Grindley- Washington DC

[bevbee]

Hello everyone,

I am looking for information on the marriage(s) of Ambrose Lewis Grindley who was a lawyer in Washington DC born in 1886 in New Orleans and died in 1970 in Washington DC.

I think he married twice; once in 1918, but I have no name for his wife and no idea what happened to her, and then he also married some time after 1942 a Florence E. Stake who was the widow of Frank Stake.

I would also like any information on Ambrose's father George Grindley who served in the Civil war, born 1841 in Wales, emigrated to the US (to Ohio, I believe) in 1850, moved to New Orleans on his marriage in 1866 and later to Washington DC. I know he was still alive in 1920 and cannot find a death record for him.

I have tried everything I can think of to fill in these gaps so any help would be gratefully received.

Many thanks,

Bev.

[grub]

Hi Bev
From the info you have provided, it seems you have all the US census.

With George birthdate given as Mar 1841 on the 1900 census, I found:

GRINDLEY, George
Registered 1st Qtr 1841, Volume 26, page 539.
Carmarthenshire, Llandiflawr, Llandilo.

On the 1841 Wales Census, George is living with his parents George and Eliza.

I'm not sure just what you have on this.
Unfortunately, I am unable to track down the deaths/marriages requested.

BUT, Ambrose was listed as single on his WW1 draft registration 1917/1918 and also as single on the 1920 US census.

Regards
Grub

[bevbee]

Thanks for that Grub,

I have all of that but the problem is that I have seen the minutes of a meeting from 1918 attended by Ambrose where he was congratulated on his "recent marriage", but then in the 1920 census as you say he is shown as single again, so I have no idea what happened there.

I have his draft registration from 1917, and also from 1942 where he gives a Mrs Irene Spiltoir in New York as his contact so he can't have been married to Florence by then.

I have Ambrose's death notice from 1970 when he died of a heart attack in a bank in Washington DC and also Florence's death notice which states that her first husband died in 1923.

George is in the 1920 census at the age of 79 so he must have died soon after that I suppose, but I just can't find it!

Thanks for looking,

Bev.

[grub]

Hi Bev
Found the following on passenger information that I believe is a close match:

Arrival in NY: March 9 1852, Port of Departure: Liverpool
Ship: Constellation
Manifest #90028 (same for each family member)

GRINDLEY
George, 45, farmer
Eliza, 35, wife
Charles (age illegible and I dont see on 1851 census)
William, 13
George, 11
Henry, 6,
Maria 8

Final destination USA, no state given.
Travelled steerage.

Fingers crossed
Valerie

[bevbee]

Thanks Valerie,

I have this already and I think Charles must have been born at sea, but there is no further trace of him.

Their final destination as we understand it was Ohio, but there again I draw a blank as there is no trace of them after their arrival. I have a letter from George jnr. written in 1892 home to his family in Wales and from that I know he moved to New Orleans when he married Mary Miller from Ireland in 1866.

The death notices for Washington DC seem to be very difficult to find, or maybe it's just me!

Thanks again,

Bev.

[bevbee]

I now know that Ambrose Lewis Grindley married Catherine M Harbison in 1918, but she died suddenly on Christmas Eve the same year, aged 25.

Still searching for his second marriage, to Florence, and searching hard for his father, George Grindley's death, which must have been between 1920 and 1930.

I have tried searching the Washington post for a death notice, but am drawing a blank which I find surprising as both George and Ambrose are mentioned in the paper quite a few times.

I'll keep trying, but I am becoming quite frustrated!

Thanks,
Bev.

[johnnyboy]

Hi Bev: I don't know if you have this information on Ambrose and possibly his second wife from the U.S. Social Security Death Index (the closest thing to a national death index):

Name                                    born              died           last residence
AMBROSE GRINDLEY   15 Sep 1886       Jan 1970       Washington, District Of Columbia, DC 20008 

issued
District of Columbia

Name                                    born          died           last residence
FLORENCE GRINDLEY   11 Sep 1888  Nov 1984     Alexandria, Alexandria City, VA  22313

issued
Maryland


You can order a copy of a person's application for the Social Security number from the U.S. Social Security Administration. It costs $27 per application, which is one reason not to order one. The second reason may be that it only gives information that was current at the time application was made. Because of Ambrose and Florence's age, their applications probably date to 1936 or 1937. Social Security began in 1935, and back then a person applied when he or she became employed or opened a bank account. 

To order an application, you have to have a person's Social Security Number. I can supply them, but I don't post them online.

Incidentally, Alexandria, Virginia is a near suburb of Washington, DC (a few miles south)

Also, there was another Washington newspaper, the Washington Star, which might have a death notice. The Star has been defunct since 1981.

Hope this helps.
Regards,
John 

[bevbee]

Hi John,

Many thanks for that.

I wondered exactly where Alexandria was and how far from Washington DC, so that's a great help.

 Also, I didn't know about the Washington Star, so that gives me another area to search.

Thanks for such a quick response!

Best wishes,

Bev.

[johnnyboy]

Hi Bev: I realized that in my earlier post I hadn't really given you any help in locating the marriages of Ambrose. If you're still looking for information on his first marriage: His World War I draft registration might give you some hint on where his marriage took place. Incidentally, if Catherine Harbison Grindley died suddenly on Christmas Eve 1918, she might have been a victim of the flu pandemic. Apparently you know where she died? That too may give you infomation on the marriage.

For Ambrose's second marriage, looking in Washington, D.C. and Maryland are probably the best bets. Ambrose was living in D.C. at the time and Florence's social security number was issued in Maryland, indicating that she might have been born in that state. D.C. borders Maryland on the northeast and northwest.

Below I've included the Social Security Death Index information for Irene Spiltoir. Bridge port, her place of death, is about 65 milres north east of New York City.

Name                             born                 died              last residence
IRENE SPILTOIR        13 Jun 1885         Nov 1976      Bridgeport, Fairfield, CT 06604 

issued
New York


About George Grindley, Civil War hero: I googled his name and came up with a link to an e-mail you had written about him! Small world. If he died in D.C., then some city office must have records. I know nothing about D.C.'s government, so let me sniff around.

In the meantime, based on the post code in Ambrose Grindley's SSDI entry, the following linking will take you to a map of D.C.: http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?country=US&zipcode=20008&submit.x=41&submit.y=7


The Red star is the approx. neighborhood of Ambrose's last address. If you zoom out one or two clicks, you'll see a black star. That is the U.S. Capitol Building. Straight below the word "Washington," at the bottom of the map, you'll see the first letters of Alexandria. The squarish blue border in the upper portion of the map is the border of Maryland and D.C.

Cheers,
John