ELEVEN ~ "More" Maternal COUSINS ~ Yippeee

MOM (Lenora Anne Jennings VERI ) ab 1970 Chicago

The "Jennings Cousins" are Everywhere

This week MORE Jenning Cousins have been found. I was lucky enough to speak to 2 of them, and it has been a Thrill, but a bit of a let down....NO ONE has seen or heard from my mom since about 1972. The search is still on, but my head is tired from banging against a brick wall. BUT the cousins have shared new info about the family and fired up my interest again. My searches so far have found ALL my mom's siblings, neices and nephews...where are you mom?

ANCESTRY.ca gives a new lead

It was late at nite and I was tired of typing "SEARCH" without having any new information. Decided to look at various public Family Trees  for one of my mom's brothers. I found a Tree which had Vernard Jennings, so I wrote them a letter explaining Vernard was possibly an uncle. How exciting to find a reply the next day! Ends up the young lady who answered was the daughter of my First cousin!! She asked questions and called her aunts for the answers, then was sweet enough to provide emails to a few other First cousins...and next came a few phone calls. Most of the calls lasted an hour, one almost 90 minutes. It's amazing to have SO much to talk about when you do NOT know each other.  My cousins haven't heard from my mom since about 1970-71 but they shared a few stories of their "Aunt Lee" It was a surreal feeling, Hearing about a mother who I haven;t seen since 1965.

A Treasured but lousy picture of Mom

One of my cousins sent me the last picture she had of my mother. I did Not recognise the woman with Black eyes and eye brows with gawd aweful hair. My mom Lenora was always well dressed, coiffed hair and acting like a proper gentile lady (much like my sister Tina) When I asked the cousin what the heck happened to my mom, because she was Never like this in my life....well cousin chuckled and explained it all. Seems in the 70's the big thing there was wearing a wig to go out and party. Cousin said she had a picture of her own mother, with an equally Terrible wig. I sighed and decided to post the picture here on my Blog, since it is my Newest treasure.

TEN - Still can't find MOM, but I gained a First COUSIN!

TINA and I in Montreal...giddy in life, no worries about tomorrow 1980ish

"Some" PIECES are coming TOGETHER

There has been a bit of Progress but NO leads on my mom. I started corresponding with my 4th best DNA match from ANCESTRY.CA. At first the contact was cautious and strictly factual, but we seem to get along pretty well. I think we have exchanged over a dozen Long detailed emails. Knowing a bit of his family history, I was able to focus on tracing how we were connected. It was exactly the information I needed, since I started my search without ANY real facts other than my mother's name.

Writing my DNA matches "again and again"

How many emails are enough without crossing the line of being obssessive and seeming too Needy? I am just not sure. When I saw my DNA matches I wrote to alot of them. When I didn't hear back, I wrote again. I wrote one last time, but No answer. Then my FB buddy found an email of my 2nd best DNA match! Tom had Googled her name thru many small counties in Illinois and BINGO there she was!!!! Tom called to make sure he was on the right track and spoke to her mom....YES my Mom's brother's ex-wife!!!! Tom then spoke to the daughter....my FIRST COUSIN!!!! Of course I could not dial their number fast enough. I spoke to my AUNT for 45 minutes, the next day I spoke to my FIRST COUSIN for an hour!!! I had so many questions, and I was writing her answers as fast as I could. My brain was fried after our phone call. I had to turn off the phone and the computer for 24 hours, there was just SO much to process. My ENTIRE life I had Never had any contact with my maternal side! EXCITING does not describe what I was feeling...maybe ELATED is a better word!

DNA matches MATCH!

The Wonderful thing about this journey is the unexpected. 
TOM was able to find my 2nd best DNA match listed in a Quilt Guild newsletter....it was CRAY, since I have been a quilter for almost 40 years!  My NEW cousin learned her love of quilting from her mother (my Aunt!) The next great surprise is my cousin has been researching the family history for many years. She said she made an ANCESTRY book for all her family, filled with all the family Goodies. Ann M plans to go thru her family photos and share some with me. Her mom mentioned that she had a photo of my Grandmother Anna Mae holding my mom as a child. I also learned they have a yearly Family Picnic...I must admit I am tempted and also nervous about the idea of joining them. I never imagined that I would find any other family on my mom's side. This search has opened new doors...but NO ONE has heard from my mom since the 60's. SO the search is still on, but I confess to feeling a bit defeated.

NINE - Finally added names in the JENNINGS Family Tree

LENORA JENNINGS photo retouched by "RANDOM ACTS of KINDNESS PHOTO GROUP" on Facebook

FAMILY MYSTERIES

Seems the FAMILY MYSTERY is never ending. IF I hadn't seen the documents to back this info up, I would never have figured this out...it's IMPOSSIBLE to dream this stuff up. TOM and LOU have been invaluable.This is what Appears to have happened to the JENNINGS.

ROY ELLIS Jennings has children....a Lot of children. 

1) Clarence James  / 2) Constance  / 3) Lennine Ruth ~  all died in their first year of life

4) Dolores 1916

5) Rita (Freda) 1922

6) Vernard (Bernard / Bernie) 1924

7) John Richard  1926

8) Vincent Edward  1930

9)  ANNE 1932 { MY MOM but where is Lenora}

The JENNINGS / ELLIS / BLOOMFIELD SAGA

Some of ROYs older children have ELLIS as last name, but ALL of them also use JENNINGS. When my mother was born, her father ROY died a few weeks after her birth. That is when the entire family virtually "Disappears" No one is found in Carrollton Kentucky or anywhere else in the USA

( now remember my mom mentioned she was raised by her Paternal aunt, that's how we found her )

Suddenly in Buffalo New York a "Frederick and Lenora BLOOMFIELD" have 5 children with the exact same names and Birth dates as the youngest 5 JENNINGS children! Coincidence - NOT

Dolores the oldest seems to be the only one Not listed on the census as a Bloomfield child. But she was 16 years old when her father died, so it's possible she moved on her own.

It is at this time my mother becomes "Lenora Anne" likely named after the Paternal aunt.

NO ONE left to tell the Tale

So far the research shows there is NO ONE left alive. It "IS" possible my mom Could be alive, but I can't find Anything to back that up. Now it's a search to hopefully find out what happened to her. Did she have more children, another marriage or two. Was my mother able to make a Happy life for herself....is there ANY ONE left talk to about Lenora Anne Jennings / Bloomfield / Veri???

STILL looking for the answers....must be Someone who knows Something!