A Genealogy Surprise

I vividly remember sitting across the desk from a bank officer with my Mother-in-law, Velma Thomas Mattoon as she opened a new bank account. When the officer asked her birthplace she confidently replied, "Maysville, Kentucky". As far as I knew, she knew what she was talking about.

When I began constructing my family tree on Ancestry.com I entered her birthplace as Maysville, Kentucky. Later I had an opportunity to talk with her cousin, Bill Thomas, who had known Velma all her life. He was also the only family member doing genealogy at that time. When I mentioned that she was born in Maysville, Kentucky, he just snorted and said, "Oh no she wasn't"! "She was born in Weiser, Idaho, or maybe Fruita, Colorado". By that time I knew enough to verify facts, rather than just accepting something I was told or found on an Ancestry family tree.

I started with FamilySearch.com and sure enough I soon located the record of an unnamed female child born to William L. Thomas and Iva Luke Thomas on September 12, 1907 in Weiser, Idaho.1. Since we always celebrated Velma Thomas Mattoon's birthday on September 12, I am quite certain that she was born in Weiser, Idaho.

1. "Idaho, County Birth and Death Records, 1883-1929," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-81SV-32L?cc=1951759&wc=M6PB-F3X%3A251424901%2C251423002 : 23 September 2015), Washington > Birth register 1907-1911 vol 1 > image 28 of 50; county courthouses, Idaho.

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