Oen Lee Merritt (1894 - 1900)

Born 25 Oct 1894 in Texas, United States

Ancestors

Died 7 Aug 1900 at age 5 in Jackson, Oklahoma, United States

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Biography

Oen Lee Merritt, born in Texas in Oct 1894^[1], was the son of Bennett Davis Merritt and Laura Brown. The family has one photo of him as a cherub-faced little boy wearing typical 19th Century clothing - a ruffled shirt and short pants, but little else is known of Oen. He was living with his parents in Altus, Greer (now Jackson), Oklahoma in 1900, but was unfortunately deceased prior to the family's relocation to Thomas, Custer County in central Oklahoma in 1910^[2].

There is a headstone for Oen Lee Merritt, son of B.D. and Laura Merritt, born Oct. 25, 1884, died Aug. 7, 1900^[3], in the Navajoe Cemetery, Jackson County, Oklahoma, just a few miles from the family farm in Altus, but the year of birth on this headstone is incorrect. It should read Oct. 25, 1894, not 1884^[4]; we know the birth date on his headstone is incorrect because of information on the 1900 Census:

• Laura and Bennett reported being married 11 years (c. 1889), so it is unlikely they had a child born in 1884.
• Oen L. Merritt was only 5, with his date of birth recorded on the 1900 Census as Oct 1894.
• Laura reported that she was the mother of only one child, with one child living, so since Oen is her child, she would have had no other child born in 1884.
• This family's information was recorded on the 1900 Census on 19 July 1900 (just three weeks before the date of death on the headstone), and there is only one child in their household - Oen L. Merritt.
• The Navajo Cemetery in which we find his headstone is near Altus, Oklahoma

Laura did report on the 1910 Census that she was the mother of two children with zero living, so she had lost not only Oen but a child born after July 1900 by 1910. The other child's name, gender, and date and place of birth and death are unknown at this time.

If you have any other information regarding Oen or his unknown sibling, please update our records here and provide sources.

Sources

1. ↑ 1900 U.S. Census, Altus, Greer (now Jackson), Oklahoma
2. ↑ 1910 U.S. Census, Thomas, Custer, Oklahoma
3. ↑ Headstone
4. ↑ Find A Grave Memorial 114288165. Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 25 September 2019), memorial page for Oen Lee Merritt (25 Oct 1884–7 Aug 1900), Find A Grave Memorial no. 114288165, citing Navajo Cemetery, Jackson County, Oklahoma, USA ; Maintained by Staci Pollard "stacileann" (contributor 47224328).