hegnauer.family
H0100 The study's number for this person. Cite it and it will always lead here, whatever the spelling.
· A life in the study

Jewel L. Wilson

Born in 1916.

born about 1916

Also written Jewel L. Willson, Jewel Lyda Willson

Jewel L. Wilson was born about 1916, the seventh child and third daughter of James Israel Wilson and Lucy M. Harris.1 Where she was born is uncertain. Her sister Ruth was born at Noel, in McDonald County, Missouri, in April 1915, and her brother Woodrow at Bernice, just over the state line in Delaware County, Oklahoma, in August 1917; the family made the move in between, and Jewel may have been born on either side of the line.1–2

In January 1920 "Jewel L.", three, was living with her parents and eight brothers and sisters on the family's farm in the Bernice precinct of Delaware County.1 That is the only record of her found so far. When the census taker found the family at Junction, in Grays Harbor County, Washington, in April 1930, Jewel, who would have been about fourteen, was not with them,3 and she was not among the sisters named in her brother Woodrow's obituary in 1966.4 What became of her is not known. The family tree and FamilySearch disagree about her death, and neither cites a record; the tree's date seems to belong to another Jewel Wilson (see Research Notes).

What we know

Proven

  • Birth, 1916
  • one home, from the census and other records

What's still open

  • Death (conflict; both unsourced; neither accepted). The Ancestry tree gives 21 Apr 1983 at Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri, with no citation.

Sources

Source 1

1 1920 U.S. Federal Census, Township 5

1920 U.S. Federal Census, Township 5 (Bernice precinct), Delaware County, Oklahoma, E.D. 22, sheet 10A, lines 17–27, enumerated 29–30 January 1920, "Elza W Willson" (son, 2, born Missouri) in the household of James I. Willson (head, 37, born Arkansas; farm), with Lucy M. (wife, 35, born Missouri) and their children Cyril (15), Tulla D. (13), Hellen A. (12), Floyd P. (10), Odis A. (6), Ruth E. (4), Jewel L. (3), Elza W. (2) and Millie M. (under one year), all born Missouri; NARA T625, roll 1458; image 4385099_00298; database with images, Ancestry.com.

Source 2

2 U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1915

"U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936–2007," database, Ancestry.com, Ruth Wilson Martin [later Ruth E. Martin], born 7 April 1915, Noel, McDonald, Missouri; died 20 November 2000; father James I Wilson; mother Lucy M Harris.

Source 3

3 1930 U.S. Federal Census, Junction

1930 U.S. Federal Census, Junction, Grays Harbor County, Washington, E.D. 45, sheet 2A, dwelling 31, family 34, "Elzie W Wilson" (son, 13, born Oklahoma, attending school) in the household of James I. Wilson (head, 48), with Lucy M. (wife, 45) and their children Floyd P. (19), Odis A. (16), Ruth E. (14), Elzie W. (13), Millie M. (10) and Roy K. (9); FHL microfilm 2342222; database with images, Ancestry.com (index read).

Source 4

4 The News Tribune, 1966

"Man Found Dead In His Auto," The News Tribune (Tacoma, Washington), 4 November 1966, p. 40 (C-14): Woodrow E. Wilson, 49, of Puyallup, who came to the area from Aberdeen in September, was found dead Thursday afternoon [3 November]; born in Oklahoma, he came to the Northwest as a boy; millworker for the Weyerhaeuser Company's White River mill at Enumclaw; Army veteran of World War II; survived by his wife, two sons and five daughters [names withheld: living], three sisters, Mrs. Clarence Fulbright and Mrs. Joe Pearson, both of Aberdeen, and Mrs. Ruth Martin, of Westport, a brother, Otis, of Aberdeen, and six grandchildren; services to be announced by the Powers Wrigley Clements Funeral Home, Puyallup; image, Newspapers.com (newspapers.com/image/734891548).

Life in time

about 1916

Birth

proven Sources 1, 2

How we know

In Missouri or Oklahoma (see Research Notes). The family tree's 16 Jun 1917 at Centerville, Reynolds County, Missouri, cannot be right: her brother Woodrow was born on 29 Aug 1917.

She was 3 in the census of January 1920, so she was born between about January 1916 and January 1917; since her sister Ruth was born in April 1915 and her brother Woodrow in August 1917, she was born between about January and November 1916. The family tree's 16 Jun 1917 falls ten weeks before Woodrow's birth and is impossible; it carries no source in the tree. The place is left open: the 1920 census gives Missouri for her, as it does for every child, including Woodrow, who was born in Oklahoma, and the family moved from McDonald County, Missouri, to Delaware County, Oklahoma, between Ruth's birth and Woodrow's.

  1. 1916 Birth about 1916 · proven

    In Missouri or Oklahoma (see Research Notes). The family tree's 16 Jun 1917 at Centerville, Reynolds County, Missouri, cannot be right: her brother Woodrow was born on 29 Aug 1917.

    She was 3 in the census of January 1920, so she was born between about January 1916 and January 1917; since her sister Ruth was born in April 1915 and her brother Woodrow in August 1917, she was born between about January and November 1916. The family tree's 16 Jun 1917 falls ten weeks before Woodrow's birth and is impossible; it carries no source in the tree. The place is left open: the 1920 census gives Missouri for her, as it does for every child, including Woodrow, who was born in Oklahoma, and the family moved from McDonald County, Missouri, to Delaware County, Oklahoma, between Ruth's birth and Woodrow's.

    Sources 1, 2

  2. 1920 Residence Delaware County, Oklahoma · proven

    Township 5 (Bernice precinct), E.D. 22, sheet 10A; a farm family, enumerated 29–30 Jan 1920. Daughter "Jewel L.", 3, born Missouri [as given], in the household of James I. and Lucy M. Willson, with eight brothers and sisters. On her line the father's-birthplace column reads Oklahoma, where the older children's read Arkansas.

    Her parents and brothers and sisters identify her. The image was read in the survey of her brother Woodrow's records.

    Source 1

  • proven

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Places in this life

one place
1
  1. 1 Delaware County, Oklahoma Residence 1920

Hollow markers are placed approximately, at the town, county or region.

Family

Father James Israel Wilson 1882–1941 Mother Lucy M. Harris 1883–1940
This page Jewel L. Wilson b. c. 1916
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The evidence 2 facts with their grades, 4 sources, and the research notes

Facts

Fact Date Place Grade Sources
Birth about 1916 proven 1 , 2
Residence 1920 Delaware County, Oklahoma, United States proven 1

Research notes

  • Birth (error corrected): The family tree gives 16 Jun 1917 at Centerville, Reynolds County, Missouri, with no source on the fact. The date is impossible: Woodrow was born on 29 Aug 1917, ten weeks later. Her age in January 1920 (3) places her birth between about January 1916 and January 1917, and a gap of at least nine months before Woodrow's birth narrows it to about January–November 1916.1 The day and month, 16 June, might be right for 1916, but no record says so. Reynolds County lies in southeastern Missouri, some 200 miles from McDonald County, and no record connects the family with it.
  • Birthplace: The 1920 census gives Missouri for her, as for all nine children, including Woodrow, who was born in Oklahoma, so it proves nothing. On her line and on Woodrow's the word Oklahoma stands in the column for the father's birthplace, where the older children's lines have Arkansas; it may be a slip for the child's own birthplace, which would put her birth in Oklahoma.1 Missouri and Oklahoma are equally possible.
  • Death (conflict; both unsourced; neither accepted): The Ancestry tree gives 21 Apr 1983 at Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri, with no citation. FamilySearch (GV5P-4S1, "Jewel Lyda Willson") gives "before 1930, Washington", with no sources. Weighed as follows. (1) The 1983 death arrives in the tree together with a birth, 16 Jun 1917 at Centerville, Reynolds County, that cannot be hers, since it falls ten weeks before her brother Woodrow's birth, in a county with no known tie to the family. A full birth date, a town and a full death date together look like details taken from the record of another Jewel Wilson, born 16 Jun 1917, whom the tree merged with this girl; the 1983 death most probably belongs to that woman, and it is rejected here until a record naming James and Lucy as her parents supports it. (2) FamilySearch's "before 1930, Washington" cites nothing and reads like an inference from her absence in the 1930 household; the family did not reach Washington until about 1923–24, and a search of the Washington State Digital Archives' death records for Jewel Wilson (Soundex), 1920–1940, found nothing. It is not evidence of a death. Conclusion: her death is unknown. She may have died young, in Oklahoma between 1920 and about 1923, when the state's registration was incomplete, or on Grays Harbor under another spelling; or she may have been living away from her parents in 1930 and married later, which would explain her absence from Woodrow's obituary under the name Wilson.
  • Error corrections: Ancestry tree: the preferred birth should be "about 1916" (16 Jun 1917 kept, if at all, only as a disproved alternate), the Centerville birthplace removed, and the 1983 death marked unproven. FamilySearch GV5P-4S1: the birth year 1917 and the death "before 1930, Washington" have no support; the death should read "Deceased" until a record is found.
  • Absent in 1930 and 1966: She was not in her parents' household in April 1930.3 She is not among the three sisters named in Woodrow's obituary of 1966, but it also leaves out three brothers whom the family tree has living then, so her absence from it proves nothing.4
  • Next searches: the 1930 census for a Jewel Wilson or Willson born about 1916 (Washington, Oklahoma, Missouri), perhaps with a relative or at work; Oklahoma and Missouri deaths and burials, 1920–1924, before the family left for Washington; Fern Hill Cemetery, Aberdeen; Grays Harbor marriage records of the 1930s; and the source of the tree's 1983 Kansas City death.
  • WikiTree: The duplicate check of 26 Sep 2026 turned up Wilson-72340, a Jewel Wilson born about 1913 in Missouri, and the reconciliation of the same day found that her parents are Samuel Andrew Wilson and Ida Mae Hicks: not this girl. Wilson-102420 (a Jewel M. Wilson of the 1920s) is not her either. No profile for her exists.
  • Sources: The 1920 census entry is attached to her in the Ancestry tree, and its image was read in the survey of her brother Woodrow's records. No other record of her has been found.

Working notes

  • Birth: the tree's 16 Jun 1917 (Centerville, Reynolds, Mo.) is IMPOSSIBLE (brother H0101 b. 29 Aug 1917); 'Jewel L', 3, 1920 census (6061, Bernice precinct, Delaware Co., Okla.) => b. about 1916; birthplace unknown (1920: Missouri for all children; her line's father's-birthplace column reads Oklahoma); not in the 1930 household; death UNSOURCED and conflicting: 21 Apr 1983 Kansas City (Ancestry tree) vs 'before 1930, Washington' (FS GV5P-4S1, 0 sources); no WA death 1920-1940 found
  • Birth: the tree's 16 Jun 1917 (Centerville, Reynolds, Mo.) is IMPOSSIBLE (brother H0101 b. 29 Aug 1917); 'Jewel L', 3, 1920 census (6061, Bernice precinct, Delaware Co., Okla.) => b. about 1916; birthplace unknown (1920: Missouri for all children; her line's father's-birthplace column reads Oklahoma); not in the 1930 household; death UNSOURCED and conflicting: 21 Apr 1983 Kansas City (Ancestry tree) vs 'before 1930, Washington' (FS GV5P-4S1, 0 sources); no WA death 1920-1940 found; tree-only death (unsourced lead): 21 Apr 1983 Kansas City, Jackson, Missouri, USA
  • Old tree 165462681 @I252151249119@ "Jewell Wilson"; its b. 16 Jun 1917 Centerville, m. Jessie Lee Cox 1935 Jackson Co., Mo. (1171/2122971) and d. 1983 Kansas City belong to another Jewell Wilson

Sources

  1. 1

    1920 U.S. Federal Census, Township 5 (Bernice precinct), Delaware County, Oklahoma, E.D. 22, sheet 10A, lines 17–27, enumerated 29–30 January 1920, "Elza W Willson" (son, 2, born Missouri) in the household of James I. Willson (head, 37, born Arkansas; farm), with Lucy M. (wife, 35, born Missouri) and their children Cyril (15), Tulla D. (13), Hellen A. (12), Floyd P. (10), Odis A. (6), Ruth E. (4), Jewel L. (3), Elza W. (2) and Millie M. (under one year), all born Missouri; NARA T625, roll 1458; image 4385099_00298; database with images, Ancestry.com.

    Ancestry

  2. 2

    "U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936–2007," database, Ancestry.com, Ruth Wilson Martin [later Ruth E. Martin], born 7 April 1915, Noel, McDonald, Missouri; died 20 November 2000; father James I Wilson; mother Lucy M Harris.

  3. 3

    1930 U.S. Federal Census, Junction, Grays Harbor County, Washington, E.D. 45, sheet 2A, dwelling 31, family 34, "Elzie W Wilson" (son, 13, born Oklahoma, attending school) in the household of James I. Wilson (head, 48), with Lucy M. (wife, 45) and their children Floyd P. (19), Odis A. (16), Ruth E. (14), Elzie W. (13), Millie M. (10) and Roy K. (9); FHL microfilm 2342222; database with images, Ancestry.com (index read).

  4. 4

    "Man Found Dead In His Auto," The News Tribune (Tacoma, Washington), 4 November 1966, p. 40 (C-14): Woodrow E. Wilson, 49, of Puyallup, who came to the area from Aberdeen in September, was found dead Thursday afternoon [3 November]; born in Oklahoma, he came to the Northwest as a boy; millworker for the Weyerhaeuser Company's White River mill at Enumclaw; Army veteran of World War II; survived by his wife, two sons and five daughters [names withheld: living], three sisters, Mrs. Clarence Fulbright and Mrs. Joe Pearson, both of Aberdeen, and Mrs. Ruth Martin, of Westport, a brother, Otis, of Aberdeen, and six grandchildren; services to be announced by the Powers Wrigley Clements Funeral Home, Puyallup; image, Newspapers.com (newspapers.com/image/734891548).