~*~ Ancestery Line for ~*~
James Martin Cranfill
My father is an adopted child for lack of a better word,
with no adoption papers. The lady who raised him,
Beulah F. Pedersen was married to a James Martin Cranfill
in 1928. The story goes that Beulah's brother
Karl Neilsen Pedersen was an unmarried man
but living with a lady. A pregnancy occurred
and the child conceived was my father.
Beulah apparently could not have children
so arrangements were made that Beulah would raise
the child conceived from her brother Karl.
The unknown mother of my father checked into
the hospital in January 1934 as Beulah Cranfill
and baby was given the name of Ronald Eugene Cranfill
born on the 11th. When the hospital stay was over baby
left with James and Beulah Cranfill and the unknown mother.
They took unknown mother to her home
then arrived at there home with baby Ronald.
During the 9 months no family members were allowed
to see Beulah. The family had been told Beulah
was very ill and needed her bedrest to recoupe her
strength and that Doctor did not want her to be
disturbed for fear of losing the child. The family was also
told they would be notifed as to when they could visit her
but that never happened. This is supposedly how they pulled off
no one ever seeing Beulah pregnant, therefore,
no question asked. Story goes that only one family member (a parent) knew
what was going on but kept it quiet.
James apparently had been married prior to Beulah
to a (Margaret ?) Modena Gilmer. Their marriage was
May 21, 1923.
They had 3 children, James Martin Cranfill II,
born 13 December 1923 but according to these dates,
(Margaret) Modena was pregrant when they married
unless he was premature. Next child was
Donna Maria, no birth date known but possibly 1925 and
Loretta, born July 25th 1926.
Haven't found anything out as to
whether(Margaret) Modena and James Martin divorced.
Loretta stated in a letter my Dad received from
her in March 1988 that she would see
her mother (Margaret Modena) about every 5 years
and that Jim Jr. and Donna were usually there.
She stated in letter she very seldom seen James Martin her father.
James Martin married Beulah on November 17, 1928.
James died in 1949 when my Dad was 15 years old. Apparently, this is
about the same time my father found out he was adopted.
He became somewhat of a troubled kid and didn't care
about anything so really didn't take the time to find out
about this rumored family arrangemnt that had been made.
As my father grew up, married, had kids of his own
he wanted to know more. Dad some how got in touch
with a Mrs. John Sikora and she responded back by letter
stating that he needed to address his concerns with his mom Beulah.
He became feed up and angry about
it again and just said to hell with everything.
Beulah, who now had become Mrs. Frank T. Butterfield
in 1953 died in 1977 and all secrets went to the grave with her.
We are now left to try and put the pieces together.
I have added both letters that I mention above
to my Documents page linked below.
One being from Loretta to my father Ron, and a response letter from
Mrs. Sikora to my father's inquiry. Wish I had my father's letter to
Mrs. Sikora. I thought both of these were quite interesting.
I wish they had just a bit more info within the lines
because I still feel there's lots of holes in this story.
Here's a small video:
Links to my other pages
| Ancestors | Generation 1 | Generation 2 | Generation 3 | Generation 4 |
|---|
| Photo's | Documents | Other's Documents | Find-A-Grave |
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Website Info
Website Title - Cranfill_Pedersen_Acerson_Lloyd
Page Title - Fredrick Sayers Lloyd
Author - Terrie Cranfill Jackson
Contact - tjsfamilysearch at hotmail.com
Created - 05/12/2010
Last Revision - 11/14/2010
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