Part 675ps - Smith Groh Genealogy - The Mystery of Brayton C. Placeway - 1910 US Census - GGG-Grandmother Mary (nee Seigel) and Edith Placeway

Good Day,

Well the trusty PC is in the shop getting an Ubuntu upgrade. I do use two operating systems; Linux and Microsoft. And all-things-being-equal, I will be adding the third, the new Google Chrome operating system Aura. I think it is a Linux-based system, as well. We’ll see what will happen from there.

Well today I decided to focus on the 1910 US Census for Wauwatosa City in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. There are two families of note, as enumerated on the Census; the Seigel and the Placeway Families. Even though I am concerned with all members of both families, in my quest to understand ggg-grandfather Brayton C. Placeway, I am particularly focused in on ggg-grandmother Mary (nee Seigel) and her daughter, gg-grandmother Edith Placeway.

GGG-Grandmother Mary is the daughter of, as listed on the 1910 Census, gggg-grandparents Charles and Ulricka Seigel. According to Column 8, “Whether single, married, widowed, or divorced” the letter “M” is entered, but also with a superscript, the number “1”. This notation means that ggg-grandmother Mary (nee Seigel) Placeway, on 21 April, 1910, is married and she has been married, at this date, once.

The next Census Column, 9, provides the “Number of years of present marriage.” As of 21 April, the Census shows "1 6/12", or one-and-a-half years. This calculates that ggg-grandmother Mary (nee Seigel) Placeway was married in about September 1908.

From Family Search.org I was able to find the following indexed information and confirm.

Groom's Name: Brayton Placeway
Groom's Birth Date: 1887
Groom's Birthplace: Michigan
Groom's Age: 21
Bride's Name: Mary Seigel
Bride's Birth Date: 1890
Bride's Birthplace: Wisconsin
Bride's Age: 18
Marriage Date: 09 Sep 1908
Marriage Place: Wauwatosa, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Groom's Father's Name: W.F. Placeway
Groom's Mother's Name: Arabella Spaulding
Bride's Father's Name: Charles Seigel
Bride's Mother's Name: Ulricka Manthye
Groom's Race: White
Groom's Marital Status: Single
Groom's Previous Wife's Name: -
Bride's Race: White
Bride's Marital Status: Single
Bride's Previous Husband's Name: -
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M00767-6
Source Film Number: 1014027

The source of the above information is the Marriage Records of 1838-1911 of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. The Family History Library microfilm is FHL[1014027].

Based on the two 1910 US Census pages ggg-grandfather Brayton C. was registered as a Patient at the United States Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia while his wife, ggg-grandmother Mary and their daughter, gg-grandmother Edith were living with her parents at 173 Chestnut Street in Wauwatosa, about 1,000 miles away.

My question is “What incident or conflict, in about 1910, could have landed ggg-grandfather Brayton as a Patient in the US Naval Hospital?”

Any thoughts, comments, ideas, and questions please contact me.

Enjoy,

Jim