A Tripple Play

[This is Part 5 in a series of posts about how I was able to use Twitter and genealogy resources to reunite a baby book from 1926 with the original owner's family]

Previous posts:

Search For The Living - Honing Your Research Skills

The Search for Marjorie Pauline Frost

So Many Questions - Whither Marjorie Pauline Frost?

A Bar Room Brawl

Continued posts:

Do's and Don'ts When Researching the Living

Interview with Forgotten Bookmarks

So after I set Michael from Forgotten Bookarks off on the Pullman and Petriski wild goose chase, I remembered something: there was mention of Mable Frost as the nurse that helped deliver Marjorie Pauline Frost in 1926.  And in Michael's research and contacts, he found out that Mable died in the 1980s.

It seemed odd to me that the nurse at the hospital who delivered our Pauline had the same last name.  But then I remembered that in upstate New York it was not uncommon in the mid-1920s to still have a child delivered at home perhaps by the local doctor or midwife.

Mable Frost could not have been Devere Frost's sister - she did not show up on any of the US Federal Census records.  So perhaps she was Kenneth Frost's wife - the sister-in-law to Devere and aunt to Pauline.  And sure enough, the 1930 US Federal Census record for Kenneth Frost shows his wife as Mable Frost, both with children living in Cherry Valley, New York.

* * *

As I pursued further research, something else was bugging me.  In the back of my mind I kept wondering why the obituary for Pauline's maternal grandfather - Louis Crossway/Crauseway - didn't mention her but did mention other grandchildren.  While it can be disturbing and a bit sad that someone would seek to settle a score through the writing of a death notice, perhaps Pauline had conceived her child out of wedlock, thus the early marriage, and this caused embarrassment to the family.  But then why would the grandparents and parents release a birth announcement for Pauline's child in 1943?

* * *

So while that small piece of "collateral" or "sideways" research on Mable Frost - where one researches brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and even neighbors of the main subject - seems insignificant, the obituary for Mable Frost would make me feel glad that I did go sideways.

Mable Frost died on Tuesday, May 25, 1971 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  This might be our aunt to Pauline since the 1930 US Census report also showed she had been born in Michigan.  The obituary filled in the gaps:

"Mrs. Mabel B. Frost, 76 of Ypsilanti, Mich., a former resident of Cherry Valley, died Thursday, May 25, at Huron View Lodge in Ann Arbor, Mich. . . . She was married to Kenneth D. Frost . . ."

"Obituaries - Mrs. Mabel B. Frost," The Oneonta Star, 27 May 1971, online archives (http://access.newspaperarchive.com: accessed 25 October 2009), col. 1, citing original p. 11.

Well it's the same Mable.  More collateral info, right?  Read on:

"Surviving are . . . two nieces, Mrs. Pauline Pullman, Greene . . ."

* * *

"Oh Snap!" Well, at least it sounded something like that when I said it out loud.  Our Pauline Frost was Pauline Triple and now was Pauline Pullman? So Louis Crossway/Crauseway's death notice dated 1953 might not be incorrect or a slight to Pauline - it listed a Mrs. Willard Pullman as a grandchild.  And the article about Devere Frost's murder, dated 1947 listed Pauline as Mrs. Pauline Triple/Tripple - could Pauline already have been separated from her own husband as well? And later remarried - to Willard Pullman?

It is notoriously difficult to order vital records from New York State - I have first-hand experience - and in this case I couldn't justify the time and expense since it involved finding the original owner of a baby book.  So further research along the Pullman line might be needed.

* * *

In the meantime, Michael was already working Zaba Search and the phones looking for Pauline Triple/Tripple.  I had not been able to tell him we had been "Tripple played" as it were.  Oh, the trouble with Tripples.

Basically Michael came to find out that Pauline Frost Tripple Pullman had passed away by contacting the Tripple family.  No wonder when he called the families were perplexed - Pauline may not have stayed in touch with the Tripple family after her remarriage to Willard Pullman.

But after several phones calls and his own sleuthing, by 12:53 pm he was able to locate a niece of Marjorie Pauline Frost who lived about 40 minutes away from the bookstore and stopped by to retrieve the book.  Michael says that the woman did not really know our Pauline that well.

* * *

I know in the previous post, I had said this would be the last in the series.  I've tried to keep these "episodes" short and to the point and at the same time I didn't want to drag out the eventual resolution for days or weeks.

There will be more posts coming up having to do with Marjorie Pauline Frost.  Some will be a review of research pitfalls and the research process.  One will be an interview with Michael of Forgotten Bookmarks.

Stay tuned.

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee