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Monday, February 22, 2010

Continuing the Quest to Find American WW2 Soldier

Well, through group effort we have found a lot of information on Stanley Thompson, whose WW2 ID (dog) tag, Jill found in Australia. Please join us, I'd really like to find a descendant!

Here is a timeline of what we have found through our group effort so far. I'm not listing who found each item in this blog post, as you can read the comments on the two previous posts. You can also read yesterday's post recapping our findings with the listing of what was found and by whom. The first post showing Stanley's Dog Tag is here

Timeline for Stanley Plummer Thompson

10 May 1896. Stanley Plummer Thompson born Nelsonville Ohio (as per census and WW1 Draft Registration)

1900 Census Nelsonville Village, Athens, Ohio. 4 year old Stanley with his parents Douglas Thompson born Oct. 1874 Ohio and Leota born Feb. 1877 Ohio. Douglas and Leota were married ca 1896

1910 Census Fairfield Ohio. 13 year old Stanley with his parents Douglas and Leota M. as well as brothers Darryl W, 8 years old and Frank W. 6 years old

June 5, 1917 WW 1 Draft Registraion. Stanley Plummer Thompson of Fairfield Ohio. He is a shoe clerk and has a wife (unfortunately her name is not given! If he told the truth then he had a wife before Sydney and before Mable Chambers as per census and marriage records)

1920 Census Fairfield Ohio. Douglas and Leota with sons Darryl and Frank, but Stanley is not with them (WHERE IS STANLEY IN 1920??)

circa 1921. Stanley marries Sydney (surname not known)

circa 1923. daughter Betty born to Stanley and Sydney

1930 census Seattle Washington. Stanley P. Thompson age 34 born Ohio, Window Trimmer (married at age 25, thus circa 1921), wife Syd[ney?] age 27 born Tennessee (her parents also born Tennessee) and daughter Betty E(?) age 7 born Kentucky

1930 census Seattle Washington. Jennie Chambers, 56, widow and her daughter Mabel M. Reynolds age 34 married, born Ohio (she later married Stanley Thompson), grandson Richard Reynolds age 7 born Washington.

1936. Seattle Washington Marriage Certificate for Stanley P. Thompson and Mabel M. Reynolds

1944. Stanley P. Thompson a 1st Lieutenant in 321 Squadron (Bombs Away) Residence 205 W. Lee St. agrees with Dog Tag found by Jill in Australia

May 12, 1946. Seattle Washington Death Certificate for Stanley Thompson age 50 wife Mabel Chambers, parents Douglas Thompson and Leota Sheridan.

May 14, 1946. Obituary for Stanley Thompson. Survivors wife Mabel, daughter Mrs. Jeanne Zetterlund of California, brothers Frank of California, Darrell of Ohio and mother Leota of California.

Please join in and contribute if you think you can find Stanley's children or grandchildren or more details about his life

2 comments:

  1. I'm curious if anything else ever came of this? Was a next-of-kin located?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I did some searching to see if I could dig up some information on Mabel and her family who would be Stanley's eventual in-laws. (I had the Susan Sarandon episode of "Who Do You Think You Are" in my head and imagined there might be a niece or nephew of Stanley out there somewhere.)

    Using the facts above found in the 1930 census that had Jennie as Mabel's mother, I began my search.

    1900 Census - York Township, Athens County, Ohio

    John Chambers, 39 (b. Sep 1860 in Ohio) Foreman on RR
    Jennie, 28 (b. Jun 1871 in Missouri)
    Mable M, 4 (b. Feb 1896 in Ohio)
    May M, 1 (b. Dec 1898 in Ohio)


    1910 Census - Kidder Township, Caldwell County, Missouri

    John Chambers, 49 (b. Ohio)
    Jennie, 38 (b. Missouri)
    Mable, 14 (b. Ohio)
    May, 11 (b. Ohio)
    Ervin, 7 (b. Ohio)


    1920 Census - City of Seattle, King County, Washington

    John T Chambers, 59 (b. Ohio)
    Jennie G, 47 (b. Missouri)
    Irven, 17 (b. Ohio)

    Jesse Babcock, brother-in-law, 39 (b. Iowa)

    Is it reasonable to assume that Jesse is Jennie's brother, as both of their fathers are listed as being born in New Jersey and both mothers in Alabama? That would make her maiden name Jennie G Babcock... something to consider if casting a wider net to reach some relatives.

    Looking for the girls in 1920, I did a search for Mable M Reynolds, as that is how she is listed in the 1930 census as previously noted, and found one in Seattle:

    E E Reynolds, 29 (b. Missouri)
    Mabel M, 25 (b. Ohio)
    Earnest E, 1 10/12 (b. Washington)

    The only problem is that while Mabel's mother is listed as being born in Missouri, it has her father as being born in Kentucky instead of Ohio. And where would young Earnest be in the 1930 census? Though I couldn't find any other Mable/Mabel Chambers or Reynolds that seemed to correspond.

    And as for Miss May, I realize she could be married to anyone at this point. But I did find this family also from Seattle to be quite curious:

    Clarence Reynolds, 21 (b. Missouri)
    May M, 21 (b. Ohio)... with Father born in Ohio and Mother born in Missouri

    So if May is also married to a Reynolds, could that mean that the grandson listed in the 1930 census with Jennie & Mabel might be Mabel's nephew instead of her son? And then there is still a discrepancy, because the 1930 census has grandson Richard's father as being born in Ohio -- which neither E. E. nor Clarence is.


    1930 census has May & Clarence in South Cle Elum City, Kittitas County, Washington with no children listed.

    And in 1930 Ervin is married with a family in Seattle:
    Ervin I Chambers, 27 (b. Ohio)
    Helen L, 19 (b. North Carolina)
    John N, 6/12 (b. Washington)

    And all this to say, I'm no closer to locating any next-of-kin for Stanley, but it was a fun afternoon of searching anyway. :)

    ReplyDelete