Life History

Notes

• The first record found for Elmer Gaddy has the family name spelled wrong.  They were enumerated as the Gaddis family in 1900, in Polk County, Arkansas.
  
  1900 Federal Census, Polk County, Arkansas, 4 June, Eagle Gap Township, District 98, page 2B, Hse/Fam #36
  Gaddis, Stephen Head W M  Mch 1858 42 Married 11 yrs NC NC NC Lumber Carrier Rents
  Gaddis, Mollie Wife W F Feb 1873  27 Married 11 yrs 6 children/6 living MO MO MO
  Gaddis, Ethel Dau W F June 1892  7 Single Ind Terr NC MO
  Gaddis, Roscoe Son W M Dec 1894  5 Single Ind Terr NC MO
  Gaddis, Elmer Son W M Apr 1896  4 Single Ind Terr NC MO
  Gaddis, Reiker Dau W F Feb 1896 [sic] 4 Single Ind Terr NC MO
  Gaddis, Jessie Dau W F May 1900  0mos Single AR NC MO
  Gaddis, Bessie Dau W F May 1900  0mos Single AR NC MO
  
  Both Elmer and Reiker (Reka) were reported as born in 1896, but in different months!  The entry for Reka first had age 2, then it was changed to age 4.  Her year was likely 1898.  Years of birth are often wrong in the 1900 census.  And in fact the year of birth is confirmed as 1898 in her Social Security records, and the month is also different from the census, in the date 15 Mar 1898.
  
  "I found a letter that [Duncan Lafayette] Terry [Mollie's second husband] wrote to one of his daughters and it was written on Christmas Eve [1910].  He says that Steve, Roscoe and Ethel [and Elmer] are coming for Christmas. ... Roscoe served 7 years in a Huntville prison for being in on a robbery that ended in a killing of a constable. He didn't fire the gun. They were off their military base at the time."
  --  "dferg1200," Ancestry Messaging to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 08 September 2016

Sources

• 1. 1900 Federal Census, Polk County, Arkansas
  • 4 June, Eagle Gap Township, District 98, page 2B, Hse/Fam #36
• 2. Terry Duncan Lafayette Letter to daughter