Etta Mae Derrick

Ancestor # 5

     Etta Mae Derrick was born in Nov 1890 in Texas, USA as the second child of John B. Derrick and Mabell Derrick. Her parents were first cousins. She had one sibling, John Cleo Derrick.

     She lived in Knox, Texas, USA on 01 Jun 1900.

     She lived in Austin, Travis, Texas, USA on 15 Apr 1910

     She lived in Harmony, Lea, New Mexico, USA on 01 Jan 1920.

     She died on 15 May 1924 in Tatum, Lea County, New Mexico, USA.


     The first 4 ancestor's of this blog, have been from each side of my lineage, two from mom and two from dad. Today's ancestor is from a third side of my lineage, my mother's biological mother. Etta Mae is my biological grandmother.

     If you're curious, the two from my mom's side were: Edward Franklin Harris, my mother's cousin, her adopted father's nephew; and, Junius Leatherwood, her grand uncle, her adopted mother's uncle.

     This is the story of how my brother and I pieced together who my mother's biological mother was. First a little history, obviously my mother was adopted but she was adopted to the same family with her fraternal twin brother (our uncle Ted), clue #1. In 2010, when my brother first started his tree he found a note from that twin that was written, on behalf of my mother, when she needed to obtain a birth certificate and passport for travel overseas.

     In the note, my uncle stated that mom's birth name was Betty Derrick, and that adoption papers had been lost in a fire at the courthouse in Wichita county where the adopted family lived and raised the twins, clue #2. My brother went online to several genealogy forums and asked for help. A fellow researcher finally replied that they had found an entry in the Texas Birth Index for an Etta Derrick that gave birth to twins on the date of my mom's birth, certificates 6495 and 6496, clue #3. Doing some research, my brother found the above Etta Mae Derrick. He also found that her grandparents (our alleged great grandparents) were, George Washington Derrick and Talitha Alabama Fry, clue #4.

     At this point, everything is still conjecture because there is nothing concrete - my mother and her twin brother adopted in Dallas county and born in January 1924 and having the alleged birth surname of Derrick; an Etta Derrick giving birth to twins on the same date but in Tarrant County (and no births on that date in Dallas to that surname). And now, this is when I come on the scene.

     Watching my brother have all this fun, I wanted to join in the hunt. No sibling rivalry here, but he took a Y-DNA test so I needed to take a DNA test also. I chose autosomnal testing through Ancestry because that is where my online tree is. Dramatic pause, cue music and lights - my first match on the list and, to date, my closest relative match on the list is a 3rd cousin whose great grandparents are.......George Washington Derrick and Talitha Alabama Fry. Gasp!!!! Could this be true????? I/We have to find more documentation...more clues. We have to have a better link between my mother and the above, Etta Mae Derrick

     From the time that my brother started looking into this line and I got the results of my test, Texas had digitized birth certificates and made them available online. So using many out of the box variations of given names, surnames, birth dates and locations, I stumbled across actual birth certificates for a girl and boy infant twins born to Etta Derrick (no father listed) in Tarrant county with the birth order of girl first then the boy, clue #5. I immediately saved the images to my computer and sent them off to my brother. He responded that's great but I sent him two copies of the same certificate, #6495.

     Oh...so I opened the one I labeled #6496 and it was the same image as 6495. So the index that showed infant girl of Etta Derrick and infant boy of Etta Derrick were linked to the same image? Hmmmm. That caused me to retrace my steps (and of course I had not written down which combination had worked) to find them so that I could see if it truly showed results for two infants or if I made assumptions. Nope, there were two listings - one girl, one boy - but one image. Clue #6, and final clue: I brought up the image for the girl infant, #6495, and asked what would happen if, instead returning to the results page and following the link for infant boy, I stayed in the viewer actually clicked the arrow to show me the next image which should be certificate #6496....... what happened is I found my uncle's adopted information on that image, Texas birth certificate #6496 - his adopted name, being a twin and second born, his adopted parent's name and their address with the information of the correct county of the previous image.

Without actual adoption papers, I do not see how my brother and I can find further assurances that this is our biological line. With my DNA matches, the Derrick line continues to outweigh my matches to my father's side by almost 3 to 1.  Etta Mae is my biological grandmother.

Edward Franklin Harris

I chose Edward because of my brother, Ted Heath, and my mother's father, Theodore Harris. Ted first started researching the family about 2010 and, of course, started with his immediate family.  He found our mother on the 1920 and 1930 census in Texas with her parents and brothers.  Brothers?  She only had one brother, Ted Guinn Harris.  So....who was Edd Harris, age 21 and born in South Carolina?  My mother passed away in 2005 and there was no one else to ask.  Hmmmmmm?

My brother, being male and having y-DNA, got involved in tracing our father's line, Heath, as far back as he can.  He did work on the Harris side but basically names and dates of the primary ancestors.  Then here comes me and I realize how much fun this stuff is.  Ted points out the 1930 census to me and we decide that my grandfather, Theodore, couldn't be bothered with census takers and answered questions with the least resistance.  Edd? Son! Why not?  Since Ted was involved on the Heath side, I decided to concentrate my first efforts on the Harris side.  It took me months to work my way through but I finally found about Edd Harris.  He is my first cousin, once removed.

Edward Franklin Harris was born about 1908 in South Carolina, USA as the first child of Frederick Harris and Agnes M Taylor. He had three siblings, namely: Mary Brennan, Nancy C, and W Frederick. When he was 26, he married Dorothy May Kinnebrew, daughter of Thomas C Kinnebrew and Ethel S (maiden name unknown), on 02 Nov 1934 in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, USA.  He died sometime after 1955 but whether it was in Texas or Oklahoma I'm not sure.

Edward Franklin Harris lived in Fort Mill, York, South Carolina, USA on 18 Apr 1910, he was 2. His father is the manager of a hotel on Confederate Street in Fort Mill, SC; and his mother, Agnes, and baby sister, Mary . Sadly, his father dies 5 years later in 1915 of tuberculosis.

He lived in Fort Mill, York, South Carolina, USA on 07 Jan 1920, he was 11. Around 1918, his mother must have decided that she could not keep her children with her while providing an income.  She heads to Charlotte NC and gets a job as a clerk at Belk Bros and is living in rooms at the YWCA.  Her children are living with her in-laws, William Franklin Harris and Dixie Lillian Potts.

He lived in Wichita Falls, Wichita, Texas, USA on 11 Apr 1930 and he was 21. It is here that he is living with his uncle (my grandfather), Theodore Harris and family.  They have never appeared in the same document or household until this one and never do again.  I do not, nor does my brother, remember any talk of a brother-nephew-cousin Edd (though he was still alive when my brother was born).  My grandfather was an oilman and perhaps that is what enticed Edd to head west and leave his family in SC.

According to the 1940 census, he lived in Henderson, Rusk County, Texas in 1935 with his new wife, Dorothy May. In 1936, his daughter Charlotte Brennan was born and in 1937 his son, Edward Franklin, Jr was born.  Again, the 1940 census shows he was now 31 and lived in Altus, Jackson County, Oklahoma, USA on 01 Apr 1940.
Last time I find him is in a city directory and it shows he lived in Abilene, Texas, USA in 1955.

Edward Franklin Harris and Dorothy May Kinnebrew had the following children:

Charlotte Brennan Harris was born on 02 Feb 1936 in Rusk County, Texas, USA.
     She died on 08 Mar 1974 in Houston, Harris County, Texas, USA.
     She married James Bradley about 1955 in Texas, USA.
     It is unknown if they had any children

Edward Franklin Harris Jr was born on 01 Dec 1937 in Rusk County, Texas, USA.
     He died on 18 Dec 2008 in Coleman, Coleman County, Texas.
     He married Elma J Harris on 07 Jun 1958.
     He married Sharon K Berryhill on 26 Apr 1990 in Lee County, Texas, USA.
     He married Kerry R Hart on 01 Oct 1994 in Dallas County, Texas, USA.
     He had no children according to the divorce papers.