↑ Source: #S864 Page: Ohio Department of Health; Columbus, Ohio; Ohio Divorce Index, 1962-1963, 1967-1971 and 1973-2007
↑ Source: #S811 Data: Text: "I, Rev. Orville L. Williams hereby certify that on the Twentieth day of April, one thousand nine hundred and fifty-seven at Bethlehem Bapt Church, Ruff Creek, Pa. James R. Atkinson and Anna Mae Tolbert were by me United in Marriage in accordance with the license issued by the Clerk of the Orphans' Court of Washington County, Pennsylvania, No. 42134 Series B." CONT Rev Orville L. Williams, (signature) minister, alderman or justice of the peace
↑ Source: #S811 Data: Text: "I, Rev. Orville L. Williams hereby certify that on the Twentieth day of April, one thousand nine hundred and fifty-seven at Bethlehem Bapt Church, Ruff Creek, Pa. James R. Atkinson and Anna Mae Tolbert were by me United in Marriage in accordance with the license issued by the Clerk of the Orphans' Court of Washington County, Pennsylvania, No. 42134 Series B." CONT Rev Orville L. Williams, (signature) minister, alderman or justice of the peace
Source: S145 Title: School Record, Pax Elementary, Fayette County, WV NOTENotarized letter from the superintendant of Fayette County Schools, 30 Sept 1983, indicates A. M. Tolbert was born in 1933, and lists middle name as Marie, although she was always called Anna Mae CONT Photocopy in my possession
Source: S146 Title: Church, Harry or Jana (skywalk@charter.net) Repository: #R14 NOTEconversations and email from Harry and his wife, Jana
Source: S147 Author: Ohio Department of Health, Vital Statistics Title: Certificate of Death #623371, Anna M. Tucker Publication: Name: 17 July 2012; Repository: #R15 NOTEcopies in my possession
Repository: R15 Name: copy in my possession Address: E-Mail Address: Phone Number:
Source: S43 Title: Family facts NOTECheryl A Clark's personal knowlege
For years, Anna Tucker said she "had a suspicion" deep in her heart that somewhere out there she had two sisters. She didn't know their names. She didn't even know if they were still alive. But she knew - she felt it in the marrow of her bones - that she was not alone.
Thanks to the power of the Internet, she discovered her feelings were rooted in reality. The result was a reunion with her newly discovered extended family, and the opportunity to meet her two sisters for the first time in 67 years.
"It's wonderful. It's really incredible," Tucker said as she sat on the couch in her 73-year-old sister Macie Church's living room in Crab Orchard. "I'm really glad this day has finally come."
"I'm really thrilled," said Tucker's other sister, 71-year-old Jane Rockel of Logan. "I'm just so glad that she's alive and we found her."
Finding each other was a relatively easy task once Church's family and Tucker's family decided to use cyberspace to discover their roots.
"My daughter, Cheryl Clark, decided to do a genealogy on our family," said the 68-year-old Tucker, who lives in Painesville, Ohio. "She gathered as much information as she could, and then started posting it on the Internet."
When Macie Church thinks back on her childhood, she has a vague, foggy recollection that she had a little sister who was taken away when the sister was just an infant.
"I remember when she was born, but that's about all. I remember seeing her as a tiny baby," Church said.
Church's son Harry decided he wanted to do some genealogical research on his mother's family, especially to find out if this long-lost sister could be found, or if she even existed.
Coincidentally, Harry also sought the help of the Internet world - and statistics show that he is not alone. Genealogical research has been reported to be among the top five reasons people use the Internet. But this sisterly reunion didn't happen overnight.
"They had been on the Internet since 1997," Harry said, referring to Clark's research on her mother. "So when we discovered my grandmother's name (Maddie Tolbert) on their family's information, we knew there was a connection."
The families began corresponding through e-mail in mid-July, and in September their reunion became a reality.
"My mother upped and walked away from the family 67 years ago," Tucker said. "We still don't really know why." The family was living in Kingston and the sisters' grandfather, William Tolbert, who lived in Pax, got word of what had happened. "He got my mother to take me to him," Tucker said. "Then, about a year later, my mother came back wanting me and my grandfather ran her off. My grandfather said the last thing he ever heard my mother say was, 'See you on doomsday,' and then she left for good."
But when Tucker was a young girl, William Tolbert died, leaving Tucker with her stepgrandmother - who wanted nothing to do with the rest of the family. Only by accident did Tucker find out she had other relatives, but she knew nothing of her sisters. "I knew I had a brother because one time when I was little, I remember my brother coming over to visit," she said. "After he left I said, 'Who was that?' My step-grandmother said it was my brother, but that I didn't need to worry about it because I didn't need to have anything to do with that family."
Tucker never saw that brother again. He died in the early 1980s, long before Tucker's genealogical research ever began. While she was living with her stepgrandmother in Pax, Tucker was completely unaware that just a few miles away in Lester she had an extended family.
"That's what's so frustrating," Church said. "We were so close. It bothers me.
"But we're together now," she quietly added, "so that's good."
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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Anna by comparing test results with other carriers of her mitochondrial DNA.
However, there are no known mtDNA test-takers in her direct maternal line.
It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Anna: