Saturday, September 2, 2017

Randy's Saturday Night Genealogy Research Fun~Research Grief


Photo Credit: Made with free Pixabay creative license


This week's Saturday Night Research Fun challenge from Randy Seaver of the Genea Musings blog is- Research Grief. The question asked is "Which ancestor gives you the most researching grief"

A very easy question to answer for me.
It is my great great grandfather, Bertrand Campbell Price (1876-?).
You see, Cam, as he was known, is a mystery.
He disappeared one day and was never seen again.

There are several different stories floating around.


  • He was robbed and murdered.
  • He was killed by a storm and his body was not identified.
  • He went looking for work and was killed in a train accident.
  • He ran away with all the family money.
The last person who saw Cam Price seems to have been his son Frank.
 "He last saw him at a tent revival on Huger Street in Columbia.  He had on a new suit and he put down a handkerchief to sit on the rough plank seat.  Frank thinks his sister Beulah might have known something but she never told."
Cam's wife Bessie Mae went to court in 1932 to have her husband declared legally dead. She was successful and received money from his life insurance policy.

I have written about Cam before:
Fresh Start~Did He or Didn't He deals with the rumors surrounding Cam's disappearance.
Surprise!~Did She Know? Did daughter Beulah Mae know something as her brother Frank suspected?

AAAAHHH!!! Where did you go, Cam? Did you run off or did you go looking for a job? Were you the victim of a crime or storm? Were you on that train that crashed? 
There has to be something, somewhere to let me know. 
And? One day I will find it and you! 

So what about you? Which ancestor gives you the most grief?

Thanks so much for stopping by! 
Helping you climb your family tree,



10 comments:

  1. Don't you hate it when someone justs disappears? I do hope find him someday.

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    1. Yes! So much! Especially when it seems he may have done it on purpose! Gah! No consideration for those of us who would come along later trying to find him! Hahaha! Thanks for taking the time to read my post and leave a comment, Lisa!

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  2. Cheri, I'm sure you will eventually hunt him down. You have strong research skills that will uncover your runaway.

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  3. I had a third gr-uncle Rice Dunbar, son of Hiram Dunbar, who disappeared.Born about 1848 in Illinois, served in the Civil War, returned to IL and in 1870, I see him married with two boys. In 1880, wife is a widow. Figuring everything happened in Illinois, I combed churches, court houses etc. Nothing. Gave up. Recorded died between 1870-1880 probably Illinois. After nearly 20 years, I was looking up another Rice Dunbar (b. 1802), brother of Hiram, uncle of Rice (1848). This older Rice was a captain of a wagon train that went to Oregon. Type in the name in ancestry,(general search) and I find (drum roll) death of Rice Dunbar (1848) in Texas...in a federal prison...after being convicted of a felony crime. The county court house still had the transcripts of the trial. Fascinating. A story worth waiting 20 years to find. Ancestry had just put those Texas prison records online. So in your case maybe some day, the right record will make itself known. And it will be worth the wait. Good luck.

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    1. Definitely worth the wait! Hope I get as lucky one day! Thanks so much for sharing, Jacquie!

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  4. It's bad enough when ancestors disappear centuries ago, but it is even more maddening when modern day family members disappear. Did Cam disappear at the beginning of the Depression? I noticed he was declared dead in 1932.

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    1. One of the theories is he left to find work and never came home due to an accident or foul play. He disappeared in 1922, so it was a few years before the depression officially began. Things were tough financially for the family even before them. Thanks, Linda!

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  5. Those disappearing ancestors give us so much opportunity to let our imaginations work, don't they? Perhaps a newspaper article will come online one of these years that will have more information about him, or some other record.... It's frustrating to know only so much without know the whole story.

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