Edward UPDIKE was the second husband of Anna Belle (JAMES) HANEY, who was widowed in 1916. Am sharing his obit with the list as it contains surnames UPDIKE, CALDERWOOD, HINEY, IRVIN. Also hope someone on the list can answer my related questions..... 1. Can anyone tell me where I might write for records of the Columbia Avenue Methodist Church??? 2. Can anyone help me interpret the undertaker's name (see notes from death cert below) - handwriting looks like "Fuoss & Glass, Tyrone" or "Tuoss & Glass, Tyrone". Are records from this place still available? If so, where? 3. Edward and Anna Belle married Feb 11, 1919 (marriage performed in Hollidaysburg by Justice of the Peace Isaac M. IRVIN ... was Isaac M. IRVIN related to the Ray IRVIN mentioned in the obit????). In the 1920 census, Edward Updike [spelled "Updyke" in census] and his wife are living with her parents, John Christopher JAMES and Mary Alice (McMANAMY) JAMES, in Osceola, along with Anna Belle's two sons from her first marriage, and Edward's son William, born 16 Nov 1919 in Tyrone. About 9 months later, on July 6, 1920, Edward Updike entered the Blair Co Hospital where he died approx 18 months later OBIT Source: Altoona Mirror, Saturday Evening, December 23, 1922 DEATH RECORD. EDWARD UPDIKE A resident of Tyrone, died at the Blair county hospital at 5:52 last evening. He was born at Spruce Creek 34 years ago, the son of James and Jane Updike. He was a member of the Columbia Avenue Methodist church and was affiliated with the I.O.R.M. Surviving are his parents, his wife and one son, William, also four sisters and one brother: Mrs. J.B. Calderwood of Ironsville, PA., Mrs. Charles Hiney, Mrs. Ray Irvin, Gertrude and Walter, all of Tyrone. Funeral services will be held at the home of his parents in Tyrone Tuesday morning at 10 o'clock. Interment in the cemetery at Franklinville. NOTES FROM DEATH CERT: DCERT # 115279, registered No 161 Place of death Co Blair (Twp allegheny & Hollidaysburg crossed out) Noted as Blair Co Hospital. Full name - Updyke, Edward (spelled with Y, but mother signed "Updike" with an "i") Male, white, married. DOB - Oct 7 1889, DOD - 22 Dec 1922, Age - 33y2m12d Occupation - Laborer (1920 census lists him as "brakeman for rail road") Birthplace - PA, Father - James Updike, PA, Mother - Jane Simpson PA Informant - Mrs Jane Updike, Bx 154 Tyrone, PA Attended from - June 7 1920 to Dec 22, 1922, time 5:52pm Cause - Paresis Physician signature - not readable, Hollidaysburg, PA Length of stay at place of death - 2y5m16d. In the state, 34 yrs. Where disease contracted - not known. Former residence - Tyrone PA Burial - Franklinville Cem, Dec 24 1922 Undertaker F(T?)uoss & Glass, Tyrone In closing, a sad note and a family mystery-- perhaps someone can help???? I researched cause of death..."paresis" is the term for a kind of syphillis with an 8-10 year incubation period. It results in loss of motor coordination and eventual insanity. Apparently he contracted it long before meeting my grandmother. She died 20 years after him, of liver cancer, so apparently was not permanently affected. However, this probably explains why the baby Willliam Updike (now deceased) was raised to believe he was a HANEY, and did not learn of the existence of Edward UPDIKE until the 1980's when William ordered a copy of his birth cert. to get his retirement pension. Perhaps this also explains why the obit lists all of Edward's siblings and his son by name, but does not name his wife. I suspect there was a lot of ill-will surrounding the whole event. And now the mystery... In the late 1920s/early 30s, an old, frail woman had come in a chauffered limo seeking "little Billy Updike" who then lived with his mother and her third husband, in Williamsport. The old woman said she'd been seeking "littly billy for years as he was her only direct heir, and wanted to leave her money to him "so the state wouldn't get it". The woman was told the child's name was "William HANEY" and there was no "Billy Updike" there. So the old woman went away. In the 1980's, this was researched by William's lawyer, but the money had gone to the state decades before and was not recoverable. Apparently the lawyer discovered the amount had been in the millions -- $17 million, William told his daughter in a phone call. I have never been able to determine who this woman might have been. Correspondence with various SIMPSON/UPDIKE researchers has not turned up anyone in the family tree who was a single or widowed elderly female multimillionaire, who would have considered "little Billy" to be her only remaining heir... there were scads of children born to Edward Updike's siblings. I suspect this mystery will never be solved as William's daughter has not been able to find any of the legal correspondence dating from the 1980's. But if anyone has any ideas or suggestions how I might pursue this, I would be grateful! Luann (DDuBarry@aol.com)