K.I. tested at Ancestry, and uploaded or tested at MyHeritage, and also uploaded results to GEDmatch. Close family members to K.I. also tested at Ancestry and tested and/or uploaded to FamilyTreeDNA. Comparison and available triangulation tools indicated a relationship between K.I. and their family with my family through our Whiting ancestors, almost assuredly a child or grandchild of Robert Whiting (1813-1872). The Whiting lineage has been extensively documented by myself, other near and distant cousins, and particularly cousins and fellow immigrant-Whiting descendant sisters Mary and Doris Radabaugh1 . However, a meticulous review of these works and documents found no historically documented relationship which would lead to K.I.
GEDmatch comparisons also indicated a K.I. relationship with a child of Harvey H Williams and Sarah Ida Cain, also of the DeKalb area of Gilmer County, West Virginia, so research into these connections commenced.
Ida and Harvey were married in Gilmer County, West Virginia, in September 1899, had daughter Demma May in December 1890, and a second daughter, Areeta (also known/seen as Arreta, Aretta, and, eventually Rita) Gay, in October 1892.
However, married life seems to have soured over the next couple of years as suits were then filed for divorce. Sarah Ida was granted leave to file an amended bill in “Ida Williams vs. H H Williams” on 5 Oct 1894, but, Ida’s suit was eventually dismissed without prejudice or charges on 12 Feb 1895 as the Court found itself unable to grant the relief requested.
Harvey continued to pursue the matter and was granted a divorce, along with custody of the girls, on 3 Oct 1895:
In an interesting turn of events, Harvey and Ida were soon back together, and on 30 Aug 1899, were remarried in Gilmer County:
By the time of the 1900 census, Harvey and Ida were residing on Crooked Run, Gilmer County, with their two daughters – Demma M, age 9; and, Arreta G, age 7. Harvey’s reported occupation was that of groceries merchant:
The Williams’ family neighbors on the 1900 census were the Carders, Hersman, and Hinzman families on one side; with James Furr, Samuel Kelly, and John Wright their neighbors on the other, all enumerated on the 23rd day of June, 1900, in the Eastern District of Crooked Run Precinct, Gilmer County, West Virginia, specifically Enumeration District 29, by Luther E Roberts.
ED 29 is described as, “Center dist (pt), all of dist in the Cedarville voting pct and that part in Crooked Run pct east of and above the Glenville, Ripley and Ohio Turnpike.” That road is now U.S. Route 33/119, and Crooked Run is a tributary to Cedar Creek about 3.5 miles (as the crow flies) upstream from the Cedar Creek mouth at DeKalb into the Little Kanawha River.
Harvey and Ida continued to add daughters to their family, including Maida Pearl (1900), Rebecca Jenerva (1904), Irene (1906), Daisy Bell (1909), and Amy Druzilla (1911).
The 1910 census indicates the Williams family were then on a rented farm and were the neighbors of the William Westfall and Floyd Furr families on one side, and the William Cain, Enoch Furr, John McDonald, Charles Wiant, and French Whiting families on the other. R.F. Westfall enumerated the area on the 12th day of May, 1910, described as Part of the Center Magisterial District of Gilmer County, West Virginia, specifically Enumeration District 37; page 17. ED 37 comprised the, “Center Magisterial dist (pt), Cedarville Pct, Letter Gap Pct.”
The 1910 Williams detailed household listing reports2:
(page 33/35 – Sheet 17A)
31/320 – Williams, Harvy [sic?] H – Head – M W 57 M1 21 Farmer on Gen. farm, Renter
—, Ida – Wife – F W 38 M1 21 6 ch born 6 ch living
—, Demma – Daughter – F W 19 S [nothing noted in maternity boxes]
—, Madie – Daughter – F W 9 S
—, Rebecca – Daughter – F W 6 S
(page 34/35 – Sheet 17B)
—, Irene – Daughter F W 3 S
—, Belle – Daughter F W 1 S
—, Roy – Grandson – M W 0/12 S
Assuming Mr. Westfall was well-versed with, and following, the Enumerator Instructions for the 1910 form, an age of 0/12 would mean that Roy – described as a grandson – had been born within the month prior to Census Day, April 15, 1910.
Only Demma or Arreta are of age to bear a grandchild to Harvey and Sarah Ida. Demma is accounted for in the census, but is listed as single, and no response is provided in the blanks asking about childbirth (although the information was inquired of and reported on Sarah Ida). So, where is Aretta?
A comprehensive search of the West Virginia census reports found “Aretia Williams,” a single female of 17, working as a servant for the Wilber S Mayers family in Fairmont, Marion County, West Virginia. In fact she was enumerated in their household on the third day of May, 1910, by Rufus E Morgan. Aretia was reported has having been born in West Virginia, as were her parents, and that she is literate. She is listed as single, but, again, without any response to the maternity questions of the 1910 census. Aretta Williams, daughter of Sarah and Harvey, was reported as seven years of age in the 1900 census; the 17 years of age reported on Aretia in the 1910 census form correlates with that.
While it seems unlikely a seventeen-year-old would be at residential work many miles away from her home just a few weeks after giving birth, it’s not unimaginable, so further documentation on this grandson Roy Williams was sought.
A record3 of Roy’s birth was found in Gilmer County. It is out of order, and only found within the transcribed, typewritten record books without original images or evidence of a delayed certificate issued (which might cite supporting evidence). At some point in time, Sarah I. Williams, “grandmother,” reported the single, live birth of a white male named Roy Bernard Edwards as having occurred on 8 Apr 1910 in Glenville, and reported his parents as “George Wesley Edwards, father,” and “Demma May Williams Edwards” as his mother.
In the meantime, a tree uploaded by K.I. indicated their grandfather was “James Whiting,” who passed away in Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia, in 1986, and I was soon contacted by K.I. inquiring as to any information I could share about a James Whiting, ca. 1919-1986, who died in West Virginia.
Was Roy actually James? Or, James actually Roy? Was his/their father an Edwards or a Whiting? Where would the connection be? K.I.’s match was pretty strongly hinting at a 2C-3C group relationship.
Navigation
Footnotes
- The families of Ephraim and Maria Conger Davis and Robert and Sarah Jane McCray Whiting, compiled by Doris A Radabaugh and Mary E Radabaugh. Rev. May 2005. https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/113849/?offset=3&return=1#page=1&viewer=picture&o=info&n=0&q= ↩︎
- Year: 1910; Census Place: Center, Gilmer, West Virginia; Roll: T624_1680; Page: 17A; Enumeration District: 0037; FHL microfilm: 1375693 ↩︎
- Gilmer County, West Virginia, Register of Births, Roy Bernard Edwards 8 Apr 1910; digital images, West Virginia Vital Research Records Project (https://dach-image-proxy.digital-relativity.workers.dev/?film=808256&frame=00393 : accessed 16 Jan 2026). ↩︎