This weeks challenge in the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is “Lucky.”

As it turns out, I am the lucky one.  An 80 plus year old mystery was solved.  I found my Mom’s paternal grandfather.

What I had to work with was her father’s delayed birth certificate showing his fathers name and occupation.

William Henry Beauchamp and Artie Rether Freeland were married in Polk County, Texas on February 27, 1909.   They were still living in Polk County during the 1910 Census and had one child, Edward.  By 1920, Edward was living with his maternal grandparents, his 2 siblings and his mother, Rether.  Rether was listed as a widow.

There were no death records for a William Henry Beauchamp that died before 1920 in Texas.  I pretty much gave up on finding him.  Then one day, with the help of another Beauchamp researcher, who still lives in Texas, found this;  the divorce petition filed by William Henry Beauchamp and Rether Freeland.  He hadn’t died after all.

With this new information in hand, I went searching for William Henry Beauchamp.  I found one in 1920, living with a wife, Clara and their 2 children, in Shreveport, Louisiana.   In 1930, I found this family of 4 living in Hardin County, Texas and in 1940, Jefferson County, Texas.  This William Henry Beauchamp died on October 15, 1943 in Beaumont, Jefferson County, Texas.  But was he the one I was looking for?

Mid-2017 I got ‘Lucky’ when the grand daughter of Ruby Jewel Beauchamp took an AncestryDNA test.  Ruby was the daughter of the William Henry Beauchamp and Clara.  DNA proved that Ruby was my grandfather, Edward’s half sister and the 80+ year mystery was solved.