Genealogie Wylie » Hindmon Cedell Harris [RC] "Cy" (1924-1976)

Persoonlijke gegevens Hindmon Cedell Harris [RC] "Cy" 

• Hij is geboren op 9 maart 1924 in Patchford, Oklahoma.
• Hij is overleden februari 1976, hij was toen 51 jaar oud.
• Een kind van Hindmon Herbert Harris en Pearl Cornelius Ratchford
• Deze gegevens zijn voor het laatst bijgewerkt op 20 juni 2011.

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Notities over Hindmon Cedell Harris [RC] "Cy"

CY HARRIS 09 Mar 1924 Feb 1976 (not specified) (none specified) 444-22-0848 Oklahoma

Thursday, August 30, 2007
Cedel Harris

When I first started working on this genealogy in late 2000, I found myself fascinated with the wealth of information I was finding on my wife's side of the family. More precisely, it was her mother's paternal ancestors. Those ancestors were from Oklahoma, and played a major part in the shaping of the Chickasaw Nation.

My mother in law's maiden name was Harris, and her 3rd great grandfather was a man by the name of Cyrus Harris, who happened to be the first Governor of the Chickasaw Nation. Now, Cyrus himself was a direct descendant of another family within the Chickasaw Nation named the Colbert's and the first known ancestor of that family was one James Logan Colbert who was born in 1721.

As I dug further into the Harris family history, I was constantly drawn back to my wife's grandfather, Hindman Cedel Harris. Hindman (or Cedel, which is what he went by) was the epitome of what you would call a family mystery. I had heard stories about him from his sister, Johnnie, and from others within the family, but the story always came back to the fact that none of them knew what had ever happened to Cedel. You see, sometime in the early 1960's, Cedel walked away from his family and wasn't ever heard from again. There had been rumors that he had moved to the southern end of the central valley in California, but no one ever knew for sure. Some had said that he might have gotten himself into a bit of trouble since he was known to be quite the drinker in his time, but again, no one was sure. Even his father, Hindman Sr., passed away in 1991 without ever knowing what had happened to him.

My wife and I had spoken to Aunt Johnnie, and she gave us a bunch of papers that pertained to her ancestors. Included in the paperwork was a paycheck stub for Cedel which included his social security number. With that information, I logged onto the website Ancestry.com and put Cedel's social security # into what they call the "social security death index" It's a morbid title, I know, but it is quite useful when you are trying to find out when someone died, or if they might still be alive. Anyway, doing so came back with a match. According to Social Security, Cedel had passed away in February of 1976. Unfortunately, I could not get any more information than that. I talked to them on the phone, but they were unable to provide me with more information as Cedel had died at the age of 51 and therefore, had not drawn from the account. At least, with that little bit of information, the family could finally know if he was alive or dead.

Over the years, every once in a while, I would run Cedel's name through genealogy sites, just to see if anything new was on there about him. Each time, I came away disappointed. I wanted to find out more about what had happend to him, where he died, and maybe find out what made him up and leave. But, no matter what I tried, the stars were not lining up. Since I didn't know where he died, I couldn't order a death certificate, or for that matter, find an obituary. So, I would set it aside for a while, only to be drawn back to him a few months later.

About 3 weeks ago, Cedel came to mind again. So, being the stubborn person I am, I ran his name again through Ancestry. I tried all variations of his name: Hindman Harris, Cedel Harris, and Cy Harris, which was the name that Social Security had in its records. This time, however, a match did come up for the name Cy Harris that I had not seen before. The record that I was looking at now, was for the death of a Cy Harris in Washington State. The age of this Cy Harris matched with the Cy Harris that I was looking for. There was no more information, other than that the new Cy Harris had died in Wenatchee Washington. So, I looked up the local newspaper out in Wenatchee and they did have an obituary on file. I had them make me a copy and send it, so I could see who the new Cy Harris was.

Last Monday, I recieved the obituary, and lo and behold, I had finally found Cedel Harris. According to the obituary which ran in the Wenatchee World, Cedel had moved up there in 1970 and married a lady by the name of Elsie Rains on November 3, 1971. It went on to state that he had passed from a sudden illness on September 15, 1975. The obituary, however, made no mention of the family he had left behind in California or Oklahoma. After one more phone call to the local genealogical society in Wenatchee, I was e-mailed a picture of Cedel's final resting place.

Even though we now know where he spent the last years of his life, a part of me feels empty, as the one person in this world who really wanted to know what had happened to him (Aunt Johnnie) had passed away back in March. I remember one of the last times my wife and I visited Johnnie, we gave her a restored version of an old photo of her and her brother Cedel on the front porch of their home in Oklahoma in 1930 or so. I think a large part of her always missed her brother and longed to know what had become of him. I just wish I could have found this information 8 months sooner, so she could have known then what we know now.

Whether Cedel, belived it or not while he was alive, he was missed by those who loved him.

Hindman Cedel Harris
March 9, 1924 - September 15, 1975

posted by Brandon at 6:33 PM

1 Comments:
Michelle said...
So very true. A beautiful addition to the family tree that you have worked so hard on for the past (almost) 7 years now. Aunt Johnnie would have been so very proud of you. I know that Uncle Bob and the kids will/are happy to have answers...even if it brings about more questions. Thank you for working so hard on my family tree and unlocking so many beautiful secrets for me as well as for our family. I love you always and forever, Brandon.

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