Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Hardly Expected This to Happen


Remember the other day when I was so certain I had found documentation showing Samuel Bean had married a second time, late in his life?

Remember how I so clearly remembered seeing documentation—clear enough to remember the name Hazel—and yet, couldn’t reconfigure the steps to find the forms once again?

Remember how the experience seemed so clear that when I couldn’t replicate what I first saw, I thought I must have been hallucinating?

Well…I think I’m beginning to regain my sanity.

In preparing for yesterday’s post—in which I finally brought myself to say the final goodbye to a stellar human being—I pulled up my file which included his obituary.

What do you suppose slammed me in the face when I opened that file?

Three days after Samuel William Bean passed away in Oakland, California, on August 9, 1952, his hometown newspaper, the San Mateo Times, ran his obituary. In yesterday’s post, I shared part of that newspaper article with you.

I confess: I left out one sentence. I had to reserve it—to savor it—in a post of its own.

Though it isn’t a marriage certificate—and, true, newspapers don’t always get all the details correct—and while it wasn’t something I found on FamilySearch.org or any other online genealogical site, it does mention the one item I remembered.

See for yourself:
He is survived by his wife, Hazel; a sister, Leona Grant of Alameda and two sons, Samuel Jr. of San Francisco and Earl of Alameda

10 comments:

  1. Ta Da! Now it's just a matter of getting the record. Or a wedding notice in the newspaper?? Come on, the newspapers loved Sam. Surely the story of a deaf and blind chess champion finding love a second time would have been worth a column or two.

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    1. The only reason I can think of for not finding anything yet is those blasted gaps in the historical newspaper holdings online. This may well call for another trip to the Bay area. There's got to be something somewhere!

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  2. Yay!!! There she is!! Goodness - I looked and looked too - and didn't "nuttin'"!

    You suppose she remarried? I've seen nothing as "Hazel Bean"...

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    1. Iggy, I've wondered about that. I hadn't found anything, even trying to discover her maiden name. I'm sure she would have remarried.

      On the other hand, I can't forget about my old nemesis: those editorial errors in newspapers. Who knows? Maybe that whole entry was in error. Don't know if you noticed, but the obit neglected to mention Sam's twin brother--a well-known resident of Alameda, incidentally--in addition to springing this second wife surprise on us.

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  3. Alrighty then where were they married at? Hazel Bean I wonder how many of them there are or have been in the United States? :)

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    1. Oh, believe me--I'd love to discover her maiden name...or even a previous married name. Maybe when the 1950 census comes out...if I can stand waiting that long!

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  4. Now this is great! Much easier than searching for a death certificate for the wife, as I had originally suggested! He is survived by . . . How about that!

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    1. Although that is a thought, Mariann. The death certificate would definitely put an end to all this speculation over whether this was an editorial fluke, if nothing else. Incidentally, I've already been to the cemtery, and I don't remember anyone else--other than the family I already knew of--being in the family plot.

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  5. Hmm.... I looked at my comment to the last post, and obituaries had crossed my mind . . . a second marriage sounds very much in character for Sam.

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    1. Well, if nothing else, it was exactly what his own dad did in his day.

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