Poison Branches by Cynthia Raleigh

Author:Cynthia Raleigh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: murder, cemetery, history, kentucky, rogue, family tree, nursing, headstone, bed and breadfast, genealogy mystery
Publisher: Cynthia Raleigh

Chapter 22

Perri ran her fingers through her hair and stretched, her shoulders were pinched and aching from hunching over the table. Nina’s stomach growled and she said, “My breakfast has run out. I’m hungry, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, but I hate to stop. Maybe we can get something sent over and eat it out in the lobby or in the car and then get back to work. It will take a couple more hours to get through the court records. It isn’t that there are so many of them, but they are time-consuming to read. I know paper was at a premium, but this is like the clerk was having to pay for paper himself,” she chuckled. “I’ve not seen many examples of handwriting as tiny and crabbed as these. I’m just glad the clerk didn’t decide to start writing along the margins when he reached the bottom of the page or turn it upside down and write the opposite way between the lines.”

“Me too.” Nina stood up, bent, and touched her toes, there was a popping noise. “I’m falling apart. You hear that pop? My hip. Working on my feet all the time is going to kill me. I’m going to go find someplace to order some food, just some sandwiches maybe. Bathroom break too. I’ll be back.”

“I’d better take a break too. I will go ahead and ask Cora to look for these other items to see if they are here and I’ll get online to search for census records. As Nina went outside to order take out, Perri spoke with Cora at the desk and handed her a piece of paper with a few items scrawled on it. Cora disappeared into the back. After the short trip to the court house and back, Perri returned to the table, bending her head to peer through the magnifying glass at the flowery, swirling script that covered most of the page.

***

Perri deposited a folder on top of the stack. “That’s the last document. What time is it?” They had rapidly eaten a couple of greasy burgers while sitting in Perri’s car before starting in again.

“Two thirty.” Nina yawned.

“I have to stand up. Let’s review some of this while I walk around a little.” Perri walked to the opposite end of the room. “We have each generation in Patricia’s line, starting with her, going back to her great-great-grandfather, Jonathon Blackwell. He was born in 1856, married Susannah Martin in 1882 in Russellville. They moved to a farm just south of Russellville very shortly after they married. They had two children; Seth was born in 1883 and Naomi in 1885.”

“Right. Both Jonathon Blackwell and Susannah Martin appear on the 1880 census, two years before they married, living with their respective families,” Nina read from her notes.

“And there is no 1890 census for this area, not even a surviving fragment, which is exactly the one I’d like to have a look at.”

Nina asked, “I meant to ask you, why is there no census at all from 1890?”

“It was a comedy of errors, at best.

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