This is best and most active list I belong to and I have enjoyed all of your comments. I really liked the discussion about grass widows. I never knew such a term existed so of course I had to look it up. 1. A woman who is divorced or separated from her husband. 2. A woman whose husband is temporarily absent. 3. An abandoned mistress. 4. The mother of a child born out of wedlock. Plus a few other variations on the same theme. There is even a three woman band by that name: http://www.grasswidow.org/blog.php I wonder what category they fall into. Cathy - Thanks again for checking on that SSDI for George Thomas. What database did you use to find out that he died in Los Angeles? I saw there was another George Thomas who died in L.A. but I thought he was a different one that the one who was from Contra Costa County. Eugene - I use city directories extensively and that's how I tracked my George Thomas up until he disappeared in 1917. But Thomas is such a common surname and without his wife's name and occupation to work with I lost the trail. At one point in San Francisco there were 3 George H. Thomas with spouses named Elizabeth. I could keep them separated but then my George disappeared. By the way do you or anyone else know how city directories are or were actually compiled? I guess they would have to survey people in some way to obtain not only their address but also their occupations, spouse name, etc. Susan Slade Grossl - You were warned. :-) People do get upset when their family myths get turned upside down. I have had a similar situation happen to me. I don't know why people wouldn't relish new information about their family, but many don't want to know or don't even care. Susan Stuart - Good to hear from you again. One of the reason for my research into George Thomas is that he was a stepson of my children's great grandfather and nobody in the family knew anything about him. Like your example, I thought that if I could find descendants that would lead to a greater extended family. Terry T. - Thanks for the tip about the Contra Costa Historical Society, I'll follow through on it. EdrieAnne - Your example made me think back to a relative who was in every census from 1860 to 1930 and his age was off by at least 4 to 8 years in every one of them. I suspected that he was just having a laugh at the government's expense. Margaret - your story about the illegitimate daughter reminded me about my grandmother having a child out of wedlock and the entire family new about it and there was no great shame. Part of the reason for this tolerant attitude was that she was half Cherokee and it was customary for Cherokee women to have a child before marrying - it proved that they were fertile. Great discussion Paul

I agree about learning something new. Maybe we could be awarded an honorary degree in Genealogy or something. Anyway back to City Directories, after having an address I have also gone to visit the county tax offices in an attempt to learn more about the place where they lived. If they rented then I am out of luck. On one such recent visit (These visit usually last all day) I found that a favorite Aunt really own the property that my grandparents lived in and not my grandparents. This fact gave me a different outlook on my Aunt. Eugene ----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul Puente" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2012 2:56:12 AM Subject: Re: [NORCAL] George Thomas b. 1887 California This is best and most active list I belong to and I have enjoyed all of your comments. I really liked the discussion about grass widows. I never knew such a term existed so of course I had to look it up. 1. A woman who is divorced or separated from her husband. 2. A woman whose husband is temporarily absent. 3. An abandoned mistress. 4. The mother of a child born out of wedlock. Plus a few other variations on the same theme. There is even a three woman band by that name: http://www.grasswidow.org/blog.php I wonder what category they fall into. Cathy - Thanks again for checking on that SSDI for George Thomas. What database did you use to find out that he died in Los Angeles? I saw there was another George Thomas who died in L.A. but I thought he was a different one that the one who was from Contra Costa County. Eugene - I use city directories extensively and that's how I tracked my George Thomas up until he disappeared in 1917. But Thomas is such a common surname and without his wife's name and occupation to work with I lost the trail. At one point in San Francisco there were 3 George H. Thomas with spouses named Elizabeth. I could keep them separated but then my George disappeared. By the way do you or anyone else know how city directories are or were actually compiled? I guess they would have to survey people in some way to obtain not only their address but also their occupations, spouse name, etc. Susan Slade Grossl - You were warned. :-) People do get upset when their family myths get turned upside down. I have had a similar situation happen to me. I don't know why people wouldn't relish new information about their family, but many don't want to know or don't even care. Susan Stuart - Good to hear from you again. One of the reason for my research into George Thomas is that he was a stepson of my children's great grandfather and nobody in the family knew anything about him. Like your example, I thought that if I could find descendants that would lead to a greater extended family. Terry T. - Thanks for the tip about the Contra Costa Historical Society, I'll follow through on it. EdrieAnne - Your example made me think back to a relative who was in every census from 1860 to 1930 and his age was off by at least 4 to 8 years in every one of them. I suspected that he was just having a laugh at the government's expense. Margaret - your story about the illegitimate daughter reminded me about my grandmother having a child out of wedlock and the entire family new about it and there was no great shame. Part of the reason for this tolerant attitude was that she was half Cherokee and it was customary for Cherokee women to have a child before marrying - it proved that they were fertile. Great discussion Paul ----------------------------------------- NORCAL ARCHIVES: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/ Enter NORCAL.  Browse by month. Or click the "Search all archives" link to search by keyword. ----------------------------------------- To post a message to the NORCAL mailing list, send an email to [email protected] ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message