Setting the Setting

Please note: this is post #5 of an ongoing research problem that involves an old arson case from 1957, in which a house fire occurred, killing my Paw Paw's [grandmother's] brother, Roscoe Martin and all four of his children.  For better clarity, here are the previous posts:

He Had Me at "Detective"
Here's My Plan, Stan
Somehow, Someway, and Someday 
Technological Shores of the Internet

What Was Going On In 1957?
 This was the question I asked myself when trying to place Roscoe and his family in a time and place.  In order to understand what was going on at the time that Roscoe and his 4 children were killed in a house fire that was ruled as arson, we need to understand what was going on in the world as a whole, in the United States, in Vienna, Johnson County, Illinois, and in my branch of the family.  Will this provide any direct answers to who set the fire?  I don't know.  Probably not, but it will help to understand the times.  We have progressed so far in technology, and we get caught up in the "now" that we either forget or we just don't plain know what life was like "back in the day."  Here's a short, but informative video, entitled "The 50's - What Happened in 1957?" from One Special Dream Studio on YouTube that gives us a glimpse of what was going on in 1957: 





Pretty cool, huh?  Both the addition of video to Family Stories and the actual video itself.  [Why didn't I go high-tech sooner?]

Little Egypt
Johnson County, Illinois is located in the southernmost part of Illinois.  The culture of this area is markedly different than the rest of Illinois because the pioneers who settled here were mostly from the south [i.e., Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, etc.]  As most people do, when they migrated they brought their beliefs, their religion, their culture, etc. and set-up shop, so to speak, for better or for worse, in southern Illinois.  The culture in this area is more like St. Girardeau, Missouri and/or Paducah, Kentucky than it is the rest of Illinois.  Quite a few of these pioneers were descendants of folks who were from the mountains ~ first in North Carolina, then in Tennessee.  This area was nicknamed "Little Egypt" in the 1830's.  It's believed that when the the rest of Illinois experienced bad harvests, settlers traveled south in order to buy grain from the southern region of Illinois where harvests were good, just as in Egypt as told in the Genesis 41:57 and 41:1-3.  There are several places in southern Illinois named after places in Egypt, such as Cairo, Illinois [pronounced Cay-row].  Southern Illinois was also a place that had decidedly torn loyalties during the Civil War, and these torn loyalties were the impetus for many family feuds that occurred in Johnson County as well as Williamson County [north of Johnson County].  Furthermore, southern Illinois was an important area for the Union side due to the accessible waterways and for the crops that were grown there, namely cotton and tobacco.  In addition, coal mining and the railroad were key industries here as well.  Below is a map of Johnson, County, Illinois where Roscoe lived and where he died with place markers.  I also included place markers for towns where Nelson and Mary Casteel Martin settled as well as Roscoe's father and grandfather.  Nelson and Mary were Roscoe's great-grandparents that migrated from Wayne County, Tennessee to Johnson County before 1850 and were the subjects of my Saturday Surname post this past weekend.








View Johnson County, Illinois in a larger map  

From the Perspective of My Branch of the Tree
So, what was going on in my branch of the family tree at the same time?  My dad had graduated from Breckenridge High School in San Antonio, Texas, married my mother, and had begun classes at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas in 1955.  My parents were living in College Station, Texas in 1957, and had just had their first child the previous year.  My Paw Paw [my father's mother and Roscoe's sister] was living in San Antonio, Texas and my dad's sister had just graduated high school there before the summer of 1957 when Roscoe and his children were killed.  Roscoe's and Paw Paw's father, Joel Arthur Martin had passed away in 1948 at the age of 76 in Johnson County, Illinois and was buried in Taylor Cemetery.

So hopefully this gives us a better idea of the time and place in which Roscoe and his family had been living.  As more family members are found and more details are uncovered, I will add placemarkers to this map.  As I mentioned earlier, I don't know if this will help me find more clues, but it definitely gives me the "lay of the land," and helps to fill-in some details in Roscoe's story.



Sources and Credits:
 Ford, Jeffrey, narrator. The 50's - What Happened in 1957?. Video tribute. Digital video. One Special Dream Studio, 2007. You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-TpEsSjhgA : 2009.

Egyptian Area Agency on Aging. The History of Southern Illinois. http://www.egyptianaaa.org/SI-History2.htm : 2009.

Adventures in Preservation.  Southernmost Illinois History. http://www.southernmostillinoishistory.net/civilwar.htm : 2009.

All photos in slideshow (courtesy of Photobucket) are privately held by Mrs. Caroline Martin Pointer, Conroe, Texas, 2008.

Technological Shores of the Internet

“All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.” ~ Earl Nightingale Quotes [U.S. Motivational writer and author, 1921-1989 from ThinkExist.com]

You Are Here
On the second post, “Here's my Plan, Stan,” concerning Roscoe Martin, his family, and the tragedy that befell them, I spoke of my plan and promised the strategy in which I will use to implement the plan.  So this post is my “road map” to finding who killed my grandmother's brother and his four children in a house fire 14 Jul 1957 in Vienna, Johnson County, Illinois, and why.  After this “road map” post, I will be “stepping-up” the Roscoe posts with detailed accounts of my searching with screen shots and everything.  This way you'll know exactly how I'm searching ~ not just where.  As always, if you have suggestions, please feel free to chime in with help.  This is a “win-win” because I can derive help from others, and hopefully, others can derive some help from me.

They Saw My Light
I mentioned in my last post, “Somehow, Someway, & Someday,” of how the genea-gods favored me with a smile, giving me genea-bliss in the form of a distant cousin.  A distant cousin who knew Roscoe.  A distant cousin who Roscoe nicknamed his first son after.  A distant cousin who will be sending me information about this tragedy.  I'd like to take a moment and point out the “vital importance of being earnest” in your family story search.  To not leave any stone unturned.  To walk down every avenue, known and unknown, in searching for your family story, for your earnestness will indeed payoff.  Certainly, this isn't the first time that I've been contacted by a “distant cousin” who, too, is researching their family story, but it is the first time I've been contacted by a distant cousin who has some of the specific information that I seek.  That's a good feeling, to say the least.  It's good to know that the time that I've taken to set-up familial beacons on the technological shores of the internet have not been in vain, for it's proof that the familial “ships” really do see the light on the shore through breaks in the darkness and the distance of time.

This Road Map is Written in Pencil
Here is the “road map” that I intend to use to guide me to the answers that I seek.  This is not written in stone, but will change as the search goes on.  As new information is gathered and assessed, this road map will indeed change.  For example, when I receive the information from my distant cousin, I will update this list, hopefully, crossing items off the list, but knowing genealogy, it will probably bring more things to add to the list. ;)
 

Correspondence

• Mail application and $13 check to the Johnson County Historical & Genealogical Society.
• Mail request & check for Roscoe's Social Security Application.
• Mail request for military records [National Archives].
• Contact Barnett family researcher of this same area.  See if any relation to Police Chief Barnett.
• Contact Vaughn family researcher to see if has any info.  [Roscoe's maternal grandmother, Catherine Caroline, was a Vaughn.]

Update Online Familial Beacons

• Place a new query on Ancestry's message board on the Martin surname board as well as the Johnson County, Illinois board.
• Place a new query on the Rootsweb Martin mail list and the ILJohnson mail list.
• Place a new query on the Genforum Martin surname board as well as the Johnson County, Illinois board.
• Place new queries on the Genealogy Wise Martin surname group and Illinois group.  Also search for southern Illinois and/or Johnson County, Illinois groups.
• Search Ancestry's family trees looking for others who have Roscoe and/or Norma.
• Search Rootsweb's WorldConnect family trees for others who have Roscoe and/or Norma.
• Add pertinent info to My Heritage tree, Dynastree tree, and Family Link tree.
• Notate any researchers on the above boards and make contact with them.
• Surname Saturday on Twitter and on blog: post names, names, & names.  Saturday's blog post will be a re-cap of the week's research in hopes of connecting with someone who knows something.
• Promote research on Facebook and Genealogy Wise page.
• Check Diigo.
  

  Phone Calls:

• Johnson County Sheriff's Dept. to find where the sheriff's department's reports from 1957 would be located for arson cases, if they still exist.  Also inquire about the Medical Examiner's report and its location. [The ME suggestion is from Sheri Fenley ~ thanks Sheri!]
• My aunt [dad's sister]: See what she knows ~ told to her by my Paw Paw, Roscoe's sister.

 

Systematic Online Search:

• FamilySearch.org: Consult outline for research in Illinois, search for available materials & make a “to order”/to do list; search databases for available info, and notate other researchers.
• Illinois Regional Archives Depository / Southern Illinois University: looking for available pertinent records such as Roscoe's birth certificate, etc.  Also see just what is available.
• Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield, IL: look for instructions for search in the Vienna Times [A suggestion made by Jennifer.  Thanks Jennifer!]
• Ancestry.com: Find pertinent databases; search found databases.
• National Archives & Record Administration: Find info to obtain military records.
• Heritage Quest/ProQuest: Search for books in Johnson County, Illinois and/or books concerning Martin surname.
• Google Books: Search for books on Johnson County, Illinois and/or Martin surname.
• PERSI: Check for articles concerning Johnson County, Illinois and/or Martin surname.
• USGenWeb: for Johnson County, Illinois: run searches for pertinent names & places; place query.
• Genealogy Trails for Illinois: run searches for pertinent names and places; place query.
• Interment.net: run search for Roscoe and children; if positive, contact poster of info.
• Google [general search]: timeline and history of the lie detector test.
• Google Genealogy Search: run searches for Roscoe & others involved.
• Google Earth, Google Maps, & Historic Map Works for applicable maps of area.
• Find A Grave: look to see any if any other possible relatives have left virtual flowers on any of these family members' virtual memorials.  Make contact.
• Montgomery County Memorial Library [online database]: Perform searches for Johnson County, Illinois & Martin surname.
• Clayton Genealogical Library [online databases]: Perform searches in catalog & for microfilm for Johnson County, Illinois and Martin surname.

Visit and Research:
Montgomery County Memorial Library
Clayton Genealogical Library
Local Family History Center

Courage?  Check.  Plan?  [Just Call Me Stan.]  Check.  Road Map?  Check.
So, have I forgotten anything?  The above is listed in the order in which I plan to complete it.  Some can be done simultaneously [ah, the joys of a laptop and a desktop].  As I mentioned before, I will be going into detail as to how I'm searching online with screen shots [Hey, I'm going high-tech!  Thanks to Denise for her review on her blog Family Matters of Jing which I downloaded and plan to use for screen shots.]  Also I use Gensmarts, and I will be sharing how I use that as well in my research.  As you can probably guess and as I mentioned above, I will be increasing my posts on this particular research problem.  It will be technical, but I believe that the search can be a part of the family story.  Remember, it's interactive, so feel free to tell me what you think.  Well, time to go because it looks like I've got a mountain to climb...

Credits:
All images from Microsoft Office Clip Art.

Somehow, Someway, and Someday

Roscoe, Centaurs, and Genea-Bliss
I know I promised in my last "Roscoe" post an outline of my strategy for this post, but when the mythological genea-gods smile down on you, well, you must take the opportunity to perform the thankful "Genea-Happy Dance..."  [Yes, I have "Greek" mythology on the mind.  Thanks to the person ~you know who you are~ for putting it there.]

The mythological genealogy gods work behind the scenes like invisible hands sometimes "toying" with us for their amusement alone, leaving us frustrated when we cannot scale that proverbial "brick wall".  However, sometimes when we least expect it they look down upon us mere mortals and favor us with a token of genea-bliss.  I don't know what I did [set-up a bunch of online familial beacons, maybe?], if anything, to deserve a mythical genea-nod but I know better than to look a gift centaur in the mouth.  I'm taking it, and running away quickly before they can change their minds.  So, what's my token of genea-bliss, you ask?  Well, are you sitting down?

My Internet Bread Crumbs

Remember in my last "Roscoe" post I shared how I had found online memorials of Roscoe and his children on Find A Grave?  They had been entered by a wife of a distant cousin with a brief note on the fire that had killed them.  In addition, I added my photos to their memorials.  At the time, I had made a mental note to contact her, but I wasn't researching Roscoe at the time, but some other "Martin's".  Plus, this was before I found out that the fire had been ruled as arson.  I recently updated the photos in Find A Grave with some [hopefully] better looking photos.  Now, this is where the hands of the mythological genea-gods come into play.  From what I can tell, the wife of my distant cousin who set the memorials up and/or my distant cousin happened to check the memorials.  They saw the photos that I had added as well as my notes.  Then they somehow found my Genealogy Wise page, became members at Genealogy Wise [is there a referral incentive program? ;) ], read my latest Family Stories blog post that shows up on my  GW page that featured Roscoe, and posted answers to some of my questions I had posted.  Here's some of what my distant cousin posted on my Genealogy Wise wall:

We were glad to see the pictures you entered.  We are the only ones who have ever put flowers on their grave.  We have never missed a Memorial Day.  I guess you know all five are buried in one grave.  The fire was so hot that they were buried together.  Roscoe has a veterans memorial but the children have no monument.  Roscoe's widow hasn't been dead that long and is buried at Taylor with a nice rock close to Roscoe and the children.  My grandmother was Ida Martin Taylor and a sister of Joel Arthur Martin (Grandma always called him Bub and Mother and others always called him Uncle Bub), so the Martin's are my family also.  When John Winston was a baby they let  my Mother Addie May take him.  Roscoe nicknamed him Jackie after me.  I was about 11 at the time and remember him well.  Mother and my Stepdad wanted to adopt him, Roscoe was willing but Norma took him back.

About the lie detector test, one of the State men that gave it told Uncle Bent that they were the meanest people he had ever given the test.  They could lie and never show it.  This was never published but passed from Uncle Bent to my Mother to me so I believe it.  There is some history I can give you about our Martins and family and community remarks about the fire.  The house belonged to Mother and Roscoe's cousin, Addie and Charlie Cheek.  The house was located in the country just off Route 45 before you get to Vienna.  I was raised on down the country road from there.  It was a small house but was a two story house with 2 rooms upstairs.  That is where the children were.  They never had a chance.  I also have the death certificates of the 5 if you want a copy.  Also copies of the cemetery and where they are buried.

My distant cousin also found my email, or maybe my contact button on my blog.  Here is some additional information:

"After I hear from you, I will send more info that I have by e-mail or reg. mail however you prefer.  My grandma Ida was your Great G'Father's sister...My wife was excited that you found Roscoe and the children on Find A Grave.  She put them on because she didn't want them forgotten..."

Wow, huh?  It's a lot of information to digest.  There are many things of interest, and I will tackle them in length in my next post, provided the seances I have planned this weekend while in New Orleans for a wedding at St. Patrick's Church don't produce some "connections".  That's a joke.  Well, the seance part is a joke.  The New Orleans wedding at St. Patrick's Church is not, but wouldn't that be cool if we could actually talk with our ancestors instead of trying to read their minds?  [Of course, that would take all the fun out of it...]

So, Do You Have a Nickname?
Now, I'd like to point out that some of the information that my distant cousin has already provided and the info that he is willing to share is exactly what my blog, "Family Stories" is all about.  Certainly, names, birth dates, and death dates are welcome and important, but where else would I find out that my Great-Grandfather was affectionately called  "Bub" by his sister Ida and "Uncle Bub" by other family members?  My Paw Paw called him "Pop" as indicated on her photos of him.  So, this is another piece of my great-grandfather's story.  [It also makes me think about my loved ones' nicknames for me.  Do I have them written down somewhere?  Well, the ones that I actually like, that is...]

Yes, I Have a "Thing" for Jewelry
It's also interesting to note how the info he gave me compliments the info that I've been able to assemble on my own.  It reminds me of the "multi-faceted-ness" of family stories.  [Yes, I'm making up words now.  Just "go" with it.]  How, as the family stories are created, the family members are all a part of it as it occurs.  Each family member representing a "facet" of the gem ~ the family story, and when the light actually shines on another facet of the family story, well, it's just that more beautiful, is it not?

There's That Word Again...Forgotten
My distant cousin mentioned that his wife put the memorials on Find A Grave "...because she didn't want them forgotten..."  And that is what it seems to "boil down to" every time, doesn't it? We want our ancestors and loved ones to not be forgotten.  So we search, we write, and we search a little more, then write a little more.  All so they won't be forgotten.  No matter how they lived.  No matter how they died.  They will not be forgotten, which is why somehow, someway, and someday Roscoe's children ~ Jack, Bill, Jerry, and Cheryl ~ will have a tombstone...in remembrance.  They will not be forgotten and neither will their story.

So, now you know why I am in genea-bliss right now, albeit with a herd of centaurs chasing me.  [A group of centaurs is a herd, right? ;) ]

Sources:
Martin Research Files. Privately held by Caroline M. Pointer, [ E-address & street address for private use,] Conroe, Texas.

Shii. Image of Athena and Jason on Cup made by Douris ca. 480-470 B.C. [Digital Image]. 2006. Public Domain.  
 (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Douris_cup_Jason_Vatican_16545.jpg : accessed Nov 2009 at Wikimedia Commons).

Clicgauche. Bronze Young Centaure Malmaison. [Digital Image]. 2006. Public Domain. (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Centaure_Malmaison_crop.jpg : accessed Nov 2009 at Wikimedia Commons).

 Dic-as. Diamond La Luz de Dia. [Digital Image]. 2003. Public Domain. (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Diamant_la_luz_de_dia.jpg : accessed Nov 2009 at Wikimedia Commons).

Michael, Nick. Beham, (Hans) Sebald (1500-1550): Buffoon and Two Bathing Women (P. 216, B. 214), copperplate engraving, 1542, a good impression of the first or second state of four, trimmed just inside the platemark, retaining a strip of blank paper outside the borderline. [Digital Image]. 2006. Public Domain. (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hercules_fighting_the_Centaurs.jpg : accessed Nov 2009 at Wikimedia Commons).

Here's My Plan, Stan

[Note: This is a series of posts that is an investigation of 5 murders.  The first post was "He Had Me At 'Detective,'" and this post is my plan of attack, so to speak.]


Here's the Problem:

If the fire that killed my grandmother's brother, Roscoe Benton Martin, and his four children in 1957 was ruled as arson, then who killed them?  Whether the arson investigation was solved or not, who set the fire and why?

So, What Do I Know?

• Roscoe Benton Martin was born on 19 Mar 1911 in Bloomfield, Johnson County, Illinois to Joel Arthur Martin and Lillie May (Alley) Martin. He was the second of four children in total and the first of three children surviving to adulthood.
• His mother, Lillie May died 6 Jun 1918 when Roscoe was 7yo.
• Roscoe is found with his father and two sisters in Stonefort, Williamson County, Illinois in the 1920 population census.
• Roscoe was in the United States Army [as per 2 photographs of my grandmother's now in my possession].
• Roscoe was living with his two sisters, Rettie Maye and Mabel Irene in Precinct 8, Fort Bend County, Texas in the 1930 population census.
• Roscoe married Norma Ethel Conroy sometime before 1942 in Johnson County, Illinois.
• Roscoe and Norma had four children: Jack, Bill, Jerry, and Cheryl Maye [exact dates need verification].
• Norma Ethel Conroy was born abt. 1922 in Johnson County, Illinois to Emmett Cecil Conroy and Frieda A. Hall. Her siblings were William N. Conroy and Raymond Lester Conroy.
• According to my grandmother, Roscoe died in a house fire trying to save his children in Illinois.
• Information found in two newspaper articles (The Hammond Times 16 Jul 1957 and 17 Jul 1957 accessed on Ancestry.com) is as follows:

1. Roscoe (46yo), John (14yo), William (12yo), Jerry (10yo), and Cheryl (3yo) were all killed Sunday, 14 Jul 1957 in a house fire approximately 6 miles north of Vienna, Illinois.
2. Don Pender (a guest in the home), Roscoe, and a Billy McCuan (from nearby Tunnell Hill) were all “in the home prior to the fire”.
3. Norma Martin, Roscoe's wife, escaped from the fire “uninjured”.
4. The fire was reported by Don Pender, who also escaped the fire.
5. “Billy McCuan was found sleeping in his car near the home.”
6. An empty 5-gallon gasoline can was found outside the home and two rooms in the home were found to have gasoline in them, leading investigators to suspect arson.
7. “The bodies were retrieved from under a portion of the tin roof.”
8. “Firemen were hindered due to a lack of water near the residence and had to draw water from a nearby pond.”
9. “Three state investigators, armed with a lie detector, launched an arson investigation.”
10. Norma Martin (Roscoe's wife), Don Pender, and Billy McCuan were all “given a lie detector test and were completely cleared from any connection to the fire.”
11. The Johnson County, Illinois sheriff at the time was Orlan Cox.
12. The police chief (of Vienna?) was Bill Barnett.
13. After the lie detector test, Sheriff Cox still felt that it was arson, but “had no leads.”
    

What Do Others Know?

Online memorials were found on findagrave:

• A wife of a distant cousin created online memorials on Findagrave for Roscoe, John, William, Jerry, and Cheryl. She mentions the fire, and that they were all killed in it.
• Also states the full names of Roscoe and his children: Roscoe Benton, John Winston, William Lester, Jerry Ray, and Cheryl Maye.
• States all of their ages at death, full birth dates [John b.14 Sep 1942; William b. 26 Apr 1945; Jerry b. 18 Sep 1948; Cheryl b. 2 Oct 1953] and their death date.
• The birthdate that is listed on the online memorial for Roscoe Benton Martin is the same birthdate that my Paw Paw listed on the back of his Army headshot photo.
• States that Roscoe had been in the United States Army from 1929-1939.
• States they are all buried in Taylor Cemetery in Vienna, Johnson County, Illinois.
  

  So, I Think I Have A Few Questions...

• Was Roscoe employed at the time of the fire? If so, what was his occupation? Had Norma been employed outside of the home?
• How was Roscoe's and Norma's relationship? Were they “getting along”?
• Who were Billy McCuan and Don Pender, and how well did Roscoe and Norma know them?
• According to the newspaper article, the bodies were retrieved from under a portion of the tin roof. How were the bodies laying, exactly, and where? Were they all together?
• How big was the house? Did each child have their own room, or did they share?
• Was Don Pender going to stay the night? Where was he from?
• Why was Billy McCuan sleeping in his car? Had he or any of the others been drinking alcoholic beverages?
• What time did the fire start, and when was it reported?
• How did Don Pender report the fire? Did he make the phone call before he exited the house?
• Were there other houses nearby? Had they been living in a neighborhood or in the country?
• What 2 rooms in the house had been doused with gasoline?
• How can a lie detector test be used to clear 3 people in an arson case in 1957 when in 2009 the results of a lie detector test aren't usually admissable in court?
• How accurate was a lie detector test in 1957? What is the timeline & history of the lie detector test?
• Where was Roscoe's father, Joel Arthur Martin living at the time of the fire? What other relatives lived in the area?
• Did Norma's family live nearby?
• If 2 rooms in the house had been doused with gasoline [obviously before the fire] and the house had been occupied by Roscoe, Norma, Billy McCuan, and Don Pender before the fire, why didn't they smell the gasoline? The fumes would have been quite noticeable.
• Previous to their guests coming over, had they left the house unoccupied on the day of the fire, Sunday? When and for how long?
• Where had the children been? Was the fire before “bedtime” or after?
• Has this arson case ever been solved? Where would this investigation paperwork be located now?
• If 3 state investigators gave the lie detector test, would there be any state-level investigation paperwork, and where would that be located?
• What happened to Norma after the fire? Where did she go?

So, Where To Look?

• Johnson County clerk's office [Illinois] http://www.idph.state.il.us/vitalrecords/countylisting.htm
• Johnson County Genealogical and Historical Society [membership = $13] http://johnsoncountyil.net/
• My aunt [my dad's sister]
• Wife of distant cousin from Findagrave http://findagrave.com/
• Illinois Regional Archives Depository [IRAD] http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/irad/iradhome.html
• Southern Illinois University at Carbondale [houses Johnson County records] http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/irad/siumap.html
• Illinois Genealogy Trails http://www.genealogytrails.com/ill/
• Johnson County, Illinois Genealgy Trails http://www.myillinoisgenealogy.com/il-county-johnson.html
• ILGenWeb for Johnson County http://johnson.ilgenweb.net/
• Rootsweb for Johnson County Illinois http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~iljohns2/
• Rootsweb for other researchers. [mailing list]
• Ancestry.com [census, newspapers, military, message board, SSDI, obituary, etc.] http://ancestry.com/
• Genforum message boards. Check through surname and county boards] Http://Genforum.com
• Contact the Barnett surname/family researcher that I met through Genealogy Wise of this target area to see if there's any relation to the Police Chief Bill Barnett
• Contact the Vaughn family researcher that I met through Ancestry.com Message Board.
  
• Google Earth & Google Search
• My Illinois Genealogy [Johnson County] http://www.myillinoisgenealogy.com/il-county-johnson.html
• Pope and Johnson County Illinois Information http://www.myillinoisgenealogy.com/il-county-johnson.html
• The Family Tree Resource Book for Genealogists [Ed. By Carmack and Nevius]
• Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research, Houston, Texas http://www.houstonlibrary.org/clayton
• Montgomery County Memorial Library, Conroe, Texas http://www.countylibrary.org/gen.htm
• Family Search http://familysearch.com/
• Interment, Cemetery Records Online http://www.interment.net/
• National Archives and Records Administration http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/get-service-records.html
• Johnson County, Illinois Sheriff's Dept. http://www.road-police.com/police/Illinois/Vienna/property_3524/police.html

What To Do First?

I will outline my strategy in the next post/update as well as any research I've completed at the time. My plan involves using genealogical skills combined with some “creativity”. It's also going to take some ingenuity because I have no budgetary plans to travel to Johnson County, Illinois [unfortunately]. The first thing I'll need to do is give you the “lay of the land,” so to speak. I've never been there, but all of my grandmother's lines come from there, and I've had the opportunity to “meet” some researchers from this area online as well as research the area. Hopefully, this will help. It was a close-knit community then, and it's a close-knit community now. Moreover, it's an area where “outsiders” aren't really welcome, but I'm getting ahead of myself. More on this community and the time period in which this crime took place will be in my next post. So, that's my plan, Stan. Have I forgotten anything? [I'm sure I have...] Or do you have any additional questions that you think I should be asking?  Let me know.  Please, post your comments below.

He Had Me at "Detective"

So What's Your Magical Number?
I was officially employed at the age of eight.  I mean, really employed ~ not "pick-up your clothes, make your bed, brush your teeth, and here's your 2 bucks", but an honest-to-God job.  Considering child labor laws, how was this possible, you ask?  Well, when you work for your parents, they don't apply.  My dad had a kind of all-around truck and trailer business ~ the eighteen-wheeler kind.  No, he wasn't a truck driver, nor did he own a trucking company [which I get that a lot], but he had a mechanic's shop that did, well, what a mechanic's shop does.  In addition, he had a paint and body shop, a frame machine that could bend a trailer's frame back into position after a wreck, sold truck & trailer parts, sold new and used trailers, and sold used heavy-duty trucks.  Like I said, it was an all-around truck and trailer business that, in it's heyday, did very well.  I guess eight was the magical number that my dad decided was the perfect age to bring his little girl into the family biz, so to speak.  So, what was my job title?  I was the official "heavy-duty truck and trailer parts inventory clerk" [and "do whatever else your dad and your older brother tell you to do"].  In other words, my job every summer was to count big, greasy, and sometimes unidentifiable parts.  Most of the parts were identified with parts numbers and other important data that I was to mark down along with the count.   The ones that weren't labeled, I was supposed to mark with a round neon-colored sticker for someone else to problem-solve.  I even had my own official clipboard.  I started out at 10 bucks a week, and that was my magical number to get the job done.

Green-Screened IBM Monsters
Each summer my dad added a little more to my duties [of course], but he upped my pay as well.  By this time, though, I was working for my mom at her pet shop [a story for another time], but I was given "time off" to help dad with inventory.  After I would complete a particular section I was taught to enter the data into the computer [remember those old green-screened IBM monsters?].  When I came upon an item that didn't have a part number, instead of leaving it for someone else to solve, my dad showed me how to figure out the manufacturer, look it up by picture in the gazillion catalogs he had, and obtain the information to enter into the computer.  [O.K., can I just pause and say that, just now, all that was easier to explain and type than to do?]  When my dad first explained it to me, he said, "Caroline, it's like you're a detective and you're trying to solve a mystery.  Keep looking.  You can find it.  Solve the mystery."  Well being an avid Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden fan [which he very well knew], he had me at, "detective".

The Irony
I find it ironic now that the man who taught to me how to problem solve [and so many other things] was the same man who asked me in high school to "do" our family tree and is the same man whose family has 5 related unsolved murders that, to the best of my knowledge, he thought were deaths ~ not murders.  While growing up, I had heard several times from my mom that my Paw Paw's [my dad's mom's] brother had been killed in a house fire trying to save his four children.  Then, when I interviewed my Paw Paw for my family tree project my senior year in high school, I remember her telling me that very same story.  She, of course, gave me his name for the tree, but she didn't volunteer anymore information, my mother didn't know anything else, and I never asked anymore about it.  That is, until now. 

The Duke's, Roscoe, and More Snow
Unfortunately, my Paw Paw passed away 6 years ago, and I'm not able to ask her any questions.  In trying to take her line back, I had some difficulties with the spelling of her name, Rettie Maye Martin.  Sometimes, she went by Rettie and sometimes she went by Maye, and both names are easily phonetically misspelled.  The one item that "saved" me was that I remembered her brother's name.  Remember, the show "Duke's of Hazzard" [not the movie, but the t.v. show]?  Do you remember Boss Hogg's sheriff, Rosco P. Coltrain? [and, wow, you can follow the actor that played Rosco on Twitter.  Will wonders never cease?]  Anyhow, that's how I remembered my Paw Paw's brother's name, Roscoe Martin.  [Silly?  Yes, but did it work?  Uh, yeah.]  Roscoe's name was a much easier name to follow in the census with usually only 2 variances [Rosco/Roscoe].  I was able to trace them from Texas back to Illinois, where they were born, which I had also remembered from our interview.  You want to know how I remembered that?  Simple, at the time it was beyond my comprehension that she was not born in Texas.  [Isn't everyone born in Texas? ;) ]  Also, when she told me she was from Illinois, my reply was, "You mean, where it snows?"  [I told you we South Texans are enamored with the whole snow concept ~ the fluffy kind, not the ice kind.]

Seeing Their Faces Made Their Story Come Alive
Remember Hurricane Ike and how my kids, my dog, and I stayed with my sister in San Antonio for a few days, and I acquired quite a few family photographs, mostly from my Dad's side of the family?  Well, amongst all of them were some photos of Roscoe [with his full name, Roscoe Benton Martin, written on the back], as well as photos of all 4 of his children.  There were also photos of him and his wife and of him and his sister, my Paw Paw.  While looking at the photos, I was captivated because I realized I was looking at the family ~ my family ~ that had perished in a house fire.  All of the photos were identified on the back in my Paw Paw's handwriting.  When I got home, I entered their data in my database software [Rootsmagic] and on my Ancestry.com tree, which is used solely to connect with other possible family members. [In other words, it's not complete, but I use it as my "clue" tree.]  A few days later, I decided to look on findagrave.com for my Martin's in both Johnson County and Williamson County in Illinois.  To my delight [not really delight, but you know what I mean, right?], I stumbled upon Roscoe's and his four children's online memorials.  The house fire that killed them was referenced, and the information had been entered by the wife of a distant cousin.  "Hm," I thought to myself.  "I need to contact her to possibly exchange information."  There were no pictures of Roscoe and his children nor of their tombstones, but did have photos of the cemetery's sign/plaque.  So, I quickly scanned my photos of them and added them to their respective memorials, to my Ancestry.com tree, and to my Rootsmagic software.  I then went on to other Martin's.  [I have since updated the photos.]  On, yet, another day, I began to think about the house fire, and I thought that maybe, just maybe, there had a been a write-up in the local newspaper about it.  After all, this was a small community, and five of it's citizens had perished in one night.  [Sounds reasonable, right?]

The Summer of 1957
So, I searched on Ancestry.com with all of Roscoe's pertinent information, and I got 2 positive hits [at least as far as I had looked].  I quickly found and read the first article, and yes, there was a house fire; and yes, Roscoe and all 4 of his children perished in that fire in the summer of 1957; but the investigators had determined that it was arson.  My heart dropped into my stomach at reading that, but I think my heart actually stopped beating for just a second as I read that Roscoe's wife and two men that they knew had been in the home for some time before the fire started [meaning that evening], and that Roscoe's wife and one of the men had got out unscathed.  And the other man?  He'd been sleeping in his car located on their street.  Oookay, these details were a bit suspicious, but what convinced the investigators that it was arson?  Well, I think the empty 5-gallon gasoline can located right outside the house and the two rooms in the house that had gasoline poured in them were pretty convincing.  I thought at the time, "Oh my God.  Someone needs to solve those murders." [Duh.]  Then a couple of weeks ago as I was fixing Roscoe's photo and creating a design for it to share with y'all for a Wordless Wednesday post, I started thinking about him and his children, and how unfair it was that their lives were taken.  Four beautiful children. [Don't you think?]  It also got me to thinking how unfair it was that these murders may have never been solved, to the best of my knowledge.  Why hadn't , my Paw Paw known, or if she had, why didn't she say anything?  Had it been too painful?  Thankfully she had their photos and identified them...for me.  I was thinking again that someone needed to look into this, and I was beginning to think that "someone" was me.  After all, when someone murdered Roscoe, his three boys, and his little girl, they ended the Martin surname, at least as far as my great-grandfather's line is concerned.  So, I've decided to "own" this one.  I mean, technically speaking their family story ended when they died in that house fire, but for me, that's an unacceptable ending.  After all, my middle name is Martin, so actually their story kind of "owns" me, and if not the person who solely carries the name in my great-grandfather's line, then who?

Let's Interact
I've decided to make this ongoing investigation a series of posts.  This means that as I research, I will be posting at least once a week with updates ~ kind of an "in-process, step-by-step" kind of thing.  Also, I invite all of your hints, tips, and suggestions.  Yup, I'm making it interactive.  That is, if you want to interact.  If not, then feel free ~ as always ~ to watch the ending of this family story unfold.  So, whaddya' think?  Don't Roscoe, Jack, Bill, Jerry, and little Cheryl Maye deserve to have their family story completed?  Don't they deserve to rest in peace?  So, "What's in a Name?"  Well, in this case, a family mystery.

I can almost hear my dad saying, "Caroline, it's like you're a detective and you're trying to solve a mystery.  Keep looking.  You can find it.  Solve the mystery."

Sources:

Texas. Fort Bend County. 1930 U.S. census, population schedule. Digital images. Ancestry.com. http://www.ancestry.com : 2007.

Illinois. Williamson County. 1920 U.S. census, population schedule. Digital images. Ancestry.com. http://www.ancestry.com : 2007.

Illinois. Johnson County. 1910 U.S. census, population schedule. Digital images. Ancestry.com. http://www.ancestry.com : 2007.

United Press, "Probe Deaths of 5 in Fire," The Hammond Times, 16 Jul 1957, p. 5, col. 2; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : 15 Oct 2008), Historical Newspaper Collection.

Brown, Ann, Find A Grave (http://findagrave.com/ : accessed 16 Oct 2008), "Martin, Roscoe Benton," Memorial #8494172.

Brown, Ann, Find A Grave (http://findagrave.com/ : accessed 16 Oct 2008), "Martin, John "Jack" Winston," Memorial #8494193.

Brown, Ann, Find A Grave (http://findagrave.com/ : accessed 16 Oct 2008), "Martin, William "Bill" Lester," Memorial #8494179.

Brown, Ann, Find A Grave (http://findagrave.com/ : accessed 16 Oct 2008), "Martin, Jerry Ray," Memorial #8494152.

Brown, Ann, Find A Grave (http://findagrave.com/ : accessed 16 Oct 2008), "Martin, Cheryl Maye," Memorial #8494212.

Photo Credits:

Martin, Roscoe Benton. Photograph. ca. 1931. Digital Image. Privately held by Caroline Martin Pointer, [address for private use,] Conroe, Texas. 2008.

Martin, John "Jack" Winston. Photograph. ca. 1954. Digital Image. Privately held by Caroline Martin Pointer, [address for private use,] Conroe, Texas. 2008.

Martin, William "Bill" Lester. Photograph. ca. 1954. Digital Image. Privately held by Caroline Martin Pointer, [address for private use,] Conroe, Texas. 2008.

Martin, Jerry Ray. Photograph. ca. 1954. Digital Image. Privately held by Caroline Martin Pointer, [address for private use,] Conroe, Texas. 2008.


Martin, Cheryl Maye. Photograph. ca. 1954. Digital Image. Privately held by Caroline Martin Pointer, [address for private use,] Conroe, Texas. 2008.