gasway, age 12. Looks like two Civil War widows living together with their children. Only a guess. The Robert I'm searching for is Robert E. Washburn. I have no parents for him---other than what his 2nd wife in St. Louis (Mary Elizabeth Cavanaugh, b 1878 MO---wrote on his death certificate: She didn't know his father's name, but thought he was from England, and she showed Lulu Corn for the mother, also born in England. I'm not sure about the Lulu Corn being correct----but I have my doubts that both his parents were from England. His heritage is no doubt from England----but his parents being immigants doesn't seem likely. I have his 1st brief marriage in 1885 to an Anna / Annie Morman/ Moorman in Springfield, Green Co., MO and she divorced him, according to record, in 1888, also in Springfield, Green Co, MO. On the 1910 census the year of his death, it showed his father was from Illinois and his mother was from Missouri. No doubt, Robert himself contributed that info to the census taker as his wife, Mary, thought they were from England. They were living on Natural Bridge Road in St. Louis in 1910 and that is where he died suddenly. He is buried in an unmarked grave in St. Peters Cemetery. In 1900, he and Mary were living on Hodiamont in St. Louis. In the 1890 city directory, he resided on 6th street, in the music business. His occupation was always musician, and in 1910 he had a family band. Prior to that and after the 1870 census, there are a couple possibilities for my Robert E. (who may, like his son my grandfather, be named Robert E.L.-- Edward Lee-- Washburn. There is Robert on the 1880 census in Nodaway County, and there is a likely Robert on the 1880 census in Jasper Co., Prescott, in the Bradbury household, working as a farm hand. My Robert E. Washburn became a composer of waltzes, marches, folk and romantic songs of the era---composing from about 1886 until his Oct. 1910 death in St. Louis. I and my siblings have the lead plates he used to print his music, and we have some of his music. The MO. Hist. Society in St. Louis did a search and came up only with 5 pieces of his music in their collection --no other info. Tiny Clues: among my grandmother's collection of possessions, protected in an envelope, was a very worn, fragile newspaper clipping about Elihu Benjamine Washburn----I scanned it and sent it to Mark Washburn. Perhaps Audrey McLain Washburn or her husband Robert E.L. Washburn (the son of subject Robert E.) kept that clipping because they "wondered" or because they "knew" he was related ? Hmmm. Who knows. The son Robert, my grandfather, died in 1967. Robert and Audrey had only 1 child---my mother, Francis Clotine Washburn, b 1920, still living. I've communicated with Mark and Brent Washburne and they show nothing for my Robert E., born about 1864, MO. I'm on the Washburn mailing list --again---and this time the only suggestion I've had is from the new administrator who has offered hers or another professional's services as a genalogist. I'm a member of the Missouri Historical Society and the Wisconsin Historical Society. Any suggestions or clues to my Robert E. Washburn? I'm note yet reduced to sobbing tears or head banging, but things still look pretty bleak for finding his parents. Hoping you've run across something----an unnamed son? An adoption? A marital affair----horrors! :-) by Elihu B.? One other thing: I have been curious about Thomas J. Washburn and a Richard C. Washburn living in St. Joseph, Buchanan, MO---in the music business, instruments, piano, etc. for many years--from sometime after 1870. Listed in the 1887-90 St. Joseph City directories. Could they be cousins / uncles and could my Robert have been exposed to music / tutored or taught by them? Robert played piano, organ, mandolin, guitar, violin, etc. and taught music himself in St. Louis. Sorry to make this so lengthy, but you pretty much have all my info that might help--except the names of Robert's children: Robert Edward Lee Washburn, b1897 St. Louis; John L., b 1901, St. Louis; and Mary E. b 1902, St. Louis. Thanks--Audrey