Vintage Postcard Mystery - Help me crack the Case!

[KCRfan1]

We're looking in the same spots. She hung on to the postcards for all of her life. I imagine the postcards were a bit risque for the time.

[KCRfan1]

Lewis ( Lunis ) Jones, b 1862 Iowa 1910 Census Pennington SD. Looks like we have our man. Having trouble finding more info.

[4reals]

Lou,

I'm not finding any children unfortunately. I had a lead on a possibility for someone named Cynthia Cropp but her father just had the same name as Flossie's husband, no relation. Looks like we'll have to head down Lewis Jones' pathway.

[4reals]

Official strikeout on descendants for Flossie. She was born and raised in South Dakota, graduated from a local college and then moved to California between 1910 and 1920. She was a registered voter in Cerritos in 1920 where she claimed to be an actress in motion pictures. A quick imdb search pulled up no reference of her having any roles in any films. She married Cecil Cropp in 1925 at the age of 38 in Santa Barbara and they lived in Newport Beach until she passed in 1964. Flossie was Cecil's 2nd wife, he married Marie Leithoff in 1916 in Los Angeles and then they divorced between 1922-1924. Cecil had no children with either Marie Leithoff or Flossie Horning. He passed in 1978 in Los Angeles - presumably from the Dodgers losing back-to-back world series to the Yankees.

[4reals]

Lou,

Based on the info you provided with his name Lewis (Lunis) Jones was born in Iowa in 1864. That would make him 46 years old at the time of the post cards, writing to a 22 year old Flossie. Whoa! In his defense, he was a widower and probably very lonely. In 1910 he appeared on the census in South Dakota as a laborer who was working at a brickyard. He was rooming with about ten other guys at the time. Based on the info shown on the census report I uncovered that his actual name is Grant Lewis Jones. This would explain why he ended most of his post cards with G.L. I wrongly assumed he was ending them J.L. (possibly for Jones Lewis). Grant Lewis Jones married Carrie Elizabeth Jones in 1879 in Iowa where they lived and were born. He was 38 at the time, she was 23. Seems he was into younger ladies. He also appeared as a laborer in the 1900 census and showed that they had been married for 3 years at that time. So, sometime between 1900-1909 his wife Carrie died and he hit the road for work. There isn't, however, any records of a death certificate for Carrie and I haven't been able to discover her maiden name. It appears that he and Carrie didn't have any kids but still not sure. If they did, he didn't take them with him on his travels looking for work. Still trying to find out what happened to him after 1910. He never went back to Iowa so I'm left to assume he kept moving around. If he remarried later it's possible he had kids later in life. We'll see....

[KCRfan1]

I too have hit a road block in 1910 with him. Sounds like he was a bit of a drifter. I'll keep looking, and am having some fun with this as well. I don't mind saying that I also like younger women

[4reals]

In Postcard #2 Lewis Jones says, "...as Norbeck made a trip North to 2 or 3 well rigs..."

Since we lost location of him in South Dakota in 1910, I looked at this comment and took a shot in the dark and did a North Dakota search and lo and behold I found "Lewis Jones" now drifting with a Mary S. Beard (Thiele) and a Carl Beard in a 1915 N. Dakota Census placing them in the township of Cut Bank in Bottineau County!

I am almost sure this is the right Lewis Jones as he mentions a "Carl" in postcard #5 saying, "Carl was saying he thought he seen you run by him the other day, so as I take most of the ball games I kept a watch for you but did not see you." Based on the records Carl would have been 11 yrs old when he may or may not have seen Flossie.

Side note I'll look more into is that this Mary Beard who Lewis is living with is a widow.

Here are the screenshots of my findings:

[4reals]

Originally Posted by 4reals

He never went back to Iowa so I'm left to assume he kept moving around. If he remarried later it's possible he had kids later in life. We'll see....

Another assumption I was wrong about. He DID move back to Iowa where he was born. I did a search of Lewis with Mary S. Beard and Carl Beard and located him on the 1925 Iowa Census living with them under the name LG Jones (similar to the way he initialed his postcards). They resided in Kossuth County Iowa and the census shows two interesting things...

...first, Lewis is still listed as single (no known kids). Second, Mary S. Beard is listed as his mother! That would mean Carl Beard is his brother. Lewis' father is listed as GT Jones. Not sure what to make of the different last names?

I also found Lewis (now listed as Louis) at the age of 51 still living with his mother Mary Beard, now 77, in Kossuth County, Iowa on the 1930 US Census. Carl no longer lives with them.

This is the last record I've been able to find of Lewis Jones or Mary Beard. I am left to assume Mary passed away before the next census. Lewis may have moved again or passed as well. At this point it's safe to assume neither Flossie Horning or Lewis Jones had any kids.

Not sure what to do at this point. Maybe try to trace younger brother Carl and see if he married and had kids to see if they'd be interested in these or give up the search and just keep them and call it an interesting experience.

My trial account with ancestry.com ends in less than a week so either way I'm running out of time.

[KCRfan1]

Joe,

You have given this a very noble effort, with the best of intentions to return items that were very personal ( at one time ). If either of them had children, the cards would be appreciated. But now with aunts, uncles, neices and nephews, most likely the items will not be appreciated. I would hang on to them, and now you have a great story about the parties involved.

Lou