Since I posted about the Blyther family, I have been in touch via U.S. mail with a descendant. She didn’t know much about the family history, but she did have a book, she said, about the family, and she mailed me several pages from it.

It turns out that Inez Parker Wright compiled a short history of the family. In it was a death date for Helen Marr Blyther Parker, which I didn’t have. She was last found in Rye, New York in the 1925 state census. By 1930, Inez was back in California. Helen died 16 Jan 1930, so I checked the California death index on line and found that she died in Alameda County, CA.

I also discovered that Barbara Blaisdell Parker did marry and had two sons, who are living today. More cousins to hunt!

Finally, the 1920 census listing for Robert and Ruth Blyther Campbell in California showed a brother-in-law, James Hannah, age 80, living with them. I had no idea who he was, but as I went searching, I found he married Mary Elizabeth Blyther in 1864 in Boston, MA. Here was the missing Mary Elizabeth Crouse/Blyther who disappeared after the 1850 census! The marriage record showed her as Elizabeth Hannah marrying James Hannah, but I suspect that might be a clerical error since it gave her parents as Benjamin and Rebecca Blyther and her birthplace was given as Calais, Maine. Benjamin was the only father she knew, but I still tend to believe that she was a daughter of Peter Crouse because the 1850 census lists her birthplace as Canada, rather than Maine. However, with no marriage date for Benjamin and Rebecca, I can’t be positive.

The record also states that this was a second marriage for Elizabeth; I can’t find a record for her marrying a Hannah before James so the name of her first husband is unknown for the time being.

James and Mary Elizabeth Hannah followed the path of the other Blyther sisters and went to California. James and Mary E. are enumerated in the 1880 census of Oakland, CA. He is 41 and she is 44; there are no children in the household. Since their oldest child would be only 14 or 15, based on date of marriage, it appears they had no children. Mary E. Hannah died in Alameda County, CA on 2 June 1893. James survived her by many years, dying on 24 June 1921, also in Alameda County, CA. I have not found their burial places yet, but James’s death certificate might give me that answer.

With the exception of Elmer Ford’s three daughters, I have been able to account for most of the Blyther descendants! A few more leaves have been added to the empty branches.