Jesse Benoni Warren--Ruby Snow Jensen's first husband

I was telling my mother about finding my grammy in the census and about learning that Ruby Snow had been married before, and she told me about Ruby's first husband, Jesse Benoni (not sure about that spelling) Warren. I found them in the US Census for 1910 in Groveland, Bingham, Idaho (Mom clued me in to the location by mentioning that they had moved to Blackfoot). They are on page 4, family number 62.

Mom said that Jesse died of appendicitis, and after that Ruby moved back to Mapleton, UT. Then she married Hans Peter Jensen, who had been a high school friend.

So, here's what we learn from the census:

Jesse B. Warren

• 26 years old
• Born in Utah
• Parents born in Utah
• Speaks English
• Farmer
• able to read and write
• There are a couple more things at the end of the line, but the right side of the page is difficult to read.

Jesse and Ruby had been married for 6 years.

Ruby S.

• Her name is misspelled as Rubby.
• 25 years old
• At this point, the mother of 4 children, all still living.
• Born in Utah
• Parents born in Utah
• Speaks English
• Able to read and write

Children:

• Mabel
• daughter
• 5 years old
• not attending school
• Berten J.
• Son
• 3 years old
• Welby S.
• Son
• 1 year old
• Eva
• Daughter
• 1 month old

Welby is in the 1930 Mapleton, Utah census living with Ruby and her second husband Hans Peter Jensen, who is my great-grandfather (see this post). I wonder where her other three children ended up after Jesse died. Welby was 21 at that point, so all of them were at sort of grown-up ages.

My mom told me about a daughter named Evelyn (Eva?) who pulled a mosquito net over herself when she was a tiny baby. They found her and were able to revive her, and she survived, but always had health problems after that--Mom said it was her heart.

Jenna V Jensen Warthen in the 1930 census

After much frustration, I found my grammy in the 1930 census. The problem was that her name was spelled wrong in the census, but after Ryan suggested looking up her father, I found her.

Jenna V Warthen is found in the 1930 census in Mapleton, Utah, Utah. She's on Sheet 5A, the family number is 88, and the family starts on line 24.

Her father was Hans Peter Jensen. The census just has Peter Jensen. My mom says he went by Peter. From the sheet we learn:

• He owned their home.
• They lived on a farm.
• He was 48 at his last birthday.
• He was married (to Ruby S.--S. stands for Snow).
• He was 32 when he was first married.
• He had not attended school or college since Sept. 1, 1929 (the year before).
• He was able to read and write.
• He was born in Utah.
• His parents were born in Denmark.
• He was a farmer.

Her mother was Ruby S. (Snow) Jensen.

• She was 45 at her last birthday.
• She was 20 when she was first married (to Jesse B. Warren). This was her second marriage. "Welba Warren" is her son from her previous marriage. (More on that in another post)
• She had not attended school or college since Sept. 1, 1929.
• She was able to read and write.
• She was born in Utah.
• Her parents were born in Utah.

Children listed are:

• Elmo M.
• a son
• age 14
• attended school
• was able to read and write
• Aline
• a daughter
• age 9
• attended school--doesn't say if she could read or write yet
• Ruth
• a daughter
• age 7
• attended school--doesn't say if she could read or write yet
• Jenav.--this is actually Jenna V, but it is spelled wrong on the census, which is why I had a hard time finding her
• age 3

Last is Welba Warren. Is this mis-recorded? I've always heard him called Welby, and that is how it is written in the 1910 census.

• Peter's step-son--one of Ruby S.'s children from her first marriage
• age 21
• not attending school
• able to read and write
• both parents born in Utah (Ruby S. and Jesse B. Warren)
• laborer--a farmer (for Peter or for someone else?)

Warthen line

My maternal grandfather, Eldon Bernard Warthen, wasn't on my pedigree chart on New Family Search, so I found him and added him (from what my mom has told me, I'm reasonably sure that I added the right person). From what is already entered into Family Search, it looks like the Warthen line has been traced back to the mid-1600s. At some point the name becomes Wathen instead of Warthen. The people were born in England and died in Maryland. Ryan's thought was that maybe they still spelled it with an R, but with their accent it would have sounded like Wathen. Interesting.

Message in Grammy's Hymnbook

A while before she died, Grammy wrote a note to me in her hymnbook and then gave the hymnbook to me. I think it is such a blessing to have it. Here is the note (I'll try to get a scan of it later):

Dear Marcy,

I give this book to you. Enjoy it as I have done. I have used this book and have gotten more enjoyement [sic] from it than anything I have owened [sic]. I am so glad to be able to give it to you. Use it as you would a dear friend. It is to enjoy, Love, and some times let off anger.

I love you.
Grammy

My siblings and I were the only ones that called her Grammy. Our cousins called her Grandma. Apparently she heard of somebody being called that and decided she wanted to be Grammy too, but that was before I was born and after my Warthen cousins were used to calling her Grandma.

As a side note, when I was growing up I used to go by Marci, but I guess Grammy didn't know I spelled it with an I.

A Discovery

Recently I've been thinking about doing some research about my family history. All my life I've had the impression that most of the work on both sides of my family was "already done," so I figured that this would mostly be to learn their stories. I strongly believe that there is more to family history than just getting a list of names. If you aren't interested in the stories, you might as well just read a telephone book or write down chemical formulas. So I thought that even if my family members' temple work has mostly been done, at least some day when we meet again I will be able to say, "Hello, Hans Peter Jensen!"

Well, today I got on the New Family Search and started taking a look at what was already on there. After following the generations back quite a ways--amazed at all the names I didn't recognize at all--I went back close to the beginning and clicked the link for my grammy (maternal grandmother), Jenna V Jensen. And here's a taste of what I saw:

Does it make any sense to you? NO??? Well, it turns out that what happened is that a bunch of people at some point put information about Grammy on the IGI and the Ancestral File and other things, and when they started New Family Search, all of that stuff got put into a big database and dumped into New Family Search. So, while all the names on New Family Search are somewhat useful, there aren't actually any original sources entered for my grammy, or any of her ancestors, as far as I can tell--just all of these numbers representing various submissions into the IGI and other programs, which didn't have a way of putting a source. So, there is work to be done. Not temple work, but I can search for census records, birth certificates, and all sorts of other records, and then on Family Search I can enter the information for those sources so that other people can find those sources too. I looked at some of the family history for my dad's side, and it looks like some of my relatives have already started doing that for some of my Glenn ancestors. I had been feeling like I needed to start with my mom's side of the family, and this confirms that feeling.

So, I am gradually going to start working on getting a family history that is backed up by sources, and while I'm at it I will also be collecting stories, journal entries, letters, pictures, and such. I will be posting what I learn, both about my family and about doing family history, on this blog. It may be slow going, since I'm attending college part-time and raising two active children, but it's a start.