I had an "ahh-HAA" moment upon finding a splendid site containing a much-sought after marriage record. This link http://www.ksgennet.org/ks/cq/index.html#search leads to the Chautauqua County, Kansas history site containing a wealth of data: vital records, military histories, photos, biographies, land records, etc. A genealogist's dream page! It is easy to navigate, clearly marked, and has had hundreds of hours of input from terrific volunteers. (clapping, here)
My project du jour involves Elbert Franklin Wantland who appears as a neighbor to or living with others I'm researching. But I don't know who his parents are. He was born after the 1880 Federal Census. The 1890 Federal Census burned, and so he first appears on the 1900 census living in northern Missouri with another Wantland, a Juliett, age 39, who is married to Jesse Ruben Thomlinson. This couple and their young daughter, Minnie, live with their "laborer/hired hand" Elbert on a farm in Daviess County. The census indicates Elbert's parents' birthplace was Illinois. Another clue. A brief timeline of Mr. Wantland:
http://www.ksgennet.org/ks/cq/marr/cqmarrh.html
In a 1931 city directory for Tulsa County, Oklahoma, Elbert is listed along with a Juanita Wantland, and Virgil and Anna M. Wantland. See their names near the bottom right of this page. Elbert's occupation is tool dresser, with a home address of 723 North Norfolk. Does anyone reading this know more about Elbert's family?
Mr. Wantland appears on the 1940 Federal Census living in "San Antonio Judicial Township" in Los Angeles with his daughter, Juanita, and her husband, Emmett Cook. That census page can be viewed from this link:
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K9WD-62C
It implies Elbert is married, but lists no wife. A mistake? Or has he a wife who is visiting elsewhere? Mistakes are common on census records. His first wife Alice died in Hale, Kansas in 1928. No wife is buried near him at his final resting place in northeast Oklahoma. Only his daughter, Juanita Cook.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=wantland&GSiman=1&GScid=99170&GRid=8296536&