Maybelle's Secret by Terri Reid

Author:Terri Reid [Reid, Terri]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Unknown
Published: 2018-03-27T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

With Mikey in tow, Mary stopped by the Stephenson County Courthouse to see her friend, Linda, the county clerk.

“Oh, you brought the baby,” Linda exclaimed, as she quickly got up from her chair when she saw Mary enter the room. She hurried over and peered over the counter that separated the clerks’ workspace from the general public. “He’s gotten so big!”

“He’s already gained three pounds,” Mary said.

Linda grinned down at the sleeping baby. “What a little porker,” she said with a tender smile. “Can I hold him?”

Mary reached down and unhooked him from his car seat. “Of course,” she said. “He’s an excellent snuggler.” She picked Mikey up and handed him to Linda who immediately cuddled him and leaned down to breath in his baby scent.

“There’s just something amazing about the smell of babies,” she said.

“Sometimes,” Mary said. “And sometimes that smell is not so nice.”

Linda laughed and nodded. “And just wait until he starts eating real food,” she said. “The smell from that end only gets worse.”

“He’s just going to have to be potty trained by the time he’s one,” Mary laughed.

“Good luck with that,” Linda replied. “So, what do you need?”

"I'm looking for birth certificates and death certificates for Mabel and Elmer Johnson," Mary said. "They were both born either in the late 1800s or early 1900s. I know they were here in Freeport during the 1940 Census.”

Linda walked over to a small gate next to the counter, pressed the access button and then swung the door open. "You can type while I cuddle," she said. "We should have those records in the computer system."

Mary walked around the counter and followed Linda to the computer console at the end of the counter.

“Start with entering one of their names,” Linda said. “And then their approximate year of birth.”

Mary entered Elmer's name, and several links to records appeared on the screen.

“Okay,” Linda said, standing behind Mary and slowly rocking with the baby. “You’ve got two birth records with his name on it. And, with luck, that will also give you Mabel’s maiden name.”

"Oh, I hadn't thought of that," Mary said. She clicked on one of the records, and it revealed the birth certificate of a baby boy born in 1924. “Well, Elmer Stephen Johnson Junior was born in February of 1924,” Mary said. “Let’s see who else we have here.”

She clicked on the second link, and a birth certificate for another son appeared. "They had two boys," she told Linda. "This one was Michael Henry Johnson, and he was two years younger than his brother, born in April of 1926. We found their kids."

"Okay, now search for their names and birthdates," Linda directed.

Mary followed Linda’s suggestion first for Elmer Junior and found a birth certificate for a daughter, Eloise Johnson. “So, Elmer had a daughter,” Mary said. “Why doesn’t she have a middle name. Only Eloise.”

“It was common during that time for women to use their maiden names as their middle names once they got married,” Linda explained. “That’s probably why she is just Eloise Johnson.

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