Part 691p – Smith Groh Genealogy – The Mystery of Brayton C. Placeway – And Where Were You On 25 February 1915?

Good Day,

And this is where in genealogy I must be careful what, and how I read something. In my search for documentation and newsworthy items regarding the life and times of ggg-grandfather Brayton C. Placeway, it is amazing that of which I have been able to stumble upon.

Front page news on the Pinckney Dispatch, of Pinckney, Livingston County, Michigan, and on Thursday, February 25, 1915 reads “Just Arrived From Germany – Brayton Placeway and Wife Reached Here Last Week”. The article begins “Brayton Placeway has returned to Michigan after an absence of about nine years which time has been spent in roaming through nearly every land in Europe.”

Now the strain I have is with the text “to Michigan after an absence of about nine years…” My simple math abilities calculate from 1915 back about 9 years is the year 1906. And this is where I get a wee bit confused. GGG-Grandfather Brayton’s daughter, gg-grandmother Edith Placeway was born 22 July 1909 in Pinckney, Michigan.

If I read the 25 February 1915 news article as it is written, I understand that ggg-grandfather Brayton, gg-grandmother Edith’s father was in Europe before and after she was conceived and born. The article postulates that he was not in Michigan from about 1906 to 1915… Huh? What gives?

But my confusion does not stop there. According to the 1910 US Census, on 15 April 1910 ggg-grandfather Brayton was a patient at the US Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia. (See Part 673p.) But the Pinckney Dispatch reporter intimates in the news article that ggg-grandfather Brayton may have been somewhere in Europe. Again… Huh?

Now I will concede that the article does state that ggg-grandfather Brayton “has returned to Michigan…” by 25 February 1915. This could be the reporter’s spin that ggg-grandfather Brayton was absent from Michigan only during the supposed “nine years” to add some foreign spice for the readers of the small town. (As of the 2000 US Census, the population of the village of Pinckney, Michigan was 2,141 people.) But I am a muddled when I try to superimpose the years and time and the actual locations of note in the life of ggg-grandfather Brayton.

Here is the complete article from the 25 February 1915 Pinckney Dispatch.

Oh and just a note, this is where I discovered, according to the article that ggg-grandfather Brayton's second wife, Johanna's maiden name was Plischke. And, that she was from Austria.

Enjoy,

Jim