Questions Answered Lead to Others Asked

We’ve just spent three weeks taking a long detour through the history of Maud Woodworth Bean’s paternal line upon the occasion of her father’s passing in late May, 1928. At the time we had last discussed this, I had wondered whether Maud and her husband Sam would be able to attend William C. Woodworth’s funeral. The young couple lived in northern California, while Maud’s home town was quite a distance away in southern California.

Besides, with unexpected bits of news mentioning her arrival home from places as distant as Texas, there was no telling where she and Sam might have been at the time of her father’s passing.

Of course, another complication arose during that point in this blog’s timeline. Not only could I not find any further mention of Maud in newspapers, northern or southern, but I couldn’t even locate any mention of her own last days.

What had become of Maud? Had she faded into oblivion in some distant, unnamed state?

There is a handy term used among stage musicians from an older era (something I learned from my own father, who used to play such popular New York City spots as the Roxy). The phrase was, “Vamp ’til ready.”

While I worked my way through what has become an online patchwork quilt of historic newspaper resources, trying to find more on Maud, I decided to do just that: Vamp ’til ready. Not finding any further mention of Maud in the resources at hand at that point, I decided to run with what I had: a trail of resources covering Maud’s paternal line—all the way back, as we subsequently found, to her patriot second great grandfather, Jabez Woodworth, Senior.

At the same time, behind the scenes, I was tap dancing like crazy, desperately searching for some cue to prompt me on what became of Maud. To my great relief, I found a few missing pieces of the quest to discover more about Sam and Maud. Not enough, granted, but a sufficient set of documents to get me back on track with Sam and Maud’s story.

So, first, to answer my question from that post a couple weeks ago: Did Maud get to attend her father’s funeral?

In a brief article on the sixth page of the Covina Argus on June 1, 1928, entitled “Last Rites Held for W. C. Woodworth,” we see from the long listing that Maud was not among those present at her father’s funeral. While that is a sad thought to ponder, it invokes other questions, like “So, where was she?”

And, since genealogy questions are like birds—those of a “feather” do tend to “flock together”—this listing of those relatives present at the funeral only provides me another set of questions to be answered. With the exception of Maud’s Uncle Harvey and his wife Eva, plus the obvious misspelling of Maud’s sister Nieva’s name and the barely legible newsprint at the point of a few other names I’ve marked, I have no clue—yet!—who these other people are.

            Friends attending the funeral service for W. C. Woodworth filled the large auditorium of the Methodist church. The services were conducted by Rev. George Steed, with special songs by Mrs. Baker of Los Angeles, a blind singer. There was also present in the audience Rev. Burns of Los Angeles, also blind, and an intimate friend of deceased.

            Beautiful floral offerings covered the casket and banked the rostrum, including a set piece from the Lions club.

            The pallbearers were Messr.s Harry Gordon, James Kendig, F. W. Paddock, Jerome Reynolds, H. A. Miller, and A. E. Harnish.

            Relatives attending from out of town were a daughter, Mrs. Eva Searcy, and three children from Fresno, Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Mattison, Mrs. Gladys Allee [?], Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Gethem [?] from Los Angeles, Mrs. And Miss Cook of Hollywood, Mr. and Mrs. H. P. Woodworth, Pomona, and Mrs. McKenzie and daughter, Mrs. McGrath, Long Beach.