Wednesday, January 7, 2015

52 Ancestors 2015 Edition~Fresh Start: Did He or Didn't He?

  This weeks's blog prompt from Amy Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2015 Edition is: Fresh Start. She asked us to think about which ancestor may have had a fresh start or who we may want to start fresh with researching.
  One name came to mind when I read this prompt-
Bertrand Campbell Price (1876-after 1922), my maternal great great Grandfather.
   Why "Cam" Price? Well, Cam is a bit of a mystery. Born 27 July 1876 in Aiken County, South Carolina he seemed to be always on the move working job to job from South Carolina to Georgia and possibly Alabama. Most of his employment seems to have been in the Cotton Mills of those areas.
   Cam's father is said to be Adam Price of Blythewood, South Carolina but so far no conclusive evidence of who his parents were has been discovered.
  He married Bessie Mae Eargle (1878-1943) in about 1894. They were the parents of at least 6 children.
Bessie Mae Eargle Price
©Cheri Hudson Passey

    Sometime in 1922, while living in Columbia, South Carolina, Cam Price disappeared. There are many family theories as to what may have happened to him. Some have said he ran away with the family money, others say he was attacked and killed for the money he had on him that day and his body was never found. Another story is that he was one of the several unidentified victims of a storm that hit the area. A school paper written on the family in the early 1970's claims that he went to look for work and never returned. There was even a letter that came to wife Bessie Mae saying that her husband had been killed in a train accident. However, she felt from the description of the dead man, it wasn't Campbell.
  Son Frank Earle Price (1914-2002). in an interview with a family member, stated that the last time he saw his father was during a tent revival meeting. Frank recalled Cam being dressed in a new suit and that his father placed a handkerchief on the bench to sit on. That was the last anyone saw or heard from Bertrand Campbell Price-or was it?
   In August of 1944, my great grandmother, Beulah Mae Price Roberts (1897-1980), daughter of Campbell Price filed for a delayed birth certificate in Charleston, South Carolina. On the application, she stated that her father's death occurred in 1926 in Charlotte, North Carolina.  What did she know that others did not? A search for death information in North Carolina has not produced any results.
 
Beulah Mae Price Roberts
©Cheri Hudson Passey


  My fresh start will be to go back over the information collected so far on Bertrand Campbell Price. Was there foul play or did he simply walk away for his own fresh start?

Are we kin? Please contact me. Together we can find our people!


6 comments:

  1. Wow Cheri - now that's an interesting story! I wonder if Beulah Mae was simply repeating what she heard and maybe even believed.

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    1. Wendy, I am not sure where she got the information. Her brother Frank said in his interview that there was talk that Beulah knew something but never told. Too bad he didn't see her delayed birth certificate! Maybe he could have gotten something out of her! Haha! Thanks!

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  2. Good luck tracing Cam's footsteps. Cam had a fresh start and you need a fresh start to find him. In those days it was much easier to just walk away and start again, without Social Security numbers, references from previous employers, credit cards,...

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    1. You are right. It was so easy to just walk away them. Don't know if I will ever find him, but I am going to keep trying! Thanks!

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  3. Cheri, it sounds like the only solution to this mystery is to summon Beulah's spirit! Lol In all seriousness, I am surprised in her long life, Beulah didn't tell a soul. Very interesting story!

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    1. I know right? I am hoping to solve the mystery one day! Thanks so much for reading!

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