Was It Really Worth It?

My husband's side of the family ~the Pointer's~ seem to think they have the corner on bad ancestors. When in Iowa last summer, I got the chance to ask a few of them just why they thought their ancestors were so bad.  More than one replied, "Because," and in a loud whisper they continued,"We have a murder in the family. Possibly two. And possibly 2 murderers"


[Snort.] Well, I'm no mathematician, but in my family? 6 murders + 1 possible murderer + 1 possible pirate + 1 accused & imprisoned witch + 2 publically accused fornicators (one who later married the publically accused & imprisoned witch = I win. [Not that I'm keeping count of all the naughty people in the family, or anything.]


Now, Big Paw Paw never murdered anyone, at least not that I've found. And no one ever murdered him, which is amazing. Again, I'm not a mathematicion, but his 4 marriages + 3 divorces + 2 confirmed extra-marital liasions [may have been more, but hard proof on extra-marital affairs is hard to come by] + being a lousy husband 4 times + being a lousy father 2 times + being kicked out of his family 1 time + being kicked out of the Catholic Church 1 time [may have been more & may have been a formal excommunication] = 1 naughty Big Paw Paw.


And it's very easy for me to list all of Big Paw Paw's faults and mistakes.  [Mainly because there are so many of them.]  And it's also very easy for me to forget that Big Paw Paw didn't always make bad choices.  Why? Because those who knew him, didn't think very highly of him. And Big Paw Paw didn't leave much of a paper trail behind on things he did get right.


However, I'm proud to announce that I've found hard proof that indicates that Big Paw Paw wasn't wrong all the time. [Amazing. I know.] Well, at least the 45th District Bexar County Court Judge didn't think Big Paw Paw was wrong in 1938.


I mentioned in my post A Review of All the Players a piece of property with a house that Big Paw Paw sues his sister, Jane Rosin, over.  When I first read in the San Antonio Express that Big Paw Paw had sued his sister, I rolled my eyes and shook my head. Suing a family member never turns out well. If divorcing his 1st wife, who was the younger sister of Otto Rosin, Jane's husband, wasn't bad enough, then suing Jane later over some property and a house definitely did not help familial relations. But, of course, you and I have 20-20 vision in this case and Big Paw Paw was a bit nearsighted [and so was Jane].


Big Paw Paw first acquired the house and property located at Lot number 14 in Block numbered 1, New City Block 6000 in the City of San Antonio, said lot having 50 feet fronting the East side of Palmetto Ave. in Dignowity Place on 20 Aug 1925 from a C.E. and Alice Scull [sic].  So, he purchased this home approximately 2 years after his divorce from Emma.


Then, according to his 2nd wife's petition to the court during their divorce [Her story is forthcoming. LOTS of drama], Big Paw Paw had practically abandoned this home, which she was living in at the time she filed for divorce. This petition was filed Aug 1927. She explains to the court that Big Paw Paw was refusing to pay her weekly allowance of $15 set by the court; that he wasn't paying the mortgage or the insurance on the home; that he wasn't paying the creditors on the liens on the home; that he wasn't securing the home against theft and vandalism; and that he wasn't paying the payments on the furniture in the home. Basically? Big Paw Paw just wasn't paying for diddly squat when it came to Oveta. So they asked the court to appoint a receiver to handle all the community property. The best part of this petition? She states the actual address of the house [Hallelujah!]: 730 N. Palmetto, on the southeast corner of Palmetto & Burnett [sic] Streets. [But don't go rush to look it up just yet. Lemme finish the story. Then, I'll show it to you.]


I'm sure by know Oveta was thinking she pulled one over on Big Paw Paw. A receiver, Bernard Loben, was appointed to take over the community property 7 Oct 1927. [Poor Bernard. And Oveta. They had no clue who they were up against.]


On 5 Dec 1927, Big Paw Paw files a Public Affidavit [Gawd, I love his paper trails.]. In this affidavit  he says this same property was purchased before his marriage to Oveta, that she had no interest in it whatsoever, that she had abandoned him, and that she hadn't lived with him for at least 6 months. [So there.] Interestingly, the affidavit wasn't filed until 7 Mar 1928. [Hm.]


Because Big Paw Paw apparently didn't like to leave anything to chance, he executed a Warranty Deed with V/L [Vendor's Lien] with a John Marshall, Jr. of Galveston, Texas [who I've always believed to be his older brother] on this same property for $5000. And like the affidavit, it was executed on 5 Dec 1927 and filed 7 Mar 1928 in Bexar County, Texas.  The Vendors Lien part just meant that Big Paw Paw would go on making the lien payments and at the conclusion of the liens, the property would be owned outright by John.


So, Round 1, Big Paw Paw.


Remember how I told you in my post Smiling Big and Laughing Hard that Big Paw Paw's first wife, Emma [Again. This was Otto Rosin's, Jane's husband's, little sister.], contracted tuberculosis and died 11 Mar 1931? Good. Keep on remembering that.


Now. The next bit of documentation on this property that I could find was where John Marshall, Jr. [Big Paw Paw's big brother] executes a Warranty Deed with Otto Rosin effectively selling this property & house of Big Paw Paw's [or what used to be his] "...for a good valuable and sufficient consideration to me in hand paid..." No amount was recorded for the selling price. It was filed on 5 Feb 1932. Coincidentally less than a year after Emma died at such a young age.


Then in an act that would wake the sleeping giant, Otto Rosin executes a Warranty Deed with his wife Jane Rosin [Big Paw Paw's oldest sister], and sells her the same property for $3000 on 24 Jun 1937.


Enter Big Paw Paw.


On 2 Jul 1937, Big Paw Paw files a lawsuit in the 45th District Court of Bexar County.  And he claimed the following [But I re-worded the legalese. You're welcome.]:

• That around 30 Jun 1937, Jane Rosin, et. al. "seized and possessed" the now infamous [at least in my mind] property.
• That Jane Rosin, et. al. [Otto] "unlawfully entered...and ejected" Big Paw Paw from his house and took possession of his house to the tune of $7500 in damages. [Now, that? I would've loved to have seen.]
• That the rental value of the home was $500 per month.
• That he purchased the home from Mr. Schull in 1925.
• That in 1928 he conveyed the property to his brother, John Marshall, Jr. [Do you realize how many hours I looked for direct proof of their kinship? To think that all this time it was just sitting there. In a lawsuit. Yowzer.] And that the deed was to be held in trust by John Marshall, Jr. and that no consideration was paid. 
• That in 1932 that Big Paw Paw requested that his his brother, John, place the deed in the name of a person in San Antonio [Remember. John was from and in Galveston, Texas] "...in order to facilitate the handling of said property." And it was understood, according to Big Paw Paw, by all parties that the deed was to be held in trust by Otto Rosin and that Otto didn't pay anything for the property. So, according to Big Paw Paw, John essentially transferred the deed to Otto Rosin. I guess Big Paw Paw was still paying on those liens on the property. Otherwise, why not sell it back to Big Paw Paw?
• That before the execution of the deed from Otto to Jane on 30 Jun 1937, that Jane had no interest in the property and that even though the deed had been conveyed from Otto to Jane, it had not been "...placed of record in Bexar County, Deed Records." [Oops.]
• And that  Big Paw Paw had been unlawfully kicked out of his home. That no money had changed hands between Otto and Jane. That this was fraud. And that, "Jane Rosin well knew that her said husband had been the holder of the title to said property in trust for plaintiff..." all before the transaction. [Big Paw Paw was fit to be tied.]

And what did the court find? That Big Paw Paw was right:

• That the first conveyance to John Marshall, Jr. "...constituted nothing more than a mortgage, and the legal title remained vested in Joseph Marshall." 
• That Big Paw Paw payed off the debt.
• That John conveyed it to Otto at the insistence of Big Paw Paw; that "...Otto received said deed for indemnity purposes constituting a mortgage, the legal title remaining in plaintiff."
• That Jane & Otto had no "further liability."
• That Jane had been fully aware of the situation before the last conveyance from Otto to herself.
• That Jane Rosin, et. al., give the deed to Big Paw Paw.
• That Jane Rosin, et. al., not pay any damages to Big Paw.

Round 2, Big Paw Paw


So what happened to the property?  Well, Big Paw Paw and my grandmother, Paw Paw (his 4th wife), finally sold it in 1946 to an Isaac and Esther Mora and their son, Oswaldo Mora for $3000.


And what does it look like today? Well, I didn't get a chance to go by there when I was last in San Antonio because my silly living relatives wanted to do a whole bunch of stuff. [It's hard balancing the living and the dead.] But I did find it on Google Maps. It's depressing, really. It looks abandoned. The windows are all boarded up. However, if I ever win the lottery and after I purchase my 2nd great-grandparent's home which is 3 blocks south of the Riverwalk there in San Antonio [prime real estate], I'm gonna buy this house.


But I think it's ironic and sad that Big Paw Paw worked so hard to keep this house, and now it's abandoned. I also think it's ironic and sad that Jane SO wanted to get back at Big Paw Paw [O.K., I'm guessing.] with this house, and now it's abandoned. Was it really worth it?


The address is 730 North Palmetto, southeast corner of Palmetto and Burnet, but the address doesn't take you to the southeast corner of Palmetto and Burnet. But this is the photo of the house on the southeast corner. [If you're not able to see it here, then click the link, "View Larger Map" down below.]

View Larger Map

Secrets, Pt. 6: The Rest of the Story...

Joseph Marschall and Emma Rosin

Last, but not least is Joseph Marschall.  So, what happened to him?  Who was he?  I believe that Joseph Marschall married Emma Rosin in 1917 when they both were 24 years old.  He was a medic in the U.S. Army [1918-1919] during World War I and was awarded the Victory Medal.  In 1920, he was living with Emma in San Antonio and was a tree surgeon according to the 1920 Federal Population Census Schedule.  According to early land transactions that I found of my grandfather's, he and Emma [she was included in the transactions and was listed as his wife] bought, improved, and sold land - all in the same area of town that Otto and Jane Rosin [Joseph's sister] lived and also completed land transactions.  [Additionally, Joseph and Emma lived in the same part of town as Otto and Jane.]  However, the transactions ended abruptly with Emma, and I've not been able to trace her after that.

Did Joseph Have Another Wife?
After the transactions that included Emma, Joseph had many more by himself until 1927.  This is where I found a public affidavit that he had filed.  In it he claims that the land [that John and Josephine end up buying from him later] was his before his marriage to an Oveta Marshall, and that Oveta had abandoned him 6 months prior.  I verified when he first purchased this land, and he did purchase it after the land transactions that had included Emma, which indicates possibly that he had another wife.  Two scenarios exist.  Either Emma and Oveta are one in the same, or he married Emma and something happened to her [passed away or they divorced] and then he married an Oveta...I lean a little towards the possiblity that Emma and Oveta are not the same person.  First, the wording and the time line suggested in the public affidavit indicates that he had another wife [if he was telling the truth].  Plus, Emma stops appearing in the land transactions.  Interestingly, Oveta never appears in any transactions - possibly meaning that they weren't married for very long?  Basically, I don't know what happened exactly, but there is sufficient evidence to suggest that he was married twice before marrying my grandmother.  Unfortunately, both Emma and Oveta have proven to be elusive for me and I've not been able to find a marriage record for Joseph and Oveta..Do remember, though that John and Josephine of Galveston, Texas bought the land in dispute from Joseph and immediately mortgaged it plus 26 shares in some stock in order to pay Oveta Marshall $350 per a divorce decree, and they did it for a Joseph Marshall.  They then sell the same land in 1932 to Otto Rosin of San Antonio.  It's possible that Emma and Oveta are the same person, but the name Oveta is not listed as a possible nickname for Emma nor does the name Oveta have germanic origins.  However, anything's possible and without evidence I don't have enough proof at this point.  If they are the same person though, it might explain Joseph's separation from the family, and the land sale to Otto Rosin later, but that could be because Otto lived in San Antonio and John & Josephine didn't, and it would make sense to sell it to him.   After these transactions, my grandfather had many more land transactions - all in San Antonio - that he executed by himself until 1942 when my grandmother - "Paw-Paw" - appears in the land transactions until my grandfather's, "Big Paw-Paw's" death.  My father appears in several transactions as well.


So are Joseph Marshall and Joseph Marschall the Same Person?

I'm pretty convinced they are the same person.  What are the chances that a John and Josephine Marschall of Galveston, Tx. would complete transactions with a Joseph Marshall and Otto Rosin who were not the same ones that they were related to?  Considering that I checked for other Joseph Marshall's [either spelling] that fit the criteria in one way or another and was unable to find one other than this one, I don't think the chances are very high.  [Other Otto Rosin's were checked for as well.]  Also, all the land transactions led back to my grandfather.  The name spelling change from Marschall to Marshall may have been simply my grandfather "American-izing" his name [which was common], or it could represent the separation with the family.  As far as the landscaper angle, I don't know if it was him, but he was a tree surgeon at one time, and remember the landscaping ad was for the 1st high rise in San Antonio in the Laurel Heights area...a possible connection to real estate development [a small one, I know].  It's not any stranger than his brother's occupations [mentioned in my last post], and San Antonio was experiencing economic growth at the time.

Other Avenues to Search
There are many things that I need to find.  To name a few:

• A marriage record between Joseph and Oveta;
• Joseph's and Oveta's divorce records;
• My grandfather's will;
• His appearance in the 1930 Census; and
• Emma...

So, What Gets a Catholic Excommunicated?
Well, the Canon Law of 1917 is written in Latin and is here.  However, I don't know Latin, so I surfed around on forums and websites looking for a simple answer.  [Can you hear me laughing?  Apparently, there are no simple answers when talking about Canon Law in the Catholic Church.]  However, from what I could tell - basically - a marriage after a divorce would get a Catholic excommunicated from the Church because the Church doesn't recognize the divorce...I'm pretty sure my grandfather had been divorced at least once before marrying my grandmother.  Now whether or not he was actually excommunicated and to what level [yes, there are levels or degrees] I don't know.  This is another follow-up that I need to do, but this could also explain a separation between my grandfather and his family...

Joseph Was a Carpenter...
Growing up my dad [Joseph, Jr.] was able to build anything without drawing it up first.  It simply [for him] went from his imagination to creation...[Remember the deck I mentioned in Runaway Bunny?  He built that.]  I once asked him where he had learned to build, and he said that his father [Joseph, Sr.] had taught him.  You see, he'd helped his dad tear-down and build houses in San Antonio...







Where's My Sign?

I still felt that I needed to do something other than what I had already done or listed.  I could have used a sign that had a picture of everyone on it and that read "Hey, Caroline!  Look no further, we're your family".  Too much to ask for?  Probably, but there was something I hadn't done yet that I needed to do...

My Dad's Sister...My Aunt

My dad had a sister, and I hadn't called her yet  for a number of reasons.  First, growing up I wasn't really close to her.  Plus, I thought my mom knew everything that my dad had known, and I'd already exchanged info with her.  I also didn't know how sensitive an issue it would be for her to learn that her father had had another marriage [& possibly 2].  It was time though for the call that should have come first in my quest for answers.  I ended up having a good conversation with her for about an hour & half.  She took everything in stride, and it turned out she knew something more.  While I was listing my grandfather's probable siblings...she stopped me and said, "Wait.  I remember when I was young your dad and I travelling to Galveston to visit our Aunt Ella...her first name was Laura.  I think I remember that her first husband's last name was "Breen" and that he died when their children were young and she remarried.  Also I remember that Roman had died while he was young."  She went on to say that she hadn't thought about that "in years" and probably wouldn't have remembered it if I hadn't mentioned their names...[Oh yeah...]


One Final Twist to the Rest of the Story...
In looking at Rootsweb/Ancestry.com Surname Message Boards and Genforum's Surname Boards under the names "Marshall" and "Marschall", I found a woman looking for a Joseph Marschall...a Joseph Marschall whose parents were John and Emma Marschall of Galveston, Texas.  She provided enough information that I was able to determine that this was the same family.  I posted a response, but didn't get a return response.  In looking at her various posts/requests however, I noticed 2 things: that over time her posts became increasingly urgent, and then one day, they stopped abruptly.  So, on a hunch I decided to "Google" her name which she had provided in her posts, and I found her obituary.  Ironically, she had died the same year as my dad.  According to her posts, she was a descendant of my grandfather's brother, John Marschall, Jr.  She'd indicated that there were no more male Marschall's to carry on the name, but that she'd remembered her father telling her about John's younger brother - Joseph Marschall - who'd been "separated" from the family and had lived in San Antonio, and she was wondering if he'd had a family...Well, he did.  He had a daughter and son...a son who had another son, who had 3 more sons...While the spelling of the name is a little different, it still carries on.  All of them...all of us...descendants of John Marschall from Posen, Prussia who had been..."just a farmer".

So, for your family's sake, go find your farmers!

Caroline

Secrets, Part 3

Have you ever been to a beach?  Having always lived near the coast of Texas, I sometimes take it for granted.  I love the sand between my toes, the wind blowing in my hair, the sun's warmth on my face, but most of all, I like the sound and sight of the waves as they break upon the beach.  It's a consistent and comforting melody that soothes my soul.  [In fact while we're talking about secrets, my secret fantasy is to have my own island...now that would be cool...maybe I could take over the Caroline Islands or the Marshall Islands...]

Galveston Island, Texas has a unique history.  Some of it's more colorful players in that history include the Karankawa Indians, the explorer Cabeza De Vaca, the pirate Jean Lafitte and his merry bandits [O.K., not so merry, but definitely bandits & no, none of them were "my pirate" - a story for another time] as well as the many immigrants that came through looking for a new home in a new land.  The Port of Galveston ushered in over 133,000 people into the United States.  [If you're ever in the neighborhood, go to the Texas Seaport Museum, a wonderful place that depicts the history of Galveston - my family loved it, and it has a database of all the passenger lists for those who came through Galveston.]  Sometimes I think about what those immigrants saw and felt when they came off that ship. [I'd imagine that a fair share probably kissed the solid ground and were thankful to be off the ship that had carried them here.]  I wonder, though for those who stayed on Galveston Island to make their new home, if they saw the same things that I do when I'm here - that miraculous sunrise over the Gulf of Mexico and that stunning sunset over the bay in the vast Texas sky.  Did they, too, like the sound of the waves and the salty smell of the breeze?

Though my grandfather, Joseph Marshall was born on Galveston Island, Texas 17 Jun 1895/96, he lived most his life in San Antonio, Texas.  In my last post, I explored what I could find out about him on the little bit of info that my dad had shared with me before my dad died.  Here's what I had/found:

1. In addition to his birth date & place, he'd died 29 Jul 1968 in San Antonio, Texas.

2. His father's name was probably John Marshall.

3. He bought/sold/rented/wrecked homes/buildings/land in San Antonio, Texas.

4. Slight chance that he married a woman by the name of Emma Rosin in San Antonio, Texas.

5. He was a WWI vet with a bronze Victory Medal.

6. Was 17-18 years older than my grandma [who was not named Emma - definitely old enough to have had a first marriage, though.]

7. Slight chance he may have been a tree surgeon & possibly involved in landscaping - but not likely - maybe.

8. Was possibly excommunicated from the Catholic Church [just a vague recollection, though].

9.  He was a fisherman or fished at one time in Galveston, Texas...whatever that means.

Lots of "maybe's", "possible's", and "slight chance's," but definitely better than a blank piece of paper [unless, of course, it's all wrong...bite my tongue...]

There was one thing that I'd forgotten to check while we were "in" San Antonio, and that was my grandfather's Social Security Death Index entry.  Luckily, it was pretty easy to find.  I was kind of suprised though to find that his birth year was 1893 - not 1895/96 that had been previously reported.  The lack of any other Joseph Marshall's who died on the same day in San Antonio who was also born in Texas and whose last residence's zip code was my grandmother's zip code as well as the same zip code / quadrant of San Antonio that my grandfather did land transactions in, led me to believe that this was indeed his entry in the SSDI...So, now I have 3 possible birth years...This new one though does coincide with the 1 of 2 Joseph Marshall's found in the 1920 census in San Antonio.  Remember, the tree surgeon married to an Emma, both of the same age?  So, we'll see...

To recap, I wasn't able to find my grandfather in the 1930 census in San Antonio, and as I just mentioned, he may have been the Joseph Marshall married to an Emma, possibly an Emma Rosin [Remember, the marriage record in San Antonio that I found?]  According to that 1920 census of this Joseph and Emma, Joseph was born in Texas as were his parents.  This Emma was born in Texas, while both parents were born in Germany.  So, since I wasn't sure if this was my grandfather or not in 1920 and even though he'd entered the Army in 1918 in San Antonio, I decided to look in the Galveston, Texas census for 1920 anyway.  There were no likely candidates for the position, so to speak.

I then turned to the 1910 census in Galveston, Texas, and there I found a Joseph Marshall.  Well, at least on Ancestry.com.  Heritage Quest and the actual microfilmed copy on both databases have it spelled "Marschall" indicating that the transcriber for the Ancestry.com database might have got it wrong, which happens.  [However, it usually isn't in my favor...]  There were no other Joseph Marshall's on Galveston Island in the correct age range in 1910.  The only closest one was in Fayette County, but I thought it best to go the Galveston route because I didn't have any indication that my grandfather had resided in Fayette County...[a possibility for later maybe, if at all].  This Joseph Marschall was 17yo and the only other "Marschall" in the household was a Mary [15yo].  The head of household was Pete Legatos and his wife was Nettie [24yo].  Joseph and Mary were listed as Pete's brother-in-law and sister-in-law, respectively.  Meaning that they were Nettie's younger siblings.  All three of them had listed their father as being born in Pru-Polish [Prussia] and their mother, Texas. 

Also, remember that vague fishing/fisherman memory that my dad had of my grandfather?  Well, guess what Pete Legatos and Joseph Marschall did for a living?  Yup!  They were fisherman on their "own boat".  Of course, this is an island, and fishing is a big industry here...Do you do jigsaw puzzles?  My family and I do.  You know those irritating pieces that "look" like they fit, but they don't and you want to pound them in and make 'em fit?  Yeah, that's how I felt at this point...

The 2 main discrepancies that are evident between these 2 Joseph Marshall's are the name spelling and the difference in the father's birthplace...Keeping in mind the census is subject to error due to the person giving the info, enumerator errors, and trancription errors [as shown above], I decided to "plug along" with this family for awhile.  [Besides, I didn't have any other likely Joseph Marshall's to follow in the vicinity...]  I also was encouraged by the "finds" in the 1910 census.

Basically, I was left with a lot of questions, but one was bugging me the most.  If [& I do mean if] this was my grandfather and his siblings, where were their parents and any possible other siblings?  In my ignorance, I didn't look any further in the 1910 census for any other "Marschall's".  I assumed that if this Joseph and Mary were - at kind of a young age - living with their older sister and not their parents that something had happened to the parents.  [I now know not to assume anything...]  Instead, I shot back to the 1900 census in Galveston.  Guess who I found living with their family on a farm on the island?...Right!  Nettie, Joseph, and Mary [ages matched the ages in the 1910 census].  Again, here the surname was Marschall, not Marshall.

There were a  few minor discrepancies, but was this my grandfather's family?  Was this my grandfather, Joseph Marshall / Marschall?  [Anyone...?]

Caroline