One of the most difficult ancestors for me to trace – because of her changing names – has been Mosella Elizabeth Thompson Pittman. Written like that, her name seems simple. When I was trying to track her husband and figure out her first and maiden name, it was a lot more complicated.
The first record I found for the mother of Molly Pittman Stevens was after Molly had married and moved out of the household. Molly brother had the helpfully unusual first name of Medrick, so I searched for him and found him living with his mother, E. Pittman. That was in the 1920 Census.
As I found them, the 1880 and 1910 Censuses gave her name as Elizabeth Pittman. The 1911 death certificate for her son also gives her name as Elizabeth.
In the 1870 Census, she was Betty Thompson.
Her marriage record in 1880 and the 1900 Census both recorded her name as Mosella E.
A birth registration from 1890 gives her name as Marcela E. That’s a transcription; I have not seen the original. Similarly, a court document related to property, filed in 1977 (!) gives her name as Marcella Pittman – again, a transcription.
Only a 1924 death certificate gives her full name – Mosella Elizabeth Pittman.
Adding to the confusion, her dad’s name was Origen Thompson, sometimes recorded as Ory or Ira, and her husband Isaac’s age and birthplace changed on a couple of censuses.
I was finally able to pull it all together, but I questioned myself several times before I finally accepted that all these documents were, in fact, the same person.
Rhyme Schemes and Daydreams 