I welcome guest-bloggers, and today IGSI member Kathy Baxter shared this mysterious story about a scalawag in her family tree:

THE MAN WE'D LOVE TO FIND 

Frank E. Little married at least four times. He attacked his second wife with a  claw hammer. She married someone else four months later. He went to Folsom prison. After he got out, he married a 14-year-old on his 40th birthday. Then he went to Oregon and married again -- and disappeared.

I grew up knowing that my mother's grandfather, Asa Wallace Little, had a brother who moved to California and stopped communicating with family back in Byron, Olmsted County, Minnesota. It was the big family mystery. What happened to him?

The Littles were an almost boringly respectable lot. In Sacramento, I went to the address of the place where one of his photos was taken. I sent out vibes to the universe saying, "help me find Frank." It took three months to find I was not alone. Judith Anne Little grew up knowing almost nothing about her grandfather, Frank Ernest Little, who was born in Minnesota, moved to California, died mysteriously. She had never met a Little she was related to except for her father, Alfred Frank Little. She had never seen a photo of her grandfather. Because of two books that she found after her father died, she was able to find out the names of Frank's parents and siblings and the fact that he had lived in Byron, Minnesota.

She found my query on a message board. She replied excitedly. I replied even more excitedly. I promptly sent her scans of the photos I had of Frank. We have been researching together for over five years, twice at her home in California.

Frank Ernest Little was born in Crete, Will County, Illinois, 28 May 1855, but moved to Byron, Olmsted County, Minnesota, when very young. In 1879 he registered to vote in Cortina, Colusa County, California. In 1880 he was working as one of five farm laborers on the farm of Elias Howe, in Spring Valley, Colusa County, California. On 7 July 1881 he married Louise Frances Haffner in Dixon, Solano County, California. On 14 January 1885 Louisa Haffner Little died in Williams, Colusa County, California. She was buried with an unnamed infant and a child called F.E. Little in College City Cemetery, Arbuckle, Colusa County, California. We suspect there may have been other children, but they are not with Louisa's parents or siblings and not in the census with Frank.

On 13 October 1885 Frank married Roxana "Roxie" Miller in Colusa County, California. Their daughter Maude Eva was born on 21 June 1886, and their daughter Mary Louise or Mamie was born in September 1888. The marriage was clearly not a good one. In January 1889 Frank attacked "Roxie" with a claw hammer. In May 1889 Roxie married Henry Nichols, which is utterly confusing.

And in October 1889 Frank is reported to be spending the night in a Sacramento jail, on his way to serve his two-year sentence in the Folsom State Prison. Frank E. Little, from Illinois, entered Folsom on 25 November 1889 for a two-year sentence. He was from Siskiyou, 33 years old. He was a 5' 5-3/4" farmer with fair complexion, Az. Blue eyes and light hair. He was discharged on 25 July 1891. Frank became a miner and, on his 40th birthday, married Ina (or Ida) "Nettie" Ince in Siskiyou, California. She was 14. In 1900, Ina was in the census twice, both in Happy Camp, Siskiyou County, California -- once as Isa May Ince (single), living with her parents John and Emily Ince and family, and once as Ina M. Little, working as a cook for Geo. B. Temple and his son. George. In the 1900 census, Frank himself is single and in Tule Lake, Klamath County, Oregon. Of a divorce, we have no evidence.

 On 4 November 1904, at age 49, Frank married Judy's grandmother, 22-year-old Elizabeth Nightingale, in Yoncalla, Douglas County, Oregon. They had two children: Maude Agnes born 26 August 1905, and Judy's father, Alfred Frank born 23 March 1907. (Two daughters named Maude? Really?) Maude died on 17 December 1907 and is buried in Shoestring Cemetery, which is privately owned in Yoncalla, Douglas County, Oregon. Judy's father, Alfred Frank, died 23 December 1976, in Glen Ellen, Sonoma County, California.

Judy found Shoestring Cemetery in Yoncalla and has visited Maude's gravesite, which is well-marked and surrounded by galvanized pipe frame. We do not know when or where Frank died. His widow's second family said he was beating a mule or horse which kicked him in the liver and he died in horrible agony on 10 August 1908. This supposedly happened in either Galveston or El Paso, Texas, and the body was supposedly brought back to Oregon sometime around 1908 or 9 or 10. They had no idea what happened to the body. No marked grave exists that we know of, but an unmarked adult grave with the same galvanized pipe frame surrounding it as surrounds his daughter Maude's gravesite is four sites down from Maude's gravesite in Shoestring Cemetery. We suspect he may have even died in Oregon. We have been unable to find any funeral records or any information.

We have spent a huge amount of time on this and are stumped. We do know that Frank's daughter Maude by Roxie Miller married and had children. We contacted the surviving one, who was beyond thrilled. He had thought his grandfather had died in Folsom prison. He had known nothing about him beyond his name and that he had attacked his grandmother. Unfortunately, he died recently. That unmarked grave? Is it Frank? Or could it be his brother-in-law, Judy's grand-uncle, who disappeared at about the same time? They seemed to be involved in some rather shady land dealings.

We are bewildered by this photo, showing Frank with two children. We have no idea who they are. Judy found them in an old photo album that belonged to her grandmother. She would never have known the photo was of Frank had we not connected. The children do not fit in any of the facts we have about Frank. I think the way the children are posed indicates a very loving relationship.

We know a great deal more than we have included here, but we would be thrilled to get any assistance anyone is willing to give, and also to share more information. I tried to include the facts I find most pertinent, but we do know a great deal more. To top all the mysteries: Frank stops being in the records in about 1908. But, due to the fact that a few weeks ago I emailed a happy thank-you note to someone posting photos on findagrave.com, I came into possession of a probate document. In that document, it is stated that Frank married once, to Louisa, and she died and no children survived. And it says Frank E. Little died in a hospital in Iowa in 1931. That's it.

There are 99 counties in Iowa, and Judy searched all the online death records and he is not there. Judy's grandma (the widow maybe?) married her hired man a few months later, which  turned out to be a bad choice. He had a wife and nine children in Washington State. No one knew until her son went to a convention in Washington; he and another guy there looked and sounded so much alike that they started talking to each other. And found out they were half-brothers.

Maybe we shall go mad. On the way, next month I am dragging my husband with me to meet Judy and her husband Jack in Oregon and California. We are trying again to find Frank. And if you have any ideas or thoughts, please email me at kathybaxter@gmail.com